Life In 1930s Marlow Part Two Sport, Leisure, Transport

 Part One dealt with homes, shopping and employment. See here. A further part covering childhood and religion will become available next year.

Sport

The Regatta attracted a world record (for an Amateur event) 107 entries in 1930 and continued to thrive during the thirties. It wasn't only local teams competing- in 1936 a team from the Tokyo Imperial University stormed to victory in the Grand Challenge Cup with their ultra light cedarwood boat and what was described as an unorthodox even eccentric rowing style. Sadly in just what eccentric way that they were rowing has been lost to history. The crew also raced at Henley Regatta that year, long a magnet for foreign teams, before flying off from Croydon Airport to the Berlin Olympics. Despite the hype around the team before the event no Japanese rower actually medalled at Berlin.

Spectators at each Regatta crowded onto the bridge despite dire warnings that their combined weight exceeded the 5 ton safety limit for this old structure.

Winners at the Regatta carried of solid silver prizes supplied as they had been for decades by Rowe's jewellers in the High Street.

Marlow also had a Rowing Club Regatta until the number of members on anti aircraft duty or military service forced the temporary cancellation of the event in 1939. The Rowing Club wasn't popular with everyone - Marlow's vicar successfully asked for Sunday morning rowing practice to be removed from the club's normal schedule as it coincided with his services.  The strength of the "nothing but church on a Sunday" brigade at the time cannot be underestimated. Some wanted the swings taken out of the playground in Higginson Park on a Sunday!

The Regatta was part of  a week of linked events which also typically involved tennis tournaments as well as sometimes bowls and putting ones not to mention fireworks and fun fairs.

In Higginson Park there were then two putting greens. As well as the Regatta week tournaments they hosted a separate annual one. Normal putting cost 6d a round in 1931 including the use of the putter, a score card and the ball. A Putting Club existed in the park and organized it's own small weekly competition for members. Mr R Young in 1932 broke their course record by getting two holes in one!

Elsewhere in the Court Garden complex were three hard tennis courts which could be hired at a cost of 2 shillings an hour. Thirsty sports people obtained refreshment from the park pavilion.

Due to a legal tangle part of Higginson Park was run at the time by the Higginson Park Society, and part by the council. Members of the society were asked to pay a minimum subscription of 5 shillings a year early in the decade. They had their own tennis group which organised an annual "American Tennis" tournament, whatever that was.

The Football Club reached the dizzying heights of the Premier Division of the Spartan League in 1938. It's Supporter's Club was newly formed at the beginning of the decade. At the same time a second adult team Marlow Wednesday was formed. They won the Windsor and District Wednesday League in their first season.

Marlow Working Men's Cricket Club meanwhile played in the Wycombe and District League and operated from Higginson Park, a near neighbour to the Bowling Club whose new 6 rink Court Garden premises opened in 1931. Marlow's other cricket team the Marlow Cricket Club of Pound Lane was defunct by this time but later revived and still exists in this second incarnation today.

The nearby village of Little Marlow had its own Cricket Club and team  in combination with Bourne End of which the residents were very proud. Little Marlow could also boast a football team.

Billiards and snooker tournaments were regularly held at the Institute billiards room in Institute Road. In fact the fees generated from entries into billiards events and for other use of the billiards table did much to keep the institution going. This building is now Marlow Library.

At Borlase school the boys could make use of a fives court as well as the more conventional tennis courts, running tracks, football pitch and cricket field.

Hockey had been played informally in Marlow since the mid 1800s and the Hockey Club had its inaugural meeting in 1909. Both men's, women's and mixed teams competed for the town in the 1930s and both received coverage in the local press near equal to that of the football team which reflects the enhanced popularity of hockey as a spectator sport at that time. The Hockey Club ground from 1921 was either a field near the railway station or the grounds of Spinfield depending on availability, with the Gossmore recreation ground also being used at times during the 1930s. The men's team at times struggled to find enough sufficiently skilled players to compete so in some seasons only Marlow's women were able to regularly represent the town.

Hockey and tennis were the main but not only sporting opportunities for female residents in the town. Some of the annual Regatta events were for women as were some  swimming competitions in the River Thames and the Badminton Club was unisex. Female Marlovians were often mentioned as spectators at Marlow's home football matches. They had been attending regularly since at least the late 1800s. However while Marlow F.C had had a female President in the 1920s, Lady Vera Terrington of Spinfield, there was not apparently any ladies team playing for them.

Darts tournaments in pubs were popular for men but women were also casual players and informal competitors. A Pub Darts League, probably for male players only, was started in Marlow in 1935 involving teams from the Duke of Cambridge, Railway Hotel, Horns,  Carpenter's Arms, Ship, Royal Oak at Bovingdon Green, Carrier's arms, Three Tuns, Red lion, Hare and Hounds, Two Brewers, Wheatsheaf and Nag's Head. This replaced an earlier league which was not restricted to pub teams, and which the Bank of England pub team dominated.

The Bucks Amateur Athletic Association formed just before the 1930s and held some events in Marlow. Ladies events began in 1932. More informally athletic sports organized by the short-lived Marlow Bottom Residents Association took place at Bencombe Farm at least a couple of times during the decade. The bar may not have been set too high at the latter. As mentioned in a previous posts one of the competitions was "cigarette lighting".

Leisure swimmers could enjoy the official bathing place in the Thames at Marlow and another at Hurley both with their own attendants. The Marlow one was in the Berkshire side of the river and consisted if a chained off area of water. Anyone who dared to arrive for a swim in an "insufficient" costume could expect to be handed a "sober" cotton alternative to put on. In 1930 spectators at the Swimming Sports enjoyed a display of diving off Marlow Bridge (in one case with both hands and feet tied!) by members of the Maidenhead Swimming Club. Council hopes to go one better than a swimming place and build a lido in Higginson Park where the football pitch is now were dashed when the Ministry of Health refused the necessary funding.

Those who wanted to learn to ride were fortunate in having a riding school at Field House Farm on the edge of town complete with a show jumping arena. Occasional gymkhanas took place at the farm. These were quite informal- with events such as "mop polo" where instead of the usual stick the ball was hit with mops. 

Special coach services were laid on so equine loving Marlovians could attend Newbury horse races and during Ascot week a roaring trade in hire cars was done thanks to all the Marlovians who wanted to go there.

Greyhound racing at an amateur level took place at meets in nearby Booker and Cressex. Coach trips were organized every year from Marlow to greyhound tracks in London and elsewhere. Pigeon racing was popular and the town had its own pigeon racing club for those involved.

Boxing took place regularly at Wycombe Town Hall, sometimes including fighters from Marlow.

The worldwide political situation inevitably meant that some leisure hours were spent not in relaxing but in urgent political discussion. Marlow had a branch of the League of Nations Union a pacifist organisation which held that disarmament of all countries and membership of the League of Nations was the only way forward for the world. Captain Liston of New Court was one of the members of the Marlow Branch. As it became apparent to many that a second war with Germany was inevitable nationwide membership of this organization dwindled. Those Marlovians who did not hold with the notion of pacifism urgently encouraged the participation of the town's adolescent and young adult males in leisure activities which would see them transform themselves into better soldiers when their time came. Gymnastics was promoted because it fostered strength and self discipline, while shooting at targets was encouraged for obvious reasons.

Other Leisure

Higginson Park Social Club by 1938 which met in a room at Court Garden. Their activities included dances (they had their own swing band), darts competitions and whist drives. Whist drives in general were extremely common as fundraising events in 1930s Marlow.

Marlovians could enjoy films (the new County Cinema opened in Station Road in 1938, replacing the Spittal Square St George's / former County cinema premises). Or perhaps they preferred to sit back at home and listen to the radio or gramophone. Both Platts in Quoiting Square and Compton's Cycle Agents in West Street functioned as radio dealerships alongside their other trades. Mr Platt proudly advertised that he was the sole agent of both Murphy and Bush radios in the town. A Murphy radio would set you back a minimum of £6 10 shillings. Sounds cheap doesn't it? Consider this- a plot of land on Marlow on which to build a bungalow cost from £15-16 in the same era.  A parlour maid would need to use more than a month's wages to buy such a wireless. Leo Ryan and J.G Mackey both in the High Street were two other men who sold radios. J.G  Mackey was the Philco brand stockist. This company also made early televisions but it is not known if Mackey in Marlow sold those too. Listening to the wireless required a licence, with government detector vans stalking the streets to catch any householder who forgot to buy one.

Photographer Norman Greville in the High Street offered the Patheoscope for viewing short reels at home, a device which doesn't seem to have caught on.

The Masonic hall in St Peter Street, as the Public Hall until 1933 and the Masonic centre thereafter, was sometimes used for dances in the 1930s and the George and Dragon in the High Street held them fortnightly from 8pm til midnight- tickets 2s or 3s 6d for a couple. Bargain hunters with their own transport could find cheaper dances held every so often in local village halls. At Lane End in 1937 entry cost just 1s 6d for one person. Frieth village hall was cheaper still at a round shilling. In many of these dances spot prizes were given to those whom the judges deemed to be the best dancing couples. These prizes might be in cash so that a talented pair could hope to win back their cost of entry and even make a profit from their night out.

Hilda Bailey of High Street Marlow taught dancing in the town as well as in High Wycombe and Beaconsfield. She could teach you ballroom and ballet as well as a bizarre array of fancy moves -"Comic dancing", "Character dancing", "Greek Operatic Dancing" and "Acrobatic Dancing". I think we'd all like to have been a fly on the wall during those classes. At her Wycombe dance studio Hilda offered "tap dance and limbering" classes for "business girls"on a Tuesday. The late 1920s saw a craze in England for folk dancing. The girls in the Church of England school took part as did the ladies of Bovingdon Green.

Hilda Bailey also held a general non-dance ladies fitness class every week. Other keep fit classes, for both men and women, were held at the Domestic Science Centre rooms off Wethered Road. 

In Marlow Bottom a "Witches Barn" Club is listed in Kelly's Directory 1939 edition. On their website the current Barn Club date their existence only from 1948 so the nature of this earlier club is unknown to me. A few years before this 1939 mention there was in existence a Witches Barn Tea Garden And Motor Service in Marlow Bottom. The barn used for this was originally at White Hill outside Marlow, but was taken apart bit by bit and re-erected in Marlow Bottom.

Another initially unexplained aspect of Marlow in the 1930s was what exactly the "Marlow Players" were doing when they competed in "Drama League" competitions. Competitive acting?!? Upon research I find that yes that really was a thing in this period. In each area of Britain local teams of amateur actors took to the stage one after the other and their performances were ranked by an adjudicator who then gave prizes to those in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. The Marlow Players formed in 1937 and were competing in the League from the next year. They weren't the first amateur team from Marlow to be involved however, one called the "St Martins" team were competing from 1936. Bovingdon Green had it's own amateur dramatic group, the Bovingdon Green Players.

As well as in the Institute, readers could, by the end of the decade, enjoy a part time library and newspaper reading room in a portion of what is now Liston Hall thanks to the generosity of Nesta Liston who helped the town to buy this former chapel. A small library of around 100 books was also kept at Bovingdon Green village hall.

Marlow had a small museum which opened in the former billiards room of Court Garden House in 1934. The exhibits included a mammoth tusk and skull bone found there at the Folley Brothers pit at Well End, Little Marlow and examples of stuffed birds.

Transport

Car ownership was increasing significantly in the 1930s. By 1939 there were 3 million motor cars in Great Britain. Marlow had at least four motor garages by the end of the decade - two in the High Street, one in Station Road and Platts in Quoiting Square. A sparkling new Austin Ten Four family saloon automobile with Dunlop tyres from Currall's garage in the High Street would set you back £168 in 1932. Secondhand cars, vans and trucks could be bought from Mr Gibbon's dealership at no. 19 York Road while cars could be hired from the Three Tuns in West Street, a business in Little Marlow Road and the above mentioned Witches Barn Motor business at Marlow Bottom. Pubs such as the Two Brewer's and Compleat Angler were quick to advertise the fact that they had safe lock up garages available for guests. 

Houses with their own garage were still relatively unusual but Suffolk Lodge off Station Road had one, The Sycamores had two and Quarry Wood Hall boasted four! Marlow got it's first, long-promised, public carpark in Pound Lane early in the decade. 

Prosecutions for speeding were less common than they had been in the 1920s but both Marlow residents and visitors were caught with expired licences every month and slapped with a fine. Prosecutions for having overly noisy cars, trucks or vans also occurred not infrequently. 

Despite the growth of motoring the majority of local travel was still done on foot, by bicycle (single or tandem), by bus or by train. Buses to High Wycombe took 25 minutes from Marlow and left every half hour in 1930. Residents of Bovingdon Green won a regular bus service into Marlow in the same year. Buses from Marlow also served Maidenhead via Bisham and Reading via Henley. The Maidenhead service went over Marlow Bridge despite the fact that this caused the structure to wobble! And that was with the passengers getting off and walking across separately. Plans to knock down and replace the bridge with a new one in 1930 were abandoned due to the expense involved. Thank goodness- the replacement was to be of utilitarian concrete! Similar plans re-emerged a few years later but were again felled by financial concerns 

Some of the bus services were run by the Marlow and District Motor Company, others by Booker Bus Services and still more by Thames Valley Traction Company. The Marlow company and Thames Valley Traction both offered special excursion trips to the seaside, Newbury Races, Whipsnade Zoo and elsewhere. Tickets for those trips as well as season tickets for the everyday routes could be bought from the company's town centre office. The other Marlow bus service, at least in the early 1930s. If you wanted to hire your own charabanc for a work's or club outing you could visit Reginald Batting in Market Square. Wycombe Charabanc Company ran a charabanc from Marlow to Bournemouth every Sunday in the summer - 10 shillings day return, 15 shillings open ended return.

In an extraordinary case at the start of the decade Marlow bus conductor Mr Stacey (Thomas?) was fined for, as a joke, letting off a firework in a bus owned by the  Marlow and District Motor Company. The vehicle was then on a journey from Wargrave to Henley (and presumably then on to Marlow) on Guy Fawkes Day 1930. The firework startled the driver who swerved, drove into a ditch and then overturned. One of the passengers was killed. Others received injuries. The police deemed driver Walter Newell ultimately responsible for what happened on his bus and as well as charging the conductor they charged him with failing to prevent the discharge of fireworks on a public vehicle.  Charges against Walter were dismissed in court. If he was keeping his eye on the road he couldn't really be watching his conductor's every move and it is reasonable to assume that the conductor throwing a firework en route wasn't high on Walter's list of probable events he might experience that day! The firework landed by the driver's seat, fizzed, but I think did not fully explode. Stacey did not give evidence in court so that we can't know his take on the events. The cab window was open at the time which may indicate that he intended to throw the firework past the driver and out through it. Hardly less risky though! 

Greenline Coaches started a regular express coach service to London. A similar service could be caught from Maidenhead. So Marlow was actually better connected to the capital than it is today!

Road traffic accidents were frequent on the streets of Marlow despite low vehicular speeds. Motor bikes were seen as glamorous but dangerous and mishaps involving them appeared  particularly regularly in the local press. Most accidents were not fatal but in 1930 Alice Budd of Chapel Street, a pillion passenger on her boyfriend's motorbike, was killed in a smash. In the same year pillion passenger Arthur Lee of Dean Street suffered fatal head injuries in an accident in West Street. Lionel Evans of York Road suffered two broken legs and a fractured skull in a motorcycle accident in 1939. 

Both motorcycles for the glamorous and cycles for everyday transport could be bought from Comptons and Baileys, both in West Street. Even more glamorous was of course air travel. In 1934 during the Whitsun holiday an aircraft owner offered short flying trips from a field in Wycombe Road, Marlow. Understandably there was a long queue of Marlovians who wanted to take to the air for the very first time. Similar trips had been offered over the previous few years in Wycombe itself. At one such event the pilot would do a loop the loop with you strapped into the passenger seat if you paid 15 shillings. No thanks!

However you zoomed about the streets back down on terra firma you had some very patchy road surfaces to deal with. Some of our urban roads were gravel, a small but increasing number tarmacked, with others topped with more experimental surfaces that never took off in the long term. Long roads may have been surfaced with different materials in different places causing a somewhat uneven journey down them. Glade Road for instance. The installation of mains sewage to the town caused huge disruption to roads and pavements in the early 1930s as did the laying of underground electricity cables at around the same time. A lack of surface drainage caused significant difficulties when it rained heavily. The residents of Marlow Bottom suffered 6-8 inch deep mud that persisted for weeks at a time on the roadway into the village and made it impassable to motor traffic. A report by the RAC on current local main road conditions appeared in the Bucks Free Press every week. 

Leisure trips on the River Thames were available for those that wished to visit Windsor Castle or cruise past Quarry Woods. Boats could also be hired at Marlow riverside. Heaven help anyone who wanted to go through Marlow Lock while scantily clad however. In 1934 a bye law to prevent anyone passing through wearing less than "full rowing costume" or "full university bathing costume" was proposed due to complaints that that wasn't always the case. Was rowing in your undergarments a thing in the 1930s?!?

A more unusual form of water transport from the usual rowing boats, punts and steam launches was owned by Mr Vivian Simon of Stoneyware, Bisham- an electric canoe!

For all that electric modernity, Marlow was still a place where horse drawn transport certainly wasn't over with and the council used a horse drawn cart for the town's rubbish collection. At least one of the town milk floats continued to be pulled by horse in 1934. The Pinches at Field House Farm still did a ready trade in farm and other cart horses.

Written and researched by Charlotte Day 

©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use my research with credit to this blog.

Selected Sources=

Marlow Town Guide 1931/32

Kelly's Directory of Buckinghamshire etc 1939, Kelly's Directories.

Bucks Herald Feb 20th 1931 (Marlow regatta record breaking), 8th April 1932 (defunct cricket club). Both British Library Archives.

Reading Mercury 26th Aug 1939 and Saturday 25 November 1939 British Library Archives in this case via the BNA.

Sheffield Independent 6th and 26th November 1930. British Library Archives via the BNA.

Bucks Free Press June 27th 1930, August 17th 1934, March 10th 1933 and 19th August 1932. Bucks Free Press archives.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Nations_Union

Regatta Programmes

Crown Hotel Marlow guide. 1930s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_at_the_1936_Summer_Olympics

Historic advertising literature, personal interviews.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Theatre_Association

A Man Called Florence - the life of Rev F T Wethered

If you thought that the Victorian postman in charge of rounds at Hurley has quite an easy and peaceful job, you would be reckoning without the Rev F T Wethered. That man certainly knew how to write letters. He probably would have kept the post service going in the village single handed. He fired off letters to national papers on religion, politics and history, to academic, sporting and natural history journals, to his parishioners who had gone far afield and of course personal correspondence. The local press was treated to his advice on everything from gardening to teaching children to swim and the evils of motor cars. As such we've learnt a lot of the Reverend's opinions on a whole host of subjects and so now it's the turn of the polymath to feature in a post of his own. 

A man called Florence 

The future Rev F T Wethered was born in Hurley Vicarage in 1840. He was called Florence as was his father* the then incumbent. You would be right to think the gentlemen shared an unusual first name. However this isn't because they bore what was then regarded as a typically female name, rather it was usually male if not that common overall. Our Florence spent his childhood in the lanes and meadows of Hurley, before going away to a school for young gentleman at the vicarage of Stratfield Mortimer. He was following the well worn path of sons of better off clergymen who were routinely sent away to their colleagues to receive an education before entering public school and university. For Florence university was Christ Church Oxford and a career following in his father's footsteps beckoned. In his late 20s he married Mary Josephine Bonsor at Hurley church. 

Born to rule at Hurley? 

When Florence was 8 his father bought the "advowson" of Hurley. This meant he was buying the power to nominate his successor there. Perhaps he was already thinking of placing his young son in the pulpit, or he just wanted to ensure his legacy would be carried on by someone he approved of. The nominations were subject to the diocese approving the person as a fit candidate. After his father's death in 1867, Florence inherited the advowson, and used it to advance himself to the living at Hurley. This was around 5 years after his ordination. Later on when debate was raging about how or if the advowson system should be changed, the case of the vicar of Hurley was often mentioned as an example of how it could advance nepotism. But Florence was hurt by being singled out in this way. He said he wanted to serve the parish that was his home and where he knew the people whose souls he would have care of. The inheritance of the advowson had allowed him to do that and he felt his family did nothing wrong. Regardless of how he came to the role, F T certainly served the parish with diligence for decades. 

Get the corks out

Florence had an affinity with the river. If he wasn't swimming in it, he was fishing or casting a critical eye at Sunday boaters who maybe should have been in church - at least according to FT.  In 1873 he wrote to The Field to weigh into the debate about the best way to teach boys to swim. He dismissed the usual practice of giving the children floats of bound rushes or belts of cork for example. The secret he said was to engage a waterman with a punt and a large pole. The would be swimmer would have a length of webbing placed under their arms and fastened over their back via a hoop to the pole. Perhaps he tried this method when teaching his own sons to swim. If so, his boys would certainly not have got out of lesson if the water was cold. Their father was a firm believer in daily swimming whatever the weather. In 1894 he said he'd bathed everyday before breakfast from December - February for the last 3 years, bar 3 days that the Thames was in high flood. He believed that doing so kept his iron constitution going, and he continued the habit well into old age - until a few months before his death in fact. 

When not swimming, Florence enjoyed fishing. He was involved with the various angling associations and bred trout for them in troughs at the Vicarage for future release into the Thames. 

Florence sued for libel 

Moving away would not necessarily mean the Florence's watchful eye did not follow you. In 1887, two of his former parishioners went away and married. Florence discovered that they had done so by the calling of banns in a parish where they were not legally resident. So Florence said the marriage was invalid. The vicar who conducted the marriage exchanged letters with Florence and revealed that the bride was heavily pregnant on the wedding day and that her sister had also been illegally married. FT was shocked. The couple had both been lodging with the girl's grandmother in Hurley and the vicar blamed her for failing to keep a sufficiently close eye on the goings on under her roof. She had worked for him as a washer woman and was promptly fired. The groom said the couple hadn't wished to marry in Hurley for the sake of quietness. (And avoiding Florence probably!) A little later Florence wrote an article in the parish magazine that referenced the fact that two parishioners had been illegally married and explaining the rules of banns. This resulted in an action of libel against Hurley's vicar. He said the case was motivated by a personal grudge as it was funded by someone who refused to be named. He lost, and had to pay a modest sum in compensation. The judge obviously disagreed with the juries verdict, cautioned the couple against their conduct and denied them the payment of their costs. Many other vicars spoke up in defence of FT who they said was doing only what every vicar did  - advising their flock as to their conduct. They considered their job would be impossible if they couldn't  call out "sinners". They raised a collection fund to pay Florence's legal costs. 

*Rev Florence senior was Florence James, the son of Thomas Wethered of Remnantz in Marlow. His wife and FT's mother was Esther nee Peel. Both are buried at Hurley. Esther's sister Anne also married a Wethered.

Councils mail bag gets bigger 

One of the most frequent recipients of Florence's missives was the local council. Pot holes, dusty roads and bad drainage were his particular bete noirs. When one of the councillors was reported to be rather dismissive of the volume, frequency and length of the correspondence (they'd just received a 20 page letter about the state of Hurley's roads from him) , Florence acted with fury. Another councillor said they "laughed" at the vicar and added his letters should always be read at the end of meetings so those who had important business could leave beforehand.  Florence regarded the comments as a personal insult to both him and his wife.  And so he wrote more letters. The road that most angered FT was repaired after all, although the council did say they were always going to do it eventually. 

The devils transport 

If you really wanted to get FT riled, the subject to raise was the motor car. In 1904 he suggested they shouldn't be allowed on the roads but instead should be given trackways like rail roads to travel upon. He expressed the same view the following year when addressing the High Wycombe Mutual Improvement Society.  This scheme was necessary as "most drivers are utterly selfish" and "life is already unbearable and the nuisance gets monthly worse and worse". Car travel was an emotive subject in Hurley at this time as a little boy from the village (Tommy Overall) had been run over and killed. 

When discussing the horrific automobiles, he recounts an interesting story he had found record of regarding an earlier form of transportation. This was an 1832 visit to Hurley by a "steam coach". It was due to stop at the village blacksmith to take on water. On doing so it drained the well. But it also needed some repairs. After this, watched by a large crowd, it limped off but had to stop every 20 yards or so. It was described as a "great unwieldy monster" and noisy to boot. 

History man

 Florence was a keen historian and antiquarian. He loved nothing better than delving through the parish records to find interesting old documents to share with the local press (by letter of course.) He made a great effort to track down items related to the history of Hurley. When the council asked him to hand over certain parish records as a recent law entitled them to, he flatly refused. He did not trust them to preserve them carefully. I do not think they ever managed to force him to do so. All his research cumulated in a book on the history of Hurley church in the middle ages which was published in 1898. He also wrote papers and gave many lectures on this subject. 

Man of many talents

Florence did not spend all of his time at his writing desk or in the pulpit. He was fortunate enough to spend much time in Switzerland pursuing his hobby of Alpine climbing. Regarded as an authority on certain routes and climbs, correspondence from FT often filled the columns of the Alpine Clubs journals. In 1918 they politely called him "as vigorous a correspondent as ever". He retained an affinity for the Swiss communities that he visited and led fundraising efforts for the relief of those affected by avalanches and rock slips. 

I have not mentioned much about Florence's family, which would make this post too long. But I will mention that Hurley church bears a memorial to his soldier son Lieutenant Harold who died of enteric fever in Lucknow, India in 1898. The plaque was put up by the officers of his regiment. Florence himself passed away in 1919. 

N.B if you were wondering what horticultural advice Florence had I will pass on an example tip. If you need to get snow off conifers without damaging them, use a long handled hay rake for the task. Now you know. 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day 

More information:

To find other posts about Hurley see the index here

To read about how the "horseless carriage" was received in Marlow see the post here

© Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use this research with credit to this blog.

Sources :

Ten Days Hard Work In The Zermatt District BY THE REV. F. T. WETHERED. Read before the Alpine Club, December 16, 1875.

Conway, William Martin - The Zermatt Pocket-book: A Guide-book to the Pennine Alps, Edward Stanford 1881  

The Ecclesiastical gazette, or, Monthly register of the affairs of the Church of England. United Kingdom, n.p, 1867 & 1868

Wethered, Florence Thomas. St. Mary's Hurley in the Middle Ages: Based on Hurley Charters and Deeds. United Kingdom, Bedford Press, 1898.

Reading Mercury January 20th 1894, March 30th 1918. Via the BNA from the British Library Archives.

South Bucks standard 24th December 1887, 28th Jan 1898, 1st December 1905 . Both via the BNA and the British Library Archives.

Maidenhead Advertiser 9th October 1872, 28th December 1887, 18th March 1903 & 20th November 1904. 

Hurley census record returns from the transcript by Jane Pullinger. 

Newspaper cutting 1st June 1894 (Reading Mercury?) with thanks to Enid. 

The Field, September 1873. 

 

 

Will of Henry Saint John Bell

Henry Saint John Bell surgeon of Great Marlow [ his name was often rendered Henry St John Bell and sometimes simply Henry Bell  or Harry Bell or Harry St John Bell]. Will written 1777 proved 1778.

Henry says that he wishes to ratify and confirm the settlement made at the time of his marriage to his present wife in which it was agreed that the property he now dwells in will be delivered up to her and her assigns for her lifetime. He now also gives her the house he "recently" bought [probably in 1771] next door to his dwelling house in which William Eardley lives. Also to her a piece of meadow ground he occupies [uses] in Marlow Common Meadow [the Common Field]. Subject to the payment of a legacy of £300 to his daughter Celia Bell, her heirs, executors and assigns. Think says after her death to his son Joseph Bell and his heirs, executors and assigns.

All his plate, linen, china, household goods, utensils and furniture to be privately taken in upon his death. His wife has use of them except a silver tankard engraved with his arms (which is to go to his grandson) in her lifetime if she stays unmarried to anyone else and must be answerable for any loss or damage to these articles caused by accident or wilful neglect or by the reasonable household use of these goods. If she dies or remarries it all except his dimmity covered bed in the best chamber and the bedding and quilt belonging to it to go to his son and daughter. That bed is to go to his daughter, her executors or administrators upon the death or remarriage of his wife.

Also to his son and daughter equally all his share of the stock in trade, moneys, debts, dues and demands belonging to his co partnership with William Eardley. They to pay first his funeral expenses and all his just debts.

Executors to pay 5 guineas for a ring for Mr Thomas Ellison as a token of testator's friendship and regard towards him. Also one guinea to be spent on a ring for his wife's niece Miss Mary Hammond.

All other monies, bonds, securities, stock and ... in funds held in his own name, the name of John H...e or in the name of any other person whatsoever to his daughter ?Celia her executors administrators or assigns.

His wife Elizabeth, son and daughter made joint executors of the will.

Signs H.St John Bell. Witnesses= Thomas Ellison, George Ellison, Sarah Porter.

Administration granted to his widow Elizabeth with the right also to administer reserved to the two other named executors if they should apply for that power.

Note: Bell and Eardley operated from the High Street after going into partnership in 1771. They were also apothecaries. Bell had been operating long before this in Marlow however. He was the son (bapt 1716) of Joseph and Celia Bell of Aylesbury.

Elizabeth's own will is already on the blog here. She was not his first wife nor the mother of Celia or Joseph as they were baptised well before she married Henry in 1770. She was nee Hammond.

This summary produced by me Charlotte Day from my transcription of an original at the National Archives Kew.

Over 100 Marlow wills are on this blog- see the Will Transcription Index on the side menu. You might also like to look at the Graves Index and the A-Z Person Index.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use and share my transcription summary with credit to this blog.

Hilsdon Grave, Marlow Cemetery

"In Loving Memory of my dear father Joseph Hilsdon, d. 17th November 1917 age 55 years. And of Dear Mother who went to join him 4th June 1931 age 71"

"In memory we see them just the same, As we live we cherish their name" 

More graves, some accompanied by research on the deceased are indexed here (Marlow, Little Marlow, Hurley, Bisham).

All mentions of any individual can be served for on the A-Z Person Index. 

©Marlow Ancestors. Reproduction of grave image freely allowed and very welcome with credit to this blog. 

The Flemings Of Marlow Place

Edmond and Isabella Fleming kept Marlow Place as their country home from at least 1829 to the spring or summer of 1833. It is possible that they leased the property as early as 1823. They certainly had connection to Marlow that far back as we shall see below.

Edmond was a silversmith, jeweller, money lender and pawnbroker who operated from multiple London premises with the help of his family and numerous hired staff. He was an extremely wealthy man clearly in love with his job as he continued to work right up until his death aged 88 in 1836. As well as the usual pawnbroker fare of silver spoons, secondhand clothes, and rolls of fabric, Edmond's shops glittered with a grand display of jewellery items set with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, pearls, garnets, and jacinths, with heavy gold chains, silver and gold spectacles, top quality watches and clocks not to mention paintings, snuff boxes and music boxes. Though it stretched his ready cash supplies a little he once lent a combined total of £2,500 to a single customer over the course of a few days. If he found himself in possession of too much unredeemed stock he would sell some at auction, often at auctions organised with other pawnbrokers. 

So where did our multi-hatted business man come from? Not from Marlow sadly, but from Cumberland, according to contemporary report, though the names in his family suggest a probable ultimate origin in Scotland. His wife Isabella, lived into her 90s and thus to the age of the census. In 1841 she is stated as having been born in Scotland. The couple married in London in 1782.  She was nee Purse. It isn't known how she came to make the journey to London, but we do know that she was not alone there as her brothers Alexander and William Purse both lived in the city. They too were silversmiths and in Alexander's case also a pawnbroker.

Edmund came to London with two of his own brothers, William who settled in Holborn and Joseph who based himself in Drury Lane. Joseph was certainly a pawnbroker too. William was probably the William Fleming goldsmith, silversmith and pawnbroker of Whitechapel High Street who had died or left his premises around 1829. Joseph was perhaps first to arrive in the big smoke as he appears as a London pawnbroker from 1774.  William married in London  the next year. Edmund was not definitely there before his 1782 marriage and does not definitely have his own London premises until 1802. It is possible that he and William initially worked for their brother Joseph. That said sources for the late 1700s business of London are scant.

Joseph lived in Gloucester Place, Camden Town though his shop in Drury Lane was also a dwelling house.

He did marry but mentions no children in his will. 

William is interesting as his bride is Mary Margaret Hammond at their London marriage. For reasons that you will see below it is possible that she was a relative of the Hammonds of Western House Marlow.

William and Mary had a son Henry who became a pawnbroker and silversmith too with his own premises but this doesn't seem to have lasted long. In 1827 Henry walked into another silversmith's shop, picked up a watch and just walked out with it. He was arrested. At an initial hearing it was suggested to the court that he must have been insane as no rational person openly steals a watch in broad daylight with no attempt to conceal the act. They guessed he was a teacher as he had pockets full of pens. There is no reason to think that was the explanation for the pens. It does make you wonder if he was not unwell in some way and suffering from mental confusion. Nevertheless he plead guilty and was transported to Australia.

Edmund's business concerns eventually significantly eclipsed that of his brothers. The scale of his pawnbroking/ silversmithing empire (one of his premises, in Farringdon Street, was so big it was actually a warehouse) meant he had to put a lot of trust into his staff to do without him for at least part of the time on a day to day basis. In 1828 Edmund realized that the trust placed in one of them was a mistake. Thomas Kerby, a seven year employee of Edmund's had committed multiple frauds against him. Stretching himself too thin may also be the reason that Edmund was twice fined for not displaying a both visible and legible list of his fees in one of his shops. I doubt a 40 shilling fine hurt his pocket that much!

We can't make any excuses over Edmund's conviction and fine for charging a customer who had pawned a cloak half a pence too much interest. Tsk,tsk Edmund.

Like most pawnbrokers all the Flemings suffered from thieves attempting to sell them stolen goods and as a result Fleming employees made frequent trips to the courts to give evidence for the prosecution. The risk of getting a bad reputation if stolen or fake goods were not identified quickly hung over all such enterprises. In 1787 an apparently unrelated London pawnbroker Francis  Fleming was exposed as a long term fence for goods taken in burglaries. Word that a pawnbroker called Fleming was to appear at the Old Bailey reached the people of Cumberland and some jumped to the conclusion that one of our Flemings was responsible, or as the Cumberland paper thought had deliberately spread this false information in a spirit of maliciousness. The paper was quick to stress that Edmund, William and Joseph were all honest traders with good characters (this was before the half pence overcharge on the cloak, mind you).

Edmund and Isabella's son David was also a wealthy pawnbroker and silversmith, with premises in Whitechapel. These David had perhaps taken over from from his uncle William, Edmund's brother. As David had no wife or children his principal heirs were his siblings but also two of his employees, John Vaughan and a man whose full name I could not quite read who received legacies of £200 and £50 respectively.

David's will was witnessed by a Henry Hammond of Great Marlow. It was written in 1823, six years before David's death and the first known date of the Flemings living at Marlow Place. The will was likely witnessed in London as the other men putting their names to it were London traders. Henry Hammond was the brother of Robert Hammond of Western House, Marlow. Were these Hammonds relatives of David's aunt Mary Fleming, nee Hammond? If the Flemings were not already maintaining a country home in Marlow why does one of them already know the Flemings well enough to be asked to witness so important a document as David's will in 1823, probably making a journey in order to do so?

There are other intriguing Fleming connections to Marlow. The family of late Victorian High Street grocer Edmund Coster believed that his mother was of the Marlow Place Flemings. My research suggests it is not likely she was a direct descendant of Edmund and Isabella but she might have been a slightly more distant relative. She was born in London. Another Flemming connection is the presence of a Mrs Flemming as the occupier in a cottage next to the Hammond's in Western House in 1833. We will endeavour to see if any of these links can be explained. 

Another son of Edmund and Isabella Fleming, William Thomas served an apprenticeship to a stationer but ended up becoming - yes, you guessed it -a silversmith and pawnbroker. At first he was with his father then traded as an independent in Fleet Market. There he was accused of not displaying his fees, at the same hearing his dad appeared for the same offence but William got off on a legal technicality as this address on the summons was slightly wrong. At some point between 1832 and 1834 around the time his parents decided to give up their country home of Marlow Place, William bought his own pile out in the sticks- Cookham Grove not too far from Marlow. His parents, siblings and other relatives all used it too, this was a close family and this likely reflects their approach at Marlow Place too. It was there that Edmond died aged 88 after a short illness in 1836, and Isabella in 1847. 

Like his father and brother David William Thomas was one of the governors of the Pawnbrokers Society.

A further son Joseph of Edmund and Isabella was initially a solicitor at Old Jewry but looks to have succumbed and become a pawnbroker as well as a solicitor before the end of his life. Joseph like his brothers had neither a wife nor children. This meant that two of their sisters Isabella, the eldest, and Louisa inherited much of the combined family estate as well as the lease of Cookham Grove. The women were the main legatees and executors of their mother. 

After the deaths in middle age of both her brothers, Isabella formally took over the family business for her mother. Given the scale of the operation involved it is hard to see her managing to do this if she hadn't already had some involvement prior to that. Like her dad Isabella would continue to operate as a silversmith and pawnbroker until she was in her 80s, splitting her time between London and Cookham. For inexplicable reasons her brothers had been granted probate but had failed to administer their father's will during their respective life times or appoint anyone else to do so despite years passing by so after her mother also died, Isabella sought permission to administer the whole lot, which was granted. 

In his will Edmund had suggested that his elderly wife could consider running the business after his death. If she didn't wish to do that the premises and stock were supposed to be sold off for her benefit. He obviously didn't guess that his daughter Isabella would consider taking over. As it happened the business was neither sold nor taken over by the mother. It appears Isabella's  brother Joseph took to pawnbroking alongside practicing law until his death and Isabella's subsequent takeover.

Isabella and Louisa had numerous servants to make them comfortable at Cookham and in London. The women obviously enjoyed the riverside location of Cookham Grove as they were both subscribers to a monograph on kingfishers in 1868 and one of them also donated to another bird book. While Isabella may have approved of kingfishers dipping into the Thames she was far less keen on the human equivalent. In fact Isabella and her legal representatives waged unceasing war not only on anglers but boatmen, Thames Conservancy workers, bathers, lock keepers and anyone else she considered to be annoying her or infringing on her rights to the river bank. Isabella was accused of "locking up" and blocking off everything she could to impede access to fishing ponds, backwaters and the bridges over them. She seems to have been the terror of Cookham waterfront!

Isabella subscribed to the very Victorian sounding Asylum For Idiots. The Queen herself was a patron of this Redhill institution. If you are imagining straight jackets and cruelty you will be pleased to know that the mission of the asylum was to provide kindness, protection, and education for those usually considered impossible to educate in any way. Isabella and Louisa's donations entitled them to vote for which candidate "idiots" should be admitted into the asylum when a place became vacant!

Education was perhaps a cause they particularly felt close to as they also donated to Diocesan church building funds over many years.

Louisa and Isabella both lived to a ripe old age. 

Written and researched by Charlotte Day.

For more posts similar to this see the Biographies Of Families Index

A history of all the different occupiers of Marlow Place can be read here.

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

Selected Sources=

Wills of David Alexander Fleming 1829, Joseph Fleming 1803, William Purse 1805, Alexander Purse 1825, Edmond Fleming 1836 and Isabella Fleming 1847 all transcribed by me from copies of the originals held at the National Archives, Kew.

First Annual Report of the Committee to the Governors & Subscribers of the Pawnbroker's Society, 1824. Google Books.

1833 Parochial Assessment Great Marlow 

Johnstone's London Commercial Guide and Street Directory, published by Barnard and Farley, London, 1817.

The Gentleman's Magazine volume 183. By E Cave 1848. And volume 176 in 1844.

The Westminster Poll Book 1774. Google books.

Prospectus For The Asylum For Idiots. United Kingdom, n.p, 1859.

Kelly's Post Office Directory of Berkshire etc, By Kelly's Directorie Limited 1869.

M Billing's Directory and Gazetteer Of The Counties of Berks and Oxon by Martin Billings 1854.

Robson's London Commercial Directory 1822 and 1839.

Post Office Annual Directory 1808, University of Leicester Archives.

Newspapers from the British Library's archives and accessed by me via the BNA=

Cumberland Paquet 9th April 1788, Cheltenham Chronicle 3rd April 1828, Morning Advertiser 10th December 1831.

Thames River Preservation Reports, Parliamentary Papers of Great Britain Published by the Stationary Office.

Cookham Census 1841, Rootspoint https://www.rootspoint.com/record/1841-UK-Census/Joseph-Fleming-1791-Out-Of-County/4ac30f05-13cb-4ce5-bd4e-94f43b47f0de/

Other Cookham census transcribed from microfilm, National Archives by Jane Pullinger, With thanks. 

Marlow in the Civil War

In 1640 King Charles 1st needed money in order to keep Scottish insurrections down and expected parliament to agree to raise this. M.P.s largely felt they would get little reward in return and that if he could Charles would find excuses to be done with them altogether.

An M.P offered a £650,000 loan to the King in return for a bill promising not to "perogue, adjourn or dissolve this  parliament without the consent of both houses". 

Marlow M.P Bulstrode Whitlocke was tasked with drafting this bill . His "An Act to prevent Inconveniences, which may happen by the untimely adjourning, proroguing, or dissolving this present Parliament" went through parliament and gained royal assent assent though very begrudgingly so. Peace between parliament and crown would not last long.

Bulstrode Whitelocke was a lawyer by trade and seated at Fawley Court. He became M.P in 1640. He was at first declared the loser in the election but that result was quashed when it was revealed that the return sent to parliament by the town burgesses had been a false one (allegedly at the behest of the Mayor of Marlow, but did we have one then?). Mr Hoby was the other elected M.P at that time.

Bulstrode was appointed to the committee examining the possible impeachment of the King's chief minister the Earl Strafford. That impeachment was decided upon and Bulstrode acted as one of the barristers for the prosecution. Strafford said afterwards that Bulstrode, unlike some others present, treated him like the gentleman he was but was nevertheless absolutely determined against him.

As war broke out Bulstrode rode to Oxford, with what became by the end of his journey thanks to the gradual picking up of more and more supporters, around 3000 men. They entered the city without opposition. Bulstrode warned that Oxford was an obvious strategic base for Royalist troops and that the town ought to be fortified against their incursion. Lord thought the city unlikely to be particularly desired by the Royalists and so these plans were, to the roundheads significant later regret, not pursued. 

While he was away Bulstrode's home Fawley Court was occupied by a Royalist regiment of horse under the ultimate command of Prince Rupert. Soldiers used valuable books from Bulstrode's library as touch papers to light their pipes and plundered his estates of corn and other foodstuffs. They stole all four of his carriages and used them to carry away his valuables including various family heirlooms. The damage to the house was so bad that it was no longer considered as a really liveable in home ever again and was pulled down and rebuilt 40 years later.

Bulstrode was one of the peace commissioners sent to the King and Prince Rupert at Oxford in 1642 to present a peace treaty. This ultimately was not signed by Charles who gave away the stolen Fawley Court to his supporter Sir Charles Blunt in a further slap in the face for our Marlow M.P.

Bulstrode gave a long speech in Parliament a few months later urging peace. He told his fellow M.P.s that God had given them "in many places great successes against our enemies and sometimes he is pleased to give our enemies successes against us. In all of them whether of the one party or the other the poor English are still the sufferers.  Whose goods I pray sir, are plundered? Whose houses are burnt? Whose limbs are cut or shot off?...Whose blood stains the walls of our towns and defiles our land? Is it not all English? And is it not then time for us who are all Englishmen to be weary of these discords and to use our utmost endeavours to put an end to them?" But peace was not easily to be achieved. 

In 1645 Bulstrode was accused of having with another man been previously in secret meeting with the King, following an accidental meeting between them at Oxford, in which he had in fact urged the King to go to parliament and make peace. It was not permitted for any Parliamentarian to meeth Charles or one of his representatives without openly announcing such intent. Bulstrode was found not guilty.

Nevertheless rumours arose that when Charles stopped at Hambledon right in Bulstrode's home patch, in 1646 Bulstrode had turned a blind eye for fear the king would be murdered otherwise. For religious reasons he had various enemies that might have spread malicious gossip in order to discredit him. They were the movers and shakers behind the earlier charges against him. In any case it was hardly down to Bulstrode alone to watch for a fleeing monarch. 

The former Royalist stronghold at Greenlands Hambledon, had been destroyed following a six month siege two years earlier. Cannons were fired from across the river at the house. Bulstrode later bought the ruins and the land that went with them.

He then lived himself at Phyllis Court which was fortified under his supervision and effectively used as a garrison for several hundred Roundhead soldiers so his commitment to the Parliamentary cause per se isn't really in doubt.

Around this time he used his influence to prevent the libraries of the colleges of Oxford being sequestered. He was a former alumni of Oxford himself.

All the while he was involved in fighting and attempts at making peace Bulstrode also continued to practice law.

When plans to put the King on trial for his life were being put into place Bulstrode fled from his London professional base to the country so as to avoid any order to give assistance. He did not support the execution of Charles or the abolition of the House of Lords. Once he was certain that he would not be personally involved in the trial he returned to the city. On the day of the King's execution Bulstrode stayed home working and praying.

Thomas Scot(t) of Little Marlow, M.P for Aylesbury and a lawyer was one of those appointed to try the King. He voted in favour of the guilt of Charles and was one of the men who signed his death warrant. Unlike some of the other signatories Thomas never regretted his part in the regicide, in fact he declared his pride in it to the end of his days. From 1649 he was the head of national and foreign intelligence whose role included keeping tabs on Royalist exiles abroad. When the tide eventually turned towards the restoration of the monarchy, Thomas himself attempted to shelter from the approaching storm of retribution abroad, but was arrested and returned to face the music. Inevitably considering his continued defiance and lack of repentance, he was executed in 1661 for his role in the regicide.

Seymour Court house in Marlow and the farm that went with it were let by the elderly William Herbert, Baron Powis (nephew of the former Queen Catherine Parr wife of Henry 8th) and his wife Eleanor, (nee Percy daughter of the Earl of Northumberland) during the Civil War. They had other estates and it is uncertain whether they were ever in actual residence here. According to some folklore the house was attacked and damaged by Parliamentarian forces during the war. I can find no direct contemporary evidence for that, though William and Eleanor's son Percy was declared a "delinquent" as a Royalist and had his estates elsewhere sequestered. It also seems that William himself may have lost property in Wales but not obviously in Marlow for the same reason. He was certainly imprisoned for a period despite his advanced age for his political sympathies. The family also suffered financially because of Eleanor's (and possibly her husband's) religious recusancy. In their final years both seem to have run up large debts and experienced much (relative) hardship.

Lord Paget was a local roundhead supporter, living with his family at Harleyford during the war.

But what of the ordinary people of Marlow during the war?

Parliamentary forces certainly came to Marlow, destroyed it's bridge to prevent Royalist troops using it to to cross the Thames and took possession of the church. Both horses and men occupied the church, necessitating a deep clean afterwards, and the churchyard. During this era of course almost no one had a stone erected on their grave and graveyards were fenced so they would have made a more convenient camping / horse grazing place than would be the case today. In his 1981 book Thames Crossings by Geoffrey Phillips said that there was in Marlow a chapel of St Mary, from at least 1394 which was located at "the town end of the bridge" and that the "ruins" of it were removed in civil war to build fortifications. All this must have proved disconcerting to the ordinary folk of the town even if they had roundhead leanings. There are some unanswered questions as to how life for them changed under partial military occupation. Did the soldiers allow access to the churchyard for parish burials or to the church for normal worship for instance? Marriage ceremonies in this era often started in a church porch as it symbolised the bridging of the secular and spiritual world's. The end of the ceremony was then performed inside church. During the civil war the whole ceremony could have taken place in the porch if the parties were allowed that far at least. Baptism was quite commonly performed outside of a church anyway.

Following the war, between 1653 and 1660, marriage became purely a civil act in the eyes of the law though not in the eyes of most people. During this period church marriages had no legal validity so that couples had to present themselves to a Justice of the Peace in order to tie the knot. In practice brides and grooms often sneaked in a religious ceremony as well as a civil one. The then London-based parents of future Marlow resident James Etheridge were one such couple according to his writings. First they married at a chapel in Lincoln's Inn, then the next day they had an official service conducted by the correct official.

Charles Lovejoy the Marlow shoemaker 1648 betrays perhaps some hint that commercial life was being disrupted in the town as he instructs his wife Abigail to sell his Marlow house "at some convenient time". As this was in part to pay his debts which would normally be paid as soon as possible after death, delay would usually have been avoided by all concerned to prevent unpleasantness. Some property transactions certainly did take place however as can be seen at the property records of Buckinghamshire Archives, including those which needed the involvement of those from outside of the immediate local area indicating road travel was not thought impossibly risky. It certainly wasn't easy however with so many bridges closed and road maintenance disrupted.

The civil war disrupted imports, exports and internal trade within England. The barge masters of both Great Marlow and Little Marlow must have faced a headache as their River Thames became a point of contention between the opposing forces for more or less it's whole length. Parliamentary ammunition barges and boats passed through Marlow multiple times on their way from Windsor to Reading. Soldiers were transported by water from London to Reading through Marlow. Some may have stopped in the town on the way. You can bet these were watched in passing by curious or fearful Marlovians. 

The loss of not only Marlow's bridge but other local ones like Maidenhead effected not only the ability of the residents to trade but to see their families. Many Marlow people for instance had relatives just across the river at Bisham but what a world away they must have seemed without a usable bridge between the two banks of the river. It is uncertain whether little rowing boats were allowed to cross at will or whether civilians could even leave such boats by the river because of the possibility that they might fall into the "wrong" hands. Those with friends or family in Windsor must have heard news of the Royalist attack on the town in 1642, when it did filter through, with dismay. Ultimately those Royalists troops were driven back. Some of our townspeople had family in Hambledon too, the site of the Greenlands siege.

Though towns were considerably more self sufficient than today luxury items such as pewter, glassware and silks sold by local mercers largely came from London sources and would have been more of a headache for Marlovians to obtain if they wished to avoid a trip to London and normal supplies couldn't arrive. The Parliamentary army occupied London in 1648 refusing to leave until all unpaid tax levies created to fund the army were fully collected from the residents. The atmosphere in London must have been intimidating. In The Impact Of The Civil War On The London Economy Ben Coates writes that the tax collectors then charged with this duty were often accompanied by soldiers.

The writer also tell us that soldiers in the roundhead New Model Army were not given any food rations except when involved in a siege but rather had to buy their own food. An official travelling "market" followed them. There is disagreement about where those market supplies came from but I agree with the author that it would have been impossible not to need to source food along the way rather than just haul it all from London. Buckinghamshire farmers, including Marlovians, could have rode out to and bargained with the market sellers when they were anywhere within reach in order to sell their crops for cash.

Where soldiers were billeted in a premises food provided might be paid in tickets which could be  exchanged for cash later (well, in theory). Did any Marlow homes or inns get used in this way or was the church accommodation sufficient? Two named inns are known in Marlow town centre at the time, the (Upper) Crown and the Bear and certainly there were several more whose names are lost to us.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day. 

Related Posts=

1600s trade directory  Part One. Part Two

Leisure in 1600s Marlow here

More posts about Marlow pre 1800 indexed here.

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

Some Sources=

The Impact of the English Civil War on the Economy of London, 1642-50 by Ben Coates .United Kingdom: Ashgate, 2004.

Memorials of the English Affairs by Bulstrode Whitlocke.

Property records, Buckinghamshire Archives.

https://historyofparliament.com/2019/08/30/averting-the-prorogation-of-parliament-may-1641/

Memoirs, Biographical and Historical, of Bulstrode Whitelocke: Lord Commissioner of the Great Seal, and Ambassador at the Court of Sweden, at the Period of the Commonwealth. By R.H Whitelocke United Kingdom: Routledge, Warne, and Routledge, 1860.

The Marlow Guide, 1967.

Magna Britannia: Being a Concise Topographical Account of the Several Counties of Great Britain. Containing Bedfordshire, Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire, Volume 1 by Daniel Lyssons. Published by Cadell. United Kingdom. 1867.

Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 51: Scott, Thomas (d.1660) .

Calender of proceedings : preserved in the state paper department of Her Majesty's public record office.Great Britain. Committee for Compounding with Delinquents, 1643-1660 HMSO Publication date 1889. Accessed from the Internet Archive.

Will of Charles Lovejoy transcribed by me from a copy held at the National Archives, Kew.

Chiltern Hundreds by Albert J Foster published Great Britain by Virtue, 1897.

Thames Crossings: bridges, tunnels and ferries, by Geoffrey Phillips . Published Great Britain by David & Charles, 1981.