1833 Parochial Assessment Great Marlow Spitalcrofts, Marlow Bottom etc

The next part of my gradual transcription of the original handwritten working notebooks used to compile this assessment. These faded notebooks are in the possession of my family, and also contain some pencilled in corrections from the later 1830s, though not in these parts, and related correspondence with some landowners etc.

This properties are all on the outer limits of the historic Great Marlow parish.

Transcription by Charlotte Day.

©Marlow Ancestors. Feel free to use this transcription with credit to this blog.

White Hill

Late Richard East, George Carr [not clear whether the late Richard and George had been joint occupiers or if George had recently replaced Richard]

Property Occupied:

Cottage

Annual worth of property:

£3

*****

Hill Green

William Ryder

Cottage and garden

£4

*****

Dirty Bottom [!] [Nr Marlow Bottom]

John Wing

Thomas Holmes

[Illegible property]

*****

Red Barn [Farm]

William Collins

New cottage and garden

£4

*****

William Hobbs

New cottage and garden

£4

*****

Booker Common

William Li... (Illegible)

Cottage and garden

£3 10 shillings

*****

Alfred Hawley

Cottage and garden

£3 10 shillings

*****

Charles Johnson

Cottage and garden

£3

*****

Widow Barlow

Cottage and garden

£3

*****

Spittle Croft [Aka Spittalcroft, Spitalcrofts etc]

John Stanmore

Cottage and garden

£3

*****

James Hawkes

Cottage and garden

£4

*****

George Brooker of Juniper Hill

Cottage and garden

£4

*****

Jesse Collins Widow Research And Will

 Will of widow Jesse Collins of Great Marlow. Will written 1838, proved 1843.

Says she of sound mind and understanding.

Executor to pay any debts, funeral expenses and probate costs she has.

To the sons of her niece Mary Brown - Henry, James, Robert and  William £5 each.

To Mary Jane Blackwell and Sarah daughters of her niece Mary .... £5 each.

To Robert, Mary and Jesse [Jesse is female] children of her late nephew Robert Harper £5 each.

Jane, Rebecca, Robert and Stephen children of her nephew William Harper £5 each.

James, William, Rebecca, Robert and Jane children of her niece Jesse Bavin £5 each. And to Jesse Bavin herself £5 too plus a chest of drawers, brass warming pan, a ... pot and all her wearing apparel.

To Charlotte Carter, widow of her nephew Robert Carter £10 and to Charlotte's children Jane and Robert £5. 

To Robert son of her niece Mary Carter £10, a plain oak chest,a pair of blankets, a pair of sheets, one quilt.

To widow Elizabeth Walters of Little Marlow £5.

To widow Catherine Butler late Catherine Carr daughter of George Collins £5.

Her silver watch to William Collins son of John Collins. This watch was previously owned by that John Collins.

All residual property to Jesse Bavin daughter of her late sister Jane Carter [presumably the same Jesse Bavin niece of testator mentioned above].

Executor Robert Harper son of her nephew Robert Harper appointed executor.

Witnessed by Henry Beckett carpenter of Great Marlow and W.L Ward solicitor of Great Marlow.

Notes:

Jesse was born Jesse Harper. She married Robert Collins in 1789  when aged about 32. Robert was a publican whose precise premises are unknown. He died in 1826 aged 73. Jesse was one of the executors of his will and inherited half his possession with other relatives getting the rest. Jesse lived in a medium sized cottage with garden at Marlow Common in 1833.

Jesse Bavin was the wife of turner / chair maker and publican William Bavin. More on him here.

Will transcribed by Charlotte Day and then summarised here by her from a will held at the National Archives, Kew. Research also by Charlotte Day.

1833 Parochial Assessment Marefield Passage

 My family has the original working notebooks used to compile this assessment by the surveyors and I am gradually transcribing them. The point of the assessment was to set tax rates for the year 1834. The occupiers rather than the owners for each property were recorded. The notebooks contain pencilled in additions and correction up to circa 1839. Where these occur on this assessment I have added the relevant notes in square brackets. Any research notes about the people mentioned are also in square brackets.

Marefield Passage [This address no longer exists. It was behind Dean Street, running between what is now Queen's Road and Cambridge Road. This was a poor neighborhood on the edge of town in those days]

Each occupying a cottage and garden with an annual value of £5:

Richard Moores

Edward Smith

Thomas Garner

William Mead

William Frith

Thomas Frith

William Clark

Robert Roberts [in pencil added later name George next to Robert but Robert not crossed out]

James Lomax

*****

Each in house and garden with annual value of £6:

Edward Aveling

John Harris

Thomas Brookes

Charles Ford [he died 1837 aged 55. His widow Elizabeth Ford may be the woman of that name who ran a baby linen business in West Street in 1839]

Richard East [he also down as having a gravel pit with an annual value of £2 10 shillings]

*****

In a cottage and large garden with annual value of:

George Clark

*****

Each occupying a cottage and garden with annual value of £3:

Joseph Clark [19 year old labourer Joseph and his new wife Maria nee Harding]

Joseph Smith

Ann Carr

Richard Price

Charles Brown

William Blake [a labourer, wife Mary]

Thomas Johnson

John Goldswain

*******

Occupying cottage and large garden worth £8:

George Clark (second one of same name Marefield)

Annual value of property: £8

*****

Each occupying a cottage and garden with an annual value of £4 10 shillings:

William Heffard

Elizabeth Harding

Thomas Mitchell

*****

Each occupying a house worth £5 and an additional garden each with an annual value of 10 shillings:

William Heather

John Holloway

*****

Each in a cottage with an annual value of £3:

Ann Archer

Joseph Keep [who married his wife Mary nee Godfrey in 1827]

Thomas Easley

Robert Almond

*****

Occupying a house worth £8:

School of Industry [trained poor children].

*****

To find more posts about historic residents of Marefield Passage or other Marlow streets please see our streets index here.

Thousands of people are mentioned on this blog. Look on the A-Z index for every mention of any individual.

©Marlow Ancestors.

1833 Parochial Assessment Lane End & Ditchfield Part 2

As Lane End was part of the parish of Great Marlow in Buckinghamshire it is covered by my original 1833 parochial assessment working notebooks of the assessors and related correspondence for that parish, which are held by my family. These were the original notes used to compile the tax assessment for 1834. Pencilled in corrections and additions were added in to the notebooks up to circa 1839. I will add any of those in below and highlight them as such.

©Marlow Ancestors. Freely use quotes from this transcription for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog.

Format:

Name of occupier

Description of property occupied

Assessed annual value of that property

Any notes by me in square brackets.

James Goldswain

Cottage and part of yard

£4

*****

Michael Lewis

House, yard, stable and garden

£7

*****

John Tilby

Cottage

£3

*****

Richard Hansell [name corrected in pencil from original Hasell]

Cottage, yard and woodhouse

£4 10 shillings

*****

Charles Tilby

Cottage and woodhouse

£4

*****

Thomas Goldswain

Cottage and woodhouse

£4

Garden at the common

£1

*****

Ellis Styles

House, bakehouse, yard, shed and garden

£10

Stable and piggery

£1

*****

Henry Goldswain

House, garden and piggery

£6

*****

James Seares

Cottage and garden

£4

Garden on the common

10 shillings

*****

James Bowers [name later replaced with pencilled name Harries]

Cottage and garden

£4

*****

John Seares [He was a potter. Later correction in pencil: name Harries in place of Seares]

House, stable and garden

£5

Old Kiln and two pieces of garden [pencilled note that changed name to Harries also corrected value of kiln to £1 and crossed out the gardens]

£2 10 shillings

*****

Pot kiln, yard, drying house and working house

£5

Cottage and woodhouse

£4 10 shillings

*****

William Gray

Cottage and Woodhouse

£4 10 shillings

******

Thomas Gray

Cottage and garden

£4 10 shillings

*****

James Webb

Cottage

£4

Garden on the common

15 shillings

*****

Thomas Arnold

Cottage and garden

£4 10 shillings

Garden opposite

10 shillings

*****

Richard Oxlade

Garden on the common

5 shillings

*****

Thomas Plummer

The Old Sun house [pub], stable, yard and gardens

£9

Orchard and skittle ground

£1 10 shilings

*****

William Carr

Cottage

£2 10 shillings

*****

Widow Wakefield

Cottage

£2

*****

Each occupying a new cottage and garden belonging to W Jarvis with an annual value each of £5 10 shillings

John Sharp

Thomas Barlow

William Grey

Richard Brazier

*****

James Jarvis

House, garden, yard, sheds, 2 large shops and lofts, stables and boiling house

£20

*****

James Hardell

House and large garden

£5 10 shillings

*****

Thomas Smith

Cottage and part of garden

£5

Garden on the common

10 shillings

*****

Richard Brown

House, woodhouse and large garden

£7 10 shillings

*****

Jonathan Plumridge

House and garden

£6

*****

Joseph Townsend

2 gardens on common

£1 10 shillings

*****

Richard Hatch

House, stables, chaisehouse, piggery, woodhouse, garden, meadow and orchard

£20

Cottage and garden

£4

*****

William Lewis

Cottage and garden

£4

*****

Zachariah Blick

House, garden, another garden on the common and 2 woodhouses

£7

*****

Daniel Block

Garden on the common

£1

*****

Joseph Coleman

Shop and a garden on the common £2

*****

James Saunders

House and garden

£5 10 shillings

*****

Richard Brown

Cottage and garden

£4 10 shillings

*****

James Insden

Cottage and garden

£3 10 shillings

*****

Meaks [no first name, note added later "Ditchfield"]

Half of shop and part of garden

10 shillings

*****

John Wakelin

Part of garden Ditchfield

5 shillings

*****

Mary White 

Part of garden Ditchfield

5 shillings

*****

Richard Stallwood

Part of garden and stye Ditchfield

5 shillings

*****

Henry Oxlade

Part of garden and stye Ditchfield

5 shillings

*****

Charles Tilby

Part of garden and stye Ditchfield

5 shillings 

*****

James Martin

Cottage and two gardens Ditchfield

£4 10 shillings

*****

John Carr

Cottage and garden Ditchfield

£4 10 shillings

*****

Joseph Dormer

Cottage and garden Ditchfield

£4 10 shillings

*****

Widow Oxlade

Part of garden

7 shillings

*****

Martin Lovelock [name in pencil added later Stockwell]

Part of garden

15 shillings

*****

Thomas Lovelock

Part of Orchard and garden

7 shillings

*****

George Sears

Cottage and large garden  [later pencil note corrects to "now 4 cottages"]

£2 10 shillings

*****

John Biggs

Shed, small garden, shed [yes shed written twice], large wood yard, drying shed, tile yard, 6 drying sheds, pavement house and kiln yard

£9

*****

John Stevens

Long garden

£1

*****

Joseph Silver

Part of large garden

5 shillings

*****

William Cooper and Edward Taylor

Part of large  garden in joint occupation

10 shillings

*****

Chapman [no first name, later name correction in pencil John Saunders]

Cottage and garden

£4 10 shillings

*****

Edward Wise

Cottage and garden

£4

*****

Powell the Keeper [probably for either toll gate or gate of Seymour Court House]

Cottage, sheds and garden

£5

*****

John East 

Cottage and garden

£4

*****

No name

Seymour Court House Mansion [this more in Great Marlow proper really], stables, yard, coach houses, shrubbery and walks, kitchen garden, 3 orchards and wilderness [!]

£30

*****

The End.

Look at Other Places on the top drop menu for more Lane End content.

The Person Index lists every mention of any individual on this blog.

Where There's A Will There's A Spicer

 If your ancestor left a Victorian will in Marlow between 1828 and 1871 there is a fair chance that Ralph Spicer drew it up or witnessed it. He was a solicitor and attorney who lived and worked on the site of the above property in West Street. The current building is a 1900s replacement. Ralph's home looked much less impressive, reasonably sized but plain.

He was in practice in Marlow by 1826 and in this building by 1833.

In 1828 he was acting for some of those involved in the great hoo ha that was the building of a new bridge in the town. To read about that difficult time see a post on the history of Marlow Bridge here

The year 1828 was also the year that Ralph and his wife Emily had their apparently only child Ralph North Spicer baptised at Marlow. This child when filling in censuses as an adult usually gave his place of birth as Henley which may well be true as place of birth and place of baptism needn't match. Ralph Junior grew up to be a solicitor too.

The year 1828 was also the year that Ralph became a Master Extraordinary in Chancery for Buckinghamshire. What this means is that if anyone involved in a Chancery case who lived in Bucks needed to swear an affidavit then they saw Ralph to get it done. He was only 26 at the time.

He had served his apprenticeship as an articled clerk in the offices of Sweet Stoke and Carr of Basinghall Street, London. He officially became a solicitor in 1824. According to an obituary in the Law Times he had married the daughter of the Stoke in the above law firm. Emily is censused as having been born in Wales so I am not sure about this, I could not find their marriage at my first attempt. In 1831 Emily advertised for a good plain cook for the family.

In 1833 the West Street property consisted of a house, stable, offices, chaise house, yard and garden and was valued at £30 a year.

Six years later Ralph bought a cottage in Cadmore End which was rented out. I do not think he owned his West Street home though I cannot be certain. He later moved premises to the High Street.

Ralph pops up as the defence or prosecution in cases across Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. He was often in London dealing with local bankruptcy or similar troubles. He had a second Buckinghamshire office at Amersham though it seems this was largely staffed by others under his name and supervision.

In 1848 Ralph took a Mr Hayward of Maidenhead to court to retrieve 6 shillings in unpaid legal fees. In 1866 he was chasing £10 from Henry Stroud formerly of the nearby Coach and Horses pub in West Street, who had gone bankrupt [for a bit more about Henry and to see a photo of his premises as they look today see here]. His son Ralph North Spicer was acting for the debtor!

Ralph and Emily seem to have maintained a second home in London with their adult son later in life. This must be why Ralph appears on the 1871 census twice - once in Marlow and once in London. Someone in one of the households made an error! Ralph Junior acted as Ralph Senior's agent in London. Before that Junior lived in Oxford Road Marlow. Like his father he was also an insurance agent.

Ralph Senior died in 1874. A tribute was paid to him during the sitting of the Windsor County Court a few days later. He had endeared himself to all by his gentlemanly and honest conduct it was said. Furthermore he was "well informed upon almost every subject you could converse with him". The Buckinghamshire Advertiser's obituary said Marlow has lost a "genial and kind hearted friend".

The year following Ralph North Spicer took his clerk to court over the alleged theft money from himself and his deceased father.

Ralph Spicer was by descent of the Spicer family of High Wycombe and Glory Mills, Wooburn. Different obituaries give different father names for him- either Ralph or Freeman!

Emily died in 1876.

NB: The property above, home to Ralph has been considerably altered since his day, and now presents a grander appearance than it did then! 

Related Posts:

Ralph was a strong liberal supporter and this post details just what the professional and social risk this could be in Marlow at the time: 1847 election riots here

More on occupiers of other West Street properties can be found by looking at the West Street sub section on the menu under the " Specific Shops, Streets...Etc" option.

All mentions of a person on this blog can be found on the Person Index on the top drop down menu. 

Sources:

The Law Times Volume 58 published by the Office Of The Law Times 1875. Digitized by Google. Accessed March 2021.

1841 and 1851 censuses my transcription from microfilm, other censuses transcribed by Jane Pullinger.

Slaters Royal National and Commercial Directory 1852. Published by Isaac Slater.

National Archives Discovery Catalogue.

1833 Parochial Assessment. Original paper record held by my family and transcribed by me.

Bucks Advertiser and Aylesbury News 19th Dec 1874. Copy held at the British Library Archive and accessed by me March 2021 via the BNA.

Maidenhead Advertiser 29 December 1874. As above.

Windsor and Eton Express 5th Aug 1845. As above.

Reading Mercury 11th July 1831, as above.

Bucks Herald 1st December 1860, 8th November 1866 and 4th December 1875. As above.

Post researched and written by Charlotte Day.

I have worked out historic occupancy of many buildings in Marlow, sometimes back into the 1700s by cross referencing property transactions, wills, censuses, photographs, historic newspapers and many more sources.

Photographed November 2020.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to reuse this image or research for the purpose of family or local history research with credit to this blog. Thanks.

The Carr Family of The Compasses, Dean Street

 Richard Carr took on the licence of the The Three Compasses, Dean Street, Marlow - often called by the shortened The Compasses- in 1881. It was a small beerhouse converted from a cottage, which like many such premises in Dean Street, also functioned as a lodging house. The pub had existed for less than a decade, perhaps only in fact for a few months when Richard took over the licence. He moved from a cottage in nearby Queens Road, where he had lived for at least 2 years. If you walked up Dean Street from the town centre, you would have found The Compasses on the police station / Wethered Road side. It was about two thirds of the way between Wethered Road and the post box which stands opposite Queens Road. In other words it was only feet away from the Nags Head, and almost next door to where the Fox and Pheasant used to be. 

Dean Street was an area dense with beer retailing competition and many licensees didn't last long at all.

One thing that can strikes you as odd about Victorian pubs and beersellers is how commonly people without any experience in the industry were given the running of these establishments only to give them up after a year or two and be replaced by someone else just as inexperienced! For many the attraction in getting a beer selling license wasn't selling beer-  meeting your costs was the best some could hope for in their tiny premises. No, what they wanted was the premises of the beer shop which so often came with sheds that could be used as workshops, yards, stabling etc. These the man in the family would use to run what he would consider his "real business" while his wife actually ran the beer selling part to meet their obligations to the brewery. His name would be on the license as it was his job to do all the legal business for the family. For a poor man it was an impossible dream to set up in business on his own account because of the impossibility of affording the rent of suitable premises. But if a pub became available with workshops etc.... 

Of course the dream didn't necessarily match reality and the pub part of the deal would often be more time draining than the family first envisaged and they could not manage the dual businesses.

Richard Carr was originally a shoe maker and cordwainer by trade like his own father Richard senior. Unlike many others without trade experience Richard did make a success of his beer business as well as shoe making. Going back 100 years, another Marlow Richard Carr was a licensed victualler so perhaps it was in the blood!

Living with Richard were his wife Elizabeth and children. Following the usual pattern Elizabeth ran the pub with him and he continued to work as a shoe mender while being the Compasses licensee. The premises had various outbuildings at the licensee's disposal too. The pub had unofficial long term lodgers, it did not offer accommodation for travellers.

Elizabeth had worked as a servant before marriage so she had experience of sorts in the service industry at least. Her maiden name was Moores.

Beer shops were generally too small to host lucrative events and lunches but the Compasses did manage to host the apparently well attended AGM of the Marlow Rovers football club several times in the 1890s. More on the many, many football teams we once had in Marlow here.

By the 1890s Richard was also using his premises as a grocery shop too.

Dean Street could be a lively neighborhood and you could get a fair amount of entertainment just looking out into the street! In 1897 Richard when standing in his own doorway, witnessed a tussle at the door of Mr East's beer house nearby and was called as a defence witness by the customer accused of assault (after being refused more beer). 

By the time of that case Richard was a widower. Elizabeth had died at home in 1893 aged just 56. Their daughter Emily was at home as a housekeeper in 1901. 

The pub was forcibly closed in 1909 with a number of other Marlow premises in an attempt to slash the beer consumption in the area. Both Richard and his brewery initially appealed the decision but the authorities showed determination and they were forced to admit defeat. Richard's premises were converted into a cottage. He became a domestic tenant in them. At auction the following year the premises are described as a old fashioned cottage residence which probably sounded better than former beer shop. Richard received a measly 10 shillings compensation for the loss of a business he had managed for nearly three decades, much less than the brewery and also less than other publicans similarly deprived at the same time. The premises has been demolished. 

Other publicans at the Compasses:

1881 - A Ful(l)brook (who gave way to Richard Carr). This was Andrew Ful(l)brook. Wife Sarah. 

©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use my research for non commercial purposes with credit to this blog.

To find similar posts see the Pub Related menu option. All mentions of any person on this blog are under Person Index.

Sources Included:

South Bucks Standard 4th June 1897 (Richard witness court case) and 3rd August 1894 (footie AGM) Paper held at the British library, accessed through the BNA September 2020.

Census from microfilm transcribed by me.

Death certificate obtained from GRO.

Parish registers.

Marlow Guide 1903 & Marlow Almanack and Directory 1907.