Life in 1950s Marlow Part Three Transport and Childhood

Part One covered sport and leisure, Part two dealt with homes and employment.

Post by Charlotte

Transport 

Car ownership while not uncommon was far from universal in the 1950s so bus services and trains as well as cycling were important to local people trying to get from A to B. Currall's Garage in the High Street offered repairs and sales for those lucky enough to have their own car and of course there was Platts garage too. Platts was a Morris and M.G dealer. The Maple Garage in Little Marlow Road was an Esso and Ford dealership. Unusually for the times it opened for the sale of petrol on a Sunday.  Petrol rationing continued into the 1950s meaning careful thought needed to be made about whether any journey was necessary. A couple of  petrol pumps stood ready outside Comptons cycle shop in West Street for any motorists who pulled up kerbside. Marlow Bottom wasn't to be left out, Witches Barn Garage still operated in the village.

A Mr or Mrs Cook of Marlow had a red upholstered 1953 second hand Austin A30 for sale as advertised in the Reading Mercury 1958 for a bargain £415.

See a pic of the A30 on Wikipedia here.

Daniel Gibbons of 19 York Road had previously operated as a secondhand car and other vehicle dealer but I haven't found any reference to him still doing that in the 1950s. He was definitely still operating as a rag and bone man however, which was previously his sideline.

George Bason of 18 Wycombe Road sold secondhand motorbikes and offered repairs.

Mr Sylvester of 41 West Street was a driving instructor, possibly the only one in town at first. 

Driving could have its hazards then as now. Heavy snows of February and early March 1958 saw buses unable to reach High Wycombe and the roads out of town to Henley and Stokenchurch were blocked for all traffic.

More bizarrely the road at the foot of Bisham Hill was covered in jam for hours following a collision involving a truck carrying several tons of the sweet stuff in 1958. What a sticky situation.

Concerns about the weight of the traffic crossing Marlow Bridge have dogged the structure since the 1800s. Increased weight restrictions on vehicles using the bridge and emergency structural repairs to it were both needed in the 1950s. Thames Valley services from Maidenhead stopped crossing the bridge in 1958 because of new weight restrictions. Instead passengers got on and off in Quarry Wood Road.

Other bus services connected Marlovians to Reading and High Wycombe. The Marlow-Little Marlow-Bourne End service however came to an end in the 1950s because too few people were using it at a time when petrol rationing meant bus companies had to ensure every bus they sent out on a journey had earned it's share of the limited petrol supplies available.

Bicycles were available to buy from C. A Boddy in the High Street. Like quite a few other cycle suppliers in this time period he also supplied prams. Well, they both have wheels, I suppose. The Boddys also sold toys. Another cycle agent was Comptons in West Street, also a motorcycle seller and as mentioned above a petrol supplier 

Marlow still had a full sized railway station in the 1950s.

Childhood 

Schools

The 1958 Marlow Town Guide lists the Girls' school as being in Oxford Road and the Boys' one in Wethered Road as well as Sir William Borlase School (then just for boys and both a boarding and day school) in West Street. They obviously hadn't updated themselves from their previous edition as the schools had in fact been totally reorganised in 1954. A good lesson in treating all historical sources even very official seeming ones with caution. Back to school for the guide authors we say! The boys' school had been transformed into a unisex secondary school known as All Saints Secondary School. The future site of Great Marlow School was purchased by the council in 1957 though it would not be developed into a secondary school for several more years. Bigger premises were sorely needed as All Saints Secondary School was bursting at the seams. Until further schools opened in Stokenchurch and High Wycombe children from Lane End and Cadmore End had to attend the Marlow school. Overcrowding meant that the school was not able to offer the G.C.E exam, as extra classes for the pupils who wished to study for it could not be physically accommodated. Any children who wanted to pursue post 15 education elsewhere would be helped to find avenues to it where possible however. 

Reach for the stars, kids

As well as not having to take exams the pupils of All Saints weren't required to do homework - until the teachers got the unwelcome idea to try it in 1955. At first only some classes fell victim but from September 1956 the whole school was told to expect compulsory homework unless they had a parental letter of exemption. Such exemptions might be because the child helped in the family business, looked after younger siblings or simply because the family did not believe that school work should be allowed to encroach in family together time (this latter was a common sentiment). 

At their speech day in 1956 the speaker was an Air Vice marshall who told the children that they were lucky to be growing up in the Atomic Age as there would be lots of exiting opportunities for them. He predicted interplanetary travel might be an established fact by the late 1980s or early 90s.

In 1958 at the Borlase School speech day the guest speaker was t.v personality and criminologist John Watson who told the boys that in order to be happy men they would need two things- the right job and right wife. He warned them that a "safety first" attitude in life would be dangerous to them (not necessarily in reference to choosing a wife). 

Borlase converted part of the original school building into a flat for the caretaker and a recreation room for the school masters during the 1950s. Mr Hazelton, the Head in 1957 said that in the next year there would be around 350 pupils at his school including 80-90 boys in the Sixth Form. This he felt represented a school that had grown too fast to keep up with itself.

The 1958 Town Guide  also makes no mention of Foxes Piece School which was built between 1954-56, initially just as an infant's school with only three classrooms. The rest of the grounds were used as sports fields for other Marlow schools. Foxes Piece was only meant to be a temporary school at first. However it was extended and became a full junior school for 5-12 year olds in the 1960s. More on the early days of this school and the history of the Foxes Piece area is available in my post here.  

Another point upon which the Town Guide was well out of date on was the fact that the Oxford Road school was then functioning as another infant school. A premises in St Peters Street (which had also previously functioned as the Girls' School) was in 1954 turned into a mixed junior school (middle school). There was a mixed Catholic school in St Peter Street too. At Medmenham children attended the village school. Danesfield was of course yet to exist.

Dial Close, a private school for girls operated from the Causeway.  Another private girls school Wycombe Court was located at Lane End but put on buses to bring in Marlow pupils. It had a unisex kindergarten.

When they weren't being drilled in the three Rs or receiving questionable life advice from a criminologist, there were numerous leisure opportunities for our younger Marlovians.

Hobbies, toys and clubs 

Owning a television was becoming increasingly common in the town. British children with a set might already be watching 2 hours of television every day according to research quoted in the book A Century of Childhood. A t.v show detailing the adventures of American Davy Crockett led to a mass childhood craze of wearing a Davy Crocket style mock fur hat. I haven't been able to find evidence of these on sale in Marlow but Bonners Superstore in High Wycombe certainly offered them and was only a bus ride away.

Model airplanes and games could be bought from Moretons (primarily a bee keeping supplies shop!) in West Street. The children of the secondary school and if the former boys' school kept bees on the premises and produced their own honey so they may actually have enjoyed browsing the bee keeping supplies while they were there. Toys were also available from the Woolworths in Market Square, from the Boddy's BTC toy shop in the High Street and from Jane Ann's in West Street which offered Meccano, Dinky, Triang and Hornby ranges amongst others. The small department store W.J Daniels in Market Square had an upstairs toy department.

The Marlow Sea Cadets , just for boys, formed in 1956 though they did not yet have their own premises and met initially at All Saints Secondary School. A Boys Club, Boy Scouts and Girl Guides already existed. The latter met in a hut in Quarry Wood Road. 

Higginson Park, Riley Park (usually then called Riley Recreation Ground), Gossmore and Seymour Park were all open spaces available to play in while a children's paddling place was set up in an enclosed section of the River Thames in 1958. This was in addition to the official Bathing Place Marlow then had in the Thames at Quarry Woods for both adults and children.

Not all the outdoor activities of 1950s Marlow children would meet our approval today. Butterfly and bird egg collecting were still quite widely practiced by some children, mostly little boys. I used to have a 1950s children's butterfly book previously owned by a local boy in which the young reader is given detailed instructions as to how to use poison to suffocate a trapped butterfly and warned that sniffing or accidentally consuming the recommended poisons might kill him too. A repurposed soft drinks bottle was recommended as a carrying vessel for such poisons. Fail! Though Mr Watson the safety-last criminologist probably approved.

For sources for this series of posts see Part One. 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.

Culture, Honour and Virtue - A history of the early Catholic schools in Marlow

St Peter Street in Marlow may be a place of quiet calm and gentility now but if you were to walk it in the early and mid Victorian era, a much more noisy and boisterous atmosphere would have prevailed. There were many reasons for this - more inns and beer-houses, the bustling Limbrook wharf, Gibbon's brewery and later the Buckinghamshire Chair Factory¹. 

One of the characteristic sounds of the street would also have been the sound of children playing. In the 1860s St Peter Street was home to 5 schools - the Catholic charity/infants school, the small Convent School, the National girls, the National infants,  and the private boarding schools for young gentlemen run from the Deanery². And then there was of course another "classic and commercial" boarding school at Marlow Place³ just a stone throw away. Our focus today is on the three Catholic schools. 

Undated and sadly very faded image of a group of pupils, identified by Michael Eagleton as coming from the Catholic infants school. Image used with thanks. 

NB. Most older historic references to the St Peter's school refer not as we would expect to the Catholic school whose modern successor goes by that name but to the two National schools in the road. The others were usually referred to just as the Catholic schools or the Convent schools. 

A start in West Street

The oldest of the two Catholic establishments was the infants charity school, as established by Charles Robert Scott Murray of Danesfield and Medmenham Abbey. Scott Murray was a wealthy and prominent Catholic convert and the person who paid for the building of St Peter's Church in Marlow⁴. The first version of the school was actually located at the Albion Rooms West Street, part of Albion House - a building which has a long connection to schooling⁵. It was established there by 1850. Initially it was ran by a couple of lay ladies and was definitely on the small side - about 20-25 pupils. It is curious that the property was let to the school managers by the Clayton family of Harleyford Manor as Sir William Clayton was outspokenly anti Catholic in the years leading up to the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829. (A speech he gave in 1827 at the Town Hall in Marlow equated Catholicism with evil, tyranny and "intellectual degradation". And that was just the warm up!) This illustrates the prejudice Scott Murray faced when securing space for this purpose. 

Help for the poor

In late 1852 Scott Murray had organised for the Sisters of Charity of St Paul the Apostle based at Banbury to start a small convent at Marlow. They were also to take over the running of the charity school. In 1853 they moved into their new premises adjacent to the Catholic church in St Peter Street. Scott Murray would pay for the day to day running costs of the school such as the heating and lighting, and the provision of books and writing materials. At a time when education was not generally free, the charity school became increasingly popular as it charged a lower fee than the other schools in town. It was not restricted to Catholic families - indeed for some time in this era the majority of pupils were technically protestant. It had only become legal for non Catholic children to attend Catholic schools in 1846. This legal change may well have been what precipitated the foundation of the school. The Catholic population of the town would probably have been too small to sustain an establishment by itself.  Prior to 1791, it was not legal to run a Catholic school - and up to 1778 the punishment for so doing was life imprisonment.

A price to pay?

 The demographic was unquestionably from the poor at this period. The families must have been grateful for the opportunity to educate their youngsters at an affordable price - but the decision to send them to a Catholic school was not without controversy in the town. Protestant families whose children did not attend the church supported schools felt they were under pressure to withdraw them from the alternative.  Some also believed that when their children got into minor trouble with the police they were more harshly dealt with that would be the case of they had not attended a Catholic run school. Nevertheless by 1860 there was around 60 - 70 children in regular attendance at the infants school. 

Treats and trips for the scholars

One advantage of having a wealthy patron who took a close interest in the school was that the little pupils were not forgotten on the occasion of any kind of celebration in Marlow. Scott Murray inevitably provided the youngsters with a Christmas dinner served in their school rooms. Roast beef and plum pudding all round. Royal celebrations were another common excuse to have a break from routine. When the then Prince of Wales married in 1863 Scott Murray provided the youngsters with all kinds of goodies from lemonade to sweets and oranges. Other treats including river boat trips to Danesfield - where sports and games were provided, and a special tea provided by Canon Bernard Smith⁶ to mark a 25th anniversary of his service at Marlow. (1878)

Life at the infant school had its difficult aspects though - the school inspectors inevitably noted that the two classrooms were far too cramped and that the toilet provision was abysmal! (In this they had something in common with the two National schools over the road.) The school was also, like others in the town, subject to periodic closures due to outbreaks of the likes of small pox and scarlet fever. 

Culture, honour and virtue - the Convent Upper School 

Right from the start, the Sisters of Charity were permitted to take in a handful of private pupils who would  be educated seperately from those attending the charity school. The fees charged to these weekly or monthly boarders (who tended to be fairly well off) could be retained by the Sisters. The proviso was that the education of the poor children had to come first - if the Sisters wished to increase the numbers of other pupils they had to provide another Sister to ensure this.

At a meeting of mainly non conformists to discuss the re-establishment of a British school in Marlow, a (concerned) comment was made that Scott Murray was going to expand the provision for middle class children at his Catholic schools. If accurate this seems to have been the start of the expansion of the private convent school to take in more day pupils. 

In 1885, a dispute of uncertain nature with the school managers caused the Sisters to withdraw from both the Marlow schools and their branch at Danesfield (also established by Scott Murray). They finally left in 1886, although Scott Murray begged them to stay. The schools were undoubtedly a success and had just been extended. A Miss Grace Crowther was then recruited to head both the infants school and what was then generally known as the Convent Upper School, which was mixed and took pupils up to around age 14. To quote a source from 1894, this upper school was where "the children of the wealthy and well to do are carefully trained by fully trained and efficient instructors to occupy their positions in the higher ranks of society with culture, honour and virtue."

The young people attending this second school followed a broader curriculum including subjects such as Latin and more in depth musical study. The two establishments remained closely linked however and shared a prize giving day and entertainments. Mrs Scott Murray usually presided over the former and ensured all those attending on a more or less regular basis came away with some prize. The younger and  poorer pupils recieved individual practical items such as clothing and the older pupils more decorative ones such as copies of old master paintings to hang on their wall. 

In 1891 it was decided that Miss Crowther's residence could be altered to allow her to take in paying guests during the lucrative river season. This was to permit her to increase her income. A straightforward pay rise was seemingly out of the question. This is the why the oft published Marlow summer visitors lists includes so many names for people staying at the Convent school.  Miss Crowther certainly earned her keep - she had some 90 children of the infants school in her care and only one assistant mistress beside pupil teachers. 

The 1890s and beyond 

By this time the schools founder Charles Robert Scott Murray had died, and although the wider Scott Murray family did not forget their school at Marlow they had a less immediate every day relationship with it. Many of the treats and trips now provided to the pupils were by well off Catholics who took homes at Marlow for the river season year on year. This is especially true of Eugene Kelly and his family who regularly took up summer residence at Temple House. Eugene had also personally defrayed most of the cost of an assistant priest to help the ailing Canon Bernard Smith in the last two years of his life. The Scott Murrays still could be depended on to provide a Christmas surprise for the children though. Mrs Charles Aloysius Scott Murray managed to find a Christmas tree that would reach the ceiling of the Music Room (now the Masonic centre, hired for the purpose) in 1899 and she festooned it with gifts for all.

Since the 1870s the infants school had been under government control. This meant they could access grants rather than rely solely on their benefactor,  but in return they had to submit to school inspections and payment was by results. It also meant a "conscience clause" was now formally in operation. So the religious education was to taken at the beginning or end of the day to allow those children not participating to more easily absent themselves. 

In the late Victorian period the school inspectors still lamented the state of the toilets, the rough stoney playground and the general state of the school buildings but praised the teaching at least. Grace Crowther remained in charge until just after the First World War which brings us up to the end of the period we deal with. But to answer the oft asked question of when the modern St Peter's school moved to Prospect Rd, it was 1974. The land was actually released for school use by the Ministry of Agriculture from allotment use in 1965! 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day. 

Links to related subjects referred to above:

1 - The Bucks chair co of St. Peter Street - here

2. The Deanery school - here

3. Marlow place schools here

4. Early history of St Peter's Church here

5. The Albion rooms as a British School here

6. Biography Canon Bernard Smith, 50 years at St Peter's and a Marlow Hero here

To find other school related posts search by school name here

For other church related content see here - all denominations

Sources include: 

Information from Sister Anne, archivist to the Sisters of Charity of St Paul the Apostle with many thanks. This included information from the undated draft of the foundation agreement for the school and convent. 

Slaters commercial directory 1850. 

Musson & Craven's commercial directory 1853. 

Kelly's Directory Bucks 1863

The Catholic Directory 1853 

Marlow Town Guide and Directory 1891

Marlow Almanack qv 1907 & 1915

South Bucks Free Press 2nd Jan 1857, 14 Jan 1860, 19th Jan 1861, 15 March 1863, 13 May 1868, 7th Oct 1870, 28 June 1878, 7 June 1888, 3 February 1889, 4 March 1910

Maidenhead Advertiser 2 July 1879, 29th September 1886

Bucks Herald 17 April 1886

The Tablet April 16 1887 Vol 69 p 630

Buckinghamshire Examiner 2  December 1891

South Bucks Standard 21st April &  22nd December 1893, 8th June 1894, 21st July 1894, 22 December 1899, 5th September 1902, 14 January 1910

Bucks Free Press 19 July 1919

© MarlowAncestors 

Will of Thomas Bowles 1819

 Thomas Bowles of Great Marlow. Will written 1814, proved 1819. An awkwardly expressed will in the beginning.

Says that he is sick and weak but of sound mind and memory.

To loving wife Elizabeth and her assigns all the houses he is possessed of with their appurtenances and all other of his personal property until the children reach 21. Certain of the properties go to various of the children as they each reach the 21 milestone, as described below. She can still have the house he lives in and any residual property for the term of her natural life unless she remarries. When she dies or remarries son William to have it.

Daughter Sarah at age 21 to receive the house next door with appurtenances and the long back house adjoining it.

Son Thomas at age 21 the house with appurtenances in testator's own occupation [so he is using a second house too as the one he lives in was previously mentioned in the will. The second house may have been a place of business or storage] next door to Manus Gray [probably meant to be Parmenus Gray who witnessed the will. The testator was likely using a friendly short form of the name when he gave it as Menas. The name Parmenas /Parmenus in various forms was traditional in the Gray / Grey  family of Marlow].

Son James at age 21 house with appurtenances in the occupation of John Harding.

The child that the testator's wife is pregnant with will receive £50 over and above it's share of his residual estate as described below.

All household goods and furniture to his wife for life. All residual estate to be invested and wife Elizabeth to receive the income from that in her lifetime. Afterwards the principle sum to be divided equally between his children.

Executors his wife and his brother James Bowles.

Testator signed only with a mark.

Witnessed by John Allnutt, Jno. Mossenton and Parmenus Gray.

Will was proved by the brother James Gray with power to administer also reserved to the other executor Elizabeth.

NOTES=

"Jno" (a common way of rendering both John and Jonathan on paper) Mossenton was probably the cordwainer of Chapel Street John Mossenton.

Will transcribed and summarised by me Charlotte Day from an original at the National Archives, Kew. Notes also by Charlotte.

Well over 100 wills of Marlow people are on this blog. See the wills index here

For every mention of any individual on this blog please see the A-Z Person Index. There are lots of Bowles!

©Marlow Ancestors. Reuse for family or local history purposes freely permitted with credit to this blog.

Hughes Grave, Marlow Cemetery

 

In loving memory of Mum and Dad. Rose Naomi Hughes died 15th April 1941

AND 

Edward Joseph Hughes Died January 27th 1951

To look for information about any particular person on this blog use the A-Z person index on the top drop down menu. 

For other grave images see the index 

here

Index of posts about general Marlow history here

© Marlow Ancestors 

Finnamore Wood Camp before the Borstal

 When most long term Marlow residents hear the words Finnamore* Wood their thoughts tend to bring up images of the borstal or young offenders institution that occupied the site between 1960 -1996. This is a post about its happier predecessor - Finnamore Wood Camp. This was in operation by the National Camps Corporation during the second world war and just after for evacuated and then war damaged children. 

National Camps Corporation Ltd. 

The Camps Act 1939 allowed for the setting up of rural camps with permanent facilities for use by schools in urban areas to give their youngsters a health boosting break in the countryside. The National Camps Corporation was a largely government funded not for profit group that would run the sites. With the threat of war looming, the possibility of using the camps for evacuation purposes in war time was also considered. A report from 1939 relating to the first camp completed mentioned it had no dedicated class rooms as such although there was a hall that could be put to this purpose "if necessary".  This suggests the focus was then still more on short term holiday use but it's not true that eventual use for evacuation was an afterthought. Very soon the designs reflected the need for proper educational facilities and all round the year accomodation. The site at Finnamore Wood was one of the first decided upon for a camp. In July 1939 it was confirmed that the site would be used for evacuation in war time as well as peacetime use. 

The corporation bought the site when the council agreed to divert a footpath that ran across the would be camp to Chisbridge Cross. 

The Girls Arrive

It's said the camps generally took three months to be made ready. This includes the construction. Standardized designs and parts were used for efficiency. So all of the camps would have looked fairly similar, with cedar wood buildings on concrete foundations with shingle roofing. Although it's said there was a standard provision of buildings such as about 4 classrooms, 5 dorms etc, descriptions of facilities at different sites show they were not quite as uniform as the bare records suggest. Of course some of this reflect different uses put to the same building on different sites. 

In the spring of 1940, Finnamore Wood Camp saw the arrival of the female high school age pupils of Beal Modern School in Ilford - an area regarded as "sensitive" or especially at risk of enemy action. Accompanying them was headmistress Miss Shepherd. The boys of the school went to a different camp at Kennylands, Sonning. Marlow has a great number of young evacuees and accommodating them all classrooms was often a juggling act. So the authorities must have been pleased to have a school arrive in their midst who would be self sufficient as regards facilities. 

The schools were expected to provide their own school room furniture as well as things such as books and stationary. The camps corporation took care of the domestic arrangements and provided the food. A weekly charge was made by the corporation per pupil for the board and lodgings and towards the cost of maintaining the facilities.  This was paid by the education authority in Ilford but they were able to claim it back from the department of health as an evacuation expense. 

Roughing It In Camp?

While the young ladies were obviously very far from the comforts of home and family, the word "camp" shouldn't make us visualize them huddling in draughty tents! The facilities were provided with central heating which it was painted out few children would have experienced at home. There was a classroom devoted to domestic science and the girls were taught cooking, clothes mending, gardening and crafts such as knitting and quilting. There was a games room, laboratory and rest rooms as well as the necessary kitchen, bathing and washing facilities. The girls slept in metal bunk beds in dormitories. If any hoped to get in any mischief after lights out, they would have been disappointed to find there was also a bedroom for a teacher at one end. Outside there was room for organized games and  allotment gardens - dig for victory! Some of the senior girls also helped with crop harvesting in the locality - digging potatoes, gathering oats, and collecting acorns for pigs. They were not the only young helpers doing such important work - the senior boys at Borlase in Marlow itself  participated in farm camps over several summers and many older Marlow people remember gathering berries for the jam factories  and rosehips for syrup etc. 

A Royal Visit 

In 1940 the King and Queen visited the camps occupied by both the boys and girls of Beal Modern School. The royal visitors spent a considerable time touring the facilities and seeing examples of the pupils work. At Finnamore, the Queen said she thought the girls would be just as capable of spending a winter in the country as their male fellows. Both remarked on how the children seemed to settle quickly into their new situation and that they looked "healthy and happy". The following year a reporter who watched the girls perform a nativity play at Holly Trinity Church in Marlow noted that it was very clear the girls "have benefitted from so considerably from the wonderful health given properties of the Buckinghamshire air".  Against this we must submit an epidemic of diarrhoea that occured in December 1943 which was serious enough to be feared the start of a diphtheria outbreak. There was thankfully a small hospital and a permanent nurse on the staff. 

During the 4 years the pupils were at Finnamore they involved themselves in many of the charity appeals of the villages and towns around them. For example they performed plays, songs and dances in costume as part of Marlow's Wings for Victory Week, at the band hall in town. They helped decorate Hambledon church for it's harvest festival and performed another nativity play for charity at Frieth church. It was noted that there was some difficulty in transporting the girls from their fairly isolated camp spot into places such as Marlow because of petrol and vehicle shortages but camp manager Will Berry performed his miracles and they "got about" more than expected. 

Post War Use 

After the war, the National Camps Corporation retained ownership of Finnamore Wood Camp. It was used memorably to provide much needed respite to French, Belgian, Polish and Czech children whose childhood had been cut short by the time spent living in war zones. The first  party seems to be a group of 8-14 year old French boys and girls who came in April 1943 under a scheme organized by the British Emergency Council For Help to France and the Committee for Young People in Occupied Countries. All of the arrivals had either been bombed out or were children of arrested, killed or still missing parents. They arrived at Northolt aerodrome after what must have been an exciting flight for many.  They spent several weeks in the camp and this was followed up by stays in Marlow homes. It was hoped that after the soup destroying experiences the poor little ones had passed through, the stay here would give them "a fresh outlook on life" as well as boost their physical health.  This group was followed by many many more in the 1940s. The local youth groups such as the scouts took a big role in helping entertain the visitors both by going to the camp to organize activities and by hosting them at events in Marlow. Miss Jackson of the WVS collected books, footballs, tennis rackets and games for the camp - one of hundreds of practical things this hardworking woman woman did to make other lives better both during the war and after it. 

In 1948 the American, Argentinian and Brazilian rowing teams competing in the Olympics were hosted at the camp. Apparently there were some complaints about its "out of the way" location but they were to compete at Henley so they were really quite conveniently placed as regards location if not transport links. 

A VILLAGE FOR CHILDREN

Although the National Camps Corporation retained ownership of the site throughout the 50s they were generally winding down as an organization. Many other camp sites around the country had already passed into other hands. In 1956 the Pestalozzi Village children's organization were considering buying Finnamore Wood Camp. They submitted outline plans to accommodate initially 50 children from 4 countries in their "village". The aim was to provide "strong citizens" through an international residential education programme for "needy but intelligent" children from European and Commonwealth countries. They would be accommodated in houses with other children of the same nationality. Although the Wycombe Rural District council gave tacit approval to the idea, it was subject to certain restrictions such as a cap on overall numbers of people to live there. Whether these restrictions were too off-putting or there was another reason, the Pestalozzi group did not take on the site. The camp equipment was sold off and the spot came under notice of the Home Office. In 1958 the rumours it would be used as a borstal for those in the last stages of the sentence was proved well founded and it opened in 1960. 

*Although we seemed to have settled on the "Finnamore with a middle A" spelling as the standard one these days, Finnemore with a middle E has proven to be overall the most common in historic records. But fancy spelling it Finnemoor, Finnamoor or the 17th c favourite Fennymoor?  You would have plenty of people in the past who would have agreed all were right! With the habit of old Bucks dialect speakers to swallow the middle letter in any word, they would have sounded the same anyhow. 

Related Posts:

Other posts about life in Marlow area in the second world war and immediate aftermath can be found in the index here

Index for posts about places near to Marlow (our focus) including the Finnamore area can be found here

General posts about Marlow history here

Post written and researched by Kathryn Day. 

Sources include: 

The Journal of Education. November 1939, W. Stewart & Company  

On national Camps - Miscellaneous Publications. Ministry of information (1946). United Kingdom: HMSO

Sessional Papers. (1959). United Kingdom: H.M. Stationery Office.

Bucks Free Press  - 14th July 1939, 16th February & 4th October 1940, 19th Dec 1941,  27th Feb 1942, 28th May 1943, 19 April, 5 & 19 Jul 1946, 23rd Jul 1948, 16th Nov 1956, 4th Jan 1957,  6th June 1958 

Kelly's Post Office Directory 1939. 

©Marlow Ancestors. 

Burton Grave, Marlow Cemetery

This grave is subsiding heavily and this leaning to one side. Hence the wonky image! 

In loving memory Elizabeth Burton who passed away July 27th 1936 age 77. 

Also of: Mary Alice Burton, sister of the above. Died August 28th 1937 age 75. 

"Life's victory won, now cometh peace" 

 To look for information about any particular person on this blog use the A-Z Person Index on the top drop down menu. 

For other grave images see the index 

here

Index of posts about general Marlow history here

© MarlowAncestors 

Life in 1950s Marlow Part Two Employment and Homes

Employment 

Major employer Wethered Brewery off the High Street, celebrated a bicentenary in 1958 with two garden parties for employees. Other larger employers in the town were the local council, Poppets Beads and the building trade in general. 

Poppets beads were plastic costume jewelry items. The company moved into the former cinema in Spittal Square in 1953. The old projectionist's room was used as the manager's office and the old seating area for production. Many of those employed by the company actually worked from home, only visiting the factory to collect the beads which they then strung into necklaces and other pieces. Both men and women were involved in the bead making. The same company also made aircraft parts as a sideline! In 1955 this division moved into its own Chapel Street premises with only a tiny bit of work still taking place amongst the bead making in the old cinema. Soon the cinema was deemed too small also and Poppets left to take over a nearby disused lamp shade factory. The former cinema was eventually acquired by the local council who intended to demolish it and use the site for housing, though this did not end up happening.

On a smaller scale in terms of employment there was Sunnydene and Quarry laundries, the newer cinema in Station Road, Toy Works Limited a toys, games and sporting goods factory in Court Garden (established 1943), the Victoria Engineering Company in Victoria Road, the Greenwich Saw Mill, the Marlow Coach Building Works in Newtown Road (which mainly built caravans such as the Marlow Tudor), C.C.K Limited at 53 High Street which produced women's scarves etc, Dairymaid Ice Cream Supplies in Crown Lane (commercial supplier, run by S.A Hawken), Mines and Putnam high class furniture makers in Station Road, Arnold's factory in Marlow Bottom which made wooden needlework boxes and automatic bottle wash machines plus possibly furniture, the Westhorpe sand /gravel pits and the various local schools, shops, pubs, cafes / tearooms, hauliers, and farms.

Toy Works as mentioned above proudly stated that though a few parts had to be imported from France or Germany most of their products were made with local labour only. Many of their toys were traditional wooden ones like bagatelle boards. The packers were usually female.

C.C.K Limited had moved to Mill Road Marlow from London because of the Blitz and chose never to return to the city after the war ended. Their products were made of plain or printed silk, rayon and wool. As well as fashion scarves they manufactured practical aprons in plastic or woven materials. I haven't been able to find out if their products were actually stocked by any shop in Marlow itself or whether they were all sent elsewhere.

I am aware that a Louisa Dereford and George Dereford ran "Marlow Mosaics" in this era but whether this was their own artistic enterprise solely or whether it was a business that employed additional mosaic artists I am unable to say at this point.

Employment opportunities in the 1950s could still be much constrained by the gender of the job seeker. It worked both ways of course- no one would employ a male nanny or maid but women had especial difficulties. The local press routinely carried job adverts that specified the gender that the successful candidate would have to be, and for the majority males were what was being sought. Some roles you might not predict did go to women more than men however. The traditional assigning of poultry on farms to the care of women for instance is reflected in the desire expressed by the owners of Bencombe Farm at Marlow Bottom in an advert for a female employee to run the poultry and turkey deep litter system there.

It was not uncommon for it to be specified that a prospective female employee who directly engaged with the public would need to be good looking as well as professionally competent. For example when Mac Fisheries in Marlow High Street wanted a female shop assistant in 1955 their advert in the Bucks Advertiser said that she must have a "good appearance and attractive personality". They do however get marks for specifying that the delivery van driver that they also found wanted at the same time could be male or female. That would have been quite unusual.

Marlow's first female police officer, W.P.C Ellington, arrived in 1954 after she transferred from High Wycombe.

Female workers doing exactly the same job as men were paid less than them. It was reasoned men had families to support so needed more money however this reasoning was of course nonsensical as thanks to the recent war the number of households with a female breadwinner had probably never been higher. Pay rates for those doing the same job also varied by age in many industries. Younger workers on farms, in most shops or in certain Post Office roles for instance whether male of female were paid less than those of the same gender over 21 or over 32 depending on the job. 

Get the right position and you never knew where it might take you. The Reading Mercury of 16th August 1958 reported that  Angela Chalk of Marlow and another former stable girl at Pinches stables in Field House Farm had the previous year won jobs working in the stables of a wealthy countess in France.

Those seeking a new situation either locally or further afield could make use of the I.H.B employment agency at 92 High Street Marlow or the government labour exchange. Under the Notification of Vacancies Order 1952 employers in most categories had to recruit only through scheduled employment agencies or the labour exchange. This was intended to mean the government could prioritize filling jobs in critical industries ahead of any others. Understandably, it was not popular with those employers who were de-prioritized. They could advertise a position in the newspaper but applicants had to go through official channels to make any application and stood a chance of being refused permission to contact the advertiser if it was thought they could be of better use to an essential industry or service. Men over 64 and women over 59 could apply for jobs without restriction as presumably they were considered too "old" for the essential industries. The order was rescinded in 1956.

Though the farming industry was less of an employer than it had been previously, it was still an important part of the national economy. A Young Farmer's Club had been formed in Marlow by 1954. Farm hands worked from 7.30am to 6pm Monday to Friday and half days on Saturdays. Increasingly other workers were getting their Saturdays off and a couple of weeks of paid holidays a year too. This coupled with the low agricultural industry pay and the long daily hours involved meant the abandoning of land based jobs by country people. Between 1948 and 1954 the number of female farm workers in the Marlow District fell by three quarters and that of males by over half. Mechanisation could only make up for these losses to a certain degree.

General labour shortages generally meant employers had to think of other ways to attract staff. Fines and Putnam the furniture makers of Station Road advertised that their employees could enjoy music while they worked as well as a canteen. Those wanting domestic staff in Marlow often reassured prospective candidates that they would be included in fun outings as part of their job.

Homes

The 1950s was still a notable era for the building of social housing. The council put out tenders for the building of 14 new council houses at Westhorpe Road for instance in 1954. In 1959 the last 38 older houses remaining in Dean Street were ordered to be demolished as the long standing Marlow slum clearance schemes first stage finally drew to a close. Multiple homes in Queens Road were similarly declared unfit for human habitation and compulsorily purchased for future demolition at around the same time. By the end of the decade the council was the biggest landlord in the town. 

The former Carriers Arms in Wycombe Road (now demolished) was used by the council as a hostel for those who had nowhere else to go in the early and mid 1950s. They took over the premises from the Ministry Of Housing. It is possible that originally evacuees or refugees had been put in the building. There was a critical shortage of even this temporary type of accommodation. There were still families living in metal shacks early in the decade at Beechwoods and in converted wooden sheds at Marlow Bottom (as owners and as tenants). The Marlow Bottom situation incensed Wycombe Rural District Councillor Mrs McKelvie who lambasted her colleagues for dragging their feet on providing new homes, rental or to buy, for those living in such structures. The situation was more complicated than it seems. Planning restrictions from on high meant people who had bought land in the village and had put up a temporary home on it while they raised funds for a more substantial structure were prevented from completing their dream despite having sufficient money to do so. In other words it wasn't only poverty (though it certainly could be) that forced people into living in such structures. Home owners could be ready, willing and able to make their shack a comfortable home but were told such work would contravene new planning regulations curtailing fringe developments. In a hope of exceptions or a governmental change of heart people clung on in their shacks or tried to sneakily extend or improve them without being noticed.

For private buyers in Marlow two estate agencies come auctioneers were available in the shared premises of no 37 High Street, Simmons with Gray and co, at no 84 there was George Kendall estate agent, valuer and auctioneer and at no 3 auctioneer and estate agents Lawrence and Laird. New homes were being thrown up everywhere possible in the Marlow urban area during the 1950s once materials and labour shortages caused by the war had eased, including the Wycombe Road and Oak Tree Road area, at Highfields, Lock Road, Chiltern Road, Riverside Drive, Gypsy Lane and Spinfield Park. While shortages of materials did remain private homes could only be built with a (hard to come by) licence from the council, Under rules set down by the Ministry of Housing priority was to be given to social housing on all potential urban development land.  

Bungalows remained highly desirable homes. A small 4 room bungalow in Wethered Road with a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room could be bought in 1954 for £1750. Most homes were in the £2,000 - £4,500 bracket however.

Not every home yet had electricity in the 50s. Some of the older pre-war council houses for instance received electric lights and sockets in 1957 but others remained without it. Certain Chapel Street homes would not install electricity until the 1970s. The Electrics Company (Marlow) Limited in Market Square despite its name sold many calor gas appliances. These were not only stoves but lighting apparatus, gas powered fridges and gas fueled irons too. Many people kept oil lamps in case of winter power failures. Where electricity was present it was not necessarily installed in every room of a house. In any case in the early 1950s winter electricity demand often outstripped supply and Marlow users could expect one, even two, scheduled days a week when their supply would be turned off. These were notified of in advance as colder days drew near. The southern Electricity Board had an office and showroom in the High Street.

Coal and coke for fires were supplied by amongst others G.E Stevens of West Street and George Deane and Co (who had taken over the business and name of old Marlow company W.T Porter). Deanes were also one of the town's removal companies so very useful to have around! Early in the decade coke and coal supplies were not sufficient for the town needs due to nationwide problems. This left families having to severely ration their use of hot water at times.

By no means all Marlow homes had a bathroom in the 1950s, or even an indoor loo. Indeed there were houses without bathrooms in Wycombe Road in the mid 1960s, and in South Place even later, in the 1970s.

Antique furnishings were clearly popular amongst 1950s Marlovians. Bishop Limited in West Street specialised in antique silver, Sheffield plate and fine porcelain and there were at least two further antique shops on the town. There was also Walker's Antiques in the High Street. Secondhand but not antique furniture was sold by Taplins in Oxford Road. Buying secondhand furniture was seen by many as preferable as pre-war items were regarded as better quality. 

New furniture, carpets and other home furnishings could be bought from Norman Heals at 44 High Street as did Alan Hunt's Market Square shop. Mr Hunt's wares could be bought by way of a hire purchase scheme with payments spread over a period of up to two years. He also sold bedding from his second premises in Spittal Street. Hines and Putnam of Station Road were high quality upholsterers early in the decade who proudly made and marketed the "Marlow Suite" of sofa and armchairs. They moved from Marlow later in the decade but seem to have continued to make the Marlow suite. 

Washing machines could be purchased from Platts radio and television shop but there was still laundry services in the town -Quarry Laundry offered a free sock darning service to their customers - and hand washing in tubs wasn't yet quite redundant. Older people thought it superior! 

Pretty much every little usual item for DIY or home maintenance could be bought from the packed Chalk's ironmongers in the High Street, which under different but related families had a long heritage in Marlow. See my post here for the history of this building.

Not every home had a telephone by any means in the 1950s but the public call box provision in the town was expanding. The hamlet of Munday Dean got its first box during the 1950s.

For sources for this series of posts see Part One.

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.

Wyatt Graves, All Saints, Great Marlow

Above, James Wyatt, d. July 3 1857 age (28?) years

"A kind and loving husband and father dear"

 Above, Mary, wife of George Wyatt d. 16th Jan 1816 age 48.

Above, Maria wife of Thomas Wyatt died 26 Feb 1827 age 57

ALSO OF 

Thomas Wyatt husband of the above. Sept 18 18(3?)9

Age 68. 

Will of Charles Lovejoy 1648

 CHARLES LOVEJOY SHOEMAKER OF GREAT MARLOW. 

Will both written and proved in 1648.

Says he weak and ill in body but of sound mind and in good and perfect memory.

Commends soul to God. Body to be returned to the earth from whence it came.

Loving wife Abigail gets his messuage with appurtenances in Marlow. At some convenient time she is to sell it and pay his debts from the resulting money. The rest of the sale money to go to wife Abigail and dear daughter Elizabeth for their maintenance and livelihood.

All other goods, chattels and household goods after debts and funeral expenses paid to wife Abigail who is named sole executor.

Will witnessed by William FF..r (Farmer?), Robert Young, Robert Bennett.

Transcribed and then summarised here by Charlotte Day from a copy of the original P.C.C will held at the National Archives, Kew.

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

Charlie Wonder

Before Marlow opened it's own railway station passengers for the town travelled as far as Bourne End or "Marlow Road Station" as it was known and then waited for a connecting horse-drawn omnibus. The driver of this unwieldy contraption was the much loved Charles Burns or "Charlie Wonder" as he was affectionately known as the Omnibus was called the Wonder. It dropped it's passengers three times a day outside the Crown Hotel in Market Square. The roads weren't brilliant and the omnibus rather old so the journey progressed at a pace best described as stately. A few grumpy travellers complained about that but most relished every minute as Charlie regaled them with his stories from a long career as a stagecoach and omnibus driver. Charlie you see was a precious relic of the days of stage coaches and he had seen it all. He clearly had the gift of the gab and as his omnibus passed you on the Marlow road you often heard his passengers roaring with laughter. He treated everyone the same, rich or poor.

At a time when formality in social interaction was the norm everyone nevertheless called him "Charles" or "Charlie". Not only did he get you home but while waiting at the station for the morning train he would help baffled travellers make sense of the railway timetables, which were continually changing and (I've seen them) not exactly user friendly. Grateful for such help, Lavinia Lovelace wrote to the Bucks Free Press in 1864 to praise him while another, Mary Carnegie, said he was not only "sagacious" but had a voice "so mellow and sweet". Mary was less impressed by the management at the Crown saying they failed to notify passengers of changes to their omnibus departure times. She believed this was probably a deliberate ploy to stop passengers from catching the train they didn't want to become a success. This wouldn't make a lot of sense as the train was the main way guests came up from London to the Crown and then from again.

The sweetly voiced, helpful and friendly Charlie was not a Marlow man by birth, but was baptised at Wraysbury, Buckinghamshire in 1811. On one census he indicates a birth in Birmingham (or whoever filled in the census form for that household that night believed him to have been born there) but generally he indicated Wraysbury. 

Charlie's first wife and the mother of his sons George and Owen was Anne (nee Tyler, possibly widow Powell when she married Charlie) as per their birth registrations. The family lived in Cookham. The occupation of Charlie in the 1841 census looks like "house keeper" which seems improbable unless he meant it in the sense of watchman or guardian but perhaps that might be "horse keeper"? Again that's not usual vocabulary. In 1847 Ann passed away.

Charlie first appears on the census in Marlow as a 39 year old widowed stagecoach man with two young sons in Strong Beer Acre, which was off the future Station Road. With the family was a widowed housekeeper Elizabeth Bearfoot or Barefoot. Within a few months Charlie and Elizabeth would marry. The stagecoach Charlie drove was most likely the Lovegrove and Co coach from Marlow to Maidenhead .

By the time of the next census in 1861  Bourne End Station as "Marlow Road" and Charlie had switched to become an omnibus driver as stagecoaches had been rendered obsolete. He lived then with Elizabeth at South Place. In 1871 they were entered on the census at Wycombe Road. 

In 1872 the omnibus overturned after a wheel detached. Charlie was thrown off as was the box passenger but nobody was seriously hurt. 

As well as people Charlie would carry parcels and packages and in one memorable instance a cargo of live swans (strapped on to the top of the omnibus). The swans were being relocated from Marlow where they were thought to be too numerous and a nuisance to anglers there to Bourne End.

The opening of the Marlow station meant that the end of the Bourne End to Marlow omnibus and Charlie's job driving it. The people of Marlow contributed to a fund to help him set himself up with a new living. The idea to buy him a new omnibus and horse which he could use to pick people up from Marlow Station and bring them and their luggage into the town centre (short distance though that was) was reckoned to be the best one. Contributions could be given to, amongst others, Mr Porter the Bourne End station master and Charles Carter the West Street architect and surveyor. Some £90 was collected which would have paid rent on an average house for several years to give you some idea of that sum's value at the time. It was decided to simply hand the cash to Charlie to do with what he will. He took out an ad in the Bucks Free Press to express his thanks to his friends for their kindness.

The owners of the Crown were already planning to run a coach from their hotel to the station so suggested Charlie should drive this, rather than set up another service. This meant that the money raised by Charlie's well-wishers could go directly to him. He welcomed the job but a journey time of less than 5 minutes didn't allow him much opportunity to spin his tales of yesteryear, and it was widely observed that the spark had gone out of him. Within a year he became seriously ill and had to be admitted to Reading Hospital. His faithful passengers again collected money for his aid but sadly on the 11th of June 1874 Charlie died aged of 62.  His estate was wound up by his son Owen who gave a correspondence address of 5 Park Villas, Wycombe Road, Marlow. This may in fact be his father's address as Owen was a live-in servant at Bisham Abbey across the river. He is later specifically described as a "valet de chambre". Now that's posh! His brother George became a steward and then a clerk in London. Elizabeth, the second Mrs Burns, seems to have died in 1880.

Written and research by Charlotte Day.

Much more about the history of stagecoaches in Marlow here and here

©Marlow Ancestors.

England and Wales census 1851, 1861 and 1871 transcribed from microfilm by Charlotte Day. Census information remains Crown copyright.

"England and Wales, Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2D3R-57B : 13 December 2014), Charles Burn, 1851; from "England & Wales Marriages, 1837-2005," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing 1851, quarter 3, vol. 6, p. 407, Windsor, Berkshire, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.

https://www.rootspoint.com/record/1841-UK-Census/Chas-Burn-1811-Out-Of-County/f1697020-e502-4f2f-8e40-55b11793859a/

Bucks Free Press 21st May 1864, 25th April 1873 and 19th June 1874. Bucks Free Press Archives.

You *#!*#* - Speaking Old Marlow

One of the most amusing aspects of reports of Victorian court cases and also the (few) letters we have been able to read written by Marlow people in the same era is the opportunity they give to us to glimpse the everyday language spoken by Marlow residents, recorded as it was without filter or correction.

Here's our little guide to fitting in in Victorian and Edwardian Marlow =

1.) Swear like a trooper, and then some. On numerous occasions police constables had to explain to flustered magistrates that the terrible words used by Marlow people in the dock were in everyday use in the town and didn't mean quite so much here as they would in most places. One unnamed word quoted by a Marlow witness managed to cause a sensation when used in the (you would think) hardened and heard -it- all-before High Court in London. This again was explained as a normal word in Marlow. Officers from elsewhere were flabbergasted during WW1 by the effing and blinding capacity of Marlow recruits. Quite literally as the F word was familiar in the town long before it was so elsewhere, at least in male-only company. Marlow ladies were also prosecuted for using "indecent language" on a regular basis however, usually directed at their husbands during a row. Ladies of Dean Street and Chapel Street I'm looking at you. The guiltiest parties amongst the men for cussing were bargemen and chairmakers.

 2.) Use "be" in front of many verbs. You didn't call someone you "becalled" them. This was used to mean simple calling out to someone and also calling them unpleasant names, depending on context. And in terms of thinking you "bethink" and "bethought" not think or thought. Going anywhere meant "becoming" there. And if you wanted to say that you are not something you would say "I Be Not" or more commonly "I b'aint" whilst "I am" was "I be". To "belabour" someone was to attack them. This way of speaking was widely used in the nearly villages such as Stokenchurch and Lane End and probably in the general wider area too.

 3.) The town was not pronounced "Mar-low" but "Marler".  Failing to pronounce the town name correctly instantly marked you out as an "foreigner" - that is born beyond Marlow Bottom. It still did when I was a child. There are still a (very) few elderly people alive in the 2020s who keep to the traditional pronunciation. The use of "Marlow upon Thames" to refer to the town became briefly quite common in late Victorian times, almost always by newcomers and produced eye rolling and sniggering from longer-standing residents rich and poor because of what was seen as it's pretentiousness.

4.) Sprinkle your speech with these expressions, all of which I have recorded in use more than once in Victorian or Edwardian Marlow :

Blackguarding someone=  calling them names. Pronounced "blaggarding".

Bread and Cheese = hawthorn leaves. This was very old usage and common in Southern England as a whole. Still used in the 20th century.

Bullragging = using abusive, deliberately provoking language to someone.

Bumbledom = pomposity. A common word in all of Victorian England.

Coachee= coachman. A dismissive and insulting term similar to calling a maid a skivvy or slavvy.

Chuff something = to throw it.

Collar someone = any laying of hands on a person. It could mean anything from taking hold of someone's arm to grabbing them by the throat. The Buckinghamshire working class use of this expression to mean something other than simply taking someone by the lapels or collar as it did elsewhere caused many judges and magistrates to get confused in court cases by the evidence of witnesses. Note that the use of " to collar" someone as a term for arresting them doesn't seem to have been usual. Instead it was said that someone had been "ketched".

Daughter of Egypt / Son of Egypt = Gypsy. This was also common throughout England as it was wrongfully presumed that Romanies originated in Egypt.

Getting on = tipsy, on the way to being drunk. "Having a spree" meant letting your hair down and having a drink. Often used in mitigation, to imply tipsiness that might have been noisy but was not in danger of causing violence or other anti-social behaviour e.g "She's only having a spree, constable". Another expression used to described tipsiness was "to be a bit elevated". Someone more drunk than tipsy had had a "smart little drop" or just "a smart drop". Someone very drunk was "bursted with beer".

Give someone one or two = beat them up.

Give someone beans = to annoy or pain them.

Have something by you =  possessing something, not necessarily having it on your person though- you could describe your family by saying, "I have three children by me" for instance or your business by saying "I have a hundred cows by me on my farm".

Hot lot = skilled sports team or person.

"Lady or man", used to call the toss of a coin, rather than heads or tails. Lady instead of heads as of course Queen Victoria was on all the coins. Presumably this went out when Edward came to the throne.

Lemon time = half time in a football match. It was lemons that the players sucked rather than oranges in those days. Rather them than me!

Little breeze = an argument. Often sarcastic, referring to a major row in fact.

Look after someone  / to belook after someone =  to be seeking them, or to be keeping a watchful eye on them on suspicion of their going to misbehave, or to be caring for them.

Piece of jobbery = the result of a conspiracy.

Sharp with someone= today being sharp with someone would mean expressing  unkindness or criticism verbally but in this era it was also often used to describe physically harming them. An ill-treated wife might tell the police her husband was sharp with her when she meant that he had hit her.

Son of Crispin = a shoemaker. An old expression and used throughout England.

Son of Galen = a doctor. Used throughout the country too.

Sow bug = woodlouse, this was general Buckinghamshire dialect. They'll always be  Cheese Bugs to me though because my family is from Kent and Sussex originally!

Sweep = as in "You sweep!", an insult. Probably because the devil was traditionally depicted as sooty due to the burning fires of hell.

Treacle seller/ Keeper of a treacle shop (insulting) = seller of low priced, poor quality goods, especially a grocer. General Victorian and Edwardian use in England which remained in some places well into the 20th century.

Weathercock = someone who changed their opinions or loyalties frequently. Strongly insulting. Being steadfast in your principles was a cornerstone of what it meant to be a good person, especially a gentleman, in this era.

Withy tree = willow. Withys / Withies = pieces of willow.

Worth your hire = to be worth a fair wage for the job you do. This seems to have become a common expression in Edwardian times. Used as in "I'm worth my hire, give me a pay rise".

Compiled by Charlotte Day.

©Marlow Ancestors.

General Sir George Higginson - the man and the myth

 General Sir George Higginson was one of Marlow's most famous residents of his day, with a long and distinguished military career with the Guards. Many in Victorian and Edwardian Marlow were obviously very proud of him and of course he lent his name to Higginson Park* as presented to the town on the occasion of his 100th birthday in 1926. However this post isn't about the man as a soldier. As such his career obviously took him far away from his childhood home. I was interested in the General as a Marlow resident, how he fitted into the life of the town. There are many stories and images conjured up that name and I wanted to separate something of the man and the myth. I've been told he was seen as: a venerated hero, an unpopular and cruel J.P who sent poor men to jail for minor offences, an eccentric who personally dug a canal, a distant figure who "did nothing for the town", "the man who sent Marlow boys to their death in the First world War"  and the generous stalwart of every institution going. I'm pleased to say I can clear George absolutely of those most negative charges! 

A local..or not?

As I mentioned above, Sir George's long military career meant he saw service in many foreign theatres of war. His various postings meant his time in Marlow was necessarily limited when he was on active service. His family home for decades was "Gyldernscroft" in Henley Rd, now sub divided. Previously it was known as The Croft, The Hall, and Townsend Cottage - Gyldernscroft was a revival of the older name for the place. Like many people of a similar comfortable background, Sir George's family long maintained a London home too, for example in Wilton Crescent. So even when in England, his residence in Marlow was not usually year round. Marlow thought of him as absolutely theirs but in reality those in his area of London probably would have claimed him too. And would have expected his trade and custom just as much as the Marlow ones - it was said later that he didn't support Marlow shops which caused resentment but without the family account books this is impossible to verify! The fact that local tradesmen were invited to celebrations of the wedding of his daughter Maud in 1889 suggests relations were reasonably cordial or that the General wished them to be. 

Gyldernscroft was sometimes let out for example for the river season and Sir George also spent time abroad for health and leisure reasons. For example the General and wife Florence spent several months in Italy in 1887 and in the south of France in early 1914.

 But the important thing is, while he was in town he threw himself into the life of the place. He was a J.P,  a member of every club and committee going and was one of those heading the list of just about all charity appeals. While it was a given that any owner of big house in town would get voted into positions such as vice president of social and sporting committees and events, some politely sent apologies for non attendance at meetings more often than not. Not Sir George, and not even when he was in his 90s did he slow down much. He wasn't just a member of the Literary Institute but gave lectures there when they struggled financially to find speakers. (Subject 1889 - heroism. It went down well). 

A friend to the little ones 

One aspect of Sir George which is not often recalled was his affinity with children. While the adults may have treated him with something like awe at times, Sir George recounted his pleasure when the youngsters came up to him in the street, took his hand and told him their news. Not quite the image we have of the stern war hero is it? He was especially devoted to the children of Bovingdon Green school, an area where he owned a lot of land. He provided a sorely needed extra room for the overcrowded village school in 1892 in memory of his mother. But he was also hands on there, serving the children personally at some of the special teas he provided them with. Others recalled that the General actively joined in with the children's games at parties - even in his 90s. 

Peril to poachers? 

Sir George was a J.P for decades. As such he saw a poaching related case at almost every session he attended. It was, like the theft of prickwood** one of the most popular Marlow activities. But after reading reports of quite literally hundreds of these kind of cases heard by Sir George at Marlow, I can say with confidence that a very small number of those accused of either went to prison on a first offence. Those that did had an been guilty in the eyes of the bench of an aggravating factor such as the use of particular violence against the game keeper or police when apprehended. What is more surprising is how those whose convictions ran comfortably into double figures managed to keep "getting away" with fines. That doesn't mean the game preservation laws were not heavily weighted towards the wants of landowners - of which the J.P's were to a man. Or that it was any less reprehensible to put  sporting pleasure above the physical needs for free food for the wretched. On the other hand some of those engaged in the "midnight art" were without questions doing so as a profitable business, rather than through abject necessity and they were capable of great brutality against those who got in their way. The issue of poaching in Marlow is a multi layered one with many shades of gray.  The J.Ps did not adjudicate on cases occuring on their own holdings although they inevitably sometimes did sit judgement on cases involving land occupied by their friends and neighbors. I think some of the confusion has been because Sir George's namesake father and other relatives were J.P's in an era when the punishments were harsher still. I believe the magistrates avoided setting jail sentences because while the convicted persons families could not claim parish relief while they were behind bars, if the convicted person lost a job or fell behind on rent later as a result then the family could potentially qualify for support. And there there was the expense of keeping them in prison and transporting them there and back. And for felonies, the Marlow bench including Sir George didn't get to decide the sentence anyway - the case went to the Quarter Sessions. If they had sent every poacher to jail on first arrest, it feels like half of Marlow's less well off population would have been behind bars at any one time! 

There was one way you could get sent immediately to jail on a first poaching conviction, and that was to fail to pay the inevitable fine. Poorer people could ask for time to pay and nearly always got it, unless they had an extra long list of convictions or had cheeked the police. This was usually 7 or 14 days. Almost all cases I looked at saw those convicted pay immediately or within the allowed time. We can only guess at the struggles they had to raise those sums. 

 Once he (semi) retired to Marlow, Sir George was one of the most present J.Ps at the Marlow sessions.  

As for other types of case, Sir George was often generous by the standards of the time in his decisions especially during the First World War years. For example in 1914 he adjourned a case of using indecent language against Emily Carter of Trinity Rd indefinitely so that she may have every chance to "reform her character". It wasn't her first offence and she had unpaid court fines. As such she could have been sent to jail and certainly could have got a hefty fine. He accepted that she became - in others words - a "terror" when in drink but also that she had three serving sons, and a hardworking husband. 

Canals and gondoliers

The "General's Canal" from Gyldernscroft to the Thames opposite Bisham church was said to be dug by the man himself, with just one helper. It would have been hard work for whoever did it,  especially where the willow trees roots spread. Was he hands on with the shovels? I have no evidence to the contrary! 

The motivation was to provide easy access to the river. Sir George in 1899 had just purchased a genuine Venetian gondola for use on Thames. It was said at the time that "Sir George and Lady Higginson are frequently to be seen on it in the Marlow district, propelled by a gondolier from Vienna". 

Above, floral art in Higginson Park to mark the park centennial. 

War recruiter

Sir George was as the most well known military man in the district the obvious person to address the first public recruitment meetings for soldiers in the First World War. No doubt his stirring words helped to persuade many to join up. But everyone was singing the same tune. If Sir George had not addressed this and other meetings, others would have done so. In 1915 he expressed the feeling that many of those who had gone overseas "were far too young". Accepting the need for as many as possible to enlist did not mean he was immune from sorrow at the results. Later the retired military officer would recall the gradual "thinning out" of the Marlow youth and the haunting sight of window blind after window blind drawn down as you walked around the town. (To indicate a house in mourning.)

Sir George disliked the term "Tommy" for a British soldier as he considered it lacking in respect and dignity for those doing the donkey work of war. 

He obviously believed in the capacity of military service to straighten out those before him as a J.P. In 1915 he recognised a prolific ex offender invalided back from the front as a spectator at the back of court, in uniform. He called the soldier forward to praise the man's smart appearance and the "new leaf" he'd turned over. Sir George went as far as to now call the soldier "a credit to his country" and to say he had every confidence he'd remain so. At the time the view that the petty criminal was born and effectively irredeemable was still expressed not infrequently.

In conclusion, if I met Sir George Higginson walking the streets of Marlow, would I have wanted to stop and shake his hand like the little Marlovians of the past? Actually I would, not least to ask if he'd like to come and dig my garden..

Above, the memorial marking at All Saints Church, the burial of various Higginson family members including our subject, his father and mother, his brother Charles and sister Frances, plus his relative by marriage the historian Rev Thomas Langley. 

NB - I've deliberately kept mention of wife Lady Higginson  to a minimum in this post because she will have eventually a post of her own. We do not like to treat the old time female Marlovians only in terms of whose wife they were  - as happened far too often in the past! 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day. 

*Story of the foundation of Higginson Park here

George's interesting relative and Jewish convert Martha Higginson nee Isaacs, artist here

**More about the prickwood "thefts" to support the early Victorian skewer making industry here

To find all mentions on the blog of the Higginson family or any other use the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. 

The general Marlow history index includes links to more detailed posts about World War One in Marlow and to other military subjects here

Sources include: 

Vanity Fair, vol 22, 1879.

Hart's Annual Army List vol 9,  Henry George Hart (1884)

Journal of the Household Brigade, Ed. I E A Dolby, (W Clowes & Sons, 1877)

Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica (Hamilton, Adams and Courtenay 1892) 

Country Life, 26th June 1926

Bucks Herald - July 9th 1926

Bucks Free Press - 13th Feb &  25th September 1914, 26th Feb & 6th August 1915, 30th July 1920

Slough, Windsor and Eton Observer 2nd June 1906

Bucks Standard 9th September 1899

South Bucks Standard 28th October 1892. 

Seventy one years of a  Guardsmen's life, General Sir George Higginson 1916. 

© MarlowAncestors 

Empire Day in Edwardian Marlow

 Marlow's reaction to royal landmarks such as birthdays, weddings and jubilees could range from polite indifference by the majority to all out take-over-the-streets celebrations that you couldn't ignore even if you wanted to.  So it's no surprise that Empire related celebrations had somewhat mixed receptions too. But if you were a child in Edwardian Marlow, one event was very likely to feature in your annual school experience - Empire Day.  This was especially intended to instil feelings of patriotism in the young participants but it doesn't mean involvement was restricted to the youthful. In this era, Empire day was celebrated on Queen Victoria's birthday of May 24th even though the Queen had died before the event really took off as a national celebration. Marlow's recognition of the day seemed to actually decline as the Edwardian era progressed but it was not one of the towns where the celebrations spread widely beyond the school participants and their parents - the town church service excepted.  However there were always reports of at least some people decorating the outside of their home enthusiastically, and of business people ornamenting their premises for the day. In 1908 it was already noted that only a few homes displayed a Union Jack however. The following year an extra effort was made to build the event with more bunting erected in the High Street. 

One important element was to educate the children about the countries that made up the Empire. This often involved in one way or another the young dressing up as inhabitants of other nations in tableaux- with varying degrees of accuracy! They were on familiar form here as such dressing up was a favourite of Marlow missionary pageants, Sunday school entertainments and the like. 

The day nearly always followed a similar pattern from around 1906 - a procession by all the various schools up and down the High Street to the Causeway, a salute to the flag, a few (or quite a few) words from the Vicar and of course the singing of the national anthem. Generally a small crowd would gather to watch the events at the enclosure. There were sometimes reports that the schools would get their own flag staff and Union Jack but the point was always a public display of patriotism in the most visible place. Often a special effort was made to get the pupils dressed in patriotic colours or to accessorize their outfits with flowers. It would be completely unrealistic to have asked many of the families to provide a colour appropriate costume for the day.  Poverty was a part of far too many young Marlovians lives and the idea of  the children having a choice of smart outfits to choose from would not have occured to the teachers. Instead they tended to rely on cheaper red, white and blue ribbons, hat or cap accessories or sashes made up by benefactors. The good news for those perhaps enduring a speech too many was the half day holiday was generally allowed to the children. 

On the Sunday nearest the event, there were usually special services in the churches in the town. That in the parish church of All Saints was obviously the biggest, not least because invitations to attend were made to all the major groups and bodies in the town. It's fair to say, if your organization wore a uniform you were a shoo in for participation for any civic event and this was no exception.  Groups such as the Church Lads Brigade and the volunteer Fire brigade were present and correct.  Technically this was an event open to all rather than merely the Church of England congregation but the non conformist churches in town tended to have their own parade with the Salvation Army.  This was followed by a combined service often in the spacious Congregational Church (URC Oxford Rd). The non conformist Church Lads Brigade equivalent the Boys Life Brigade headed this "other" parade with their ever popular drum and fife band and of course the Salvation Army musicians. In 1908 the Salvation Army also held a separate outdoor service. 

At Bovingdon Green 

The children of Bovingdon Green school usually gathered on the green there to do their salute to the flag. They often ended with a charming display of dancing round a temporary maypole and so attracted quite an audience beyond the villagers. However they are also recorded as participating in Marlow's Empire Day parade on the same day, so they were perhaps the most active of all the participants! 

Plans Awry

In 1910, the funeral of Edward VII meant the Empire day celebrations were officially muted and recognised in Marlow only in a minor way. A representative group of  children from the church schools  went to the Causeway to sing some appropriate songs such as the inevitable "Flag Of Britain" but the flag waving banner carrying  procession was cancelled. The Bovingdon Green pupils did not come because their schoolmistress was unwell and there wasn't enough hands to marshall them. Those at Little Marlow assembled in their school playground to hear some improving thoughts on "responsibility, duty, sympathy and self sacrifice" - the "watch words" of Empire Day they said. Unfortunately the half day school holiday was cancelled as inappropriate for a country in mourning. It had originally been intended that 1910 would see a larger scale event in Marlow than previous, with sports and a special public tea. 

Then in 1911 it was decided that Empire Day could be marked as part of a combined day of celebration related to the coronation. So for the second year in a row there was no large scale children's parade. But relevant flags were flown on the Overseas League Flagstaff on the Causeway on May 24th and some shops and other premises were "dressed up". This was not the end of event though.  It was revived in 1913, continued throughout the First World War and featured largely in the 1920s and 30s. Some Marlow children received a special medal from the Empire Medal Association as a prize for loyal essays on empire related subjects. These were provided with the financial assistance of local benefactors. I have some of the winning entries from other areas and it will be no surprise to hear that they are not the product of education aiming for a critical or balanced view of the empire for it's members. 

NB The images of Edwardian Empire Day celebrations in Marlow I have been shown have proven to actually be of other events - understandably so given the common decorations, themes and activities. Others do not in fact show the town but I have some more to check and will upload later if possible. 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day 

List of posts about general Marlow history including town celebrations such as coronations, jubilees, fetes etc here

To look for a specific ancestor see the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. 

Sources include:

A Pattern of Hundreds - Bucks Federation of Woman's Institutes (Richard Sadler Ltd, 1975)

Memories and/or information from Elsie Coster, Betty Wethered, Gus & Dennis Winterbourne, "Vivian", Michael Eagleton and one who wishes to remain anon. 

South Bucks Standard 29th May 1908, 21st May 1909, & 27th May 1910

South Bucks Free Press 8ty may 1908, 21st May 1909, 26th May 1911

Bucks Free Press 14th Jan 1927 

The Dominions Song Book, undated..

©MarlowAncestors