Sunnybank (or Sunny Bank) was an eight bedroom house with formal gardens that stood on the banks of the Thames at Marlow. It was built by 1872 and stood close to Rye Peck and the bridge. It is not to be confused with the street address Sunnybank on the other side of Marlow. If you came to this post hoping for some early history for the street Sunnybank please click on this link for a story involving one of the early residents there (the post contains distressing content).
For much of it's history Sunnybank, the riverside house, was used only as a second home for it's various wealthy owners, and if they decided to holiday elsewhere in any given year it was often let out to some of the hordes of summer tourists that used to descend on Marlow. Sunnybank's position close to the river made it a magnet for those who loved rowing. Plus the property had its own boathouse. When the house was remodeled in the early 1900s a new luxury version topped with a terrace was added.
The earliest named resident I have found for the house was the Revd Francis Gledstanes Waugh who was there back in 1873. He was the vicar of Llanwenarth in Wales so presumably, like many of Sunnybank's later residents, he used the house at Marlow at first only as a country or summer retreat rather than a year round residence. Nevertheless that year Francis married Anne "Annie" Whiting in Kent and Sunnybank briefly became their main residence. Both bride and groom were the children of clergymen. Perhaps Annie hadn't been an easy catch for her future husband as a few months later he sent a local paper a poem which he had written on the theme of a man's painfully unrequited love for a woman. We'll give him credit for not being so insensitive to his new bride's feelings as to seek to publish a poem about his previous longing for another woman!
By 1887 a Miss Caird was a resident of Sunnybank. She gave a gift of a shilling that year to all the widows of the Marlow almshouses. This Miss Caird was obviously a relative of Henrietta Caird who in 1890 /91 was left the house and all of it's furniture by it's elderly owner Charles Hammersley of London, an army agent and banker who also had Abney House in nearby Bourne End. His relationship to Henrietta has not been identified by me. The Miss Caird and Henrietta may of course be one and the same person. There was also a Mrs Caird in Marlow, exact address unknown, at around the same time. The Hammersley family loved rowing- the women of the family competed in their own team of eight made up also of their friends and guests. If Henrietta Caird was also a sportswoman I can find no record of it.
Charles also left Henrietta a £400 annuity and a £1000 gift. She must have sold the house almost immediately, as early in 1892 the owner was Percival Harter, formerly of Court Garden house in Marlow and soon to be the resident (and builder) of Stoneyware on the other side of the river. Percival and his wife used Sunnybank as a summer home while waiting for Stoneyware to be completed. They also spent money on repairing Sunnybank. For example they discovered it's boat house was in poor condition. So when the river was "drawn" to allow repairs at Temple Lock, they took advantage of the low water levels to pin its walls and replace the floor. In 1893 Percival offered to sell the property to the Marlow Rowing Club so that they could demolish it and build a much needed boat house on the same spot. Although a cheap price was offered it was still too much for the club's finances. He was said to have originally purchased the house in order to much enlarge it but then he seems to have quickly abandoned this plan. Presumably this because the future site of Stoneyware became available which offered much more scope for building purposes - it was a blank canvas so to speak. Harter's offer to sell Sunnybank to the Rowing Club sounds generous but he seems to have struggled to get rid of it - in October 1895 he offered the house rent free to a careful tenant until March 1896 - no children allowed! Why Percival did so I'm not certain - perhaps he just did not want it to remain empty during the "off season" and thought this course of action better than employing a caretaker to air and guard it. Perhaps he already had his next tenants, Mr and Mrs Henry Nesfield of Bexhill lined up. They signed a seven year lease in the spring of 1896 but stayed just 3 years and are recorded as coming into residence during each summer only.
In 1896 Captain and Mrs Stanley Edwards had let the house briefly as a second home but would return as regular residents from June 1899. Stanley's mother was Mrs Bennett Edwards of whom more on this blog in various places. He was also related to Harding Cox of Weir Cottage Marlow. Stanley was a captain in the army with the King's Royal Rifles. He was a keen supporter of the sport of rowing in the town and the Vice President of Marlow Regatta. Whether he was able to participate in much sport is uncertain as it seems that he suffered from frequent illnesses and despite a recent voyage to New Zealand for the sake of his health died of enteric fever aged just 28 in 1900. He was buried in a grave close to to the river in All Saint's churchyard. His widow Inez (and little daughter) continued to live intermittently at Sunnybank until at least the early 1920s. According to some reports the house was renamed Dunstable House in 1922. However the name does not seem to have stuck for several years.
Above grave of Stanley Edwards at All Saints. 1871-1900
It was during the occupation of Inez that the house was remodeled and the terrace topped boathouse added. Sunnybank was described then as being in the 18th century style- whether this was before the alterations or only afterwards isn't a hundred per cent clear. The architect for the remodel was W. Henry White who later designed the Marlow war memorial.
Sunnybank itself was left empty by its owners for at least part of the First World War as in 1915 it was used to billet members of the Royal Engineers. Mrs Edwards had offered it to the authorities for use as a hospital. It may also have been used as that, I am uncertain.
As I said above the house was apparently renamed Dunstable House in the 1920s and seems to have then experienced quite a bit of remodelling. Margaret Walton was the owner responsible for the name change. She brought the name Dunstable House with her, having previously lived in a home of that name in Quarry Woods. The new Dunstable House was divided into flats by the mid 1930s, possibly by the mid 1920s, the picture is a little confused. The residents of the property under the name Dunstable House will be featured in their own post, time permitting, in the future.
Written and researched by Charlotte Day.
To find posts about other specific named residences or areas of Marlow, see the index here
To search for an individual, see the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu.
Some Sources:
Bucks Herald August 22nd 1904 and 25th December 1915. British Library Archives.
The Royal Academy of Art: A Complete Dictionary of Contributors and Their Work from Its Foundation in 1769 to 1904.
Will of Charles Hammersley 1891.
The Builder (journal) June 28th 1902.
South Bucks Standard 20th April 1900, 11th October 1895, 21st April 1893, via the BNA.
Reading Mercury 21st April 1900, as above.
© MarlowAncestors
