Hurley Flour Mill stood by Hurley Lock, next to the River Thames, and adjoining the grounds of Gen Owen Williams at Temple. Thomas Street (born 1844 in Wargrave Berkshire to William and Miriam Street) ran the business for some years but he started out in a quite different occupation- that of a pub landlord. He and his wife Marie* first took over the Ferry Boat Hotel AKA the Ferry Hotel in Medmenham from Marie's parents Henry and Marie Bitmead, before moving on to the Black Boy in Hurley village in 1871. There they remained until William gave up the lease in 1883. Some time in the next 4 years, perhaps immediately, Thomas took over the flour mills.
Wooden mill buildings were always a fire risk and the Hurley mill burnt down on 5th November 1887 when a stray rocket firework landed on the roof of the main building during local Guy Fawkes night celebrations. Some reports suggest it was the Street families own fireworks that caused the blaze. The mill as well as the stables was reduced to ashes and Hurley lock gates badly damaged but thanks to the effort of Charles Miller Foottit's fire brigade from Marlow, the Temple fire brigade and residents of Hurley and Temple nearby houses were not harmed and the mill horses were rescued from the stable. The mill itself was owned - and insured by - Sir William Clayton of Harleyford. But the Streets lost the entirety of their machinery and equipment, 1,500 sacks of flour and vast quantities of grain etc, the cost of which their own insurance did not quite cover.
The mill reopened in August 1888 with all new fittings for Thomas Street and his employees. The "best modern machinery" was provided by Mr H Simon of Manchester. A party of millers from London and elsewhere toured the mill shortly after it re opened to admire this up to the minute plant. They were treated to lunch at Hurley, complete with bread baked from flour produced by the new machinery. They declared this bread "excellent".
Marie Street died 3 years later so it was Thomas alone who had the pleasure of seeing their second daughter Edith marry in Hurley Church 1892 Alfred Pledge of Abingdon.
The next year would not be so happy for the family- Thomas's 22 year old business partner George Cullingworth killed himself by tying one of the mill weights around his neck and jumping into the Thames. The inquest into George's death was held at the Street family home. While this may seem odd there were few public spaces for such events and they usually took place in the nearest pub or sufficiently large house to the place of death. Thomas and Marie's son Thomas Junior, who had spent George's final day alive with him, gave evidence at the inquest. He and his father searched everywhere for the young man when they realised he was missing. They knew him to be depressed and had their worse fears confirmed when they found his jacket abandoned on the riverbank. With the help of the Hurley lock keeper his body was recovered. George apparently could not free himself from the distress he felt at his father writing to tell him to wait a year before marrying the sweetheart he had met in Hurley. It was not the first time that a close associate of the family was pulled from the Thames- in 1881 Marie's elderly mother was found drowned in the river at Medmenham. It could not be determined how she came to be in the water but foul play was not considered.
In 1896 the Streets suffered another terrible shock when their house guest Thomas Smith dropped dead at Shaw's boatyard in Marlow while waiting for a boat he wanted to hire to be got out. The Street's daughter Gertrude (b 1875) had gone with him and a friend into Marlow and was present at the time of his death. Thomas Smith told Robert Shaw that he was not likely to live long. Just minutes later he collapsed and died. Gertrude gave evidence at the inquest.
Gertrude was a go getting young lady who rowed and canoed as a competitive amateur in local competitions (see a biography of one of her rowing mates here), helped her mother Marie exhort charity donations for the local hospitals from boaters trapped in Hurley Lock and sang in local church concerts. It wasn't just Hurley Lock that had the Victorian equivalent of chuggers by the way. Between themselves the local ladies had most of the local locks covered on Summer weekends and were either very charming or very intimidating as they were a great success at collecting donations. When they had organised a fundraising drive, for a boater to travel between say Henley and Maidenhead was to basically except that they would be rendered penniless by journey's end.
The Street family's mill was completely destroyed in another fire in 1903. This time it did not reopen. Hurley rallied around Thomas, organising a fund raising testimonial for him though there is no reason to think the family were left destitute. I believe they moved to Furze Platt.
*The couple married in Medmenham in 1867. Marie's mother was German, née Rahn.
Written and researched by Charlotte Day. Additional research by Kathryn Day.
Related Posts:
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For posts related to Marlow Mills, the River Thames and everyday life in old Great Marlow and nearby see the index here
Posts specific to Hurley,Temple and nearby: here
Land lord listings for Hurley, Medmenham etc licensed premises can be found here
Otters, lampreys, eels and other wildlife in the 18th&19thc Thames at Marlow & Hurley here
Robert Shaw, boatbuilder and fisherman here
©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use my research with credit to this blog for family or local history purposes.
See:
"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J94G-LV5 : 19 March 2020), Thomas Street, 1844.
Henley Advertiser 25th March 1893. Reading Mercury 19th March 1881, Maidenhead Advertiser November 1887. British Library Archives.
Hurley Parish Registers. Medmenham ditto.
Slough, Eton and Windsor Observer 1st September 1888, Slough Library.
