Will Summary John Rolls Proved 1857

 John Rolls of Great Marlow, coal and timber merchant. Written 1854. Proved 1857. See codicil below too. I found this will quite hard to read. I have done my best but recommend you obtain your own copy from the National Archives if this will is particularly important to your family.

Wants just debts and funeral expenses paid.

John Rolls Hoare and Thomas Rolls Hoare sons of my sister Ann Hoare 1 shilling each to mark my ....e of their....

My brother and I occupy a freehold property at the foot of Marlow Bridge in the parish of Bisham Berkshire which formerly belonged to our father. It comprises grounds, warehouses, ....., a meadow and gardens bounded in the North by the River Thames, and in the East by the Compleat Angler's Inn and in the South partly by the road to the Compleat Angler's Inn and partly by the old road called Bisham Lane and in the West by Church Meadow or land belonging to ...Davenport Esq. This property is being used by the brothers in their joint business partnership as coal and timber merchants. This all to my brother's use for his life, him keeping the buildings in good repair. Afterwards estate to go to Reverend Green of Shepton M...w in Gloucestershire who was the son of Mary Green who used to live in Great Marlow and his heirs. If he has none then estate to Osmund Rolls Green another son of Mary Green. If Osmund has not disposed of the said property in his life or in a will and has no legal heirs then property to the eldest of my bothers or sisters then living.

Dial Cottage on the Causeway which is in the occupation of Frederick Berger under a lease assigned by me to Robert Collins is willed to "the said" John Green (the Revd?). If John has no heirs, and has not disposed of it in his lifetime or by a will then to Osmund Rolls Green and his heirs. If he too has no heirs and has not disposed of the property in his lifetime or by way of a will then property to the eldest then living brother or sister of mine.

£10 each to brothers Thomas, Charles and George Rolls. Thomas's is in addition to what he is left as a thank you for being an executor of the will.

Sisters Ann, wife of John Hoare, and Jane Rolls £10 each.

£10 to be equally distributed between the sons and daughters of my bargeman Thomas Sparkes late of the Barge Pole pub. [More on Thomas here]

Executors £10 each as thank you.

My residual estate to the said John Green with one moiety of it left to Osmund Rolls Green.

Executors brother Thomas, John Green as above, Osmund Rolls Green as above, Edward Mason of Thames Side Windsor, coal merchant.

Witnessed by MJ Rippingham Great Palson Street London and Charles Tompkins of 20 Colet Road, Commercial Road, East London.

CODICIL. WRITTEN 1855.

John Green my gold ring and the rest of my jewellery to Osmond Rolls Green.

The legacy given to the children of Thomas Sparkes to be divided equally between John and Osmond above.

Codicil witnessed by Ralph Spicer*, solicitor of Great Marlow, and William Weaver, clerk to Mr Spicer.

The will was proved by three executors only. Edward Mason had renounced his role as executor.

Transcribed and summarized here by Charlotte Day from the original will at the National Archives, Kew.

*biographical post on Ralph Spicer here

©Marlow Ancestors.

Trees in Marlow History

 While we still have some woods about us, our Marlow ancestors would have been shocked at how denuded of trees the surrounding landscape appears today in comparison to how it was when they knew it. The Gentleman's Magazine wrote in 1752 that Marlow seemed encircled by trees. Others echoed that sentiment over the years, even observing that you could rather suddenly find yourself in the town, so hidden was it by woodland on its approaches. 

The London Journal of 1859 described Marlow as "lying silently amidst the trees". In 1849 a visitor found at Marlow "red and green forests thick with trees and  underwood extending many miles... solemn as any poet could wish for". He noted gigantic juniper trees here and some ancient what he called "whitehorn" trees (probably whitebeams which are common in the town). Even the visitors of the 1800s would have seen nothing like the tree cover in the landscape as previous generations did. At the time of the Domesday book Marlow's forests could support 1000 swine foraging for beech mast or tree nuts.

A fair few historic residents of Great Marlow found themselves in serious trouble because of trees. Most wealthy local landowners and farmers grew at least some trees as a timber crop and they guarded all pieces of their timber jealously. The poor folk of the town, desperate for fire wood or something to sell took a great risk even in breaking off a single twig.

Anyone who went further and gathered themselves an armful of wood faced potentially months of jail time if caught. William Foster for instance got 6 months hard labour for taking some beech wood, the property of Isaac Walker, in 1843 and a John Carter 3 years later was given 3 months hard labour for taking boughs from the fir plantation at Sir George Nugent's house at Little Marlow. His offence was recorded in December court sessions and was probably related to the cutting down of evergreen boughs for Christmas decorations. The average person was at that time years away from having a Christmas tree in their home but boughs of fir decorated the tops of picture frames, shelves and mantel pieces and were used to create swags and garlands in homes, churches and public institutions every Christmas. Each Yuletide season the act of cutting holly from the wild would land several locals in trouble. Sentences for the theft of holly could involve jail time but the offence was more commonly dealt with by way of a fine as holly was not considered very important a crop.

The damage caused to hedgerows by the skewer making industry in Marlow is covered in my skewer making history post here.

One forgotten crop that was very valuable to Marlow farmers was walnuts. Victorians could not get enough of this tree nut - pickled green ones garnished salads or were eaten as snacks, others were made into ketchups, sauces and cakes in great quantities. Walnuts grow very well in and around the town so many local farms had at least one tree planted for the purpose of profit. These nuts were also used gilded as Christmas decorations.

In the days before workplace safety measures those gathering nuts or other tree crops took their lives into their hands. We have in our research efforts come across multiple occurrences of Marlow men who suffered serious injury or death by falling out of trees or off ladders while gathering nuts or fruit for their employers. Older men seemed especially likely to be employed to gather fruit even if obviously unfit to go up a ladder. Despite being "crippled" with rheumatism and gout 71 year old Alfred Lane from Beaconsfield was allowed to harvest cherries at Well End near Little Marlow in 1898. The combination of his infirmity and the defective ladder supplied by his employer inevitably led to tragedy and Alfred died after falling and breaking his neck.

Orchards in the immediate Marlow area were usually cherry orchards (apple orchards supplying more than the grower's own family not being common). In the 1600s there was a cherry orchard in Oxford Road, and probably also one near Munday Dean. In the early 1800s there was a small one behind buildings at the beginning of Dean Street. Nearby Flackwell Heath was well known for its cherry crops in the past too. Wild cherries grow well locally and, despite their tiny size, were used by some Marlow families to make jam or pies even into the 1960s.

It wasn't only farm labourers whose work with trees was hazardous. Domestic gardeners could utilise a frightening amount of dangerous substances in their battle against tree diseases and bug infestations. Bearing in mind this would typically be without the men wearing masks or eye protection and often without gloves on their hands either. Mr Gillett gardener at Court Garden in 1884 used just linseed oil to deal with aphids on his apple trees but other gardeners attacked the problem by the application of caustic lime, sulfur or ammoniacal liquid from gas works (!). Gardeners were nothing if not imaginative when it came to their war on pests. Materials as different as grease from railway engines, treacle, soap, snuff and chalk were all used on trees to cure various problems.

Our ancestors were much closer to nature than we are today and both individual trees or groups of them might be featured in travel guides as tourist attractions in their own right. Those who had the luxury of sufficient leisure time in the 1700s and 1800s would take a day trip to a village or country spot with the sole intention of seeing a particularly old tree or one with some local legend attached to it.

Visitors who came to Marlow were always recommended to visit the relatively near Burnham Beeches wood and Quarry Woods across the river at Bisham. Less advertised to outsiders but enjoyed by local visitors were the woods around Marlow Common. The Reading Mercury in 1840 lamented the loss in a storm of a silver fir tree at Marlow Common "which had long been the admiration of all visitors to that spot". The poet Shelley when resident at Marlow was said to adore walking amongst the trees there.

Also generally admired were the trees that once screened the church from the High Street and Causeway and a row of limes that marked the footpath through the churchyard. The latter were cut down by the then vicar to immense dismay from his parishioners in 1833. Lime flowers would be used to make tea in the past (and by me even today).

Much entertainment was derived by our ancestors from any even slightly unusual happening in the streets. Crowds could gather to see a new family move into a house, or the old one move out, to see scaffolding erected, or a tree felled. An excited crowd gathered to witness woodmen fell a hefty elm tree in Marlow in 1822. One young man, John Ball, got so interested that he insisted on "helping" the woodmen. When the wind pushed the falling tree in an unexpected direction the woodmen got themselves to safety but a flustered and inexperienced John tripped up whilst running for cover and was hit by the tree at full force. Unsurprisingly he died as a result of his injuries.

In 1907 hundreds of Marlow people went to Bisham to see a large old elm that had blown down.

Visitors who got caught in a storm would head for a humble beech tree as there was in the past a firm belief that beeches could not be struck by lightning. Not something to try though reader, beech trees can definitely be struck by lightning!

Beech wood was utilised in the chair industry and beech trees dominate local woodland. Finnemoor Wood and High Heavens Wood, both near the town, were used as commercial timber woods for instance as were woods at Marlow Bottom. At Harleyford trees of beech, walnut, oak, elm, linden, sycamore and larch were all grown for profit.

Spade Oak wharf just along the river was from at least the 1600s a major loading and unloading place for cargoes of locally grown timber, including that bought by the navy for use in ship building.

Grounds studded with trees, especially old ones, were highly desirable for those who had sufficient money to establish them. Court Garden house had a parkland style garden with a screen of sweet chestnut trees next to the Causeway in the later 1800s and an avenue of mixed limes, elms and other trees elsewhere on the estate providing a shady walk for guests to enjoy. I think virtually none of those particular trees (no sweet chestnuts for instance) exist today although there are some other old trees still there. Also long gone is resident Mr Berger's huge glass house at Court Garden which in 1864 housed 144 indoor fruit trees!

Talking of sweet chestnuts, this was used at least sometimes in local building. When James Sawyer's very old bakery building suffered a serious fire in the late 1800s the fact that other buildings were not destroyed in the conflagration was attributed to Sawyer's premises being significantly constructed from chestnut which is known to be slow to burn even when dry. Although terrible damage was done to the West Street premises, this was mostly due to the water used to put out the fire and smoke. More on the Sawyer family and their bakery here.

More general history posts about Marlow here.

All mentions of any individual on this blog can be found on the A-Z Person Index. Thousands of people are mentioned.

Further mentions on this blog of any specific house, street or place such as Harleyford or Court Garden can be found indexed here

Researched and written by Charlotte Day.

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

Sources

Berkshire Chronicle 22nd April 1843 and 26th December 1846. Both British Library Archives via the BNA. South Bucks Standard 15th July 1898, as above.

Morning Advertiser. 4th November 1822. British Library Archives.

The Journal of Horticulture, Cottage Gardener, and Country Gentleman. (1864) by George W Johnson and Robert Hogg. 

Garden Receipts. United Kingdom: Ed: Charles William Quinn. Published by C. Lockwood, 1884.

Notes and Queries. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 1868.

Cooke, William Bernard., Owen, Samuel. The Thames: Or, Graphic Illustrations of Seats, Villas, Public Buildings and Picturesque Scenery on the Banks of that Noble River. United Kingdom: Vernor, Hood & Sharpe and W.B. Cooke, 1811.

Head Gardener at Court Garden - William Neighbour

If you have Neighbour from Bucks or elsewhere in your family tree, you ought to be very green fingered. A large number of them worked as gardeners both domestic and market. The subject of our list today is Marlow's William Neighbour, head gardener at both Court Garden and Harleyford (Medmenham) in the 1860s and early 1870s. 

There were more than one William Neighbour in Marlow at the time. The subject of our post is William, born 1834, the son of John Neighbour the gardener living at Potlands/West Street. William is the brother of Alfred Edmund Neighbour, inn keeper who featured in a post here .

Young William (and at least three of his brothers) would follow in his father's footsteps. He grew up in an area of Marlow populated by domestic and market gardeners and their staff. His dad worked for a time as the head gardener of the nearby Remnantz estate in West Street, which occupied around 12 acres including a meadow. Young boys wanting to start in the trade usually did so by the age of 14, if not before. It's possible that William had a position under his father at Remnantz but it seems more usual for the sons of head gardeners (or garden foreman as they were sometimes known) to get their basic training in a different garden. It was an era where the heads of a large team did not need to get their hands quite literally dirty but the most junior member "the boy" most certainly did. Washing out the clay plant pots between uses, filling the water "pots" (water cans), damping down the glass house floors, and the endless sifting and mixing of compost to strict recipes were a few of their tasks. Although some gardeners moved up into a higher position within the team on the estate they started out on, most seem to move on when they are ready for a new level of responsibility. In his leisure hours we know that William the boy liked to go "bird nesting" around Bovingdon Green and Chisbridge. This means collecting birds eggs and nests, then a common hobby and a legal one at the time. We know this as William happened to mention it when describing his familiarity with certain Clayton owned areas of land during an 1885 court case relating to the removal of hedging and fences in which he was purely a witness. You never know from which unlikely  source the personal nuggets about an old Marlovian may come! 

Wherever William started out, by the time he was 27 he was working as a gardener at Court Garden in Marlow. The grounds of this are now Higginson Park and Court Garden Leisure centre.  He may or may not have assumed the head position straight away, but he certainly had this role by 1863. He was accompanied by wife Emma and their little daughter. William's employer Frederick William Berger was at this time president of the Great Marlow Horticultural Society - an organisation that has had many incarnations. As such the 1864 Horticultural Society show was held within the then private riverside grounds of Court Garden. Berger opened up his gardens as a whole to the curious (or at least those able to pay the entry fee!) Did host gardener William enter any of the classes? Absolutely, and he came away with a few prizes too. 

Berger seemed to spare no expense with his garden. His pride and joy was the  magnificent 75ft long "orchard house" and it was William that was credited with making it a horticultural marvel within the trade. An orchard house is a glass house that is designed to house fruit trees, usually dwarf cultivars. The climate can be more carefully managed, as can pests in an enclosed environment. This allowed the trees to produce fruit earlier in the season safe from the damage frost might bring to their blossoms, and ripen earlier too. Berger was the one to erect the building at Court Garden, to his own design. Sadly no trace of it remains. 13 ft high at the apex, and 30 foot wide, it housed 144 dwarf trees - mainly apples, peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries and plums - plus traditional greenhouse borders used to grow things such as lettuce and other "saladings". The trees were planted in 13-16" pots to restrict their roots and therefore their growth. This mean they were technically always under stress and needed very careful feeding and watering. William developed this system to a fine art and managed to get the sort of crops expected from full size trees from his dwarf ones. Not to mention some pretty impressive fruit - apples 1lb in weight for example. The downside was that William said the orchard house took at least an hour to water every morning and in the summer would need top up watering. And the gardeners still had the other greenhouses to attend too! Nevertheless William's fruit growing skill meant that representatives of the national horticultural societies and journals (there was a LOT of Victorian garden newspapers) came to see the orchard house and the "very intelligent" Mr Neighbour.  He also experimented with growing miniature versions of cabbages and cauliflowers. And flowers were not neglected. William bagged prizes for petunias, roses and asters locally to name but a few. . 

The market for celebrated head gardeners was a competitive one and he was poached by the nearby Sir William Clayton of Harleyford in 1866. The Harleyford estate was a step up in size compared to Court Garden. Clayton was also interested in his new head gardener entering and winning horticultural shows both local and in London. But he was also interested in technology and so around the time William arrived, a telegraph system was installed around the estate. This allowed Clayton to communicate with his gardeners, the coach man, lodge keepers and gamekeeper from his study. There were 6 circuits in all, with three miles of underground copper wires "laid by plow". An extension to the system was described as imminent in 1867. William was also responsible for maintaining the hedges and the management of trees at Harleyford. As the foreman of the garden team, he had a lot of responsibility. He still found time to exhibit at the Royal Botanic garden in 1872 where his azaleas were regarded as the star attraction bar none. 

William remained at Harleyford until 1874. I have not traced him to another garden at this point. But by 1881 he had moved out of our area to set up as a market gardener at Grange House, Top Locks, Southall. (1891 Norwood, 1901 Manor Farm, Southall) It was a common path for gardens to take moving from domestic service to running their own market garden, nursery or seed merchants. There were other Neighbours working in similar fields in the general area and it was a location full of market gardens and nursery grounds. At the time of the 1891 census, the half brother of William, 25 year old John is staying there. Occupation? Market gardener's assistant of course! 

There is a sadder end to Williams usual tale of success. In 1906 the Ealing Gazette and other papers carried adverts for an auction of all of his commercial equipment plus household effects due to the fact William was "in distress of  rent" and had other debts. They really did sell off everything from the carpets and kitchen utensils to the night commodes and bed linen. The commercial part included two market carts, a manure cart, a cob, a number of rabbits, and the crops from 12 acres of orchard as well as some vegetables and flowers, mainly carnations. The following year William died. I am sure his passing was mourned by many lovers of fine fruit and flowers. 

Related posts:

People of Potland's - about the area of Marlow William grew up in and his dad John: here

Where your gardener ancestor worked: here

Scandal involving a previous gardener at Court Garden: here

General posts about every day life in old Great Marlow: here

To find every mention of an individual or family here see the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. It currently lists 4,300+ individuals about whom we have some info on the blog. 

Researched and written by Kathryn Day. 

Sources include:

Census 1841,51,61,81 - transcript from the microfilm by Charlotte Day and Jane Pullinger. 

The Floriculturalists Cabinet And Florists Magazine Volume 5 1863 (Whitaker and Company 1863)

Journal of Horticulture and Cottage Gardener - Article by George W Johnson FRHS and Robert Hogg LLD  27 September 1864, digitised by Google. 

England and Wales Census, 1891," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QD7K-VMM : 22 February 2021), William Neighton, Norwood, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom; from "1891 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 12, Middlesex county, subdistrict, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.

Uxbridge and West Drayton Gazette 14 July 1906, copy from the British Library archives and accessed via the BNA partnership. 

Berkshire Chronicle 19 May 1866

Bucks Herald  17 September 1864, as above

Ealing Gazette 14 July 1906 - thanks to Paul Martin for this. 

Gardeners Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette, May 25 1872, digitised by Google. 

 Journal of Horticulture and Practical Gardening, Volume 22

Published 1872

Original from Cornell University

Digitized by Google 29 Oct 2009. 

© MarlowAncestors

But None Of Us Are Perfect! New Court and Globe House

UPDATED NOVEMBER 2024

New Court house and outbuildings were, controversially at the time, built in 1875-77 partially on what had previously been the grounds of Globe House in the High Street. I am uncertain how old Globe House was though I think that it was probably the home of Luke Medwin in the 1780s. There was another house too which stood next to it also fronting onto the High Street and also demolished to make way for the stable and other buildings of New Court.

Between (at least) the 1810s and 1840s the Hone family owned that other house and much of the land behind it which would become the site of the New Court grounds. John Hone left his High Street home to his son also called John in his will written in 1813 and proved 1819.

In 1831 the Hone property was empty. Two years later it was described as consisting of the house, lawn, greenhouses, pleasure garden, orchard, kitchen garden, stables, large store house and coach houses and had an estimated annual value of £50 a year.

John junior had married Susannah Gage daughter of the vicar of Bisham in 1822. She did own the house after his death but I haven't got John's will and their daughter Susannah junior who died young in 1844 left all her (unspecified) property to her mother so it is possible the house went first to Susannah junior.

Globe House meanwhile was occupied by Stephen Gardiner a merchant in 1841 and by Elizabeth Welch in 1851. It was worth £12 a year in 1833. Behind it were sheds and a yard. 

George Davenport lived there from at least 1861 to the time of his death in 1869. George had earlier in his life been declared insane due to religious mania and a generosity of habit that was considered irrational. George had for instance refused to prosecute a man who stole his coat on the grounds that none of us are perfect! He also couldn't stop giving money away to the point that the wellbeing of himself, his wife and their children was considered to be under threat. Thus the official declaration of insanity. 

By the time he moved to Marlow poor George was a widower. He had a paid companion to "watch" him, as well as four other servants. He died of apoplexy in 1869 aged 61. His obituaries speak of his great generosity to the Marlow poor so those impulses of his hadn't been entirely curbed.

53 year old Esther Wethered, who had an independent income, was resident in the house in 1871. Née Peel she was the widow of Florence James Wethered who had for years been the Vicar of Hurley near Marlow before his death in 1867. Their son Florence Thomas was also Vicar of Hurley. If you are puzzled about these two male uses of the name Florence, don't be. For most of history males were the only bearers of the name.

Esther moved out of Globe House to The Cottage, Oxford Road. Despite the name, The Cottage was not little, but a good sized house. There Esther died in 1903. With her at both of her Marlow homes as well as in Hurley was her long term parlour maid / housemaid Emily Eaton who was originally from Caversham.

Esther had actually wanted to move from Globe House into the Old Workhouse building which was put up for sale by the parish. She put in an offer of £1200 for the building but withdrew from the deal after the offer had been accepted, causing some ructions.

On a more positive note, Esther was a dedicated supporter of the Cottage Hospital both in terms of financial donations and practical gifts for the inpatients such as eggs for their breakfast.

In 1875 Frederic William Berger was the owner of Globe House and it was he who knocked it down, and the house next door which had been occupied by William Vincent Baines a coal and salt merchant in 1871. The demolition in itself didn't get people's backs up, it was what he replaced them with. The street frontage of the property was the stable block and coach house plus a brick entrance archway, the new house being well back from the road. Nowhere else in England, lamented the Bucks Herald, would you be allowed to put the back end of your stables onto a town's main street. For others the red brick of those stables and the size of the arch were a vulgarity no matter where they were placed. In the building trade and architecture community the archway in particular was seen as a triumph of design however.

Globe House had had an archway entrance too, there are some old photos of Marlow which show it however this was itself apparently not hugely old as property descriptions of what I believe to be Globe House in the late 1700s say that the arch then had a room at the top, something which the photographed arch clearly does not so that must be a later archer.

The architect of New Court was not a Marlow man but the builder of the stabling and archway was, Thomas Corby, based right next door to the new stable block. He, his father and their workers built so much of Marlow at the time. I will do a separate post on him and his work in the future. He may have actually built the house as well.

Frederic Berger had previously been living at Court Garden house in Marlow. Hence the not very original New Court title for his new home. He was a horticultural enthusiast famed in gardening circles, especially for the full orchard within a glass house he had at Court Garden. He had much less space to play with - between 2.5 and 3 acres depending on what source you believe - at New Court. But he made sure to include a gardener's lodge within his plans, a vital thing for attracting and keeping the most skilled head gardeners. The grounds also contained substantial glass houses, a vinery, a small orchard and pleasure grounds. Inside the house were seven bedrooms, a morning room, study, dining room, drawing room and kitchen.

Unfortunately Frederic died in 1878 and the house was sold. I could not decipher the name of the person who bought it. It was sold again in 1880 by Mr Norman Layton. See my post on the Rookery in Marlow here for more of how he fits into the Marlow story. 

In 1883 Jane Ward, widow bought the house for her and her (grown up) children. Née Hoane she was a Marlow woman born 1814. Her husband William Lakin Ward was of Essex origin but by then practised in Marlow as a successful solicitor. He was the Clerk to the local Magistrates and the Clerk of the Commissioner of Property, Land and Income Taxes in Marlow. Many a Marlow will I have transcribed from the Victorian era was witnessed or drawn up by him. He died in 1872 before the family moved to New Court. 

Jane was one of those women who were able to vote for the first time when County Councils were first formed in 1889. Not only did she vote  but she banded together with a group of other Marlow women to nominate a (male) candidate to represent Marlow. This level of engagement with the full electoral process so early on was highly unusual for women.

Jane donated books to the town's new Institute's library in 1890 and supported other charities too. 

A list of those attending her funeral and laying wreathes include her household staff - butler Mr Flint, housekeeper Mrs Stretton [Sarah, listed as the cook 1901 census], maids Miss Curd and Miss Sure, head gardener Mr Turnedge and under gardeners Messrs Brinsden and Silver. 

Her grave in All Saints churchyard is shown above.

Her children were also active in local affairs. Daughter Elizabeth never married but filled her time with concern for improving the lives of the poor. She even studied for an examination in domestic hygiene to help her understanding in this area. She also liked gardening and was involved with the parish church. She died aged just 38 in 1888.

Jane's son George Rolls Ward was a mad keen cricketer from his schooldays onwards. He served as the captain of Marlow Cricket Club and Honorary Secretary of Bucks County Cricket Club at different times as well as being a churchwarden, Chairman of Marlow Gas Company and JP. He too never married. He died of pneumonia in 1907 aged 57.

As Jane herself died soon afterwards and in 1908 the house was again up for sale. By this time it had gained the mod con of a bathroom!

Mrs Robert Forrest, widow, was living in the property in 1918 when her daughter Nesta married William Wain of the RAF. Nesta married secondly William Duncan Forbes Liston in 1921. They made their home at New Court but with this we are stretching beyond my normal blog time period so I'll leave it there with just a few more notes. Nesta added a library extension to the house in 1931. She left New Court and the grounds to the people of Marlow. Since the end of the house as a private residence several of the specimen trees which once graced the garden such as the mulberry and Judas trees have been lost though the wellingtonia redwood still soars into the sky. The house still stands however, divided into multiple residences for older people. The archway and stable block remain next to the High Street. You can walk through the arch into a little shopping complex built onto the one time grounds of the house. 

More posts about individual houses in Marlow, big and small, can be found under the "Specific Shops, Streets...Etc" menu option. That's also the place to look for other High Street related posts.

More grave photos on the menu under Graves.

See the Person Index for all mentions of any person on the blog.

Post researched and written by Charlotte Day.

Research sources:

PCC will John Hone held at National Archives Kew and transcribed by me.

1833 parochial assessment surveyor's working notebooks held by my family and transcribed by me.

Census - my transcription of census page images on microfilm.

Bucks Herald 30th October 1875 and April 27th 1907.  Newspapers held by the British Library and accessed via the BNA. 

Boyle's Court and County Guide 1869, digitized by Google.

Death and marriage certificates obtained from the GRO.

Post Office Directory of Northants, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire. Edited by ER Kelly. Published by Kelly and Company London. 1869.

Building News and Engineers Journal, volume 31. Copy held by University of Michigan. Digitized by Google. Other loose physical pages possibly from a different edition of the same publication.

Gardener's Weekly Magazine and Floricultural Cabinet 1863, digitized by Google.

Great Marlow Parish Registers, old transcription by myself.

Reading Mercury 11th December 1875. Copy held in the British Library Archive, accessed via their partnership with the BNA.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day, photos and additional research by Kathryn.

©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.