Almswoman Jane Gibbons

This is the latest of a series of posts featuring the widows elected to the (now demolished) almshouses in Oxford Road, or Oxford Lane as it was then known.

Jane Gibbons

Jane Gibbons appears on the 1881 census of Great Marlow in the Oxford Road almshouses for elderly widows. 

Ten years previously on the 1871 census she was also at the almshouses but just as a visitor to resident Mary Keats. She was then a needlewoman but most of her widowhood she was a resident nurse in boys' boarding schools.

She was born according to her census entries circa 1794 in either Bisham or Sonning Berkshire. Her husband was James Gibbons but sadly I haven't found their marriage so I can't say what Jane's maiden name was. Their early married life was spent first in Cookham and Bray and then Eton. James died while still in his prime in 1846. On the 1851 census Jane was a widow working as a school nurse in Eton Wick. She lived on site at the halls of residence of the private school for boys Eton College. Her children Margaret and Josiah lived in with her. In 1860 Josiah died at the age of 19. Ann had previously suffered the loss of her 4 year old daughter Miriam in 1847. Within a year of Josiah's death Jane moved to Marlow to take up a job as live in nurse at Marlow Place boarding school for boys. I have a post on the history of Marlow Place already up on the blog if you want to read more about this school or see a picture of the premises. Though not of the status of Eton the school was a big fish locally and was sited in an attractive Georgian house. Jane is one of those minority of people who appear on the same census twice in different places. Her son John put her as living in his household off Chesham High Street in 1861 and her employer at Marlow Place also censused her as living on his premises. It may be she had not yet arrived to take up her post but the head teacher thought he ought to include her anyway or perhaps she was on a temporary visit with John. 

Either way by 1871 as already said Jane was working as a needlewoman instead. This was a low paid but common occupation for elderly widows.

By then she had outlived two more of her children as son John passed away aged just 46 in Bow, London while son Leonard died aged 42 also in London.

Jane herself died in 1885.

For other Marlow almswomen see Biographies Of Individuals on the menu. All mentions of someone on this blog can be found on the Person Index.

Post © Marlow Ancestors.

Census information are from my own microfilm transcriptions but remain Crown Copyright. 

Ann Barney, Almswoman

Ann was born Ann Gomm circa 1809 in Bristol according to the census. By 1829 she was in Marlow as she married James Barney, a bricklayer at Marlow in that year.

On the 1841 census the couple lived in St Peter's Street Marlow with their family - George, Sarah, James and Henry. In 1851 they were at Dean Street. James senior died in 1853. After that Ann supported herself by working as a laundress. This was a common occupation for widows to follow but a very poorly paid one. She lived with 4 of her children in Berwick House, the former parish workhouse in Munday Dean Lane which by that period was subdivided into rental accommodation for the poorest families. On the 1871 census she lived in West Street Marlow.

Ann entered the Almshouse circa 1878. This would have been after she was elected to the almshouses by the trustees of the almshouses charity. She may have nominated herself for this, or someone else may have alerted the trustees to a her deserving case.

On the 1881 census Ann was living in her almshouse with her granddaughter Gertude Barney aged 11 (daughter of Henry). Within the next few years Gertrude moved on and Ann was left alone in the house. She became increasingly frail and by 1886 needed help to even get into her bed. Esther Wethered (widow of the former vicar of Hurley Florence Wethered- yes Florence was a male*) lived in nearby Oxford Cottage and along with another wealthy volunteer "parish visitor" Mrs Graves alerted Walter Lovegrove** one of the Guardians of the poor to the fact that Ann needed someone to take care of her. Walter wrote to the Wycombe Board of Guardians to request that Ann receive money to pay for a nurse attendant. This was refused on the grounds that Ann received a small income of €1 a month as an almswoman and thus was not legally classified as destitute. Nor on the same grounds would they give her a ticket to enter the workhouse infirmary for treatment despite the local doctor believing that would be the best thing for her.

Ann herself paid for Mary Stroud of Oxford Road to attend her for the sum of 2 shillings 6 pence a week. Mary got her breakfast, did her laundry, helped her get into bed and generally kept an eye on her during the day. But she did not remain overnight. 

Ann's family weren't absent from her life. The local surgeon would later testify that her daughter "Mrs Allum" had always been "very kind" to her mother but no longer lived in Marlow. Neither did her granddaughter Ellen Barney (daughter of George) but she still came to visit and did what she could for Ann when she did so. One of Ann's sons sometimes contributed to the cost of the nurse, as and when he could. The family members absent from Marlow apparently did not realise that Mary Stroud did not remain with Ann at night.

By 1887 Ann was struggling to afford Mary Stroud's attendance, even though one of her sons was paying part of the weekly cost. She asked Mary to pawn a blanket and dress of hers at Mr Batting's pawn shop in West Street. Embarrassed, she appealed to Ann to say the items came from an invented person rather than herself. The dress realised 2 shillings 6d and the blanket 1 shilling 6d.

Shortly afterwards Ann was found dead having fallen out of bed in trying to reach something and hit her head causing a fatal apopletic fit, though Dr Culhane testified that she had twice before had apoplectic fits caused by "overeating". The coroner said he felt that old people should not be left in a position where they had no attendance at night. The jury returned a verdict of death by natural causes. Her inquest was held at the Clayton Arms, a little further down Oxford Road, off Quoiting Square.

For more Oxford Road related posts see here 

Post by Charlotte Day.

Other Almswomen posts:

Sarah Evans

More Almswomen

First post about almswomen

Other related posts:

*Florence Wethered, eccentric Vicar of Hurley

**Walter Lovegrove biography

See Bucks Herald 11th June 1887 and South Bucks Free Press June 10th 1887 for details of Ann's inquest.

Census transcriptions, my own from microfilm. Census information remains Crown copyright.

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

Sarah Evans Of Oxford Road Almshouses

Sarah Evans

An 81 year old lace worker Sarah, a widow, lived at the Almshouses in Oxford Road Marlow at the time of the 1871 census. Elizabeth Dempster who was a 62 year old retired lace worker was visiting her at the time. 

Sarah had been living in Oxford Road since at least 1840, before she became a widow and thus qualified for an Almshouse. Her husband was David Evans, a chimney sweep originally from Wales. He employed at least two men as well as sweeping himself so was doing well for himself.

Sarah was born Sarah Howard and married David in Marlow in 1811. In 1840 their Oxford Road cottage was a thatched one. There was at least a couple of thatched cottages in Oxford Road then as well as at least one in Chapel Street, unfortunately all lost now.

Sarah's daughter "Mrs Bowles" [Sarah, wife of James Bowles] sadly seems to have been a problem drinker, the police often having been called to the Evans home because Mrs Bowles was there drunk and causing disruption. On one occasion when she broke plates belonging to David and Sarah she was taken to court by them but Sarah had a change of heart and asked for her daughter not to be prosecuted [some details from Berkshire Chronicle 20th June 1846].

Sarah herself was in trouble in 1857 for allegedly spitting at and hitting in the face her tenant Jane Blake. Sarah had gone to remind her about some nearly due rent. Mrs Blake did not take kindly to this and a verbal confrontation followed. It was said that Sarah then launched her attack and challenged her to come out and gight.The judge said that if she paid all the costs of the case for both sides the charge could be withdrawn (presumably with Mrs Blake's agreement). This decision isn't explained in any surviving record I have found but Sarah went with it. It implies that she was the guilty party as she had to pay both side's costs but that she was not thought likely to repeat the offence and thus need any further deterrent to be applied to her.

The tenant in question was Rebecca Blake the photographer who lived in West Street with her husband. A biographical post on her is on the blog here. In that post you will see that Rebecca herself was also an Almshouse resident as a widow. 

So for a chimney sweep David Evans wasn't doing too badly if he owned or leased a property he could rent out. He had at least two adult employees so perhaps he was more the business owner than anything else.

He died in 1864, Sarah in 1878 [GRO Death Index].

Researched and written by Charlotte Day.

Census information is my own transcription from microfilm readers. The original censuses remain Crown Copyright.

Related posts

Other occupants of Oxford Road Almshouses see this post, this one and here

For all mentions of someone on this blog try the Person Index.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use my research for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog and link here.

Jubilee Celebrations Marlow 1887

Jubilee Cottages, New Town Road. 

Most towns and villages in England celebrated Queen Victoria's Jubilee in June 1887. Marlow was no different. Here as everywhere numerous committees were set up to decide on a suitable programme. Here as everywhere no one could at first decide what to do!

The most enthusiastically supported early idea was to build a proper Literary and Scientific Institute in the Queen's honour. Enthusiasm in principle failed to translate into enthusiasm for emptying one's purse for the purpose. Too little money had been raised for the town to think of starting proper building work before the Jubilee. Disappointment was expressed that Marlow hadn't been more forthcoming. The town did get a new institute but not until 1890 (see here for more)  Of the money that was raised before the Jubilee £100 was reserved to pay for the festivities. And £79 was spent on a gift of coal for the poor the proceeding winter when it was most needed. 

Less ambitious plans to mark the Jubilee were eventually put in place instead.

The Jubilee day itself, a Tuesday, was a national holiday a certain degree of celebration was to take place in some towns all that week however.

Marlow had a special trading connection to Victoria as it was from Marlow that all the beech logs she used for fires in Windsor Castle came.

Local residents could take advantage of special trains laid on from Marlow and Bourne End during Jubilee Week to take them to Windsor for a look at the decorations and to participate in the celebratory atmosphere there.

Marlow itself packed most of it's celebrations into one single day, the Tuesday. But on Monday a public dinner was held in Queens Road, opposite the Duke of Cambridge. We are told that a "loyal and jovial" bunch of tradesmen and others sat down to enjoy the meal. The pub was decorated with flags and Japanese lanterns and bunting stretched across the road. The Marlow band also attended. 

On the morning of Tuesday the bells of All Saints church rang out before a thanksgiving service was held.

At lunch time a hot meal was provided for residents aged over 60 in tents erected for the purpose in the High Street. The men came away with pipes and tobacco as a gift, generously donated by Mrs Lovell*. (The ladies received a parcel of tea) These tents were then used in the afternoon to give all 6 to 14 year olds a tea. As a souvenir these children received a Jubilee "medal" each. These were donated by Miss Somers Cocks and Miss Wethered. (The Wethereds were also among several local breweries that donated ale for the dinners)

Miss Caird of Sunny Bank house [see my first "Where in Marlow was...?" post if you are not sure where that was] gave all widows of the Almshouses 1 shilling each. Those in the Almshouses also received a bottle of wine, some cake, a Jubilee handkerchief and a necktie thanks to Mr Charles Walker of Hampstead. He extended the gift to a number of the poor outside the Almshouses too.  

Sports were organised in a meadow adjoining the site of the proposed institute, for the evening. (Donkey races, greasy pole, skipping, tug of war..) There had also been a few races and games within the High Street itself. The races were for both adults and children and were free to enter. They competed for "useful" prizes and those commemorating the Jubilee. 

The day ended with a fireworks display and a torchlight procession of more than 100 people. The "monster" bonfire was created at the junction of the "new roads on Mr Williams land". (Institute Road & Beaumont Rise - the latter sometimes going by the name of Junction Rd in its early years, although this name was given to other "new" roads in Marlow too including Claremont Gardens and Station Rise before their current names stuck.)

During the day bunting and flags flew from houses, while in the evening Chinese lanterns were used. Marlow Bridge, the bridge across to Marlow Lock, the parish church and Thames Bank house were amongst the structures lit up with special coloured lamps as an additional decoration.

Bunting could be homemade but it could also be bought, along with flags and royal standards, from London suppliers by mail order as well as local fancy good shops.

The Black Lion pub in Well End, Little Marlow promptly applied to stay open an hour later than normal on account of the celebrations. In the end all licenced premises were granted an hours extension. 

Every Jubilee year in England there was a rash of little girls given the first or middle name Jubilee, as well as newly built houses dubbed Jubilee Cottages or Jubilee Villas or the like.  Marlow parents Caroline and Joseph Harris were a little unusual in using Jubilee for their male child Sydney Harold Jubilee Harris who appears on the 1891 census. Jubilee Cottages in Newtown Road dated 1887 still stand although Jubilee Terrace Dean Street, finished in 1887 does not. 

The 1897 Jubilee of Queen Victoria was also much celebrated - see more here. A post on the coronation of her successor King Edward appeared on the blog a short while ago here

*Others donating in kind or loaning items to the celebrations include Mr William Fisher (meat, he was a butcher of Market Square), Charles Miller Foottit (various foods) Mr George Maskell (of the George and Dragon - cutlery and plates). The over 60s dinner menu was cold roast and boiled meat, hot vegetables, plum pudding (part of any celebration back then, not confined to Christmas!), bread, cheese, tea and ale. 

Other posts connected to Royalty in Marlow can be found listed under Royalty on the General Marlow History post index here

All mentions of an individual on this blog can be found on the A-Z  Person Index in the top drop down menu. There's 4,000 + names there! 

See:

Bucks Herald 18th and 25th June 1887. Reading Mercury 18th June 1887. Copies British Library. Also available from the BNA.

1891 census Familysearch International by the LDS. Accessed July 2020.

Nash's Pall Mall Magazine Volume 18 published 1899.

Slough, Eton and Windsor Observer June 25th 1887 - Slough Library

©Marlow Ancestors. 

More Widows Of The Almshouses

Isabella Mitchell

Isabella after a 10 year wait and at her 12th attempt of trying was successfully elected into an almshouse in 1901. She was at that time living at Cape Town, a virtual shanty town on the edge of Marlow. For more about that place see my post here. As a widow she had survived by working as a servant or charwoman at different times.

Earlier in her life she lived with her husband George in the gardener's lodge at Spinfield House (also called Spinfield Lodge) where George was gardener. 

Isabella married her husband in 1848 at the age of 19. She was born to unmarried mother Ann Holloway. When Isabella was 5 her mother married James Jones, a brewer. On the 1841 Great Marlow census Isabella lived with her stepfather, presumably widowed, and half siblings in a cottage in the Church Yard. That may sound a strange address but there were several homes on the edge of All Saints churchyard and so described in those days. Isabella worked as a satin stitch worker then.

Her husband George is censused as being born in Lambeth. He won numerous prizes in local shows in the Marlow area for flowers and fruit he had grown. He began working at Spinfield circa 1849.

Sarah Butler

Sarah was resident at the Almshouses at the time of her death in 1901 at the age of 83.

She was born to unmarried mother Ann Archer in 1817. When her daughter was 13 Ann married George White and had another child, Elizabeth. George died not long afterwards and Ann married again. It is with that second stepfather Richard Juggins that Sarah lived in 1841 along with her mother, half sister and husband Richard Butler whom she had married at the age of 17. At the time of his marriage Richard Butler himself was around 44. 

Richard and Sarah continued to live in the Dean Street area for many years (Alma Passage and Marefield). Unsurprisingly given the age gap between her and her husband, Sarah had a long widowhood. She worked then as a servant before being elected into the Almshouses in 1889.

To read more about Sarah's sister Emma and her husband who was transported see here. Sarah's grandparents Archer ran the White Hart in Chapel Street. More on them here

Ann Plucknett

Died in her almshouse in January 1892 aged 81 by which time she had been a widow for a few months short of 40 years. Her husband James (born 1810 Marlow to James and Mary) had been a baker and flour dealer of West Street (there by 1839) and after his death Ann continued to run the very small shop for a while. She thereafter lived with her nephew William Cox, Marlow's chief well sinker, before she went to the almshouse.

Post researched and written by Charlotte Day.

This is the second post about the widows of the Almshouses. The first here contains an introduction to the institution. Also see my post here on resident Rebecca Blake who was in her younger days a professional photographer. A post about another resident Sarah Evans is here.

For an index of Oxford Road related posts or of any other Street see here

To find every mention of a person of interest use the Person Index option on the drop down menu.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use this material for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog and a link here.

Sources: 

My census transcriptions.

Newspaper copies in British Library archives, via the BNA:

South Bucks Standard 8th March and 20th December 1901.

Death Cert.

1841 Piggots Royal National and Commercial Directory.

1839 Robson's Directory.

1847 Kelly's Post Office Directory of Bucks 

Death Registration Index, GRO.

Women Of Oxford Road Almshouses

The almshouses for widows which stood in Oxford Road had been a gift of John Brinkhurst in the early 1600s.

Here's something about a few of their Victorian residents who received entry into them by being voted for in a meeting of the trustees. Voting took place upon the death of an occupant. As well as their home the widows received a small weekly income from the charity. In 1893 this was 5 shillings. The minimum age for entry was 60. Residents could come from Bisham or Marlow.

Elizabeth Keen

Born Elizabeth Windsor circa 1818 to parents Thomas, a postman, and Mary. She worked as a satin stitch worker as a young woman like so many other Marlow women, including her sisters Fanny and Eliza.

Elizabeth was elected into her charity house in 1893 and continued as resident until her death in 1901 following a short illness. Her young granddaughter Mary Deane lived with her then. At the time of her election to the Almshouses Elizabeth was around 75 years of age and living in Eton Place, Marlow. Two years earlier in 1891 at the time of the census she was a widowed needlewoman living in Dukes Place with her daughter Louisa born 1847. Both Louisa and Elizabeth's son Edwin (1839) and other daughter Sarah (1835) had been born illegitimately to Elizabeth prior to her marriage in 1857 to John Keen / Keene. Sadly Louisa was an inmate of St John's Hospital in Stone, Buckinghamshire, an asylum for "pauper lunatics" by 1901.

Emma Boddy

Emma received the happy news that she had won a place at the Almshouses in 1903. She was circa 70 years old and the widow of brewery labourer George Boddy who died between the 1871 and 1881 censuses.

Emma herself had worked as a needlewoman during her marriage and as a charwoman as a widow. At the time of her winning an Almshouse she lived at Cromwell Cottage which I think was the old gardener's cottage for Cromwell House. At the time Cromwell House was no longer in domestic use. The garden cottage was behind the High Street*. 

The first home she lived in with George was perhaps in South Place where she appears on the 1861 census.

In 1870 they lived in Gun Lane (now called Trinity Road). Here Emma was assaulted during a heated argument with her neighbour Julia Martin. Emma took Julia to court where the guilty party was fined 5 shillings.

Charlotte Kilham

Admitted Autumn 1900. There until her death in 1910.

She was born as Charlotte Frith circa 1833 in Great Marlow according to the census. She may have been an inmate in the Bledlow children's workhouse as a child, otherwise her early youth is hard to trace.

In 1871 she was the unmarried housekeeper or perhaps "housekeeper" of Henry Kilham a widowed bricklayer in Little Marlow. She and he had a baby daughter Clara that year. The next year they married but Henry, who was 65 years old (26 years older than Charlotte) died within weeks of the ceremony.

Charlotte moved to Marlow and supported herself as a needlewoman. Before entering the Almshouse she lived in Trinity Road Marlow with Clara who was also a needlewoman.

More widows of these houses in this post. To find every mention on this blog of a person of interest to you choose the Person Index option on the drop down menu.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day.

* A description of a  "Cromwell House Cottage" in 1898 refers to a bigger premises however as it had a coach-house and three horse stable in addition to a small garden. (South Buck Standard 6 May 1898)

© Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use this material for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog and a link here so that my sources also remain credited.

Sources Included:

GRO Marriage and Death Registration Indexes. 

Census Great Marlow 1861, 71, 81, 91 my transcription from microfilm. National Archives, Kew.

1901 England and Wales Census Database Louisa Windsor in Stone record from https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X9Y1-G5C. National Archives.

Little Marlow 1871 census Charlotte Firth [Frith] from England and Wales Census Database, Familysearch https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KXS5-262 National Archives Kew.

Newspapers in British Library Archives, via the BNA:

South Bucks Standard 26th October 1900 and 20th December 1901.