Life in 1930s Marlow Part One

Employment=

The biggest employers of Marlow men were the brewery off the High Street in Marlow and Jackson's millboard mill in Bourne End. Some of the workers from the latter took the branch line train to the mill every day.  Others in order to save money walked to work along the riverbank. Marlow's paper mill was in its dying days and during these final years did not employ anything like the number of people that it had previously done. 

Other major sources of employment for Marlow men were the chair industry, the building industry and the various haulage and general contractors of Marlow, the local council which had a surprising number of road labourers, the boat builders, the Gas Works in Cambridge Road, the Water Works in Chalk Pit Lane,the brickworks in Newtown, the painting and decorating trade and the town's offices and shops who needed plenty of clerks to fill up their ledgers. Some clerks and shop assistants hopped on the train to Maidenhead and Wycombe for their jobs though the majority still worked in Marlow itself. Market gardening had nearly disappeared in the town but there were still numerous men employed as private gardeners. General labourers were considerably less common than in previous eras but were still found in Marlow occasionally. Due to mechanisation the number of farm hands was also relatively small by the thirties. In 1931 around 11.3 per cent of working men across the Marlow and Wycombe districts were employed in the sphere of agriculture which was seen as a very low number. Marlow once  had large numbers of green grocery and fruit hawkers too, especially from Dean Street, but these too had almost disappeared by the thirties.

For women unpaid domestic labour took up the majority of the time of married women, though some were in paid employment as well. Businesswomen concentrated on shop keeping with some female publicans, eatery owners and boarding house keepers. Employed single women were most likely to work as shop assistants / cashiers, clerks (rare a generation previously), bottlers at the brewery, hands at Jackson's Mill in Bourne End, laundresses at Quarry Laundry or Sunnydene Laundry, french polishers in the furniture trade (another newer job for females) and domestic servants. The numbers of domestic staff, especially general maids rather than the better paid cooks and housekeepers had however plummeted since the 1800s. 

It should always be remembered that "farmers' wives" and sisters were heavily involved with farming being typically in charge of all poultry and often all swine on the farm, holding the responsibility for the employee's first aid (in a time when blood poisoning and tetanus were common outcomes of farmyard accidents), the marketing of many of the farm goods and often assisting in hay making to name just a few things.

For both men and women the local schools also provided employment, as did the cinema which had a surprising number of usherettes, cashiers and other workers. During the war some London based Odeon workers took refuge in Marlow. The head of Technicolor Kay Harrison (formerly Marks) and his wife Heather came to The Fern House Little Marlow along with several other Technicolor staff. Kay seems to have been genuinely interested in rural life. He later owned a large turkey farm elsewhere!

For Gypsies male and female licenced general hawking was the most common occupation along with, for the men, horse dealing.

In Little Marlow agricultural occupations remained common, as did market gardening. The Mash and Austin jam factory was still in operation at Westhorpe, Little Marlow to at least 1933. Women predominantly worked in the factory while men were employed in the firm's 2000 acre model fruit orchard and garden. The company was highly unusual for the era in that it did not spray it's fruit with pesticides. Some of the fruit grown was also sold to Cunard for use on transatlantic liners.

For those in need of a new domestic service place Emily Norcott had a servant's registry office in Spittal Street. More generally the Ministry of Labour office was in Chapel Street by 1939. Unemployment in 1930s Marlow was severe. The authorities initiated various projects in order to provide employment for men in the town, new landscaping in Higginson Park for instance. One of the reasons the town hoped to secure funding for a lido was because building it would provide  temporary employment opportunities. Unfortunately their application for the necessary funds was turned down and no lido built. In 1933 a cottage in Spittal Square was lent to the Allotment Association to use as a social centre for their members who were unemployed. Playing cards, magazines and a billiard table were provided for them.

Homes=

Many of Marlow's council homes were built in the 1930s (110 by August 1934) replacing cramped and in some cases dangerous cottages for working people either in the same roads or elsewhere in town. The (mostly ex) council properties in Trinity Avenue and Seymour Court Rd date from this era for instance.

Nevertheless some very humble homes and in some cases actual shacks were still in use on the outskirts of Marlow at Marlow Bottom, Seymour Plain and Munday Dean. Those at Seymour Plain were mostly tin shacks and amid concern that the area was turning into a slum most were forcibly demolished in 1948. What happened to those who had lost their only home, however humble, as a result of this is unknown to me.

In Marlow Bottom some of these tiny homes were only second, holiday, homes, but not the majority of them. The beautiful rural setting of Marlow Bottom made it a popular place for the retired which also explains why so many small homes existed there - the residents needed much less living space if they were just couples without children or other family members at home. Marlow Bottom had noticeably fewer children present as residents on the 1939 Register for instance (Ancestry) than other local places. However it was a popular camping spot for scout or other youth groups, often large ones, so the rural tranquility hoped for by the various retired householders of the village wasn't one hundred percent guaranteed! 

Another key area of contemporary housing development in thirties Marlow was the Oak Tree Road area.

Most people in Marlow town itself lived in houses or cottages but there were a few flats, in the old staff quarters of Court Garden in Pound Lane (the main body of Court Garden house was leased to the council for office use etc in 1933) and off Claremont Gardens for example.

Bungalows were very fashionable (though some deemed bungalows were barely-extended shacks), as were homes with whimsical, countrified names e.g "Rippling Waters" "Sunshine" and "Flowerdene". On the duller side of naming at least three bungalows in Marlow were, at the same time, simply called "The Bungalow". Plots of land for the building of bungalows could be bought in Marlow for £16!

Taking in lodgers remained extremely common in the 1930s. Additionally homes of all descriptions in Marlow became fuller following the arrival of war evacuees in 1939. If you had a spare room you could not refuse to take in one of these children (and in some cases also their mothers who had accompanied them). Poorer households that clearly did not have spare rooms nevertheless offered evacuees a part of their shared space. On a more informal basis some Marlow householders squeezed in friends and family members who had retreated from London while it was at particular risk of bomb attack.

Mains drainage arrived in Marlow at long last in the 1930s.

Electricity was becoming more common as the decade progressed both in homes, hotels and other buildings - Bovingdon Green villagers were raising money to add electric lights to their village hall at the start of the decade - but cottages in places such as Chapel Street remained without electricity as late as the 1970s. Gas connection was widespread however and could be used to power fridges as well as for cooking and lighting. These fridges were bulky and at risk of bursting into flames but if you really wanted one cheap installment plans were available to purchasers. The Gas Show Rooms were at no 9 High Street during the 1930s.

Not for everyone the lure of all the mod cons the thirties could offer however. Some of Marlow's Gipsy families had lived settled lives in bricks and mortar dwellings for some time but others held with their precious caravans and a simpler life. Ever increasing harassment and restrictions on the movement of caravans at a nationwide level meant some felt they had no choice but to live in vans permanently parked in the same field or on the same wayside rather than roam. It was at times a painfully felt compromise. For those that did still travel the traditional pulling up places of Marlow Common, the fields near the waterworks in Chalk Pit Lane and land off Gipsy Lane remained but the development of Seymour Court Road had removed a long standing camping place there. For a general history of Gipsy families in Marlow please see this post.

Shopping=

The main shopping streets in the 1930s were the High Street, Chapel Street, Spittal Street / Square and West Street though there were far more small shops sprinkled about the town than there are now. Residents of Queen's Road, Wycombe Road, Maple Rise, Station Road, Quoiting Square , Seymour Court Road and even the hamlet of Munday Dean could all visit their own grocery shops for example. Both Marlow Bottom and Bovingdon Green villages had their own post offices come grocery stores. The expansion of the Marlow Bottom grocery shop into a combined post office and shop came as a huge relief to the old age pensioners of the village who had to attend a post office in order to collect their pension. Those that couldn't afford the bus fare from Marlow Bottom turning into Marlow itself walked instead. In 1935 it was said that this involved for some of them a 3 mile round trip rain or shine.

For items you couldn't source within the town, Maidenhead rather than High Wycombe seems to have been the alternative shopping destination of choice for most ordinary people and was accessible by both train and bus. The lure of London department stores was always powerful for the better off residents of the town.

Mail order items delivered to the Marlow train station and either collected from there or delivered onwards to your home were popular. Marlow was nevertheless a very self sufficient town with plenty of opportunity for residents to buy locally produced items. You could still get bespoke boots made here despite the huge amount of readymade footwear also stocked in Marlow. Miss Irene Cain of the High Street and the Mallett* sisters of West Street were some of the dressmakers still available who could make you a dress from scratch though the ready made market had decimated employment numbers in the dressmaking trade. The town centre dairies sold milk taken from local animals as did the the farmer at Seymour Court Farm. George Bailey in West Street made his own cycles right here in town as well as selling popular national brands.

Most shopkeepers no longer lived above their premises by the thirties though some of the staff they employed did so.

So what other types of shops could the Marlow shopper enjoy in the 1930s? You were not short of grocers as mentioned above, nor of drapers, bakers or butchers and the smoker could choose between not one but eight separate tobacconists in the town! Remember some of the pub's also sold tobacco directly to customers as apparently did the football club, ditto the cinema.

Several of the tobacconists were also confectioners. With some grocery shops and newsagents selling sweets too children in Marlow had plenty of places to spend any pocket money (Mr Sinclair the dentist shared premises with Badgers confectioners in the High Street which seems a clever idea). North's toy shop still existed in West Street to absorb any remaining shillings in the pockets of young Marlovians and there was a Woolworths.

Marlow Fair previously forced out from the High Street and other town centre roads continued in fields until the war caused it's cancellation in 1939. 

If you desired fish or poultry you visited Mac Fisheries in the High Street. Or if you didn't want to cook it yourself you could opt for one of the town's two fried fish shops. These also sold chips or to use 1930s speak "chipped potatoes " and would today be called fish and chip shops but at the time the fish was often seen as the main attraction. Fish and chips hadn't yet quite attained the status of a beloved national dish and the growing presence of fried fish shops in England was a source of horror to quite a few people. Whereas today most people would find the smell of a chip shop at least a little enticing there was no food smell except that of cooking cabbage more hated and complained about in the thirties than the smell of frying fish from such shops. Some English people wanted them banned entirely from the country on the grounds of their "offensive" smell. So it is probable that the fried fish shops in Marlow at this period didn't enjoy universal approval though memories of them suggest they and their owners (as shopkeepers and as individuals) were very much loved and respected by their customers.

On a healthier front there was at least two greengrocer's shops to choose from in town.

Those that wanted to start up a shop in Marlow, or any another business could consult commercial property agent Walter Lord who was also a valuer.

Should you get tired of shopping, refreshments were available at the Dutch Tea House in West Street, the Corner House and several other cafes. Both Little Marlow and Well End had their own tearooms. 

During the first few decades of the twentieth century the number of pubs in Marlow fell dramatically due to a long term campaign by local authorities to limit the number of licensed premises available. Pubs lost in the thirties include The Cherry Tree in Dean Street which suffered a closure order in 1931, The Carriers Arms in Wycombe Road lost in 1939 and the Bricklayers Arms in Chapel Street which officially shut down in 1932.  The Verney Arms in Dean Street survived a few months into the 1940s. 

*One of whom long retired was still alive in the late 1980s and as a gesture of friendship to my mother had made for me and my twin sister beautiful baby shawls and clothing. Her hobby then was poking around in the old bottle and china dumps in the town especially in Old Pound Lane to see what treasures she could find. We miss her dearly.

To be continued...

For a detailed post about the preparations for war and the first few months of WW2 in Marlow please see my already published post here.  It will be updated with new information later this year.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day. 

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use this research for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog. 

Selected Sources:

1939 Kelly's Directory of Buckinghamshire etc, by Kelly's Directories Limited 

An Economic Survey of Buckinghamshire Agriculture: Pt.1. Farms and Estates. United Kingdom: n.p., 1938.

The Commercial Grower Volume 60. United Kingdom, n.p, 1925.

Original shop invoices and receipts. 

Crown Hotel Marlow guide c 1931-36.

Bucks Herald 19th May 1933, Bucks Herald October 1st 1930. British Library Archives.

South Bucks Free Press 10th August 1934 and Bucks Free Press 10th March 1933, Bucks Free Press Archives.

Personal interview.