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.

Bird Brooks Research And Graves Great Marlow

 

Above two, James Bird Brooks d. Aug 1896 Age 70

And Rosina - details obscured but see research below.

Above, a different James Bird Brooks grave d. Dec 1st 1852 age 62 years

AND:

Mary, wife of the above Dec 28th 1860 age 74. 

In All Saints Parish Church. 

Research by Charlotte:

The bottom grave is for James Bird Brooks who was baptised at Marlow in 1790 (to William and Mary who was nee Bird) and his wife Mary. The Berkshire Chronicle announcing her death said that she was "much respected" and had died after a lingering illness. 

The top grave is for their son James Bird Brooks (baptised 1825) and his wife Rosina nee Barnes (married Hoxton New Church 1847, both parties of Great Marlow).

James Bird Brooks Senior was a baker and corn dealer, a combination of occupations which was very common at the time. By 1833 if not earlier the bakery was in the Causeway, Marlow. See here for a description of the premises in 1833. It is still a bakery today.

Young George Moody was sentenced to one week's hard labour in 1847 for cheating James Senior out of 10 shillings.

In 1848 James Senior was the executor of the will of Martha Cleobury a gentlewoman of Chapel Street (see here).

When James died he requested that his wife take over his business with their youngest son William to assist her. He was to receive a third of the net profits when he turned 30 provided he continued to assist her and then take over fully once she died.

James Junior was a farmer at Finnemoor Farm at Ackhampstead chapelry just outside Marlow by 1847. The will of James Senior suggests that James Junior was at first running the farm for his father  as the furniture in the farmhouse and the crops growing in the fields belonged to James Senior who was perhaps growing wheat and corn for his business there. James Senior was renting the property back in 1833.

James Junior was one of the overseers of Ackhampstead. Both James Junior and Rosina died at Finnemoor Farm House. Rosina's death was in 1861 when she was 71. Being a little isolated the farm was sometimes targeted by poachers and thieves after hen eggs or the turkeys raised there. Two daughters of James and Rosina died as young adults. Their graves are photographed on the blog here.

Siblings for James Junior were: Amelia (mentioned in the will of Martha Cleobury above), Jane, Sarah (married Marlow stonemason William Clifford, son also William who became a baker too. More on him here), and William who took over the family bakery business. Jane married William Hall the Marlow butcher of whom more here. She and her surviving siblings and their children all received legacies from James Senior in his will proved 1853. James Senior at the time of the will's writing in 1851 had 4 cottages in Woburn Buckinghamshire plus at Marlow his premises, 3 other cottages on the Causeway, 2 other nearby cottages, and cottages on Strong Beer Acre, Marlow (off what we now call Station Road).

The brother of James Senior, Joseph, was a farmer at Blounts with a William who was probably another brother.

More posts related to people of the Causeway, Marlow indexed here

Photos and headstone transcription by Kathryn, research by Charlotte.

References:

Will of James Bird Brooks. P.C.C. Copy held at the National Archives, Kew and transcribed by Charlotte Day.

Post office directory of Berkshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, with Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Huntingdonshire [afterw.] The Post office directory of Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, and Oxfordshire. (1847). United Kingdom: (n.p.).

Reading Mercury 4th December 1852 and 18th April 1874. British Library Archives, via the BNA.

Bucks Chronicle 5th January 1861. As above.

Windsor and Eton Express. 16th January 1847. As above.

Robson's Commercial Directory 1839.

1833 Parochial Assessment for Great Marlow transcribed from originals in my possession by Charlotte Day.

Great Marlow Parish Registers, transcribed by Jane Pullinger from the originals.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use these images for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog and link here. 

1833 Parochial Assessment Great Marlow The Causeway (Part 7)

 My family has the original 

working notebooks used by the surveyors to compile this assessment. As they are fragile I am transcribing them gradually on the blog. I put them up in order as they chime in with research myself or others are doing.

The notebooks contain some scribbled notes added in the few years after the assessment too.

Transcription follows this pattern:

Name

Property occupied

Annual value of property

Any notes by me in square brackets

© Marlow Ancestors. Use this transcription for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog.

The Causeway

James Bird Brooks

House, shop, bakehouse, yard, carthouse, stable, granary, woodhouse, bacon house, loft etc

£21

*****

James Carter

Cottage in yard [This was accessed from what we would now call Station Road, which was then usually called Brook / Brooks Street because of Brooks' premises on the corner of it]

£3

*****

Late Widow Dobler [this name then  crossed out and no occupier name to replace it]

Cottage [crossed out and "new house " x2 put in instead]

£3 [crossed out and value of £6 each added for each one of the "new houses" added above]

*****

Late George Wilson

House and garden

£5 10 shillings

*****

Harriet Clark

House and garden

£6

*****

Bennell (no first name) [a Mrs Bennell lived on the Causeway in 1835 when an attempt was made to burgle her house]

House and garden

£6

*****

Widow Rockwell [Probably Rockell, spelling is various]

Cottage and garden 

£4

*****

John Langley

Cottage

£2

*****

William Smith [milliner]

House and garden

£6

*****

Robert White

Cottage and yard

£4

*****

Elizabeth Higgs

The Roebuck house [pub renamed the George and Dragon two years later], yard, stables, carthouse and garden

£9

*****

Thomas Sparks

House and garden

£12

*****

Widow White

The Swan house [pub], yard, stable and garden 

£9

*****

End of Causeway

James Haynes - Boatbuilder & Thief Catcher

 

James Hayne(s) was born in Marlow in the first few years of the 1800s. Perhaps not as famous as the late Victorian boat builders of Marlow and Bisham, he deserves a post of his own because of the many roles he played here - from preserving law and order, to preserving Marlow Bridge. 

As a young man James followed in his father's footsteps and worked as a carpenter. His dwelling house and work premises were in the High Street and Causeway at this point. In 1828 the workshop is described as located 200 yards from his home and were also separate in 1833. In any event, in 1828 a thief broke through the shutters of the workshop and stole a saw and an axe from James. This kind of theft was taken very seriously at the time as depriving a workman of his tools of the trade could too easily lead to him loosing the means to provide for himself. James was lucky in that the tools were recovered and the thief caught. The young man responsible, John Green, was an apprentice to another carpenter. It was James himself that recovered the tools, after he received something of a tip off. They had been hidden under some wood shavings in a loft. The judge expressed a regret that John had begun "a career of crime at a very early period in life" which seems perhaps a little strong given it was a first offence and he had previously borne a good character. Luckily for John, his master was willing to keep him on and spoke of his general steadiness. The judge therefore decided to be merciful and sentenced him to 2 months in prison. 

James did well in his carpentry business and seems to have been well regarded by his fellow traders. By 1833 he was working from a workshop and yard "at the wharf" with a residence in the High Street, still officially a carpenter. There were many buildings at the wharf, some quite ramshackle, that this could have been, used for all kinds of purposes over the years. 

James worked on Marlow's new suspension bridge and like so many others involved had to put in a few requests to actually get paid. This would be the start of a long involvement with the bridge. He was regarded as someone who could get things done, so it is no surprise he also later fulfilled the then elected role of parish surveyor. But the biggest role for James was as one of the parish constable in the days before a regular paid police force. If a warrant was issued for someone's arrest, James and his colleagues were supposed to stop their day jobs and execute it without delay. If they failed to do so without sufficient energy, they could themselves end up in court for neglect of duty. They also had to fit in routine patrols. James fulfilled the role for at least 10 years in the 1830s and early 1840s. He was required to follow up leads as regards to suspects or locating stolen goods, such as the parasol he found hidden in a water storage tank in the yard of Bond the builders in 1843 (not stolen by a Bond!) His finest hour was probably policing Marlow Fair in the same year. His patrols with fellow constables Henry Stallwood and Steadman Camden (biographical post about Steadman here) were completed with such a sharp eye and energy that not a single robbery was reported, despite the massive influx of visitors. 

It was not all hard work for James at this time. He was a regular participants in the charming Sunny Side v Shady Side of the High Street cricket matches which ran for several annual contests in the 1840s and 50s. It was usually played at the Aldermary - that is the meadow more or less where Marlow Cricket Club is now to be found off Pound Lane. So which side was the sunny one? The West Street / Higginson Park side. The Shady, Liston Court / Station Road side had the best level of success and was the one that James played for. It attracted a good crowd, no doubt including wife Elizabeth (nee Osborn) and their several children. One of these, Caroline, would go on to marry Robert Shaw, son of "King of the River" Robert Shaw, of boatbuilding fame. 

A little after this time, James begins to be more consistently described as located at the Causeway or "Bridge House" (of which there have been more than one in Marlow) and eventually his former home was taken over by Sellmans plumbers and painters. James also begins to be described as a boat builder at this time. He chose this occupation when filling his census return in 1851. He may well have always had a side line in repairing or maintaining boats but the hiring of them for leisure purposes was exploding in popularity at this time. Marlow was becoming more and more of a fashionable destination for visiting anglers from London and elsewhere - it's easy to underestimate just what a role tourism played in Marlow's past even at this period. See below for some linked posts about this. At some point James began to use what was known as the old tithe barn by the suspension bridge* as part of his business, or at least he used part of the area. It seems he may have shared usage of the actual barn building itself, apparently with a wheelwright at some point. (In 1872 the barn was let by the new Buckinghamshire Chair Co as a temporary workshop, although they were still there several years later)  James sold second hand boats and fishing punts as well as making his own river craft to a customer's specifications. It seems he specialised in punts in fact. He would also hire you a boat, house yours out of season, or do routine maintenance such as varnishing the timbers. The Marlow Amateur Rowing Club which started in 1871, used Haynes as their boathouse too, before they had their own premises. 

Next to James at the riverside was of course the suspension bridge. The story of its construction was frankly a tale of misery, and you can read about it in the posts linked to below.  James must have been only too aware that before the bridge was very old, it needed quite a bit of maintenance. He was Clerk of the Works for the repairs done in 1860 - facing some difficulty due to the reluctance of some to stop attempting to use the bridge while it was worked on. The surveyor assessing this work asked James to provide a boat so he could take a good examination of its state from the water. Finding one suitable proved difficult it seems. When the surveyor was taken ill, James was asked to make a report on the bridges condition himself. But the work was nevertheless completed on schedule. (The deal platform was replaced at "considerable expense" but by 1869 dry rot had set in and more work was needed.) By 1863 James was Surveyor of Bridges for the district, and under his care the bridge was repainted and repaired further. He was responsible for gathering tenders for this work. 

In 1866 James was one of a number of local men that testified before a parliamentary committee on improving the condition of the Thames. He made it very clear that he regarded the existing Thames Navigation Commissioners should all be sacked for incompetence. He claimed they had neglected to do routine maintenance on the river for many years and so had made it less appealing for those who wanted to use the river for commercial transportation of goods. While the rival attractions of the railway he acknowledged, he considered that the Commissioners had done nothing to make the river stand up against the competition. Instead James said the Commissioners had bought shares in the Railway and effectively given up!  I find his information concerning the river at the time Marlow had a flash lock the most interesting. He said the flash (surge of water) was made twice a week in those days, and this required the "draining" of the river for 4 miles (not literally drained dry of course!) so in "short water time" there was "no water" for days together - that is the water level was comparatively very shallow. 

By 1865, the business was known as James Haynes and Son(s) and its location was "Marlow Bridge". The eldest son Joseph James, who initially worked as a carpenter, sadly died aged just 32. It was less than a year after his marriage to Mary Poulton of Ferry House, Cookham. James himself would not live much longer. In May 1879, he passed away at Marlow. Wife Elizabeth survived until 1883, living in her later years in the High Street with son George and unmarried daughter Ann. George defined himself as a boat builder on the 1881 census, but it seems the business under the name of Haynes was largely over. Robert Shaw, mentioned above, would take over the site.  Eventually he would build a fancier boathouse by the bridge, the "tithe barn" having been demolished "recently" in November 1877, to make way for a never built hotel that faced strong local opposition. James was to quote one contemporary guide to the Thames, "a grand character" and I'm sure he was sorely missed by the boat men of Marlow. 

*This building was where Tierney Court is now. It was known at that time as the tithe or conventual barn but this was not probably its actual purpose. It's the "curious old building" that James Joseph Sheahan described in his History and Topography of Buckinghamshire. He was correct to describe how it was generally referred to by the locals (as there are a number of sources using this title before he did) but I have a suspicion that he got his information about the Marlow building confused with the tithe barn at Bisham. He described the roof of the Marlow barn as Spanish chestnut, which it was not, but the Bisham one was according to several earlier sources.  Both were also used to house Napoleonic war prisoners. I wonder if Sheahan might not have poached his description of the Marlow barn from the 1860 John Murray Handbook for Travellers in Berks, Bucks, and Oxfordshire. (John Murray, 1860) in which the description "curious old building"  is also used. That book goes on to describe the "monastic barn of Bisham abbey in which French prisoners were kept during the war" and also mentions that the "conventual barn" at Bisham has a roof of Spanish chestnut. So possibly Sheahan confused the two if he helped himself to a little reused information!? 

 Owner of the "barn" at its demolition (autumn 1877) was Owen Williams who seemed confident his hotel plan would go forward. He had apparently got as far as inviting tenders for its erection. However, this was premature and in the end Mr Williams sold the site to "Mr Burt" for the creation of a 50 bed hotel with stabling for 20 horses, a  coffee room and 100ft long covered balcony. The authorities scuppered this plan by making it clear that they would refuse the alcohol licence on the grounds that there were too many others suppliers of liquor in the area. The real reason was probably the objection of existing traders to such competition, in particular that voiced by Charles Miller Foottit of the Compleat Angler who had recently invested in improving his own premises! At this point the barn had descended into a place that tramps and the destitute sort shelter. It was described as dilapidated but also a picturesque feature of the river side and there were clearly many who did not want it to disappear but to no avail. 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day. 

More related Posts:

To find all mention of an individual here, use the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. 

James' daughter Eliza features in a post here

The amateur who built a barge in his back garden, 1860s here

Life for the parish constables of Great Marlow here

Robert Shaw - here

Marlow Fair here

The troubled building of the Suspension Bridge here

1820s recreated trade directory Great Marlow here

Bellows, bricks and brandy - reviving the drowned here

Picnics and Punts- Summer leisure in late Victorian and Edwardian Marlow here

Biography of Charles Miller Foottit of the Compleat Angler here

The Bucks Chair Co here

SOURCES INCLUDE:

1833 Parish Assessment, original copies held by us. 

Census 1841,51,61,71, 81 - transcribed from microfilm by Charlotte and Jane Pullinger. 

Harrods Directory 1847, J G Harrod & Co. 

Slater's Royal and Commercial Directory 1852

Thames Navigation Improvement Commission, (1866) Parliamentary Papers Vol 33, Great Britain Houses of Parliament. 

The Architect, April 17 1869, digitised by Google. 

Reading Mercury, 6 April 1839, 24 April 1858

Oxford Journal 26 April 1828. 

Bucks Herald 2 July 1836

Bucks Advertiser and Aylesbury News 8 Feb 1873

Berkshire Chronicle 4 November 1843

Bucks Chronicle and Bucks Gazette  4 July 1863

Bicester Herald, 6 June 1879.

GRO BMD index

Q/AB/43/515,Letter, Bucks Archives. 

Dickens, Charles - Dictionary of the Thames, 1880 edition. 

Pask, Arthur Thomas - From Lock to Lock, "Judy" 1882. 

Salter, John Henry. River Thames: a guide, 1881. 

© MarlowAncestors. 

History Of The George and Dragon, Causeway, Great Marlow

 The Roebuck (present by 1829 and AKA The Antelope) in the Causeway changed it's name to the George Inn in 1835 when shoemaker Steadman Camden bought it. His shoemaking business and home were further up the High Street, on the same side. The pub soon became known as the George and Dragon. 

The premises you see today are the result of a substantial expansion and face lift in 1895. The older property had been too small for the popular pub, then calling itself a hotel too. It had also suffered fire damage in both 1879 and 1882 during Alfred Maskell's stewardship. 

Prior to the expansion the landlords sometimes used the nearby boys' schoolroom as a place to host dinners for various paying clubs and societies. The Wethered's brewery workers had a Christmas dinner at the George and Dragon many times in the later 1800s.

An earlier fire destroyed the stable roof at the rear in 1869. Originating in the loft above, it was worsened by the fact a substantial amount of hay had been laid in there. 

In 1880 Liberal election candidate Mr Griffith's gave a speech from a cart outside the George and Dragon before hosting a dinner within. His failure to be elected M.P caused bitter disappointment amongst especially poorer members of the community and sparked a mass riot in the town which required the threat of military intervention to put down.

The pub had a coach house out back and hired carriages out in the late Victorian period. It's prime location saw it busy during the Regatta. The owners frequently decorated the outside for this and other occasions. For the inaugural Marlow Fete week proceeding the Regatta in 1897, the hotels decorations were called jubilant in their "abundance, variety and taste." Less happily, the fair ground rides that occupied the Causeway during the Regatta effectively blocked it in at times. A stray missile from the shooting booth in the summer of 1898 sailed through the upstairs window of a cottage adjacent to the Dragon, leading to a ban on similar booths in future. This decision also applied to the October street fair which also occupied the Causeway outside the hotel. 

In later Victorian and Edwardian times in particular the hotel stressed it's proximity to the river and the excellent accomodation it could offer fishermen. In 1904 the clever marketers were using the telegram address "Comfort, Marlow" as their own. With good stabling at the rear, what more could you ask for? 

List of historic landlords can be found  here

Other pub/hotel etc related posts for Great Marlow and nearby can be found in the index  here

©Marlow Ancestors. If reusing or quoting from this research, credit this blog and link here so my sources remain attached to the information provided by them. You are welcome to do so.

Sources:

Bucks Herald 27th March 1880 [Mr Griffith's visit] and 25th April 1891 [Carriages for hire]. Bucks Chronicle and Bucks Gazette June 1868 [barn fire] Copies held at the British Library, digitised by the BNA. Accessed by me November 2020.

England and Wales Census 1881. My transcription from microfilm.

Kelly's Directories 1911, 1915,1920. 

1833 Parochial assessment. Original notebooks held by my family and transcribed by me. 

Additional research by Kathryn. 

Men Who Built Marlow Part 3

Young Lovell

Young James Lovell (yes his first name was Young) was born at Sydling St Nicholas in Dorset in 1842 to Mary and James Lovell. His father was a carpenter. James followed him into this trade. Far more of the major builders that I find began their working life as carpenters than bricklayers or masons. Young married his wife Charlotte Winifred Cresswell of Marlow at Marylebone in London in 1873 and moved to Marlow by July 1874.

He was at first the manager of the building business ran by the Corbys. They lived in the building which is now WH Smith in the High Street, Marlow and had additional now demolished workshops and a yard a little further along the High Street. In late 1876 following the retirement from illness of Thomas Corby junior, Young Lovell took over the business for himself. His office was at number 35 High Street the former premises of another Marlow builder William Bond. William is the subject of my post Men Who Built Marlow Part One here, while the Corbys are in Part Two here. 

Young carried on the tradition started by Corby, of having an annual Bricklayers v Carpenters Cricket match each September, all players being those who worked for his own company. The bricklayers seem to hold the overall record but matches were tight! 

In 1878 Young's apprentice James Howard was cautioned in court for leaving his apprenticeship with Young and ordered to return to him. 

Young's foreman in 1883 was Henry Young and in 1891 Edmund Coster.

His company in Marlow were responsible for (a small selection!):

1877-78 Demolition of the house Beechwood and rebuilding of it. He had to take legal action to get paid for this job. During the rebuilding bricklayer's labourer William East jumped from some brickwork onto some scaffolding in order to fetch something, causing a section of scaffolding to give way. William fell nearly 30 feet to the ground, dying of his injuries a few days later. Builders probably jumped about the scaffolding in those days a fair bit. The scaffolding was not found to be obviously faulty. 

1881- building of two new almshouses in Oxford Road.

1882- alterations to All Saints, the Parish church including a new roof and vestry. He was a church warden to the church.

1886- House Bohemia on the Bisham side of the river. £2436 paid.

1889-90 Marlow Institute, Institute Road (this is now the Library).

1893- Wooden isolation hospital at Marlow Common. Put up in just 6 days.

1893/4  Building of what is now the NatWest Bank building in the High Street. 

1895- new churchyard wall, All Saints.

1895- significant alterations and extensions to the George and Dragon, Causeway. Paid £114 10 shillings for this.

1895- 2 villas Institute Road.

1896- smaller alterations to the interior of the above church including adding a new door.

1897- adapted part of Cromwell House in the High Street into a Post Office.

Repairs to the Obelisk in Market Square.

Outside of Marlow:

1877- enlargement and improvement of Bisham Church.

1905-06 Built Windsor Police and Fire Stations.

While the day to day labour on the building sites would have been done by others, Young himself like many carpenters made coffins for local people. For perhaps no more reason than this quite a few of local families had him organise entire funerals for their loved ones. Many modern funeral directors have their roots as builders/carpenters long ago. 

He was also a Director of the Marlow Water Company and one of the organisers of the 1887 Jubilee celebrations in Marlow.

Young relaxed by playing the violin including in local concerts including at the Marlow Institute where he was Treasurer, entering shows with his vegetables and flowers, fishing, taking part in and organising billiards tournaments and by playing cricket for Marlow.

1905 advert.

He died in 1911. By then he and Charlotte lived in Beaumont Rise though the High Street premises were still used by the company. Their son Harry attended the Royal Engineering College before going to India as a civil engineer. When home he played football for Marlow. He was also a tennis player. As well as Harry there was a daughter Winifred, and two further sons Clifford Percy and Arthur Young. Little Arthur died as a baby. Clifford went off to be a builder in Gerrard's Cross and was the carrier of the family firm after Young's death.

Charlotte Winifred Lovell seems to have been a quiet person appearing in only a few social or charitable event lists with her husband or by herself. One event she did attend was a lavish Christmas party given in the Music Room, St Peter's Street for the children of the Catholic Church in 1899. Her daughter Winifred helped to serve food at the party. The family were not themselves Catholic (unless Charlotte and Winifred had converted at some point as some members of the wider Cresswell family had done). Young was a C of E churchwarden remember and he married Charlotte in a C of E church. The connection seems to be that Young was appointed by the Urban Council as the manager of the Catholic School. Presumably being a Catholic was not necessary for that. It was not the same role as head teacher - it seems to be concerned with financial and maintenance matters.

Charlotte also went to some scientific lectures at the Institute with her husband.

In 1902 the couple had an accident in Oxford Road Marlow when their pony and trap overturned. Young's shoulder was dislocated and Charlotte had cuts and bruises.

The firm Y.J Lovell founded by Young continued into the 2000s when it was renamed.

©Marlow Ancestors. 

Other posts related to building families: 

 (Men who Built Marlow) 

Bond here   

 Corby here 

Frederick Plumridge here

To find all mention of a family of individual here use the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. 

Sources:

London Metropolitan Archives, parish records.

Great Marlow census from microfilm transcribed by me. Census information always remains Crown Copyright.

GRO Death Index.

Reading Mercury 10th August 1878 (James Howard case).

Bucks Herald 11th June 1887 (jubilee)

SBS 30th June 1893 (isolation hospital) and 26th December 1902 (carriage accident).

Newspapers British Library Archives via their collaboration with the BNA.

Landlords of The Swan, Causeway, Great Marlow

This post is updated as new information emerges. All listings are as noted in original sources, including differing spellings.  

The address of The Swan was the Causeway but is occasionally listed as the High Street. This leads to the Causeway.

Above, the property that replaced The Swan. 

1808 - Richard and Mary Bowry, husband and wife. Mary was paid with a counterfeit shilling that year by a female pedlar who had been staying at the nearby Barge Pole.

1823 - Robert White "High Street"

1832 - Robert White 

1833 - Widow White

1839 - George Cresswell. Son of William Cresswell of The Compleat Angler - more on William here. For more about George see here and his brother William here.

1847 - George Creswell

1861- George Creswell (Cresswell)

1863 - uninhabited. Two lads names Sparkes and Biggins are convicted of stealing lead from the empty properties windows - and received 10 and 12 strips of a birch rod for their trouble!

1872- Mr H Playsted. He had recently left (died?) so contents of property were offered for sale by auction along with several horse drawn vehicles used at the Swan.

Demolished to make way for new vicarage.

Researched by Charlotte Day and Kathryn Day.

Notes - 

We mainly focus on pre WW1 listings but sometimes list later names if it ties in with research we are helping with or our own interests.

For more posts like this see Pub Related on the menu.

See also Person Index which lists every single mention of any person on the blog, Biographies Of Families etc.

SOURCES

1853 Mussons and Cravens Commercial Directory

1833 Parish Assessment, transcribed by Charlotte. 

Crown Cases Reserved For Consideration And Decided By 12 Judges of England From The Year 1799 to 1824 by William Ordnall Russell. Published 1825 by Butterworth and Son.

Robson's Commercial Directory 1839

Pigots Directory 1823, 1831

Kelly's Post Office Directory 1859

Slaters Royal, National and Commercial Directory 1852 (Isaac Slater 1852)

Numerous historic newspaper articles at the British Library.

Census 1861. Transcription by Charlotte from microfilm.

©Marlow Ancestors. Use this research or the photo above for family history purposes if you like with credit to this blog and a link here

List Of Landlords Of The George And Dragon, The Roebuck and The Antelope Inns, Causeway, Great Marlow

The George & Dragon in 2024.

 Updated by Charlotte April 2026.

As The Roebuck / The Buck. AKA The Antelope.

1754 - Richard Keene "The Buck" Called ale house. 

1823 - William Lloyd

1824 - William Lloyd

1825 - Mr Lloyd. Sought to sue his landlord the Wethereds for knocking down a "ruinous" woodshed and stable at the premises while he was away from home. Received a token 1 farthing damages after evidence was given as to the state of the shed! The stable, in slightly better condition, had been sub divided and sub let to Mr Oxlade for use as a carpenters workshop. Mr Oxlade was naturally very aggrieved to find it pulled down! He also sued the Wethereds with more success, gaining 20s compensation. 

1830 - Elizabeth Higgs

1833 - Elizabeth Higgs

1835- Steadman Camden, owner. He bought and renamed the pub. He did not run it himself. Pub became known as....

GEORGE & DRAGON - known as The Roebuck prior to 1835, and The George for a brief time after the name change. An earlier George Inn existed in Great Marlow but not in the same location. 

1835 - Steadman Camden (Owner) I believe John Creswell is running it. To read more about Steadman Camden see the post here

1839 - James Cresswell (also carpenter) [See also The Fountain Head] 

1841 - Edward August. Census age 50 (rounded age). Wife Sarah. 

1842 - Mr August

1843 - Edward August

1844 - Edward August. Wife Sarah. Edward and Sarah moved to the High Street and kept a nursery garden near Potlands. Later he combined market gardening with inn keeping again in West Street. (Three Tuns see here) 2. John Hobbs

1847 - John Hobbs (born Medmenham, age 80 on 1851 census.)

1852 - John Hobbs

1853 - John Frampton "The George Inn"

1854 - John Frampton

1856 - Up for let but John Frampton has licence still at present. 

1857 - James Tilbury (2nd source says John Tilbury : it's not uncommon for trade directories to be out of date or mix initials/first names, 3rd source just says J Tilbury)

1859 - James Tilbury. In 1860 James is fined for keeping his premises open for the sale of beer etc before 1pm on a Sunday. At this time, the pubs were closed on Sunday mornings so as not to provide a too tempting alternative to attending divine service. Two men were found drinking at the top of the cellar steps. But as the George is close to All Saints, perhaps the drinkers had just popped in on their way there! Fine is large at 40s. 

1861 - James Tilbury (From Richmond, Surrey according to Census)

1864 - James Tilbury (James' wife Charlotte dies 1874 age 49/in 50th year)

1877 - James Tilbury  "Commercial Inn"

1879 - 1. James Tilbury (moves to Wheelwrights Arms) 2. Alfred Maskell (born Maidstone, Kent). Alfred advertised the fact he could cater for boating parties and had both stables and a lock up coach house. Alfred married Eliza George whose father ran the Coach and Horses Inn, High Wycombe.

1882 - Landlord Mr Maskell threatened with death by drunken customer William Humphrey Shaw who claimed when a policeman stopped him for being drunk and disorderly out on the Causeway that it must have been the case that Alfred had drugged his drink. There was no foundation to this. A full biography of the troublesome William is available here.

1883 - Alfred Maskell

1889 - Alfred Maskell described as a genteel and courteous man. A committee member of the Marlow Rowing Club. During his tenure the George was the usual venue for dinners and celebrations relating to the Marlow Rifle Volunteers.  2. Thomas Moon. 

1891 - Thomas Moon "The George and Dragon Hotel" Family and commercial. "Good accommodation for boating and fishing parties" Wife Annie died 1893. Her grave can be seen here

Above, top, advert from 1891. Private sitting and smoke room. Carriages let on hire. "Wines, Spirits and cigars of the best quality". 

1894  - Thomas Moon (born Etchingham, Sussex. Moon is a very Sussex last name!)

1895 - 1. Thomas Moon. 2. Alfred Turner 3. Sawyer Spence. Plans made to extensively renovate the hotel and to incorporate the adjoining house "now in the occupation of Mr Williams."

1896 - Sawyer Spence

1899 - Sawyer Spence

1902 - R. Steed. "Very good accomodation for motoring parties". 

1903 - Robert Steed

1909 - Robert Steed

1911 from Robert Steed to Charles Yates - intended as temporary transfer, I think as Robert was unwell. Later in year W T Shaw is given licence. 

1912 - William Thomas Shaw

1914 - William Thomas Shaw. Goes bankrupt this year. 

1915 - William Henry Mather 

1920 - Tom Smith "Marlow Bridge"

1925 - (Mr?) Keeling

1929 - Mr and Mrs Ernest Keeling. Described as a "residential hotel" with "modern sanitation" and good garage accomodation. Left 1931 when Harry Dallimore took over. They moved to The Crown Hotel some time between 1931-34. See here

1932 - from Harry Dallimore to Ernest William Edwards. 

1939 (possibly from 1937) - 1947 -  John Ansell, former conductor of the BBC Wireless Orchestra, music director of the Alhambra and other establishments and a composer of light music and comic operas. He died at his home in Dedmere Rise, Marlow in 1949 by which time he had left the George and Dragon.

1947 - A D Hadlow comes to take charge. He transfers from the Prince of Wales in Marlow. 

Compiled by Charlotte and Kathryn Day

Notes - Many Marlow landlords changed premises multiple times. They often had  family members running other establishments. We mainly focus on pre WW1 listings but sometimes list later names if it ties in with research we are helping with. 

The Antelope was an alternative name for the Roebuck in a time when premises are written name outside, only a pictorial  sign. The Roebuck was renamed The George and Dragon (sometimes referred to as just The George Inn in the first few years) in 1835 - There was also an earlier George Inn, in the High Street proper. 

An overview of the history of the George and Dragon can be found here

The other Causeway inn was The Swan. All of the above can also be found referred to as being in the High Street on occasion - this leads to the Causeway. 

A full list of Marlow pubs and beer houses of old can be found here 

To find other Pubs related posts see the Pub related option in the top drop down menu, and the A-Z People Index to find all mentions of your ancestor no matter how small! More detailed posts are listed in the biographies of individuals and families options in the same menu. Happy hunting! 

©Marlow Ancestors.

SELECTED SOURCES -

1853 Mussons and Cravens Commercial Directory, (Compiled 1852)

Kelly's Post Office Directory 1854, 1859, 1864, 1899,1903,1915

1833 Parish Assessment

Archived copies of local newspapers held at British Library and accessed via the BNA: Maidenhead Advertiser 12 June 1889, Windsor and Eton Express 12 March 1825. 

Fennell, John Greville - The Rail and the Road or Tourist Anglers guide to waters and quarters. (H.Cox 1867)

Robson's Commercial Directory 1839

Census - 1851,1861,1871,1881

Pigots Directory 1823, 1830,1844

Country Life, clippings, August 1902. 

Marlow Directory and Almanack  1907 &  1915, Welbourne & Simpson. 

Marlow Directory 1891. Marlow Printing Co. 

South Bucks Free Press 17th March 1911.