Wain Grave Marlow Cemetery

 

This grave is listing to one side, hence the apparent angle. 

In loving memory of Flight Lieutenant William Donston Wain RAF. Born December 11th 1889. Died serving in Berlin February 1920. 

Additional information: 

William was married to Nesta, daughter of Mrs Forrest  of New Court *Marlow in 1918. His widow remarried in 1921 and as Mrs Forbes Liston was responsible for giving New Court  and Liston Hall to the town. 

An adjacent grave is that of Nesta's mum Lucy Forrest and brother Robert Forrest who was missing presumed killed in action 1914. 

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

*A history of New Court is available here

For other grave images see the index 

here

Index of posts about general Marlow history here

© MarlowAncestors 

Life in 1950s Marlow Part Four Food and Shopping

 Part One dealt with Sport and Leisure, Part Two concerned homes and employment and Part Three dealt with Transport and Childhood.

Introduction

During the 1950s great concern was felt by Marlow shopkeepers about the frequency with which Marlow residents chose to shop elsewhere. The long favourite "big town" destination Maidenhead and nearby High Wycombe had been joined by Slough as an easy option for those traveling by car (it had already been accessible though not quite so conveniently by train). The Marlow Chamber of Trade tried to encourage Marlovians to spend their money primarily in the town. In response to such pleas one unnamed Marlow woman wrote to them in 1959 saying that shoppers were forced to go elsewhere because Marlow shops carried too narrow a range of stock and only very low levels of what they did carry. Another woman wrote to the Bucks Free Press in a similar vein.

It should be noted that allegations that Marlow people ignored their own shops had been made almost yearly since at least the 1880s, and yet the occupancy level for business premises was high at all times until a slump came in the 1960s.

Sunday opening of shops came to Marlow in the 1950s. Only book, toy, fancy goods, souvenir and stationary shops could open (up to 8pm in 1959) or those selling postcards, or souvenir photographs.  Marlow was deemed eligible as it was "a holiday resort". Not all eligible retailers chose to exercise this new freedom however and for some shoppers Sunday trading was still seen as very much the wrong thing to do.

Many shopkeepers no longer lived in their premises in the 1950s, though there were exceptions. Herbert Haley the High Street chemist had a flat above his shop as did the proprietors of the chemists at 14 Spittal Street for instance.

Non-Food Shopping 

The long standing drapers, outfitters and clothiers, Morgan's, in Market Square still existed in name in the early 1950s though it then sold McIlroy brand clothing from High Wycombe. Later in the decade it became W.J Daniels, famed for it's big sales. A little further down the High Street earlier in the decade was Helen Whateley, dressmaker and tailor. If you were lucky that is- she didn't open weekends or Wednesday afternoons.

Miss D Wiggham ran the Dawn Boutique at 1 Station Road. For men Hewetts in the High Street was an outfitter who also sold sports clothing and school uniforms.

Farrier's Wool Shop at no 48 High Street sold hosiery and underwear as well as embroidery and knitting supplies and finished pieces of embroidery art to decorate the home.

Making their own clothes remained quite common for women. Men's clothes except for knitted items such as scarves and socks, had long since been generally considered too risky for the average domestic tailoress to attempt, due to the skill level necessary and also because of the less forgiving and more expensive fabrics involved in suits and trousers. Some housewives were still sufficiently skilled to make shirts, though by this period it wasn't the norm for them to make rather than buy them.

Knitting machines could be bought from A.E King drapers in Spittal Street, which also sold hosiery, women's underclothing, blankets and household linens.

Those wanting to accessorise with a walking stick or similar could head to "fancy goods", tobacco, confectionery and grocery retailer Coster and Sons, also in the High Street. A small shop -how they packed all that in I'll never know!

Walking sticks were also sold by John Harleigh and Sons the sports goods / sportswear shop in Spittal Street as were ladies handbags, luggage, and umbrellas. This was still an era infused with the "make do and mend" ethos and in that spirit Harleighs both sold and repaired all those items. Similarly you could make use of shoe repairers Ted Neighbour, who also operated in Bourne End, or Mr Palmer in Station Road. New shoes were sold by Millwards in the High Street and old ones repaired there. 

A jeweller and watchmaker with decades of experience behind him, Lawrence Mundy, operated in Chapel Street. Ronald Bailey was a jeweller and silversmith at 37 West Street.

Home furnishings suppliers in Marlow were described in Part One "Homes" of the life in 1950s Marlow posts.

Food

"High class" groceries could be bought from the two High Street premises of Barksfield Brothers grocers and wine merchants. The "family grocer" R Browns was also in the High Street while Dorsetts was in Market Square. Mr Dorsett had a "mobile shop" by the end of the decade that visited outlying places, including the High Wycombe suburbs.  All the grocers in Marlow still shut for lunch in the 1950s.

Mac Fisheries supplied fish and shellfish (and fruit from the fruiter's section) and Harleyford Dairy had shoppers' dairy based needs covered. Both of these were in the High Street. Another fishmongers Castle Fisheries was in Chapel Street and acted as both a hot fried fish takeaway and a shop which sold fresh and dried fish for home cooking. Castle Fisheries was operated by members of the Bunce family. Butchers were located in Market Square, the High Street and Spittal Street. Tom Morris butchers of Spittal Street supplied the meat for Borlase School meals.

Ellison's and Sons was a baker of the High Street, plus of course there was Burgers.

Aldridge's in Market Square offered a range of frozen foods. These were still quite new and some people refused to even consider buying frozen meat in particular and could even be cautious about frozen vegetables. Most frozen meat had been shipped in from abroad e.g New Zealand lamb and a prejudice about the quality of foreign bred animals was partly to blame for this attitude .Advocates of frozen foods however were passionate in trying to open those closed minds! The methods of freezing used commercially in the 1950s were not as advanced as they are today so it is generally considered that frozen products would have been of more variable quality then and cooking them required more skill and judgement than we would necessarily realize today.

Pinkneys Nurseries at 54 High Street was both a fruiterer and a florist (a not uncommon combination in the past). 

Those that wanted to try a touch of self sufficiency could purchase supplies from one of Marlow's most unusual shops, Moreton's beekeeping supplies at 19 West Street. This also sold games, model aircraft, balsa wood for crafts, guns, ammunition, and fishing tackle. Quite a mix!

Researched and written by Charlotte Day. ©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use my research for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog.

Sources for this series of posts are listed in Part One.

The life of Father John Morris in Marlow

 I first encountered Father John Morris (later Canon Morris) while researching the general history of  Marlow in the early 1850s, when he was the priest in charge at St Peter's Roman Catholic Church. An extremely prolific correspondent, he came across to me as good humoured and a keen observer. I was surprised therefore to later read that even his friends described him as forbidding and rather severe - at least on first acquaintance. Today's post is about the three years this interesting and sometimes divisive man spent in our town. 

A "little pagan" 

Father Morris was born in 1826 to a large and strictly Church of England family in Southern India. His father John Carnac Morris was a former naval man who had long been in the employ of the East India Company, as were very many of his relatives. John senior had a chequered life. He suffered  periods of ill health resulting in limited mobility and an attempt to overcome this saw a temporary return to England to pursue treatment, accompanied by his very young son. John senior returned to India in a worse state than when he arrived, and left John junior behind for several years in the care of others. The father would later feature in the news due to his embarrassing involvement with the London and Eastern Banking Corporation, of which he was deputy chairman and ex managing director. This folded in 1857 after just three years. The failure was not least because the directors had lent to each other from the banks funds sums almost equal to their paid up capital, at low rates of interest and with little or no security. The family has no choice but to hand all their resources to the official receiver and retire to a quiet life in Jersey. 

John junior meanwhile spent a year at Harrow school as well as under private tuition, which all left him in his own words "a little pagan" in terms of religious knowledge. He subsequently rejoined his father in India before returning to England yet again as a young man to prepare for entrance into Cambridge University. At this point he had developed enough religious feeling to have the general idea of becoming ordained in the Church of England but it was not to be. Before he had completed his first year of studies, he was received into the Catholic church (1846).

A scandalous case 

Just what lead to Morris becoming Catholic and most importantly when this occured was the subject of huge interest and debate in the national press in ways that can seem somewhat bewildering now.  You may wonder why the personal choice of a 19 year old student would be worth the column inches. But it was regarded as a "scandalous case"  because it happened "under the nose" of the University. It was felt by some that Catholics were "infiltrating" the colleges with the aim of "luring" protestant youths from their church. Members of John's family were horrified by his decision and largely disowned him altogether. They squarely blamed his tutor Rev F A Paley for at least dereliction of his duty of care towards the student, especially as John's father was overseas and not present himself to guide his son.  They thought that Paley had not done enough to deter John from his choice and had been wrong to have introduced the questioning youth to Catholic priests. Paley argued that John had already made up his mind as to his beliefs before he arrived under his care and that he had tried to deter the student from taking steps to join the church when he did. But Paley was dismissed from his post regardless. 

John suffered a miserable time waiting for his father to return from India before he dared tell his ailing mother that he'd become a Catholic. It was regarded the shock could kill her. In fact she outlived her son. 

As we want to concentrate on his time in Marlow, we are going to skip over the next period of John's life. He followed the well trodden path to the English College in Rome to study for the priesthood and was ordained in 1849 aged 23. He returned to England and in 1851 arrived to take up the living at Marlow or Great Marlow as it was then known. 

St Peter's Street as it then was

When Father Morris arrived in St Peter's Street he came to a place quite different in character to now. The population was generally  poor and historically strongly connected to river centred occupations - barge men, rope spinners, fishermen and waterman - as well as a greater range of low paid occupations. Lymbrook Wharf was still there (where Thames Lawn lodge is now) and so was Gibbon's small brewery. There was also the scandalous slum of St Peter's Court  - read more here. The short thoroughfare contained 5 pubs either in the street or on the adjacent water front running from All Saints church to Lymbrook Wharf. The slipway at which the street still ends was the only public landing place in Marlow and in the river season saw a constant stream of pleasure craft dropping visitors off. It was also a favourite place to water horses and let them cool their feet after a long journey.  Quiet and refined St Peter's Street certainly was not. 

The presbytery had been acquired and converted  by Scott Murray a year before. The household consisted also of housekeeper the widow Mrs Rose, George Harper who was studying with Morris (and who left after a few months to become a Jesuit) and for a short while in 1852, Father Henry Walker. There were also occasional other students staying for short periods. 

Father Morris ups the numbers

St Peter's church in Marlow was only 6 years old when Father Morris arrived. The "second spring" of the Catholic church in 1850 eg the reintroduction of formal dioceses and parishes has not gone down too well in a frequently vocally anti Catholic town. An "act of papal aggression" was how this "Second Spring" was described locally. The decision to give the vacant living at All Saints (Church of England) to the Marlow curate Rev. Frederick Bussell was strongly influenced by his determination to check the "contaminating influence" (as one local newspaper had it) of Catholics in the parish. 

The other problem Father Morris faced was he followed the Redemptorist Fathers in having care of the Marlow mission/parish. These priests were actually very successful in upping the numbers of Catholic worshippers but to those whom this was definitely not a good thing, the Redemptorists had another failing almost as bad - they were foreign! (Austrian and Dutch). The church was opened in Marlow thanks to the generosity of new Catholic convert Charles Robert Scott Murray. It wasn't because there was actually a Catholic population already in Marlow but because they hoped there soon would be. (Read more here) This is why Father Morris had to go to Stonor for a confessor, a not too easy journey along some of the rough Bucks roads of those days. In fact on his first journey Morris got lost on his way back from Stonor so the journey was even longer still.

The first (post reformation) Catholic Mass held in Marlow was attended by only three people, none of whom actually came from Marlow. In 1851 Father Morris recorded an average of 50-60 attendants at Mass. Again these were not all Marlow residents, as St Peter's was covering a large area due to a lack of other Catholic places of worship. The numbers continued to gently rise although Father Morris also recorded a few converts left his church.

An energetic young man

Father Morris was only 25 years old when he was sent to Marlow. Those who remembered him later said he looked younger still because of his fairly short, slight frame. They also recalled his incredible energy and enthusiasm - which is just as well as he sometimes travelled twice in one day to take services at Danesfield, the home of Scott Murray, as well as holding them at Marlow. In addition he had to deal with the needs of a very widely dispersed flock. It feels as though he must have spent hours at his desk writing letters too. Church patron Scott Murray obviously expected to kept informed about the smallest detail of church life and Morris seems to have corresponded with him several times a week despite seeing him in person frequently. (Scott Murray and members of his household pointedly attended Mass several times a week at St Peter's even when Danesfield Chapel was completed.)

His mental as well as physical energy was commented on too -  an amazing memory for facts and figures for example. It appears that many people were slightly intimidated by his intellect, sharp tongue and serious nature or what another called his lack of "easy bonhomie". On the other hand Father Morris was also known to be moved to tears by his own sermons and his friends praised his loyalty and the kindness that lay behind that seemingly austere demeanour. One Marlow parishioner later shared his memories of the time Morris spent in Marlow. He recalled that the priest was "fond of processions" and took a generally more bold attitude to the demonstration of their faith. The parishioner also remembered how Morris invited all to a bread and soup supper after midnight Mass. 

In the news again

When Scott Murray was appointed high sheriff of Bucks in 1852, he had the right to appoint a chaplain. Naturally he chose Father Morris, who was also his chaplain at Danesfield. Even this was a contentious decision. Yet again the national press were full of complaints that Catholics were "infiltrating" the judiciary and connected roles,  and the Lord Chief Justice himself became involved. Scott Murray said the Assize judges and officials had been polite if somewhat surprised at the introduction of Morris, but this recollection differed from some of the others present who claimed barely suppressed indignation was more the order of the day. The affair blew over when the assurance was made that Father Morris would be acting purely as a personal chaplain to Scott Murray as High Sheriff, and not for the judges. He was however not allowed to sit in the position normally given to the chaplain.

On a more positive note, in the autumn of 1852, the hard work of Father Morris in the diocese was officially recognized when he was elevated to the cathedral chapter as Canon Morris. 

Brass Rubbings and Bird Skins 

It does not sound as though Father Morris has much free time at Marlow but when he did he had some hobbies to explore. From childhood he had enjoyed touring churches to  collect brass rubbings - a hobby the family did not approve of! He also had another collection which is less appealing in modern eyes - bird skins. This relates to a form of preserving dead birds that involved treating the skins to prevent their decomposition but stops short of stuffing and posing them like a traditional taxidermy specimen. It meant you could store a lot more examples in a limited space because they were relatively flat. He was not the only Marlovian in this time to have a similar collection - it was perfectly socially acceptable and legal at the time. 

In addition Morris was passionate about history and archaeology and a fellow of the Society of Antiquarians. Whether he interested himself in general local history I do not know but his conclusions about the origins of some of the older buildings in the town would certainly be interesting to read. Some date a more serious interest in history as coming from his time at Marlow. 

A little too rustic?

Father John Hungerford Pollen, S.J who wrote a posthumous biography of Morris thought that the priest's "rapidity of thought and speech prevented his keeping quite in touch with his rustic parishioners." Whatever the truth of that, Father Morris left Marlow in 1853 to be Vice Rector at the English College in Rome. He returned on several occasions to stay at Danesfield and kept up a correspondence with Scott Murray and his successor at St Peter's - Canon Bernard Smith*. 

We are not going to cover the life of Father (later Canon) Morris after he left our town for reasons of space. The best description of his varied later career and life as a Jesuit (from 1869) and as secretary to Cardinals Newman and Manning is the above mentioned biography. It is still available along with the titles that Canon Morris wrote on Catholic history. In reviewing the 1896 biography, the Pall Mall Gazette said it's subject "was not a great man, nor yet a greatly sympathetic character; but he was an interesting personality, possessed of a certain amount of local influence, and, above all, highly developed according to the logic of his views". No doubt many authors of only local influence would love to have their work still available more than 100 years after they were written. 

Father Morris died in 1893 of a stroke while giving a homily in London- a dramatic end that ensured he featured yet again in newspapers up and down the country. 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day 

Related information: 

* More on Canon Bernard Smith here

Index of posts related to the history of St Peter's and other churches & chapels in Marlow (all denominations) see here

Sources: 

South Bucks Free Press 4th October 1872 

South Bucks Standard 20th April 1894 

New Zealand Tablet, 22 December 1893

Madras Spectator, 29 June 1846

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900 (accessed June 2023)

Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, China and Australasia. United Kingdom, Wm. H. Allen & Company, 1818.

The Bankers' Magazine, and Journal of the Money Market. United Kingdom, Richard Groombridge, 1857.

The Tablet 11 November 1893

The Surrey Courier 28th October 1893 

Bedfordshire Times and Independent - 28th October 1893. 

Pall Mall Gazette - 13th October 1896 

Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser 10th October 1846

Oxford Journal 28th October 1893

Pollen, John Hungerford (1896) The Life and Letters of Father John Morris of the Society of Jesus 1826-1893, Burnes & Oates

© MarlowAncestors 

Will Summary John Lovegrove Of Great Marlow 1799.

 Will written 1798, proved 1799.

Linen Draper of Great Marlow.

Dear son Henry all property in Checkenden Oxfordshire which is let out to ...Ward.

Dear Wife Elizabeth all rest of his estate for life then divided equally between his 5 children: Henry, Mary and Charlotte Lovegrove, Elizabeth ?Goldney, Anne Banks Lovegrove.

Wife the executor.

Witnessed by Martilla Mayhew, Elizabeth Davis, Elizabeth Blackbourn. 

Notes: John's premises were in West Street. He was in business with his mother in law Mary Greenaway. They were also lace merchants. He inherited his Checkenden property from his father Henry, a plumber and glazier. Son Henry became a lace merchant.

Will witness Martilla Mayhew left Henry's daughter Charlotte a gift of £10 in her will proved 1821 but written earlier. 

Henry himself was described as Martilla's dear friend in the will. Elizabeth Davis was Martilla's "adopted sister" as described in Martilla's will.

Will witness Elizabeth Blackbourn(e) ran a bookshop in Marlow, and also witnessed the will of Martilla.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to reproduce my transcription summary if with credit.

Sellman & Morton Graves, Marlow Cemetery

In loving memory Louisa Sellman who passed away December 6th 1928 age 77 years.  "Dutiful wife and loving mother" 

AND OF

William Sellman, beloved husband of the above who passed away January 25th 1937 age 85. "Always in our thoughts" 

AND OF 

Their daughter Gertrude Emma Morton. 

 Around the grave edge is the following: Pte Sydney Edward Percy Morton RAOC? Killed in Egypt June 21st 1942

NOTE - William founded the Marlow builders W&T Sellman along with brothers Thomas who died the following year and Charles who also died 1937. After his wife died, Gertrude moved in with her father to support him. The couple had celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. In his youth William was a tremendous athlete and also played as one of the original members of Marlow F.C. Louisa was nee Drye, of the coachbuilding and motor car garage family. The two families business premises were on the same side of Marlow High Street but the couple later lived at Glade Rd.

 Pte Sydney Morton was age 25 when he was killed. He was previously a motor mechanic at Currall's garage, Marlow High Street. A keen rower and member of Marlow Rowing Club. 

Post by Kathryn.

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 

The surprising early history of the Masonic Centre, Marlow part 2

 This is the second part of the story of the curious building currently known as the Masonic Centre in St Peter Street Marlow. As mentioned in part one here , it was originally built and licensed as a place of worship for a break away group of worshippers from the Salem Chapel. We've passed through its history as a lecture hall, girls school, Music Room and cinema and now we are resuming the story in the time of the First World War. It was then usually known as the Public Hall and it's owned by a small company of Marlovians. 

Jerome K Jerome treads the boards 

As previously mentioned the building had a stage at one end right from the start. While that may have been intended as a platform for speakers and preachers, for the last half century at least it had been more commonly used by musicians, artistes and actors. One such was the author and playwright Jerome K Jerome who lived at Marlow Common. In 1914 he put on his play "Robina in search of a husband" at the Public Hall. Jerome filled one part while his daughter Rowena reprised the lead role that she had previously performed at London theatres. Other cast members were mostly local amateurs. The performance was a great success and raised funds for the Marlow Cottage Hospital and the Marlow cricket and lawn tennis clubs. 

At this point retiring rooms for both ladies and gentlemen and lavatories had been added to the hall facilities. 

During the First World War 

During the war, the hall put on a number of entertainments by troops stationed at the Bovingdon Green and Marlow Common area camps - sometimes in aid of their YMCA tent, sometimes to benefit local causes or military charities.* Most of the soldiers housed locally would have been familiar with the hall partly for this reason. But it was also used by locals as a space to show their gratitude for the men passing through. At Christmas 1916 local fundraisers organised two free smoking concerts in the hall. Some 90% of the men in camp at Marlow would get no festive home leave that year. All those attending were given some cigarettes and the hosts even managed to rustle up some Christmas puddings to share. Let's hope it provided some happy memories in the dark days ahead. 

Between the wars 

Although these events stopped the hall falling into disuse, the number of regular bookings dwindled to a trickle. Too many men were absent to keep up the kind of clubs and societies that used to fill the hall with their concerts and shows. As a result when the war was over the directors and shareholders of the Marlow Public Hall Co found their finances in dire straights. They decided to put the freehold up for auction in 1919 but unfortunately there were zero bids. So the directors decided to carry on but there were frequent reports that the company would be happy to receive offers for the same. In 1922 they approached the urban district council to see if they'd like to buy the freehold. They said no, the town coffers could not afford such a scheme. 

In 1935 the hall was opened for use by the Marlow lodge of the Freemasons. They had been present in Marlow for some time before this - for many years their lodge room was upstairs at the Institute, now Marlow library. Local groups such as the St Martin's Players felt the loss of the only public building with a proper stage and dressing rooms. They were forced to use the much more cramped facilities of the Church Hall in the Causeway - until what is now Liston Hall was secured and later adapted for plays. (In 1935 the future Liston hall was about to be adapted for use as the library and labour exchange. It had recently housed the Salvation Army while their new citadel was being built.) 

In World War Two 

During the war the Freemasons made their hall readily available to help various groups in the town connected to the war effort. 

At first it's main use was as a recieving centre for evacuees and as emergency accomodation, under the supervision of Chief Billeting Officer and boys school head Victor G Kibblewhite. Some of those arriving with their families were voluntary evacuees, eg those not arriving under a government scheme. Victor had a difficult job in finding accommodation for all and although he was required to provide for them for only two days, many were forced to stay in the hall longer. 

The hall also housed the Infant Welfare Centre but this was forced out when it was decided to start a Bucks County Council "War Nursery" there in 1941. Operating from 7.30am to 6.30pm six days a week the nursery catered for about 25 children of women who were engaged in war work. Or who would be prevented from "doing their bit" by child care difficulties. The youngsters were provided with their own little overalls to wear and were given three meals a day plus a simple cot to sleep in.

Written by Kathryn Day 

Related Posts:

Life for the soldiers at Bovingdon Green Camp in World War One here

Will of George Gordon 1825

 George Gordon of Beech Lodge Great Marlow, written 1814 proved 1825 by which time he had moved to Great Milton Oxfordshire.

A very long will which is summarized here.

All debts, funeral and probate expenses to be paid.

Appoints trustees his dear brother James Gordon paymaster of His Majesty's 2nd regiment of foot, John Elmslie Esquire senior of B...Street, Oxford Street, Middlesex [London] and Charles Forbes Esquire of Fitzroy Square Middlesex [London]. They are to sell his house at Red Pits Marlow [Beech Lodge] and the land and appurtenances belonging to it by private sale or public auction for the best possible price, separately or in one lot.

They also get in trust all his moneys (including the house sale profits), debts, securities for money, stocks and funds and any residual property of his not left to  anyone elsewhere in the will. This is also all to be sold for profit. All monies realized from this lot to be invested and the profits to go to his dear wife Jane while she remains unmarried for the maintenance and education of his children while they are under 21 [who are not individually named in the will but there was a daughter Jane as she is mentioned in the probate]. If wife Jane she remarries and has not previously appointed someone to receive these profits in her place for the children or if she dies without leaving a will or other instructions as to the same then the trustees take over this aspect [e.g they keep the money and use it themselves for the children's care]. When the children reach 21 or earlier if they marry they themselves get equal shares of the money.

Wife Jane gets £200 for her own immediate needs as soon as possible after her husband's death. She also gets all the household goods and implements, furniture, plate [silverware], trinkets, wearing apparel, pictures, china,glass, wine, liquors and linen in his house at the time of his death except his watch which is to go to his eldest son (not named).

Executors of the will his wife while she remains unmarried and the trustees. She is guardian to the children while married, otherwise the trustees.

Witnessed by Roland (Wimburn?) of Chancery Lane, George Spence his clerk, and John James Webb.

Codicil written 1814=  trustee John Elmslie has died so in his place James Elmslie of [place left blank] is appointed in his place. Also specifies that his wife I'd to get the investment profits in quarterly payments. The executors are each to receive £20 for a ring. Testator signed but had no witnesses.

Second Codicil 1824= testator is now of New Milton Oxfordshire. If the investment profits amount to more than £1000 a year the excess is to be divided between his children. Once again there were no witnesses to this codicil.

At a probate hearing Roland Wimburn? and Adam Wallace Elmslie appeared to swear to the authenticity of the handwriting and signature of the deceased in the submitted will and codicils. They say that they went to the house of .... Cruickshank after the death of the testator with testator's daughter Jane Gordon and retrieved the submitted will and codicils from a portmanteau. It is not explained why these papers were in Cruickshank's possession.

Transcribed and then summarised from a will at the National Archives, Kew by me Charlotte Day.

Note:

George Gordon was originally of Banffshire Scotland.

Jane his widow died in London in 1867, aged 83, never having remarried. She was the daughter of John Elmslie Esquire, probably the deceased trustee mentioned in the will. George and Jane's daughter Jane married John Wallace Harris and died of scarlet fever in 1842. On the same day her daughter Charlotte succumbed to the same disease, as did days later her son Harry. Source= The Patriot, 10th October 1842, British Library Archives accessed via the BNA.

Beech Lodge was already let to others by 1819 and it looks like the then tenants went on to buy it after George Gordon's death.

©Marlow Ancestors. 

Andrewes Grave Marlow Cemetery

In Marlow Cemetery - Walter Ford Andrewes - born in Reading March 12th 1854, died in London May 24th 1923. 

"Two things stand like stone, kindness in another's trouble, courage in your own" 

ALSO OF:

Francis Mary Louise, his dear wife. Died June 20th 1950 age 79

Notes= Walter was living at Beech House, Station Road when he died, and formerly was of Cromwell Cottage, Cromwell Gardens. He was a retired director of Consolidated Goldfields of South Africa. 

 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 

The surprising past of the Masonic Centre in Marlow

 Many people have been puzzled or intrigued by the chapel like appearance of the current Masonic centre in St Peter Street Marlow. It's location opposite the Catholic church of St Peter's has often led to the assumption it was built as a kind of parish hall for them. The clue to the true history lies in the family actually responsible for putting it up - the Morgans. They were prominent members of the Salem Chapel as it was then known (Aka Congregational church, now the U.R.C Quoiting Square) and it was for a break away group of worshippers that the building was established as a place of worship. 

The Music Room, above. Image ©Colin Groves and used with permission. 

A severe break at the Salem Chapel

The story of why there was a significant sundering of the congregation at the Salem Chapel has partly been told already by us in Charlotte's biography of the Rev Thomas Styles (and can be read in more detail here). To sum up, Rev Styles expressed in 1854 a wish to marry a lady that some members of the congregation regarded as an unsuitable choice for a minister. In addition, some thought he shouldn't marry at all as the living they could provide would not be sufficient for a married man. If he did, then resignation should follow they reasoned. Thomas disagreed and married Eliza anyway. You may think that would have been more or less the end of the matter. Not so - a significant number of worshippers lead by Mr Morgan "broke away" from the main congregation and remained so estranged for nearly 10 years. At first they met in the Albion rooms West Street, but in 1855 the breakaway group were planning a purpose built building that would double as a lecture hall for hire. This was not completed until 1861 in St Peter Street and is what we call the Masonic Centre. It was licenced for worship and used as such until 1863. 

The press and town as a whole were very much on the side of the Rev Styles. The loss of half his congregation severely dented his income.  The deficiency was made up by voluntary donations made by those of all denominations. The South Bucks Free Press thought the dispute was really about internal power struggles within the church and many criticized those who presumed to tell their "respected" minister what to do. 

The lecture room opens

In July of 1861 "the lecture room" (and it was then just a single room) opened. Big enough to hold 300 people, it was provided with a stage and state of the art harmonium at one end as well as gas lighting and a hot water heating system. The lighting was a constant source of complaint later but at the time of opening this was a facility with all modern conveniences. The building was designed by Marlow architect Charles Carter and it was completed by our builder Thomas Corby. The first lecture was on "the existing barriers [to the] social, moral, and religious elevation of the people". Temperance lectures were a big feature of the early days too, especially by the Great Marlow Temperance Society. 

It was of course also used for worship. The Rev Mitchel was engaged as a probationary minister there and Sunday congregations were regarded as well attended. 

Peacemaking? 

 In 1863 the Rev Styles had finally had enough. He had continued to offer an olive branch to those who had left his church and many had indeed returned to him.  Thomas now said he was ready to retire altogether. The breakaway group felt this was an opportunity to reconcile. The question then was of the pension to be offered. Thomas had been living on an income of £30-40 a year which was found to be less than half of what any incoming minister would accept to replace him. But there was those (especially in the breakaway group) who thought the pension of the same amount would have to do. It was felt that as this group had caused the Rev Styles to have to live on such a small sum and were generally the better off, that they should contribute to his pension fund. They initially refused and were accused of trying  "to crush  and sweep away" Thomas with "a system that shames them". It was noted this was not the first time a such a system of "persecution" had been used to shed a minister. Strong language was used on both sides  - one member of the main congregation referred to the breakaways as "illiterate nonentities" for example!  In the end Thomas was given the right to live in the Manse for life as well as  £40 a year. 

A month after Thomas preached his last sermon, a "re-union" meeting was held in the lecture room, presided over by church member Joseph Wright of Marlow Mills. He said they were gathered to "give assistance and counsel to the little cause in Marlow now making an attempt to recover it's position once enjoyed".  A visiting preacher pleaded for all to forgive and be forbearing. 

Lectures? No thanks! 

With the lecture hall no longer needed for purposes of worship, it was kept open for the secondary role as a sort of public hall. Unfortunately as such it was initially a failure. The main users were groups who would otherwise have used the Salem Chapel schoolrooms and when the rift was healed, they generally did so. The Mutual Improvement Society did hire it for educational talks but these were poorly attended. In 1864 the lecture room was declared a failure.  The Rev Millman of All Saints (Anglican) then took a lease of the premises for 5 years for use as the National Girls School. (They got their own premises in 1870.) In 1867 Owen Peel Wethered of Marlow's well known brewing family bought the freehold. He intended to use it as a public hall for hire. It would soon generally be known as the Music Room as it was often used for concerts and choral union meetings. 

The Music Room - respectable audience only please

In the 1870s the shift from educational and temperance related  offerings to more general entertainment was complete. Both the Literary and Scientific Institute and Mutual Improvement Society still used the facilities on occasion but attendance was usually reported as poor. The emphasis was on respectable entertainment - for example when Mrs Howard Paul visited in 1877 to offer songs and impressions we are reassured that there was "an utter absence of anything coarse or objectional"..

Other best selling Victorian events included an exposure of the sleight of hand used by spiritualist mediums, a recreated Japanese village as part of an exhibition of their craft, displays of photographs, Pepper's Ghost, and magic lantern exhibitions. My favourite event though was a show in 1883 of curiosities and artefacts collected by local people. A polariscope, stuffed skunk, photographs of microscopic algae from the USA, a portion of the wrecked HMS Eurydice, a calculating machine and a display of ferns were amongst the eclectic items on display. 

In 1888 the Music Room was licenced for dramatic performances and these would be a big feature going forward. In the 1880s the room had been used more by travelling troupes or showman.  As these were sometimes regarded as a little noisy and not educational enough, a decision was made by the Wethereds in 1894 that the music room would no longer be available to showman or groups not resident in Marlow (unless taking part in a Marlow organised fundraising event such as for the cottage hospital.) 

As gymnasium and cinema 

In the 1890s the music room became home to the Marlow Gymnastic club - you can read more on those energetic fellows here 

It's other significant use was as Marlow's first regular cinema from 1911-1913 - again the full story has been told in a post - here

As the Public Hall

In 1906, the Wethered family sold the freehold of the music room to a small limited company of Marlow men including prominent Congregationalists William J Morgan and Joseph Dorsett. The new owners say it will be now known as the Public Hall - although the Music Room name stuck for a long time! They made some additions to the building and improvements to the lighting. 

In the Edwardian era it saw meetings of the Woman's Freedom League and Suffragette groups - usually interrupted by belligerent young men armed with whistles, cow bells and mouth organs. 

Afterwards 

The story of the buildings use in the First and Second World Wars is covered in another post here. The Freemasons bought the freehold in 1934. 

NB. The Rev Alexander Henderson also resigned as the Congregational minister specifically in order to get married - after the congregation voiced "doubts" about whether he should. (1883) A biography of that minister is available here

Post written and researched by Kathryn Day. 

Related posts:

Index of church and chapel related posts (all denominations):here

For other posts about St Peter's Street or other specific buildings see here

Votes for women? Marlow discussions on the issue here

Sources include : 

Charlotte's research on Rev Thomas Styles

Marlow Directory 1891 

Kelly's Directory 1889

Marlow Almanack and Directory 1903, 1907, 1915. 

South Bucks Free Press 13th December 1857, 8th August 1860, 26th July 1861 2nd February, 27th March, 19th June,  4th July & 28th August 1863, 23rd January 1864, 27th September 1867, 26th October 1883, 30th November 1888, 15th May 1908

Reading Mercury 3rd August 1861, 17th Jan 1863, 24th February 1877, 12th September 1885

Bucks Advertiser & Aylesbury News 29th August 1863 

Bucks Herald 127th October 1877

Maidenhead Advertiser 14th February 1894

South Bucks Standard 6th July & 26th October 1906

Information on the Congregational Church as was from Martin Ashford with thanks. 

© MarlowAncestors 

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 infant 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 illegally 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.