The Bell Ringing Beer Selling Bargeman

 Today's subject is the multi talented George Creswell (Cresswell), an imposing figure who could be found striding the streets of the town in the regency and Victorian period. If you wandered into the beautifully thatched Swan Inn in the Causeway, you may have heard licenced victualler George bending the ear of his drinkers on the subject of how the river and barging industry had changed. Going to the river itself, you may have seen George accompanying some eager anglers out on the water or perhaps you would spot him and brother William with their barge, also known as the Swan, starting out for London. Or perhaps you can see an particularly tall and well built parish constable guiding a miscreant to the parish lock up? That's George too.  Hear church bells ringing? George again. He's one of the ringers. You get the idea. 

There are many George Creswells to be found in the pages of Marlow history but our subject is the one born in 1808 to William and Ann of the riverside Complete Angler inn as we call it. His parents turned the somewhat ramshackle cottage conversion into an inn with a far ranging reputation for hospitality and fishing facilities. As such it attracted gentleman visitors from London, willing to rough it a little, and business boomed. The couple have their own dedicated entry here. 

Suffice to say George and his siblings grew up on the banks of the river. As a young man he worked as a fisherman, which in Thames terms of the time, meant someone who guided anglers out to find the best hunting grounds. The most sought after fisherman had their services in such high demand by visitors that their services were hard to acquire. George had the advantage of a steady stream of customers from the family inn. The two brothers would eventually lease extensive fishing rights between Bisham and Cookham Bridge. His father also maintained an interest in timber and coal dealing, and running the barges that carried goods up and down the river. George would also take up this role. 

At some point, he and brother William began to run the Swan barge on the river. Those described as "running a barge" sometimes owned it, often leased it, and sometimes were those captaining it up the river themselves. George and William seem to have combined the latter two roles at the beginning. As time went on, they did less work on the barges themselves, and more was left to employees. Although George was ultimately very successful in the barge industry, he certainly suffered some setbacks. Both his father and brother William were generally regarded as very shrewd businessman and definite misers. (You can read more about that infamous brother William, scourge of all in authority, here ) George it would seem was less one to frantically count his pennies, or perhaps he was unlucky. For in 1829, he found himself banged up in the notorious Whitecross Street debtors prison in London...

Debtors Prison 

Whitecross Street was used solely for the reception of debtors and it had arguably a worse reputation than the others so used. Sarcastically known as the "Cripplegate Coffee-House", it was often described as over crowded. The debtor's were housed in wards rather than individual rooms, men and woman apart. He is described as a fisherman formerly of Marlow at the time of his incarceration - "formerly" does not mean he had moved to London however. He is imprisoned at Whitecross because the action was taken relating to debts owed to someone operating in London or Middlesex who took a civil action against him there. I can't be sure how much he owed, but if a creditor insisted on it even someone owing a relatively small amount could find themselves behind bars at this time. And they were liable to stay there until the debt was paid, which may of course mean an indefinite stay. George's time however does not seem to have been long..perhaps his family stepped in and helped straighten his affairs. 

Happily, 1829 was not an entirely bad year for our subject. The Berkshire Chronicle of April announced the marriage of George Cresswell of Great Marlow to "Miss Bowles" of the same place. (Elizabeth). The Bowles were a very old and widespread Marlow family, one of the few to be present continuously from the Tudor period onwards and very likely before that too. The Bowles and Cresswell families were in charge of a large number of Victorian inns and beer houses at different times. 

By 1833 George and Elizabeth were living in the High Street. Their home was assessed at £10 for tax purposes so it was a reasonable size. Around now, George was one of the bell ringers at the old parish church*. In fact when that building was demolished, and replaced with a new one, George was one of the "first ringers". That is he was one of those who rang the bells for the first time in the new church in February 1835, a little time after it was completed. On the 60th anniversary of that occasion, the bells were rung again in honour of these early ringers all of whom had since passed away.  

The Swan Inn

Sometime between 1834 and 1839, George became the proprietor of the Swan Inn. Now demolished, this was a very old thatched building standing where the vicarage is now. It's proximity to the river means it's presumed to have had many bargeman amongst it's clientele although there were several beer houses on the river front itself around Church Passage and St Peters Street. And bargeman could be found drinking in any of Marlow's very very many houses of refreshment! However despite barge men having a somewhat fearsome reputation (often embellished later it must be said) events at the Swan rarely generated the sort of traffic to the Petty Sessions that many other licenced premises did. Was there a sort of self policing going on? Maybe, but George was regarded as running a respectable establishment in general. He in fact took a turn as parish constable on more than one occasion. Someone associated with crime would not get voted to this role. (You can find more about how parish constables worked in Marlow here) 

George's address in the 1840s is several times given as Sundial Cottage. It was the neighbouring property to the Swan, famed for the historic sun dial on an adjacent outer wall. Licenced victuallers were required to live in their premises but it seems George was also using the cottage and this was regarded as sufficiently the same. 

In 1845 wife Elizabeth died with such swiftness that expressions of sympathy were forthcoming from all quarters. She was "hale and hearty" one morning but was taken ill in the night. Surgeon Wilkinson attended but declared her life must be despaired of and she never recovered. Inflammation of the throat was considered the cause of death. George, with a young family,  would go on to marry a second time, to widow Charlotte of Bisham. 

George was the last landlord of The Swan. I'm not sure exactly when he chose to leave it but it was sometime between summer 1861 and December 1863 when the premises is described as uninhabited.  The site was ear marked for a new rectory by the Rev Milman who had many church improvement plans in mind. The Rev left the parish before most were realised but he did see the completion of his new home the year before his departure.  So The Swan and all its history was demolished in the 1860s. George and family moved just a short distance away to Brook(s) Street (now Station Rd). 

Farmer George, Timber Merchant

George primarily used his barge for transporting wood as time passed, as he was increasingly focusing on his timber dealing business. This developed into a substantial affair and by 1851 he employed 9 men. Timber lying at a wharf or in a yard was a frequent subject of thefts locally as it was relatively valuable. For example in 1856 20 year old John Stacey was sentenced to 3 months in jail for stealing some wood from George. He plead guilty and a previous conviction for theft increased his sentence. George also owned timber wagons which made the journey between Marlow and High Wycombe, centre of the chair making industry. 

In 1875 a man working for George was drowned in the Thames. James Rockell** had had charge of the horses towing the barge. When it stopped for the night in Staines, the crew went for food and drink in the town. A rowing boat was used to reach the spot where the barge was moored. James returned separately from the others but sadly his rowing boat was over turned in the dark. His fellow crew had already retired for the night and knew nothing of the tragedy. His body was found the following day. At least that is one version of events. Another later story says that the other crew had deliberately set a wonky gang plank up as a practical joke knowing James would use it last. He did and fell to his death. George had ceased to travel on the barge himself in those days. But he must have trusted James a good deal as the latter had worked for him since the age of 15, over 30 years it was said. 

 George knew all about his dangerous the river could be. He served on coroner's juries for the drowned and personally recovered at least one body from the water at Marlow. This was the badly decomposed remains of 73 year old George Joell, a Berkshire farm labourer of "unsound mind" who had been missing for 6 weeks. George collected a 20 shilling reward which had been posted for news of his whereabouts.

 He continued also to work as a coal merchant. He had however always had a farming interest. Even in the 1830s he was leasing farm land at Red Pits. Subsequently he would add to this holding with land at Lower Field farm (formerly part of the Great Marlow Common Fields, some of it purchased freehold by George in 1849 but still subject to common rights), "Merefield Common" (Marefield common field) and at Hill Farm amongst others. The Creswell Row cottages off Queens Road were built on his land. They were known as Cresswell's Cottages at first, although the family later owned many in the nearby area to which this term can also apply.

Goodbye George

George died aged 71 in 1879. He was still working as a farmer and timber merchant to the end. His beloved Swan Inn was fast becoming just a memory and many of the riverside properties around it were also demolished. The working river was increasingly making money out of tourists and houseboats rather than barges transporting goods. His death must have felt like the end of an era to many. 

The second Mrs Creswell, Charlotte lived to the age of 91, dying at the home of her daughter in law in 1898, Swilley Cottage, Little Marlow Road. She was said to have been as "sharp as a tack" in her old age. Her last illness was brief. She suddenly became blind 3 days before her death. She nevertheless apparently retained a healthy appetite to the end and died peacefully at the last. Of the couple's 4 children, only eldest son farmer and dairyman Augustus was still alive. 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day. 

**Sadly the widow of James Rockell would loose her second husband to drowning too - George Picton whose boat overturned while he was working for the Thames Conservancy in the 1890s. Two of the crew members of James' barge both drowned in separate incidents in the months after his death. You can read more about the rest of Mrs Rockell/Picton's sad life in a post here

More information:

Read about George's run in with a character known as Buffer the Hatch  - here

List of publicans at The Swan: here

A tribute to our bargeman - challenging the stereotypes here

Pub index: here

To find every mention of a person or family here use the A-Z Person Index in the top drop down menu. You'll find over 6,000 people listed there.  

Posts about everyday life for your ancestor in old Great Marlow: here

Sources include:

1833 Parish Assessment, transcribed by me from the original held by my family 

Undated letters and workings related to the above c 1834. 

Robson's Directory 1839

Slater's Commercial Directory 1852

Kelly's Directory 1847 & 1869

Dutton's Directory 1863

Bicester Herald 7 March 1879.

Berkshire Chronicle 4 April 1829, May 3 1845. 

Reading Mercury 29 March 1829, 26 May 1855.

Bucks Herald 15 May 1875, 12 Jan 1879. 

Bucks Advertiser 03 March 1849 & 25 January 1879

South Bucks Standard - January 14 1898. 

Great Marlow census returns as transcribed from microfilm by Jane Pullinger. 

Creswell family research by Charlotte. 

© MarlowAncestors. 

The Indomitable Mr Cresswell. Gives a good thrashing!

William Creswell of Wycombe Road farm was a man of many talents. In his youth he was said to possess "almost unequalled strength". Then there was the fact that "almost everything he touched turned to gold". He was equally good at saving money as earning it. And above all he enjoyed a stubbornly independent spirit that made him clash swords with those in authority who had different ideas about land rights and ownership than he did..  

Gives a good thrashing

There are a number of William Creswell/Cresswells in Marlow's history. Our subject today is the son of William Creswell of the Compleat Angler /Anglers Hotel in Bisham. (You can read about William of The Angler here ) William Junior was born at the Angler in 1811. In his youth William  quickly became known for the fact he was a tall and "finely built" man. He tested his strength in a number of sporting competitions and also less officially - he was said not to be shy of giving someone a good thrashing if he thought they deserved it. On one occasion he was fined 10s for throwing George White into the River Thames! 

William was also a proponent of the "noble art of self defence", better known as boxing, and he must have made a formidable opponent. He was also famed for his punting skills on the river, winning prizes for this - for example 10s in 1860. 

William was a professional boatmen too. He ran The Swan barge with his brother George (of the Swan pub later), and like his publican father, dealt in coal and timber at times. He also worked as a fisherman, in this instance meaning a fishing guide who took visitors to his parent's inn out on the river to the best angling spots. The Compleat Angler as we know it, was already a famed place for fishing and boating parties despite it's more modest size compared to later incarnations. William's parents hired punts, and guides such as William to cater for the visitors. Later on William appeared before a Royal Commission of 1866 on the subject of pollution in the Thames, which also discussed things such as flooding and how the character of the water had changed. As both a farmer with riverside land that flooded, and a former barge master he was in a unique position to provide information to the inquiry. 

William amasses land

While still young, William Junior began to lease numerous small pieces of land throughout Marlow, for example at Red Pits (off Henley Road) and within Marlow Fields (off Wycombe / Little Marlow Roads in this instance). These holdings he gradually expanded by purchase and he also inherited other land. His big opportunity came in 1850 when the existing landowner of much of the farmland around Wycombe Road sold it and the new owner that came next sharply increased the rents. Many tenants quit out of necessity, and there was an opportunity for someone else to move in. And that was William. The pieces of farm land were scattered as they in some cases previously formed part of the common fields, some bits of which were already in private hands at the time of the Enclosure Acts. The Wycombe Road farm came together piecemeal and without a historic farm house, but William was already living in "Marlow Fields" -probably in Wycombe Road itself as he did later - so he had a suitable house by default, with a barn and yard a little separated from it. William would later own much of this land himself, as well as High Rews (Ruse) farm, in addition to leasing Hawkins Farm from 1877. William's golden touch allowed him to go from farming a few acres in the 1830's to 50 by 1851, 100 in 1865, 160 in 1881 (employing 7 men and 3 boys) and 200 by the time of his death. 

Above, from a map drawn by William Francis in 1839 showing some of William's holdings in Marlow Fields off Little Marlow Rd. The road marked out between land labelled lot V and lot III is what we call Dedmere Rd while the road running top downwards is Glade Rd. 

William pushes the boundaries

Not that this satisfied energetic William. He was always happy to try and inch the boundaries of his land a little further outwards if he saw an opportunity. His first offences were minor, and related to trying to plough over or diverting the footpaths going through his Wycombe Rd holdings in the 1860's. Some rumblings about William attempting to tweak the path of Wycombe Road itself surface. But his more serious run ins with the likes of the parish surveyor were in the 1880's and early 90's and related to land around the Frieth Road and Marlow Common areas. The 1884 case probably sums Williams story up the most. He was summoned for digging up and "subverting" the course of the Frieth Rd near his holdings at Hawkins Farm. He had removed a hedge and fence boundary at the edge of his field, and put up a new fence and gate further out, so incorporating some of the common land adjoining the highway into his own fields. He had also removed some fencing that had previously enclosed an old chalk working known as Gipsy's pit near Chisbridge Cross, and yes the area was a traditional place of encampment for Gypsies. The parish surveyor Frederick Plumridge wrote to William a polite if optimistic letter asking for his co -operation at returning the highway and surrounding areas to its original place and state. He did not reply. Frederick also attempted to talk to William on the subject and recieved an earful of abuse in return. So a special parish vestry was held to decide how to proceed. The sage Walter Lovegrove, elected to the chair, thought dealing with William was likely to be an expensive and difficult affair and they should proceed with careful consideration. Walter was right. A summons was issued for William, and he was bound over with a £30 recognizance to appear at the Quarter Sessions. He did not turn up, but sent his eldest son also William, on his behalf. The court said they could not possibly try a sort of deputy in this way. His poor son said his dad was unfortunately suffering from an attack of gout and couldn't make it. The court said William could have submitted medical evidence in that case and his recognizance would be called in. But while the court adjourned, the son was able to get a telegram sent from his father's doctor confirming he did indeed have gout. They decided to raise the recognizance to £50 and make him find two sureties of £30 each from other people, sums that would be lost if William did not make an appearance next time. A bench warrant was issued and William eventually made it before the court the following year. He was fined £20 with the threat of 6 weeks improvement if payment was not forthcoming. He paid. 

An extravagant pile of manure

William also occupied the courts by blocking roads by parking his farm waggons there, letting his horses stray on the highway, having an offensively large manure pile in his yard, and for having a quantity of night soil at the farm likely to be damaging to human health. Night soil is human waste and William had it from a cleared out cesspit. He had overloaded the cart taking it away and broken the shafts as a result. This was his excuse for not removing it sooner. Luckily for William the inspector of nuisances investigating the noxious aromas coming from the yard had not inspected the cart to see if William's story was true so the court decided to give the offender the benefit of the doubt and let him off without a fine. I suspect the poor parish inspector was keen to make a quick getaway to sweeter smelling air. 

William the miser

William's obituaries all agree on one point - he was very good at making money, and even better at not spending it unless he could really help it. One praised his "plodding indomitable industry and economy of the most niggardly description". Another, by the Maidenhead Advertiser said "reckless extravagance was not one of Mr Creswells weaknesses". It seems many people had stories to tell on this theme but the most amusing is perhaps the one from the solicitor William asked to draw up his will. William said he didn't think he ought to pay for this legal service, as it was just the sort of thing a good lawyer should do for their client as a sort of favour, which would be repaid by some other persons act of kindness to the solicitor. William himself did not actually promise to do this good deed however! It seems the solicitor was so amused by this he did actually accept no fee for his work. William does seem to have been thought of with respect and affection despite of his terrorising those in authority, or perhaps because of it! 

It is not surprising perhaps that getting William to pay his taxes was not an easy task. He was summoned in 1882 for failing to pay poor and lighting rates. He then sent payment - minus the court costs added on top of the original sum of course. So it was back to court to extract some more. 

William was said to have accumulated great wealth. Initial reports were that he left £12000 in cash at his death with the final estate value of £16,000-20,000. He was also noted for expecting his sons to work on his farm without sharing in the profits or having any say in managing the estate - or their own affairs! 

William died in 1893 at home in Wycombe Road, after a few days illness believed to be bronchitis. His wife Mary nee White had predeceased him. His son Abraham inherited the Wycombe Road house and farmland, but lived less than a year to enjoy his inheritance. A post about him and another son Edward is available here

To read about Marlow bargeman and bargemasters see here. 

Written by Kathryn Day, researched by Charlotte Day with additional research by Kathryn. 

SOURCES

1841,1851,1861,1871,1881, 1891 census transcribed from microfilm by Charlotte Day and Jane Pullinger. 

1833 Parish assessment transcribed by Charlotte from the original notebooks owned by our family. 

GRO death index. 

Report of Royal Commission on avoiding pollution in the river, Great Britain Parliament, 1866, digitised by Google. 

Kelly's Post Office Directory 1881 (Kelly's Directories Ltd)

Will of John Creswell (Williams uncle) from the National Archives, transcribed by Charlotte Day. 

Undated land sale notes, relating to George and William Cresswell owned by my family (circa 1833) 

Harrods Directory 1876, (J.C Harrods & Co)

Bucks Herald 20 May 1878, 5 Jan 1884, from British Library Archive and accessed via the BNA June 2020. 

Reading Mercury 11 May 1846,  11 & 18 October 1884, as above

Grantham Journal 11 April 1885, as above

South Bucks Standard: 19 May 1893, as above

©Marlow Ancestors

A Tribute To Our Bargemen *Updated*

This post is a tribute to some of the many Marlow people who worked on the river, and also to those of other towns that lost their lives on the Thames while passing through. 

The boatman and "bargees" had a contemporary reputation that was somewhat fearsome at times. They were often considered to be hard drinking, dishonest, dismissive of other river users and quarrelsome. The story of the "who ate puppy pies under Marlow Bridge?" jest at the bargemen is well known and is explored further in Charlotte's post here. The work the bargees did was skilled, physically demanding, as well as frequently dangerous. Some of the people who ran barges did well out out of the trade, and were later described as "gentleman" - William Creswell who ran The Swan barge with his brother in the 1830's and 40's is one example. William was also a substantial farmer, but he continued to be described as a wharfinger and bargeman or barge master for many years. He may no longer work the barges himself, but having done so was not a bar to respectability. Many Marlow people had wealth that was supported or created by industries that was entirely reliant on the work of the bargeman bringing in their raw materials and taking away what they wanted to sell. I have also noticed that the pubs most frequently associated with being the drinking holes of those working on the river, such as the Swan (ran by George Creswell of the The Swan barge for many years, brother to William) and the Black Boy and Bargepole, generate far fewer traffic for the petty sessions than many of the other inns. So the story is not a simple one of bad, rough boatmen causing nothing but havoc. Industry would have ground to a halt if that was the case! It's also worth noting that picking a fight with the working boatman was also a Marlow tradition with some who should have known better. Apart from those who thought it funny to mockingly chant the "puppy pie" slogan at the men, (usually high tailing it in the opposite direction pretty quick afterwards), the young gentleman cadets of the Royal Military Academy had a running feud with the bargemen. A young recruit said the origin of the quarrelling was long forgotten but the boys liked to lay ambush and set upon the men when they could in order to give them "a thrashing" to remember. The odds were rather in the boys favour as they were 30 boys to one bargee, "and several of us 18 years old and up". In turn the  cadets could expect a beating if they unexpectedly came across a barge hand when alone. The boys wore a uniform at all times so could not escape attention easily.  Former cadet John Le Couteur, who joined the Academy at age 13 in early 1808, recalled the running battles with the bargeman vividly. The boys threw dirt and stones from the bridge wholesale into passing barges. At one point the bargeman had enough and prevented some boys on a rare half holiday from crossing the bridge, handling them roughly. When word of this got around, it was said 150 boys went to the bridge to exact revenge. We only hear the cadets version of events, which saw them victorious against an untold number of gathered bargeman three or four lines deep apparently. The latter were said to be armed with everything from oars to bludgeons. The boys came with cudgels, and a hidden armoury of stones and catapults which were allegedly responsible for the boys victory. A ten minute battle on the bridge saw many boys hurt rather badly, and the opposition likewise. Someone had alerted the adult officers at the college who promptly arrived to restore order but not before those on both sides were to be found lying senseless. The cadets were confined to college for the rest of the day and were ordered not to engage in any further acts of the kind. No charges appear to have been made against the bargeman. The event may have got embellished in the retelling by cocky youths but it's interesting how battles of this kind were remembered by more than one cadet. 

The language the bargemen used may not have been what the polite society was used to. George Monk Berkeley writing in 1797 and recalling a memory of his mothers, said that once the service at All Saints came to a halt because the voice of a bargeman using loud colourful language on the river outside could be heard within the church. The Rev Cleobury was the incumbent then. 

And Sarah Winford, of Thames Bank, complained that the crews of barges were commiting "great indecencies" while moored outside her garden wall. Her servant Samuel Clarke said sometimes Mrs Winford had been obliged to close the shutters of all windows facing the river. They said the situation had worsened since the new lock had been built, with boats now passing closer to her home and mooring near there for 2-3 days together. She petitioned parliament on the issue in  1774 and a committee looking into her complaint recommended that a clause be added to the Thames improvement and navigation bill which would forbid the creation of any towing path or wharf between her garden wall and the river and forbid the anchoring, mooring or resting of boats anywhere near her garden, other than at the proper wharves and only when loading or unloading cargo. To facilitate this, it was announced in July 1773 that a "pile would be drove against Marlow winch and another pile 30ft from the bottom of Mrs Winford's wall" and once they were in place if a barge master was to "suffer his barge or boat to lie, continue or stop under the said wall, in the passage between the said pound and winch" will be prosecuted by the Thames Navigation commissioners. [Sarah Winford erected a gravestone to the memory of Samuel on his death, you can see it here]

Flash locks were long regarded as dangerous, and Marlow one of the worst. There are surviving reports of Elizabethan fatalities of boatman who were attempting to navigate the lock. Some thought this was because the lock was poorly maintained. Others that the fall of water was too "sudden and immense" even for a flash lock. John Willis, a bargeman drowned navigating the lock in 1772 after falling overboard, a few years before the new pound type lock was finished. 

Henry Allnutt, writing in the Anglers Journal in 1886, described the dangers of the old flash locks. The boats were hauled through the lock with the aid of a capstan and rope on the bank. If the rope should break, "the poor fellows [operating the capstan] were cast off flying into the air by the tremendous increasing velocity of the capstan unwinding itself". It was tedious and "most perilous" work that required a lot of strength. Henry, and both his father and grandfather had fulfilled roles within the Thames Navigation Commission.

Some lives claimed by the river

When we think of boatmen we don't perhaps think of people like barge boy "Master White" age 14. An orphan, he had been found a position on the Hope Barge, owned by Thomas Jordan of Bath. In the autumn of 1826, the Hope was moored at Marlow. The crew went to get supplies and refreshment in the town, sending the boy back to the boat with some things. When they arrived back at the riverside, the boy could not be found. The water was searched but the lad's body was not recovered until the next morning, 4ft from the stern and in 14ft of water. It was believed he had slipped and fallen from the moored vessel in the dark. In the reports of his death and inquest, his first name is not given. It does not seem the crew actually knew it. 

Another hazard is illustrated by the death in 1829 of James Spokes. He was working horses towing a barge travelling from a wharf at Spade Oak to Marlow. The rapidity of the "stream" was believed to have pulled the horses towards the river and to have caused them to slip and fall into the water. James was dragged in and while he managed to grab a branch extending from the bank, it slipped from his hand and he was drowned, along with the horses. He left a wife and two young children.

The fact that habitual drunkenness was not compatible with the skill and co ordination required to operate a barge is shown by what happened to some who tried to work them while a little inebriated. In 1826, William Winter was working on the Helen Barge travelling between Bristol and London via Marlow. He went to haul a line in, despite the warning from his brother not to attempt it as he had been drinking. He over balanced, and although a strong swimmer, sank and died despite his brothers efforts to rescue him. His body was not recovered for 3 days**, found just 40 yards from where he sank. 

Those working on the the River in other ways could also loose their lives. William Sayer of Dean Street, working as an ostler at the time, drowned while swimming horses at the back of Marlow Lock near Marlow Point. He was exercising an injured horse by swimming it across the river to aid it's recovery. It appears the horse got into difficulties with William astride it's swimming back and he fell off. He could not swim and a strong current had been noted there. 

And then there was George Cox, an engineer managing a steam launch for the summer season who fell off the launch in 1884, and did not surface. There are many more names we could mention. 

One Robert Goldswain, bargeman of Great Marlow, experienced another boat mans hazard in 1778 when he was press ganged into the navy while taking a load of timber to the Kings ship yard in London. He had a protection order from the Naval Board that was supposed to have exempted him from this indignity, as he was on naval business after all. Unfortunately for Robert, the press gang had been ordered by the Admiralty to ignore Naval Board exemptions as they were especially keen to recruit men who knew what they were doing around boats. He was put on board the "Conquestadore" and after a bit of passing to and fro and a court case, was returned home after a little more than 3 months in naval service. The court was aghast that the authorities admitted issuing protection orders to boatmen with the express intention of lulling them into a false sense of security so they would venture out onto the river ready to be pressed into service! 

 *For more on the woman's riots of 1800 which was also said to have involved some bargeman see this post here.  That post also contains reference to rioting bargemen in Marlow in 1766.

** Or much later the same day according to one report.  

For a biography of the barge owning family the Sparks see here and the Cresswells here

Will of bargeman John Piggot 1695 here

List of Great Marlow and Little Marlow bargemen 1700s (ongoing upload) here and 1600s here and here

And more on the cadets of the Royal Military College junior branch see here

Child drowning victims of Victorian and Edwardian Marlow here

To search for any individual on this blog use the A-Z Person Index option on the top drop down menu.

More river related posts can be found in the General History index here

SOURCES

Anglers Journal, Vol 6 . Article by Henry Allnutt, 16 June 1886.

Bentleys Miscellany, Vol 20. (Richard Bentley, 1846)

Berkeley, George Monk - Poems (J N Nicholls, 1797)

Salter, John Henry - A Guide To The River Thames (John Salter, 1881)

Wright, William - Fishes and Fishing (Thomas Caultley Newby 1858)

St Paul's Magazine Vol 5, edited by Anthony Trollope. 1870. 

Parliamentary Papers, vol 33, Great Britain House of Parliament (Houses of Parliament 1866)

Journals of House of Commons Vol 34 (HMSO 1804)

Reading Mercury 13 April 1772, copy at the British Library and accessed via the BNA, August 2020. 

Windsor and Eton Express 15 April, 4 November 1826, as above. 

Berkshire Chronicle 26 September 1829, as above. 

South Bucks Standard 18 October 1907, as above.

Bucks Herald 30 August 1884, as above. 

Oxford Journal 17 June 1773. 

Kelly's Post Office Directory 1847 (Kelly's Directories Ltd, 1847)

©Marlow Ancestors. 

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Women's Riots of 1800

The people of Great Marlow were never shy when it came to expressing their disapproval by way of broken windows etc. You've probably heard about the 1880 election riots but there was at least two major riots before that. Below is the story of one of them I have never seen mentioned in any history book.

It occurred back in 1800. Soaring wheat prices, which were blamed on heavy rains both affecting the crops and making difficulties in getting it to market. It came at a time of high prices for other basic foods too.

Tempers frayed all over the country but especially in London and the home counties. There was popular suspicion that the weather was being used as an excuse for price inflation. Then as now consumers pointed out that suppliers are very quick to pass on price rises but slow to pass on price falls.

In mid September a carrier's cart passing through Marlow laden with butter was waylaid by a group of townswomen. They demanded all the cargo, weighed it and then paid the carrier a price of 1 shilling per pound which they (and other contemporary commentators too) thought was a fair price rather than the 1 shilling 6 pence they were having to pay of late. 

A few days later, with bread prices continuing to climb between two and three hundred Marlow women and a few bargemen* gathered in the streets to protest. Three baker's shops were "pulled down" by them and numerous windows smashed. The army had to be called out from Windsor to disperse the mob. Not that the women were finished yet.

The next day they got together in another part of town to riot again. Once more the troops were summoned to disperse them. A hardened core came out as soon as the soldiers went, this time parading effigies of the town's bakers through the streets.

The Marlow women weren't alone in protesting violently. Their not too distant female neighbours in Eton captured a baker and dragged him through the streets. They considered throwing him in the river but decided to just beat him instead. Troops had to patrol the streets of London for some days before the weather improved, and pressure put on members of the supply chain to act on prices began to tell.

There were no apparent arrests in Marlow. There was of course no real police at the time. Though there was a parish constable / tithing man (or at best two) it would be one or two men against the mob. Troops were largely sent to break things up not round up offenders. Most non-city riots in those days resulted in few prosecutions. Even the 1880 Marlow riots involving an estimated minimum of 2,000 active participants resulted in only 20 arrests.

I am as yet unable to say which three bakery shops were destroyed by the rioters. The only bakery I know to have then been in operation at that time was Hatches in the High Street ran by William and Sarah Hatch. 

The best coverage of the riots in this area in historic newspapers is, strangely, in the Kentish Gazette- the 23rd and 26th September 1800 editions. Copies are held at the British Library Archives. They can be accessed via the BNA.

*Bargemen had rioted in in Marlow back in 1766. Mistreatment of a boy (one of their number?) by a Marlow chimney sweep caused around two dozen vengeful bargees to steal bread, butter and cheese from Marlow householders, farmers who grew wheat and shopkeepers and to extort by menace from various farmers and a corn mill in the town money and further food. Women of Marlow joined in that riot too. They were given stolen food by the bargees or sold it at what they both agreed was a "fair price". This suggests that the underlying cause was again frustration at high local food prices and the incident with the boy probably simply the straw that broke the camels back. Three days after their rampage began the bargees moved on to threaten Cookham and then Maidenhead, where soldiers were sent to quell the disorder.

Related posts:

To find other posts about general Marlow history when your ancestors were active, see the index here

1880 Election riots here

A post about the 1847 Great Marlow Election riot is Here

Swing riots 1830 here

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