Marlow in World War Two 1944-45

This is the last in a series of posts about Marlow during WW2.

Part One dealt with preparations for, and the early months of, the war here

Part Two covered 1940-41 here.

Part Three Covered 1942-3 here.

February 1944

Mr Ball of Westfield Medmenham is calling for local farmers to donate animals to a charity auction at Reading in aid of the Red Cross.

April 1944 

In the last 12 months, 43 Marlow families have experienced their family members being held as prisoners of war.

The Marlow Red Cross commanded by Julia Wethered of the High Street, plans to open a medical supply depot in the coming weeks.

The Ministry of Fuel reduces the amount of coal and coke that households can order, acknowledging that for some the new limits will not be enough for their needs.

Expectant mothers can now order an additional rational book for their unborn child so that they can access extra eggs, milk and meat (when available) during their pregnancy.

May 1944

A series of fundraising events take place in the town as part of the national Salute The Soldier Week fundraising drive. The aim is to encourage both cash donations and (in particular) investment in war bonds and savings bonds. To sell such savings products the savings committee hut in Marlow Bottom will open every day. The village has set its own target of £300 raised. Dwight D Eisenhower sends a letter to the town as a whole wishing Marlow luck with their efforts. His letter is itself auctioned off as part of the fundraising and is sold for £3 9 shillings. Novelist Rebecca West takes part in a charity quizz event at Court Garden as part of the week. A town parade to mark the week is joined in by 1300 people. The villagers of Marlow Bottom raise more than double their £300 target, while Marlow as a whole raises an astonishing £290,000. Later in the year the government gives Marlow a plaque to commemorate this success but where this was put we do not know (somewhere in town centre was the planned place).

June 1944 

Marlow Bottom's Red Cross volunteers arranged a fete to raise money for interned British residents of the Channel Islands.

July 1944 

Marlow Urban District Council has a target of collecting 10,000 books from the town for paper recycling. Children from the Girls, Boys, Roman Catholic and private Dial Close schools are all dispatched to do door to door collections. Books of educational or antiquarian interest are not desired. Before the end of the month this target is exceeded by 2,000.

The volunteers at the British Restaurant in Marlow have been so overworked in recent months that there has been a fear that some will breakdown. The restaurant has had to stop serving suppers as a result, and is making a loss but at first refuses to follow official guidance as to raising their prices as some Marlow people cannot afford to pay more. In November losses are so great they are forced to increase prices against their wishes.

August 1944

Harry Belcher of West Street is fined for missing 5 Home Guard drill sessions (he was compulsorily enlisted into the Guards). His wife has been ill and in need of attendance plus as a private hire car driver his business is dependant on him being available in the evenings when drill practice is held. Harry feels he will lose his business if he keeps being called to practice when he needs to work and points out that he is hardly a war shirker - he joined up to fight in the last war when underage and suffered captivity as a prisoner of war then. Him and his wife have already lost their son in the current war and clearly with his grief and financial worries he has had enough. He tells those trying him that he has done enough for his country. 

October 1944

Leading Aircraft woman Betty Sweetman of Oak Tree Avenue has been working at RAF Fighter Command as an operations room "plotter" but has now been posted to similar operations in France. 

November 1944

Mrs Allen of Holland Road writes to the Bucks Free Press complaining about the terrible food in the British Restaurant at Marlow. Her veg was undercooked and her treacle tart dry and hard. Wycombe and Maidenhead she says have fine restaurants but not Marlow.

December 1944

Helga Stene, an escapee from Norway, gives a talk on life under the Nazis to a large audience at Court Garden.

 

Quarry Laundry organizes a Christmas Quizz to raise funds to buy every Marlow P.O.W 200 cigarettes. Any leftover funds are to go to their employees away serving in the war.

January 1945

The British Restaurant closes for good. Later this year it reopens as a canteen for schoolchildren.

The Marlow Bottom.W.I resolve to knit warm clothes for children in liberated countries.

February 1945

Marlow Urban District Council are on the urgent hunt for the blankets they gave out to the evacuees who came to the town, most of whom have now gone home, some probably with their blankets. The Ministry of Health has told the council that they will be charged for any blankets not collected and returned to the Ministry.

Car headlights can now be unmasked in a lifting of blackout regulations .

May 1945

May 7th - Germany unconditionally surrenders with the surrender coming into effect on the 8th, known as V.E Day. The official announcement comes over the radio. However everyone knows about the Allied victory already, and before the King's public address the town is festooned with flags and bunting and the churches have already hosted thanksgiving prayers.

The official announcement is broadcast in the cinema in Station Road and to the dancers at Court Garden at a quickly organized celebration event. A collection is made at the dance for POWs. Impromptu street parties spring up around the town before the surrender announcement, followed on V.E Day by more organized ones. One of the latter is in Glade Road and involves not only a tea in the street but sports and games in a nearby field for the children, a magic show, singing and dancing. Another tea is organized for  children jointly by the mothers of lower Newtown Road and Dedmere Road. Mr and Mrs Hodges of Victoria Road organize a party to which those of Station Road are also invited. Poor Mrs Hodges, falls over in one of the associated running races and fractures her arm.

A hundred children from upper Newtown Road and Little Marlow Road attend a celebration tea in the church hall followed by games in the park.

At Whitsun a victory fete is held at the Red Cross hut at Marlow Bottom. 

Prisoners of war returning home to recuperate after their release from medical treatment will temporarily get double rations every week to help them rebuild their strength.

Salvation Army band member Arthur Furmston returns home after over 5 years as a POW and is given a welcome home tea and social by other church members.

A special church service at All Saints gives thanks to the civilian volunteers that have helped during the war, as they are about to be dismissed. These and various youth groups gather and parade to the church beforehand.

Land girl Miss J Duncalffe gets a scarlet armband in honour of her four years continuous service at Seymour Court Farm.

July 1945

The parents of some of the last few child evacuees in Marlow have proved untraceable so they will need to stay for now.

August 1945

Victory over Japan is announced by the Prime Minister on the radio. The next two days are declared holidays but some Marlow people haven't heard the news and turn up for work anyway on the first day. Flags and bunting are again brought out across the town and people dance on the lawns of Court Garden. Thanksgiving services are held in the parish church and the Baptist church. Residents of South Place and Platts Row in Mill Road have a joint V.J Day street party complete with fireworks and a bonfire. The town's children are treated to a tea, sports competitions along with more informal games like pillow fighting and more fireworks. There are similar treats for children at Little Marlow.

Wethered's brewery have their own celebrations for their employees and families.

William Perry of Berwick Road dies after celebrating in the pub with his friends, drinking and dancing. When he gets home a little worse for wear he vomits and chokes as a result.

At Medmenham there is a garden party at the Vicarage, a dance in the village hall and a tea for the village children for V.J Day celebrations.

September 1945

Councillor Kibblewhite, hopes the Ministry of Agriculture will be able to give back Gossmore Recreation Ground as the town sorely needs space for football etc. At the moment a crop of clover is growing in it.

Mr Whalley of the Lawn is told by the council he must postpone plans to extend his home as due to the war labourers have been in very short supply and are more needed elsewhere in the town. In particular they are going to be building some long planned council houses in Seymour Park Road, which have had to be put off repeatedly because of labour and material supply problems.

October 1945

Marlow residents visit High Wycombe Guildhall to view a display of crucial war items secretly made in Wycombe during the war. These include tank and bomber plane parts.

November 1945

Memorial services are held as usual for the dead of the previous war. The Vicar in his address acknowledges that the recent war has robbed many of their last faith in God and they have turned from the church.

Late in 1945 

Marlow building company Y.J Lovell is building "prefab" accommodation in Reading. These are an emergency response to war-derived housing shortages.

Some Sources=

Bucks Free Press 25th August 1944, 25th May 1945, 16th November 1945. Bucks Free Press Archives.

Personal Interview.

Bucks Herald 18th February 1944, British Library Archives, Via the BNA.

British Journal of Commerce, Post War Trading Edition, 1945. London.

The Thin Line Between Life And Death

 Before our ancestors had easy access to the likes of antibiotics, and tetanus shots, any kind of accident could spell disaster. This post tells the story of the death of three Marlow men and boys, related by birth or marriage, to illustrate how fine the line between life and death could be. 

First we have Abraham Creswell (or Cresswell, the family used both spellings as you can see from their graves at All Saints). Abraham was the son of William and Mary Creswell of Wycombe Road Farm. William was a strong minded man who had many battles with those in authority, over land and highway encroachment issues. Read about this entertaining character here . This independent spirit was also stubborn in his dealings with his sons. It is said that while he expected them to help on the farm, he would not allow them any say in it's management, or their own affairs or indeed any share in it's profit while he lived. When Abraham was bought home in 1860 in a tipsy state by a policeman, William refused to let him in and told the constable to lock his son up instead. So they did. William may have been a tough master, but he was also a shrewd investor in land and combined with a talent for thriftiness, this allowed him to leave a substantial legacy of approx £16,000. His land holdings were divided out, with High Rews (Ruse) Farm going to son William, and the Wycombe Road Farm to Abraham. Abraham also inherited £4000 and the house in Wycombe Road. He had fulfilled many other roles before he finally gained his inheritance. He was for example a carrier working for his wife's relations the Johnsons of the neighbouring Plough Inn. He later won the contract to provide cartage services for the Great Marlow Railway Company although he was relieved of this duty 2 years later for failing to perform services, and a failure to render accounts. He probably had heard so many lectures from his parsimonious father about accounting for every farthing to render making up his own accounts an unpleasant task! 

Abraham would enjoy being in charge of his farm for just a year. In the February of 1894, he took a trip to Beaconsfield Fair for business purposes. On his return, he pulled up his horse and cart in the farmyard. Then a freak accident occured. He dropped his whip, and as he stooped down to retrieve it from the floor, his horse stepped back and trod on his hand, cutting it badly. It was obviously a painful injury, but worse was to follow. Abraham's arm swelled a huge amount, and he became unconscious. Blood poisoning had set in, and a few days later, Abraham was dead. He left a wife Jane (nee Belcher) and 7 children. There are many unfortunate similar cases relating to accidents on farms, and in fields. 

Both Abraham and Jane had lost siblings in tragic circumstances. Abraham's brother Edward died aged 16, also at the Wycombe Road Farm. He went out to the fields armed with a gun in order to scare birds from an area of freshly sown seed. The trigger caught on his sleeve, and the gun fired accidentally. He was hit in the foot but managed to hobble home assisted by his 11 year old brother. At first he did not seem in too much pain, but when his foot was examined, it was realised the shot had gone through his big toe. A surgeon was called - and he came armed with the tools for amputation of the toe. This may sound extreme but it was thought the toe was shattered. After examining the boy, the doctor initially wanted to proceed with the operation. But then he changed his mind. He was well aware of the risk of infection after amputation, and so decided on balance not to remove the toe or at least not yet. But sadly young Edward developed lock jaw or tetanus as we would call it, weakened rapidly and died just 3 days after the accident. The inquest was held at the Plough. 

The second case was that of Charles Belcher, the brother of Abraham's wife Jane. She was the "girl next door" living at the Plough with her parents and her maternal grandparents who ran it, the Johnsons. When her brother Charles was 16, he was working for a coal merchant. They praised the fact that he was always busy and could be trusted to get on with his work. They were therefore happy to leave him at the coal yard while they were out making deliveries. One day they returned in cold and wet conditions to see Charles working outside carrying coals. He seemed to be unsteady. They made a good natured comment to him along the lines of "You haven't been working out here in these conditions have you? You'll do yourself an injury!" They told Charles to learn from their experience and do a different task as it was far too slippery to make progress moving loads. They had already expressly forbade the young man to carry heavy weights alone as they knew he did not have the experience to do so. These comments, well meant, unfortunately seem to have had the affect of preventing Charles from admitting that he had in fact tried to lift loads beyond those he was allowed to, and what's more had injured his hip in doing so. He told one worker who noticed him wince that he had had a slight slip and was a little tired but did not mention the heavy weights he had been carrying. His mother thought him in low spirits but did not realize that he was in pain. But the pain got worse, and Charles could no longer disguise it. His mother would not take his denial that he was not injured, and so he confessed that he had suffered an accident at work. But he did not want to tell her he had done it while not following orders or that several days had passed since it occured. Instead he told her he had suffered a fall from a small height the previous day. She immediately called a surgeon. This mans assessment of Charles was based on the fact he had only just hurt himself, rather than the fact the pain had been growing steadily worse over several days. He said that had he known the injury was not a fresh one, and was the result of a strain lifting a weight rather than a fall, he would have treated the boy differently. As the boys condition suddenly and unexpectedly worsened, he confided to his mother how the accident had truly happened, and how he had been frightened he would not be allowed back to work if he told the truth. He said his employer was not to blame, as he had not been asked to tax his strength, and in fact had been expressly forbidden to do so. It was only after speaking to the employers who remembered the wet slippery conditions in the yard the week before, and what Charles had said about a minor slip of foot, that the length of time the poor boy had hidden his injury was revealed. Sadly the delay in seeking help was a fatal one and Charles died. It is believed he succumbed to an internal rupture or hernia.

Astonishingly this was not the end of the families ill luck when it came to accidents. The South Bucks Standard of April 17th 1903 [British Library Archives, via the BNA] reported that Alfred Cresswell aged 11 was severely injured when a gun his 14 year old brother was playing with went off and shot Alfred in the arm. These boys were the sons of Abraham and Jane and the accident occurred at the widowed Jane's then home up at High Rews Farm.

Related Posts

Danger of fire here

More medical history related posts can be found under the General Marlow History option on the menu. 

All mentions of any individual on the blog can be found on the A-Z Person Index in the top drop down menu. 

Some sources

1871, 1881, 1891 Census transcribed from microfilm by Charlotte Day. 

GRO Death Index. 

Creswell, Belcher and Johnson family research by Charlotte Day

South Bucks Standard 16 March 1894, 1 November 1895, copy from British Library archive.  

Maidenhead Advertiser 1 April 1893 as above. 

© Marlow Ancestors

More Dean Street Landlord and Beer Seller Listings *Updated*

Updated by Charlotte Feb 2026.

If the premises you are searching for isn't listed here, search for it in the Pub Related option in the top drop down menu. 

Well End was one of the original names of Dean Street. It was used mainly pre 1850's, although some trade directories still utilised it in the 1860's. It is not to be confused with Well End near Little Marlow. 

THE FOX AND PHEASANT

Note there was also an early The Fox in West Street.

1851 - William Perry, age 52

1859 - William Perry fined £1 for having his beer house open during illegal hours on a Sunday.

1860 - William and Avis Perry. Lots more on these in our Poaching Perrys post. His brother Samuel was landlord of the dean Street pub the Rose and Crown. More on him in the Poaching Perrys post here . William was fined this year for using short measures, one of 4 establishment so caught. 

1864 - William and Avis Perry. William was fined £2 and 10 shillings plus costs for opening the premises on a Sunday morning (and thus was attracting people away from attending divine service instead). Avis is the one in court on William's behalf. 

1868 - William Perry fined £5 for opening up his beer house for sale of beer on a Sunday

1871- William Perry transferred to John Larkin who came to this pub from the Carpenters Arms (see this post) Also a carpenter. Wife of Larkin was Eliza. 

1872 - John Larkin.

1881 - John Larkin?

THE ROSE AND CROWN 

Beer house with yard

1833 Richard Clarke. Came from The Jolly Malsters Dean Street. Died 1836. More about him on that post.

1840 - described by the Bucks Gazette as an "obscure beer shop in Dean Street" when a drinker who fell asleep in the tap room was relieved of more than £6 by a pick pocket. 

1842 - Samuel Perry. Brother of William Perry above. See the Poaching Perrys post for more on him and his family. Dead by 1851.

1844 - J Carr. Almost certainly Josiah Carr who this year was involved in a very long (over two days) fight with another man that started in the Rose and Crown, carried on in the street outside then moved to "Crown Close" (near the back of Boots today). All over a game of cards being played for money. Josiah was a serial poacher convicted of offences at Fawley and Marlow. See also The Anchor below for more Carrs.  

Gone by 1872.

THE ALMA presumably named for the 1854 battle, however records suggest the premises first received a licence in 1830. This would indicate that this was one of the many pubs that changed name over time. On Queens Road / Gas Works side of the road. 

1860 - James Patterson (fined for having defective measures, and unusually one was an "over measure" rather than a short measure!) Having a defective measure was a very common offence and seems often to stem from manufacturing defects in the measure rather than dishonesty on the publican's part. In 1861, he was living elsewhere in Dean Street and working as a cordwainer with wife Ann. By 1871 he and Ann have taken on The Nags Head, also in Dean Street. Possibly the James "Pattison" at the "Blue Bonnets" [Bonnet O' Blue] West Street 1855. 

1861 - James East, also market gardener. Wife Charlotte. A James East was listed as a Well End / Dean Street beer retailer in 1849 at uncertain premises. This was not necessarily the same James as later at the Alma however. The James that was at the Alma looks to have been the cousin of  Mrs Diana Smith landlady of the Bricklayers Arms in Chapel Street. More on that pub here.

1869 -William East of The Fighting Cocks applied for the licence as he said that he only put his name down for the Cocks to save it from closure but he had no intention of staying there. William was unsuccessful though, as he'd faced trial at a Quarter Sessions.  He wasn't found guilty but this was regarded as a "moral stain" and only those of good character were allowed a licence - in theory at least!  John Finch took on the Alma instead temporarily.

1870 - James Meakes had it briefly (he was a brewer and he may have been running his own pub until he could find a live in landlord)  then Henry Harding (hold over). William Brown applies for the licence but the magistrates feel the local character references he supplies are not sufficient as he's only been in town for 3 months. Therefore they  don't represent a satisfactory insight into his character they feel. NB this is not the same William Brown who was a landlord at The Mint or Jolly Maltsters. 

1872 - Mr Finch. William Thatcher was spotted going intothe  premises during prohibited hours and was fined 1s, a nominal sum for his first offence. His defence? He just wanted to borrow some salt for his vegetables from Mrs Finch.

1873 - John Finch to George Allen. John appears to have moved to The Bank of England, where the brewers were required to find a new tenant after the previous one was accused of harbouring criminals. 

1877 - John Finch qv (lodging house also) 

1878 - William West  (hold-over)

1879 -Henry Hester with wife Charlotte. Licencing authorities are assured Henry has a character of excellent "sobriety, industry, and honesty". An attempt to transfer the licence little later that year to Daniel Price is refused due to lack of sufficient character references for Daniel. He did succeed taking it on briefly the next year it seems. 

1880 - 1. Henry Hester transferred licence to Thomas Price or Daniel Price. 

1881 - Daniel Price transferred licence to George Allen.

1882 - Licence renewal for George Allen refused. The premises had been closed several months at time of the licencing sessions. In April two homeless women, Sarah Brewer junior and senior were arrested for sleeping in the empty building. Sarah senior spent 7 days in prison for this, the younger was released without charge. By September the owner of the premises, James Meakes (Meekes) was extremely frustrated that he had been unable to find a suitable tenant (or rather one the licencing magistrates will accept as suitable) So he decided to apply to take over the licence himself. If they did not grant this, James said that the property would become valueless as it will have to stay closed. His pleas were unsuccessful. Probably because they suspected that the other business interests of James would not in reality allow him to personally manage things with the close attention they felt the Alma needed. In October the licence was refused again to George Allen. This refusal came after the magistrates went to view the property - for reasons we cannot yet discover but the most common reasons for refusal on grounds of the property itself rather than the behaviour of the landlord were too low a rateable value to qualify for a licence, the perceived condition of the building or a physical feature that was considered likely to make the premises hard to police - eg entrance on to a back alley.

1884 - "The Alma Inn". We are uncertain if the premises were still actually open for business but the name still seems to have been up.

THE FIGHTING COCKS

Was immediately next to the Nag's Head

1840 - Samuel Beckett. John Perry was convicted of shooting at and damaging the sign of the Fighting Cocks.

1844 - S. Beckett. Also a carpenter. 

1851 - Samuel Beckett

1853 - Samuel Beckett

1861 - Samuel Beckett (also a carpenter). Wife Emma nee James. Samuel was born circa 1812, the son of James (a carpenter) and Ann Beckett who lived Quoiting Square Marlow. Samuel was dead by 1882. Emma died in 1883.

1868- William East. Probably had come from The Nags Head.  

1869 -William East transferred to Joseph Perry. William applied to take on The Alma as he said he'd just stepped in when the Cocks was at risk of closure and so put his name on the licence with no intention of staying long term. He was not successful in his application for The Alma. See below. One local report states the licence transfer was to a James Perry, not Joseph but the majority of evidence suggests that Joseph is correct. The new Perry in charge said on his application for the licence that he was already resident at the Cocks. He said he currently worked seasonally on threshing machines and at hawking fruit. He however did have experience of running an unnamed beer-house in Canterbury about 12 years previously. He did so for a year after which time he "could not make it pay". 

1871- Joseph Perry born 1834 (also an agricultural labourer, former skewer maker -more on his family's involvement in this trade here). Wife Ann. 

1873-  a lodger had coins and buttons stolen from the premises.

1878 - Joseph Perry (also labourer)

1881 - Joseph Perry (also agricultural labourer)

1883 - Joseph Perry to his widow Ann. 

1884 - James Perry 2. John Bryant

1884 - John Briant /Bryant (later a greengrocer/ shopkeeper/ market gardener in Queens Road. John was a retired soldier) 2.) Mrs Perry (unknown first name). She was given notice to quit by Wethered's Brewery as she was caught selling beer outside of legal hours. At court she received a 15s fine for this.

1885 - proposal to close The Fighting Cocks if the immediately adjacent Nag's Head was awarded a spirit licence. An identical proposal had been accepted the previous year but paperwork wasn't filed in time so the Nag's Head spirit licence had to be applied for again this year. Proposal accepted in principle but Fighting Cocks did not close. See below. 

1889 - Proposal again made by owners to close this down in exchange for being granted full licence for Nags Head. It doesn't seem to have happened as in 1892 a second proposal is made to close it in exchange for the Wethered Brewery getting an off licence that would allow it to sell smaller quantities of bottled beer off the premises to trade customers who came from small beer houses. Their existing licence only allowed them to sell beer by the large cask or in a minimum of 24 bottles at once, which they said was too much for some of the smaller concerns who would happily come and collect their own bottled supplies direct from the brewery if permitted. Seems The Fighting Cocks was still open however until 1897. When the off licence was considered, Wethered's had suggested they would close the Cocks to encourage the magistrates to find in their favour, and the magistrates intimated they would like to see this happen. However it doesn't seem they made it an actual condition of granting the licence, so perhaps that gave the brewery no sense of hurry in the matter. 

THE ROYAL EXCHANGE 

1860 - John Langley. Fined for using short measures this year. Wife Ann. 

1861 - John Langley (John aka John Langley Senior was at the Verney Arms by 1871, see also The Crown).

1863 John Langley tried to get a spirit license for the premises but it was refused.

1869- John Langley tried again to upgrade premises to an alehouse in September. Not successful. His existing premises were large enough to host a club dinner for 150 persons in May. He opened the Verney Arms in October with an official grand opening in December. It was described as newly built premises.

Not listed in an 1872 list of beer houses. 

THE ANCHOR, on the Queen's Road side of the street.

Primarily a lodging house, albeit one with beer selling licence. Not the same as The Crown and Anchor. 

1840 Joseph Carr?

1841 - George Carr (beer seller and lodging house keeper, premises not named, but right street). Carr's Beer house "Near Marefields." . Wife was Ann.

1844 - George Carr 

1853 - George Carr 

1854 - premises for sale, "that well accustomed Beerhouse" the Anchor, Dean Street. Includes tenement adjoining and large yard.  

1857- George Carr fined 50s for having his beerhouse open for longer than the legal hours. This was a large fine for that offence. Mrs Carr represented him in court and said she had kept a beerhouse for 20 years without being summoned so we know Mrs Carr was equally involved in the business. It also suggests the possibility of the Anchor existing as far back as 1837, or of the Carrs having previously been at another house.

1860 - George Carr. Fined 2s 6d for giving short measures, one of several beer sellers caught doing the same in Marlow that year.

1861 - George Carr 2. Ann Carr widow of George.  She was a lodging house keeper and marine store dealer on the same premises as well as being a beer seller. 

1862 - Ann Carr "Anchor Beer House". Fined for having 5 people drinking in her bar after hours. She said she had lost track of time. Ann was said in the South Bucks Free Press (Nov 1st 1862) to be a good looking, blonde woman (or as it was said precisely "fat, fair and forty") who did a good trade as lodgings provider for itinerant people on the fringes of society. This made her a desirable match. A widowed man called Richardson had been playing court to her seemingly with success even though they sometimes physically fought but eventually they fell out for good. Ann told him to leave. In revenge for one night he let anyone who wanted to put their horses in her meadow and eat the grass for the sum of 6 shillings. He broke the lock in order to do this. Presumably she was keeping the grass for hay or it was thought the animals might damage the hedges or just startle Ann by their unexpected presence. An odd sort of revenge anyway. She had him arrested but chose not to appear in court to press the case and the charges were dismissed. Ann by the way was nearly 50, not 40.

1863 - Ann Carr, still also lodging house keeper and marine store dealer. 

1867 - Charles Price. Fined 21s for keeping the premises open after hours on one occasion and 10 shillings on another. Went by 1871 to Crown and Cushion Dean Street, first to live with his sister in law the landlady then to run the place himself.

1876 - George Carr, now a lodging house only. Believed to be no longer licensed at this point. Perhaps son of George and Ann above though we couldn't see such a baptism.

1897 - is still in existence and apparently licensed again as there was reference at a local coroner's inquest to a man who lived elsewhere in the town going for a drink in the Anchor, Dean Street Marlow. A resident of the premises then was an Alice Hurst.

Related Posts:

There are posts on this blog about individual families associated with certain pubs, as well as on individual pubs themselves so have a look at the Pub Related index here  & don't forget the Person Index for all mentions of someone on this blog. Find it on the top drop down menu. 

Posts about life in Dean Street and neighbouring streets here

More beer sellers than bakers -Temperance in Marlow here

Lists of posts about everyday life in old Great Marlow here

* For more on the dramatic life of William and his wife Avis see our post here.

SOURCES

Licence hearing reports, property transactions, court cases, advertising, wills etc and...

1853, 1863 Mussons and Cravens Commercial Directory from University of Leicester Archives.

Kelly's Post Office Directory - 1859, 1864, 1869, 1877. By Kelly's Directories Limited.

1833 Parish Assessment. Original record held by my family and transcribed by Charlotte Day.

1872 Beer House Listings, Old Bucks County Council Archives

Pigots Directory 1844

Census 1841,1861,1871,1881,1891 transcribed from microfilm.

Bucks Herald 3 October 1840, 17 July 1841, 9th August 1873, 22 May 1902 - held at British Library and accessed via the BNA March 2021.

Bucks Advertiser and Aylesbury News 14 July 1860, as above

Reading Mercury -10 November 1855, 25 September 1875,  29 November 1890, as above

South Bucks Standard July 14 1876, 20 September 1899, June 10 1904, December 25 1908, March 25th 1909 as above. 

Windsor & Eton Express January 25 1868, January 9th 1909 as above

South Bucks Free Press July 14 1860, as above and August 8th 1884 via the Bucks Free Press archives.

Maidenhead Advertiser September 4 1889, as above

Slough Eton and Windsor Observer Aug 29 1885 - Slough Library. 

Post researched and written by Kathryn Day

©Marlow Ancestors. 

Musical Chairs At The Chairmakers Arms, Dean Street, Marlow

 THE CHAIRMAKERS ARMS Great Marlow

Updated by Charlotte April 2026.

The Chairmaker's Arms in Dean Street seems to have been a pub dogged by misfortune. No one seemed to want to stay there long. As a fully licensed house, it was not subject to quite as much competition from its numerous beer shop neighbours in Dean Street as might be supposed but it never seemed to thrive.

IMPROPER PERSONS ALERT

The pub is known to have existed in August 1874, but was no more than a few years old then. It was on the Queen's Road side of the street, at the town end, very close to the Jolly Malsters pub. The first few years of the Chairmakers were marked by a rapid turnover of landlords and intermittent closures.

In 1885 John Hodgkins left the pub after a couple of years at the helm. The previous year the pub has been shut up for a while and not trading and then John had tried to have the pub transferred to a Thomas White of Wendover but this was unsuccessful. In February 1885 the brewery holding the premises was granted "holdover"  of the licence from John Hodgkin's to the brilliantly named Neighbour Wilcox, who had come from London with excellent references including from a clergyman. Neighbour Wilcox applied for a permanent licence transfer in March but this was refused after the police objected. They said that Wilcox had been harbouring "improper persons" - known thieves, prostitutes and poachers -on the premises. He was also caught in possession of nets the police believed that he was hiring out for the purposes of poaching on land and in the river. Neighbour said he'd accepted the animal catching nets as part payment of a debt from an ex lodger or, according to other reports, as security on a loan made by him to an associate at Ealing.Wilcox explained away the fishing nets on the basis he had formerly been a fisherman. He insisted that had not been aware anyone drinking on his premises had a bad reputation, he being but an innocent stranger to town. The police answered that they had physically pointed out to Wilcox those he must not serve but spot checks had found that he did serve them. Some spent what was considered a suspicious amount of time there. It was also said that on one occasion when a policeman had entered the pub, Wilcox had made a signal to another man who then hot footed it out of the premises a little too quickly for the suspicious constables liking. Especially as the man concerned was convicted thief Mr Boddy. And the so called undesirables on his premises had come by just to pay for some beer. Their habit of suddenly scrambling over the back fence of the pub on other occasions when the police were about had apparently gone unnoticed by Wilcox. (They are not named other than "Butcher" Lloyd. This is convicted poacher etc George Lloyd ) After Wilcox had the transfer refused, the pub was closed for several weeks. 

In May the temporary holdover licence was granted to Reading publican Thomas White on his second attempt. But only a month later, White said he wanted to give it up. He declared he was ill and asked for the licence transfer to A H Neighbour (Alfred Henry Neighbour previously of the Red lion and Dog & Badger, not to be confused with Neighbour Wilcox. See link below for biography of Alfred.) The bench impatiently refused yet another change so White said he'd continue a while longer. A month later a continuation of this licence was refused as the police again strongly objected to it's continuance. They said that Thomas White was in charge in name only, and in fact did not live on the premises, a condition of the licence. (Although the brewers lawyers argued the necessity of this point.) 

Of course the magistrates were more than a little annoyed by this merry go round and asked the brewery Fullers a few awkward questions about how they were choosing their candidates to put forward for licencing. 

The authorities favoured stable guardianship, with tenants there for the long term. In Marlow, they were more often disappointed in this regard than satisfied. The magistrates expressed frustration at brewery owners for effectively borrowing experienced landlords with reputations for running steady premises and parachuting them into more notorious haunts to avoid those premises being closed. There was no intention of making them stay long term. They hopefully turned a place around, or at least left as soon as the brewery could find someone else to take over. This new person was often someone less experienced who was just treading water there and getting basic experience until a more profitable pub became available. 

A full as we can landlord listing for this pub at the end of the post.

THOMAS WHITE IN CHARGE ...OR IS HE?

In the case of Thomas White, the police alleged that the person actually resident at and presiding over the Chairmakers arms was A.H Neighbour who the authorities had already refused a transfer of the licence to. Mr Neighbour denied this..but applied for the licence anyway in August. The magistrates were not impressed and refused the application. However Mr Neighbour was a determined man and applied again, only to to be refused. (You can read about him in detail here). They noted White appeared to be one of the landlords who'd never intended to stay at the Chairmakers, and in fact his wife and children had never joined him there (assuming White himself had actually ever taken up residence himself.) White admitted he'd spent a number of nights away, and that his family did not live with him. He now said his wife had taken objection to the Chairmakers and refused to come and live there, and this was in fact the real reason he wanted to give the place up. 

The town was awash with rumour that the Chairmakers might finally be breathing its last. But the brewery Fullers would not let that happen just yet. They found a man who they thought the authorities could not object to in experienced landlord and Marlow man, James Edwards of Trinity Court. (Aka Trinity Place) He was able to call several people to attest to his good character, so at last the Chairmakers had an acceptable custodian. But if the authorities breathed a sigh of relief at this, it was premature. Because just 2 years later, James Edwards was on the move again, to the Verney Arms elsewhere in Dean Street. In fact James moved around premises fairly often as a sort of "fixer" and temporary safe pair of hands for the brewery. You will find him listed under many pubs in our landlord listings.

 This latest move was not quite to the liking of James though. The Chairmakers lease had been sold by Fuller's to Henley brewery Holmes and Harper and James had been given notice by the former. Holmes & Harper asked him to stay on as manager on a temporary basis once his notice period was up, for £1 a week. This was because, surprise surprise, they did not have someone immediately available to take over. When they did, James demanded his full notice again. The brewers disputed the need for this, tried to get him ejected and were not immediately successful. Ambrose Frith eventually took over the Chairmaker's Arms.

A CRIME AGAINST YOUNG EDITH

In 1904, the pub was the scene of a crime that gives a window into life in the area at the time. Eleven year old Edith Hillsdon (in some reports Hillsden) of Dean Street was sent by her father Joseph to sell a bag of walnuts. In doing so she called at the Chairmaker Arms. Walnut trees grew at a number of locations around town and there have been many many convictions of those allegedly trespassing to gather them, or indeed steal them. There's no suggestion Edith had got hers in any underhand way, but the crop had more value relatively speaking than would be obvious to us now. On entering the pub, Edith put the bag of walnuts down on a table and turned away for a moment to speak to the landlord. Turning back round she found them missing. A tearful Edith had then to explain to her father what had happened. A witness saw her receiving a beating for the loss. Edith managed to tell her father that she believed a drinker in the pub, William Collins, had been the one to take her bag. A furious and apparently drunk Joseph went into the Chairmakers and collared Collins, throwing him to the floor and pinning him to the ground. A passing constable heard the furore and rushed in. He conducted a search and (acting on a tip off according to some) found the bag, with just one nut in it, hidden amongst timber in the yard. Collins denied wrong doing, but was charged. He later claimed to have legitimately bought the walnuts but he could not say from whom. He was fined 10s for the offence, as it was not his first conviction. 

LANDLORD LISTING-

1878- pub to let (September 14th Reading Mercury advert). Doing good trade it was said and able to sell spirits. "Chairmakers Arms Inn". A Fullers Brewery of Maidenhead pub. A Mr Cooke applied to the magistrates for the licence later that year but was refused as he could not offer sufficient testimonials as to his character.

1880 - 1.) William Holford who left the pub in March 2.) John Treadwell. He was sent to the pub by Fullers brewery several days before the Magistrates' licensing meeting could officially grant the licence to him. It was understood that though the licence was going to be in John's name, his son Frederick would run the business on a day to day basis, and both would live on the premises. The brewery and the Treadwell's thought that the magistrates would not mind a slight gap between the Treadwell's arriving and getting their alcohol licence. However an undercover police inspector charged Frederick for selling beer without a license within minutes of the pair opening the premises, which resulted in Frederick being fined 3 shillings - he was the one behind the bar. Nevertheless John was allowed to take on the licence officially. He lasted 6 months at the pub 3.) Thomas Miles.

1881 - 1). Thomas Miles 2.) John Hodgkins (alt. Hodgeskins)

1884 - John Hodgkins (proposed transfer to John Windsor falls through. For more on John Windsor see the Bricklayers Arms landlords listing) to Neighbour Wilcox then to Thomas White, (then unsuccessful attempt to transfer to A. Neighbour), then to James Edwards. See above for explanation.

1887 - James Edwards  2. Ambrose Frith.

1888 - 1. James "Jim" Stonor 2. James Millett.

1889 - 1.William Brown. 2. Alfred Lee.

1891 - Alfred Lee.

1893 - Alfred Lee -transfers premises to William Henry Taylor (latter had been granted holdover previous year).

1894 - WHF Taylor/William Taylor 2. William Herniman.

1895 -William Hernaman qv. Proposed transfer of licence back to Alfred Lee refused. Alfred would later run a grocery shop and dairy in Dean Street.

1896 - William Oliver Hernaman 2. James Cox.

1897 - Fred Herniman/Hermanean (authorities don't seem to know what spelling to fix on!) James Edward gets a holdover for the premises late this year, a second stint. See above.  He is the usual choice to temporarily take charge of a premises in Marlow when a landlord leaves until a permanent choice is made. As such he's served behind the bar in a large no of Marlow's pubs. 

1898 -  James Stroud.

1903 - James Stroud.

1906 - is reported to be shut up for a few weeks. James Stroud has left and a holdover was granted to James Henry Belchar. 

1907 - James Belcher* Fully licenced. 

1911 - James Belcher. Moved to the Carrier's Arms, Wycombe Road. More here.

1913 - Closed Permanently? Yet 1915 trade directory gives Mrs Belcher as landlady. It is common for these books to contain out of date information however.

* For more on James Belcher, see Here.

Researched by Charlotte and Kathryn, written by Kathryn.

For similar posts look under Pub Related menu here. And to find every mention of your ancestor here, use the A-Z Person Index in the top drop down menu. More Dean Street content can be found on the menu under "Specific Shops, Streets ...ETC".

SOURCES 

Numerous adverts, licence hearing reports, premises details, and crime reports and:

Maidenhead Advertiser,19 March, 1st October 1884, held at the British Library Archive and accessed via the BNA. 

Bucks Herald, 09 February, 22 March 1884, as above. 

Bucks Free Press 21st March 1884 Bucks Free Press Archives.

South Bucks Standard 14th October 1892, 06 January 1893 , 04 November 1904, as above. 

Kathryn's landlord listing index and Charlotte's property ownership research. 

Kelly's Post Office Directory, 1903, 1907, 1920 Kellys Directories Ltd. 

Early Residents of Berwick Road Marlow *updated June 2025*

Berwick Road is not one of the older streets in Marlow in terms of being a residential address. But it did exist as a lane to the workhouse and to farm lands before any private homes were built there.

This post tells the story of some of the earlier residents of the road.

In 1909 scandal hit when Nellie Harvey, a married woman, was accused of "immoral conduct" with an unknown young man on Marlow Common. On the day in question she had claimed a sick headache and sent her children out to play while her husband was out at work.

James Belcher, landlord of the Chair Makers Arms pub in Dean Street Marlow spotted her, he claimed, "misbehaving" with a man who wasn't her husband. This he told her husband John at his place of work in the hearing of multiple work colleagues, not to mention the customers in both his pub and the Carpenter's Arms, and other people he happened to meet in Market Square. 

A furious Nellie sued him for substantial damages on a charge of slander for spreading these rumours.

This charge could only stick if the allegation wasn't true. Unfortunately for Nellie multiple witnesses disproved her statement that she had only gone out once for 5 minutes so couldn't possibly have gone off with any man as it was alleged that she had done. One of her neighbours in Berwick Road Thomas Patterson, an insurance agent, was amongst those who saw her meet and go off with a young man who had arrived in the road by bicycle. Laura Allen of nearby Workhouse Lane (now Munday Dean Lane) was another witness whose testimony went against Nellie. Laura said that the man walked with an arm around Nellie's waist. The rogue!

Nellie's sons Henry and Francis gave evidence on the other hand in support for Nellie's statement that she had felt unwell and had not gone off away from home at all. Though out at play with their sister they said they did look in at home several times during the afternoon in question and believed her to be at home every time.

The jury (obviously with the judge's approval) found for James Belcher. He was awarded costs. The unfortunate Harveys moved away from Marlow. In 1921 they were in Maidenhead when the magistrates ruled that John had deserted is wife and 4 children and made an order that he should pay towards their maintenance. 

Witness Thomas Patterson's wife later had her own day in court as a witness. She was amongst a number of Marlow housewives defrauded by a dishonest employee working at the Marlow Branch of the Co-Op in 1912. Money they paid off their grocery accounts was embezzled rather than credited to them.

The residents above were amongst the relatively few in Berwick Road in the Edwardian era. The area, historically known as The Berwicks, was largely agricultural and horticultural with meadows, small holdings and the town's parish allotments (established in 1886) predominant in the immediate vicinity. There were no houses in Seymour Court Road then. Another feature of the road in these early days was that a large number of the houses were given female names, such as Ruby Villas. In 1903 builder George Smith named Christina and Revina Cottages after his infant daughters, continuing this trend. These still bear the name of his little girls but the other homes in the road have generally lost their original monikers. The homes George Smith built were not perhaps as pleasant as their name suggested when they first went up. George was told off for allowing them to be occupied by the first residents before he had supplied them with adequate sanitation!  

It was some years before the street received any lighting.

Adding to the Berwick Road agricultural feel was James Price's horse dealership, a long term fixture there. In 1910 James was accused of allowing a work horse of his to be ill treated by an employee. He was acquitted.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day.

Related Posts:

Early history of nearby Seymour Court Road here

Chairmakers Arms list of landlords / history timeline here

Index to posts about other places in Marlow including Dean Street and the Workhouse in Munday Dean Lane here

To search for ancestors on the blog please use the Person Index option on the drop down menu. As of June 2022 over 6,000 people are mentioned.

See:

Buckinghamshire Examiner February 22nd 1909 copy at the British Library retrieved via the BNA. Accessed August 2020. [Harvey case]

South Bucks Free Press 19th Jan 1923 [Harvey aftermath]

Census my microfilm transcription.

Judicial research Jane Pullinger.

Marlow Almanack and Directory 1891. 

Marlow Guide & Directory, 1907.