Rough Music and Rag Sorting - the life of Emily Frith/Jones

 

The subject of today's post is one of those former Marlow residents whose name we pick at random to research and feature. We do this to tell the story of as many people as possible, rather than focusing just on the famous or wealthy.  It was all the interconnected lives of our past residents that made Marlow what it is today. As always, even someone picked at random proves to be interesting.

Emily Frith of Gun Lane

Emily was born in the early 1830s in the surprisingly populous Gun Lane, Great Marlow, to Henry and Susannah. Henry worked mainly as a sawyer and carpenter. (Properties mostly demolished, now known as Trinity Road.) The cottage the family occupied was on the side later occupied by the Victorian Police station and petty sessions court, and it is now under the Dean Street carpark. The family had at least three other Frith households in the lane. Their home was one of the smallest there, with a assessed value of £3 10s in 1833. It was a fairly crowded area, with a relatively poor population, and as such many newly married young working class people took the opportunity to rent a affordable if unglamorous property within it. There are not many long standing Marlow families that won't have a Gun Lane resident amongst their members if they stayed long enough! Henry was lucky though to have a small garden attached to his home. Later he moved to the Common Slough (aka Spittal Square, where Chapel, Spittal and Dean Streets meet). Emily however, stayed in Gun Lane and at the age of 19 was lodging with her sister and brother in law Fanny and William Stroud in Gun Place. Gun Place was a little court of houses, all now vanished, off Gun Lane, and now under the Dean Street car park on the side of Rookery park. This was even more compact than Gun Lane, and suffered not infrequent problems with poor sanitation. 

Rag Sorter

Around this time Emily was working as a rag sorter while two sisters she lived with were satin stitch workers. The girls were therefore employed in two classic Marlow occupations of the time for young Marlow women. Neither role was well paid but both were at least steady jobs. Emily was almost certainly working at the Marlow paper mills, as they employed a good number of rag sorters, as rags were required in vast numbers to make paper at the time. It was not the easiest job as rag sorting was regarded as a frequently dirty and smelly task but it was a very highly skilled one. They needed to sort rags by type, before they could be washed and pulped and were required to work at a furious pace. Emily's hand and eye co ordination must have been excellent as would be her ability to concentrate. Most of those employed with her were also young women as females were regarded as better suited to the skills involved! 

Working Mother

In 1852 she married agricultural labourer Job Jones (of Forty Green by birth, later Great Marlow and Bovingdon Green). Job was lodging  in West Street at the time of the 1851 census. Job had spent a month in prison with hard labour in 1850 for damaging a tree. This means Job was most likely supplementing his income as very many Marlow men did, by gathering wood for the purpose of skewer making. The skewers were used in the meat industry. Making them obviously wasn't illegal but cutting bits off suitable trees or bushes to use as raw materials was, if you did not have the right to do so from that specific tree. (You can read about the skewering / "skewerter" trade in Marlow here). Plenty of Emily's Frith relatives had similar convictions as did many others in Marlow. Her father Henry had found himself in court at least once charged with theft (of a duckling from a farm) but that case was dismissed when the prosecutor failed to turn up in court. And her teenage brother Henry was fined for a "gross assault" on a young woman on a country footpath near Marlow Bottom. 

In 1861 Emily and Job were lodging with three young children at the Jolly Maltsters in Dean Street. (AKA the Jolly Malsters). As is true of many of the properties that would have been familiar to Emily, The Jolly Maltsters has been demolished. It was one of the larger and older drinking places in Dean Street and took in longer term lodgers for much of its history. While it started life as one of the more respectable Dean Street pubs and beer houses, it's reputation declined in the 1860s and by 1872 was in trouble for harbouring "people of notorious character" including poachers and prostitutes. (You can read about the history of the Maltsters here) Most of the trouble related to those drinking there, rather than living in so let's hope Emily and Job got plenty of peace! Emily was now working as an embroiderer, a useful job that many mother's could do at home around their endless domestic and child rearing responsibilities.  I have noted that many Marlow women who were previously rag sorters go on to work as embroiders too. Job was still working as a farm labourer, usually for the Wethered family. This was possibly the reason the family moved a mile or so out of Marlow to Bovingdon Green a short while later. 

In 1865 Job spent a few days locked up in the police station on suspicion of stealing coal from the brick kiln at Bovingdon Green. He was caught crossing the Green with a lump of it under his arm. When accosted by a constable, he said he'd picked up the coal from the grass. This was enough for the arrest of Job, despite the fact that Mr Corby had not missed any coal. Corby said he certainly could not identify it as belonging to him and Job was released. The JPs were not impressed by the case having been bought before them especially as the coal had a value of 2d!

Rough Music

Rough music involves a group of people going outside someone's home and making a cacophony of noise and disturbance to register a protest at the conduct of someone inside. It's often associated with alerting cuckolds or those engaged in relationships when unmarried that the community knows what's going on. I've noticed that many protests were directed at those suspected of violence towards their wives or habitual drunkenness but some also to those who had dobbed in someone else for committing an offence. It was getting to be a little old fashioned in 1874 and associated more with rural communities but it was not abandoned in our area for some time - especially around Bovingdon Green, Marlow Common and Lane End. 

In 1874 Emily was involved in just such an incident as a "musicker". A member of the household of Joseph Meade(s) in Bovingdon Green had "turned approver" in a court case relating to stolen corn. This means the "approver" had confessed to his involvement in the crime, and gave full information as to others involved, in exchange for a full pardon himself. The community of Bovingdon Green was very upset at this, and decided to let the Meade / Meades family know (or rather some members of it as some Meades were actually performing the music themselves!) Emily, along with her sister in law Eliza and several others created a hubbub outside the Meades home over two nights. Two policeman from Marlow tried to disperse them but they just came back repeatedly in circumstances described as "almost amounting to a riot". In the end 4 women including Emily and 3 men were arrested and charged with "unlawfully, wilfully and maliciously damaging the house and property" of Joseph Meades. Emily had to appear before the magistrates at the Marlow police court. Luckily for her, the magistrates were baffled as to why the charges bought were relating to property damage for which they felt there was no evidence, rather than "tumultuously assembling of the disturbance of the public peace". So the case was dismissed! It was alleged that Eliza had kicked the boards of Mead's pigsty and that all the women threw buckets of water at and into the house and banged on the window shutters with stones.

Smallpox

In 1870, one of Emily's daughters returned from London where she had been in domestic service. The girl had felt ill before leaving and, because smallpox was feared, dismissed, and shortly after arriving back in Bovingdon Green she developed unmistakable  smallpox symptoms. Another case was reported around the same time, also in a young person who had recently returned from London. Job's employer Mr Wethered was saluted for continuing to pay him while he was unable to work due to staying in precautionary isolation and helping to care for his daughter. The victim appears to have made a recovery although it is not stated if she was disfigured in any way by this dreadful disease. 

Death at the Brewery

In 1884 tragedy would intervene in the life of Emily. Husband Job was still working for the Wethered as a farm labourer but he was sometimes also employed by them to do casual work at their brewery. On one such day, poor Job would suffer a fatal accident in the yard. There was  loaded dray there, awaiting a horse, along with a cart loaded with a couple of barrels. Reports on the event contain some contradictory information as to what exactly happened but it seems most likely that Job tripped over the shafts of the dray and in attempting to steady himself grabbed the tailgate of the adjacent cart. This then tipped up crushing him with two barrells falling down. His son John was present and along with another lifted the cart off Job. He was placed on a horse blanket until the yard clerk David Rush told someone to fetch the stretcher from the armoury along with Dr Culhane who worked from  the High Street close by. He was taken into the Brewery office before the decision was made to take him home to Emily, with Dr Culhane accompanying the injured man. Sadly his internal injuries were severe and Job died the following day. He had according to his wife remained conscious to the last and had prayed unceasingly. 

At the inquest the verdict was accidental death but recommendations were made to the brewery to improve their procedures for immobilising loaded drays and carts. Some of those present said the wheels of the cart had been properly "scotched" that is wooden blocks or stones had been put under them to prevent movement, but others could not remember if it had been done and also it was admitted the stones were often slippery and wet and could easily be dislodged. It was also said by some that a two barrels had been placed under each end of the cart to prevent tipping up, or that one had been placed under the centre of the cart, and that the shafts were also resting on an empty hogshead for the same purpose. This last point was strongly denied by other witnesses and it's obvious from the questions asked at the inquest that some felt sceptical that a barrel placed under the cart could have been dislodged when Job stumbled given the weight of both that and the cart. At other times it was said the shafts were held by men while the cart was loaded which does not sound very safe either. Job was just 52*. His son John who was present at the Brewery was only 17. 

Goodbye Emily

A death notice for Emily, wife of the late Job Jones, appeared in the South Bucks Standard in May 1895. It tells us she was then living in Cambridge Place in Marlow. This is yet another entirely demolished address, which was previously located between Eton Place and Oxford Road, off Queens Road. I hope the last year's of her life were peaceful. 

NOTES:

There was another Emily Jones in Marlow of a similar age to our featured Emily. She was married to William Jones, who also worked at the brewery and lived in Bovingdon Green at times. This "other" Emily is most likely the one who took to casual nursing in the 1890s, working as an uncertified midwife. Uncertified was not the same as illegal, it meant she had not received formal training or qualifications which she was not bound to do at the time. 

Related Posts:

To find every mention of a family or individual here, use the A-Z Person index in the top drop down menu. There are thousands of people listed there with more names added weekly. We do try and indicate which families will soon be featured in published content, but the order can change if requests are made. 

Another death of a brewery employee in 1884 features here

To find other posts relating to Bovingdon Green see here 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day. 

Sources include:

1833 Parish Assessment - our transcripts from the original notebooks in our possession. 

Census transcripts from the microfilm by Jane Pullinger and Charlotte Day. 

Bucks Herald, April 1850, January 1874 and November 1884 -  British Library Archive. 

South Bucks Standard November 1884, May 1895 and clippings related to the Job Jones inquest, courtesy of Miss Morton. 

Berkshire Chronicle November 1884, British Library Archive. 

Buckingham Express November 1884, as above 

Bucks Advertiser and Aylesbury News April 1850. 

"England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2JGT-KGC : 31 December 2014)

 Emily Jones, 1895; from "England & Wales Deaths, 1837-2006," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing Death, Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.

© MarlowAncestors

 

Moor End Murder

 28th March 1891. 

Charlotte Cooper, an unmarried woman in her early 40s, left her little cottage at Moor End near Marlow to go on a trip to High Wycombe. She shared her home with her parents Henry and Jane. 

Henry was aged 67 and still working as an agricultural labourer. Though he had been born in nearby High Wycombe he had for some years lived in Bourton On The Water in Gloucestershire and as such was known as "Gloucester Cooper" in the hamlet. He worked at Moor End Farm, probably specifically as a cowman. Seven or eight years previously he, while suffering from sunstroke, had fallen off a hayrick. Since then he had suffered from bouts of dizziness and a "bad head". His wife Jane, in her seventies, suffered from an illness that rendered her paralysed and confined to her bed. She could speak but could only eat with a spoon. On the day in question she was in her bed, while Henry sat smoking his pipe downstairs. He had been able to lead the cows out that morning but his "bad head" was troubling him he told his daughter.

Charlotte was not overly concerned however and left for High Wycombe. Charlotte would say later that Henry was a patient and uncomplaining carer for her mother despite Jane accusing him of not doing anything for her and not really liking her. It seems these feelings were caused by her illness rather than reality.

When she returned, not receiving a reply from her father and puzzled as to why she found his boots set aside and hat on a chair if he was not in, she went upstairs to find him in the bed slightly conscious and covered in blood and her mother lying dead beside him. Henry had cut her throat with his razor, and then stabbed himself in the abdomen and throat in an attempt to commit suicide. She ran to a near neighbour Mrs Grimsdale, landlady of the Black Boy pub, who went to fetch the police while Mrs Grimsdale's daughter remained with Charlotte, comforting her. Dr Francis Culhane came up from Marlow to attend the scene.

Barely alive, Henry was taken to the Marlow Cottage Hospital. Dr Culhane said that Henry became very violent there and it was considered necessary to use the straight jacket in order to attempt care of his injuries. 

The inquest into her death was held at the Moor End farmhouse. The jury reached a verdict of willful murder against her husband. A few days later he died and another inquest was held for him this time at the Cottage Hospital.

Charlotte Cooper was the main witness in both enquiries.

That madness tended to run in families was a strong belief in later Victorian Britain so inevitability the mental health of the wider Cooper family was inquired into. Charlotte could not tell the court much about her father's side of the family but she admitted that she had a brother who had died in an insane asylum (perhaps her brother Thomas, she had half brothers too from either an earlier marriage or earlier relationship of Jane Coopers).

Her near neighbour Sarah Humphries testified to hearing Charlotte scream and run out of the house after she came home. She also saw her leave in the morning, helping to prove Charlotte could not have killed her parents herself as did the testimony of William Plumridge junior who delivered bread to the house while Charlotte was out. He spoke to Henry, making him likely the last person to see him alive. Henry looked "strange" he said and in answer to enquiries about his wife said that he feared that she would never be well again. Dr Deane of Hambledon who had visited the Cooper's earlier in the year said Henry had become "weak in the head". 

Some of the inquest jury members donated their fees for serving to the Cottage Hospital.

Related information: 

Biography of Dr Francis Culhane: 

here

Other posts relating to the Moor End/ Lane End area of Great Marlow Parish here

Index of crime related posts: here

All mentions of a person or family here can be found in the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. 

Sources:

South Bucks Standard 3rd April and 10th April 1891. Buckinghamshire Examiner 8th April 1891. Bucks Herald 11th April 1891. All British Library Archives via the BNA.

"England and Wales Census, 1851," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SG27-CXN : 9 November 2019), Charlotte Cooper in household of Henry Cooper, Bourton On The Water, Gloucestershire, England; citing Bourton On The Water, Gloucestershire, England, p. 49, from "1851 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.

"England and Wales Census, 1861," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M7GZ-TCT : 3 March 2021), Henry Cooper, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom; from "1861 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 9, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey.

Slough, Eton and Windsor Observer, April 11 1891,/Slough reference library. 

Patients Treated At The First Marlow Cottage Hospital

  We have completed several posts about the original Marlow Cottage Hospital in Cambridge Road (1889 -1915), which you can find linked to below.  This one focuses on some of the patients treated there. The hospital was intended to serve Great Marlow, Little Marlow and Bisham but on average a third of patients came from places such as Lane End and Wooburn. Over half were children. The number of inpatients is hugely dwarfed by the outpatients who attended the hospital for more minor care, and also those in ill health that the nurses visited in their homes. 

Operations were performed at the hospital which had it's own operating theatre. The visiting surgeons (Dr John Dunbar Dickson and Dr Robert Culhane) were responsible for these but the day to day care was down to the Matrons - Nurse Mary Ann Cassidy in the first year, and Mary Anne Cole thereafter, sometimes assisted by a second paid nurse, probationer or servant. The most common operations were relatively simple - the removal of tonsils and adenoids in children for example. But some were more complicated. I've chosen to feature the unsuccessful 1894 operation on William Soley because the inquest gave really interesting details of the attempts made to revive him. Most operations did not end so badly however! 

William was a journeyman baker working for Mrs Spindlo in Chapel Street. He had a tumour in his groin and it was decided it must be removed quickly. He was reluctant to be operated on but was persuaded by the doctors that it was really necessary. As a working man he naturally had to consider carefully before committing to anything that would result in an unpaid period of time off work. Mrs Spindlo provided her cart to carry him to the hospital. He had previously undergone several examinations and it was determined that his heart and lungs were healthy enough to endure the operation. This was due to take place the following day. It would be performed by Dr Culhane, assisted by Dr Dickson, and attended by Matron Mary Cole. Chloroform was the anaesthetic available to them. Unfortunately within two minutes of it being administered and before any cuts were made, William stopped breathing and suffered a cardiac arrest. To revive him they tried not only artificial respiration, but also hitting William with wet towels, putting mustard on his chest, applying ammonia to his nostrils and cold water to his face. Sadly nothing worked. William died on the operating table. It was decided he had suffered an unpredictable reaction to the chloroform, which caused or accelerated a heart problem. The coroner's jury donated their fees to poor widow Eliza. 

Most of the adult male patients seem to have suffered work based injuries.  I will give two examples. 

Ellis Harvey, aged 56, was working on Dial Cottage in 1890. He was a bricklayer and was engaged on doing some exterior repairs. He fell from 18-20ft high scaffolding and suffered serious spinal injuries. A cart was requisitioned to take him straight to the Cottage Hospital. His injuries were beyond the repair of the doctors, and Nurse Cole could only do her best to make him more comfortable in the last days of his life. He died less than two weeks later. As before, the jury at the inquest into his death gave up their fees, this time donating them to the Hospital itself. It was believed he had suffered from a giddy spell, as the scaffolding was examined and was considered safe. (He was working for Mr Pierce of High Wycombe)

The second case is that of Amos Newell age 25. In 1893 he was working for his uncle Emmanuel Plumridge, who leased part of Star Meadow (off Wycombe Rd) from Mrs Atkinson of The Rookery. What Emmanuel was interested in was the large walnut trees there. They were the sort of crop that has bought a surprisingly large number of Marlow men and women to grief. More valuable relatively than now, a large number of people had convictions for stealing walnuts from Marlow trees, and those in Star Meadow were a hot target. (Trees at Little Marlow were also plagued by nut rustlers!) Emmanuel had been given the right to also collect the nuts when he hired the field. So his nephew Amos and another man were sent to harvest the crop. Amos did not work exclusively for his uncle whose main job was as a  highways and cartage contractor.  Amos is described as a farm labourer at his death. In the effort to reach more nuts, Amos clambered up the tree as he always did. He would stand on a bough and shake the branches with the other man remaining below. Unfortunately Amos misjudged his foothold and the bough he stood on broke off, and he plummeted to the ground. He was taken immediately to the hospital but died shortly afterwards. Another case involving a walnut tree was that of William Beaver, hawker, of Primrose Lea. If it was hazardous to knock the nuts down sober it was much worse to attempt it while "in drink" and unfortunately that's what William did in 1899. He fell 40ft from the tree, at Frieth. At first it seemed a miraculous escape from serious injury. His fall had been broken by lower branches to some degree and he had no broken bones but he did have 2 cuts on his head. He was taken by cart back to Marlow to have his wounds seen to at the Cottage Hospital. On the way there his wife Martha*, from who he was seperated, was informed of the accident and saw him briefly. She said she remarked it was not wise to pick walnuts when the worse for drink and sent the cart on it's way, not thinking him seriously injured. Dr John Dunbar Dickson saw to his head and sent William home. But the "friends" that he lived with would not recieve him and so he was returned to the hospital and admitted. He complained of a headache after 2 days, but his condition took a sudden dramatic turn for the worse on the forth day. He had became agitated and violent towards the nurse the night before, and the doctor said he was forced to put William in a straightjacket to protect the staff. Dr Dickson said William had begun to suffer from severe delirum tremens which had been aggrivated by his fall, and sadly William died "raving mad" a few hours later. 

 

Alcohol also played a part in the horrifying accident suffered by Lower Assendon bricklayer Phillip Joseph Joiner, who was working at Bourne End. Phillip was "worse for wear" and waiting to cross at the level crossing near Bourne End station. But a goods train was pulled up there and rather than wait for it pass, Phillip decided to crawl under the train through to the other side. Another man waiting at the crossing warned him to wait, but Phillip was determined. Sadly the train moved while he was on his way underneath and his legs were severely injured. He was taken to the Cottage Hospital quickly and both legs were amputated. He did not survive. He was 29.  

These cases might be depressing, so I'll end with an example of one that seemed very serious but had a happy ending. A "Master White" aged between 10-12 years old, fell out of a moving train between Bourne End and Marlow in 1892. He was travelling back to Marlow alone. It seems he had been leaning out of the window, when his cap fell off. In trying to make a snatch for it, he over reached and fell from the train. This is partial guess work from those at the the time as no one travelling on the train saw exactly what happened. Very luckily for the boy, someone in the fields adjacent to the rail line did see him fall. They ran to the spot and initially feared the worst as the boy was unresponsive and covered in blood due to some nasty head wounds. But he came round, and was carried to the Hospital. He was found to have a lot of cuts, and was naturally badly shaken. But under Nurse Cole's expert care, he was expected to make a full recovery. 

The times the staff could not save their patients always makes more of a ripple than those occasions where the sick make a quick recovery. The staff there saved hundreds of lives and lots of Marlow people would not be alive today if their ancestors had not spent time at the Marlow Cottage Hospital. 

*Martha Beaver had successfully applied for a seperation order from her husband in 1898 after he had assaulted her with a penknife while drunk. He was sentenced to 2 months in prison with hard labour and on release was made to pay a weekly sum for the maintenance of his wife and the three youngest of their six children then living at home. 

For more about the hospital see the following posts:

Matron Mary Ann Cole here

Matron Mary Ann Cassidy and the setting up of the forerunners to the Hospital here

Apothecaries and patent medicine sellers here

List of medical related posts here

The Romantic troubles of Dr Culhane here

Death by fire here

More on the Spindlo's here

Others are on the General History option in the top drop down menu. 

To find every mention of your ancestor here use the A-Z Person Index in the top drop down menu. 

See:

South Bucks Standard 16 September 1892, 03 August 1894. 

©Marlow Ancestors

 

Romantic Troubles For Doctor Culhane

Francis John Fitzgerald Culhane arrived in Marlow to work as an assistant surgeon to Doctor Shone circa 1883. As his name suggests he was paternally of Irish descent but was born in Dartford, Kent in 1857. His parents were Daniel, an apothecary and surgeon and Rosalind née Crowdy.

Francis's childhood may not have been too easy with his father having gone bankrupt two years before Francis's birth and then dying aged only 48 in 1861. But the young man was educated enough to train as a surgeon and had an outlet playing rugby for Dartford.

Francis was engaged to Miss Mary Baskin by 1885. Mary was a "dramatic reader", someone who gave lively readings of books, poems or monologues putting on different voices if needed. Both men and women might pursue this unusual career. The readings took place in town halls and the like. Mary also worked as a published author of sentimental "sketches", novels and poetry. Her first work was published when she was not yet 20 years old and working as a drapery shop assistant in Southampton. Sweetly, she dedicated her book to the shopkeeper's wife, perhaps someone who had encouraged her literary dreams. The themes of her works according to reviews were faith, kindness and a wonder at nature. A creative, confident but humble young woman you'd think. 

Mary wrote her first novel only 2 years later. The heroine of that fictional autobiography was of a "genteel" but poor family. Like many young women in a similar situation the heroine becomes first a governess but hates it and leaves. Reviewers were moved by Mary's description of her character's difficulty in going to London and finding a publisher for the writing she hopes will then support her. You have to wonder how much of this "fiction" wasn't Mary's real life experience. 

In around 1880 Mary moved permanently to London. Once there she started to give readings from popular authors British and American as well as poetry recitals of her own and other's works. Her performances took place right across England as well as in Scotland. These mostly replaced her writing as her source of income.

Initially she lived with some cousins but after that for several years Mary lodged with the Reverend George Morlock and his wife Charlotte at 32 North Villas, Camden Town. George was the vicar of St Leonard's Shoreditch. Many of Mary's dramatic engagements were for the Young Mens' Christian Association or other similar religious groups. This may have put her into the sphere of the Morlocks who had an interest in such groups. In at least one performance of Mary's supplementary musical vocals were provided by Mrs Morlock herself.

The Sunderland Echo said Mary was possessed of a naturally "good, clear melodious and powerful voice". Other reports also praised the beauty of her voice and talent of her performance.

In 1883 Mary signed for a letter addressed to Mrs Morlock from a well wisher who wanted to donate to parish charities the Morlocks were involved in. Mrs Matlock claimed she was never given this letter or the 6 shillings it contained. Mary, she maintained must have stolen both. Mary denied not giving over either. If she was formally charged with theft as far as I can see from my initial research no criminal case materialised in a court of law. What did materialise was a bitter feud between the Morlocks and their lodger. The Reverend wrote letters to mutual acquaintances including, most painfully for Mary, her fiancé Francis Culhane at Marlow calling Mary a dangerous woman, a swindler, a liar, and a drunkard not to mention a woman of low morals. 

There is a suggestion that there was no genuine suspicion of theft against Mary at first as the Morlocks were going out to the theatre with their lodger in a friendly way after the incident and  Charlotte Morlock was happy to join forces with her in order to raise funds for a piano for the Shoreditch Girls Friendly Society. Mary gave a dramatic reading as part of the fundraising efforts. When that did not raise enough cash she wrote to the local papers urging the public to send money for the project to Mrs Morlock. The address given to send donations to was Shoreditch Church. If she was someone looking for opportunities to steal money sent in the post wouldn't she have suggested that it went to the house she shared with them and where she would have the best opportunity to steal it?

A falling out over a debt Mary was said to owe them seems to have caused the Morlocks to revisit in their minds some time afterwards that puzzling incident of their vanished letter and to cast the confusion as to what happened to it in a new and sinister light. 

George Morlock sued Mary for slander for accusing him of persecuting her. Mary was humiliated and launched a counter suit for libel against the Reverend. Or in some versions of events she filed a suit first and he was the one with the counter suit. Francis Culhane was a witness for the prosecution in the case against George Morlock and gave surety for Mary's appearance at the Central Criminal Court for the trial. In his preliminary evidence Francis said that his fiancée had no need to steal money as he would always give her some. His support for her was publicly unwavering.

There is no record that I can find of a full trial going ahead so perhaps the parties concerned decided to limit their future public embarrassment by coming to an understanding. Mary's dramatic readings stop abruptly after the first hearings of the case. No further work was published by her either as far as I can trace, at least under her own name.

Despite the support Francis showed Mary they never saw through their engagement. Francis found a bride in namesake Frances [aka Fanny] Ford in 1890 [married Kensington, her family was from Cambridgeshire]. These two had two known sons together in Marlow -  Hubert and Frederick. They lived in what was then known as Quarry House in the High Street. Below is a picture of the premises in Culhane's day. It is the building in the middle with a tall carriage entrance doorway. Sadly these premises no longer exist. Thanks to Michael Eagleton for the photo. In 1900 the rent for this property was £80 a year.

Doctor Culhane worked hard in Marlow. He became one of the surgeons attached to the Cottage Hospital and gave first aid classes for working men. The importance of the latter endeavour at a time where workplace injuries were common and not infrequently life limiting or fatal can't be underestimated. He was also the appointed doctor attending various Marlow slate clubs and benefit societies whose members could qualify for a sick benefit if they could not work. For example members of the Clayton Arms slate clubs could pay an extra subscription to qualify themselves for subsidised medical attention from Dr Culhane. 

For those who could afford not even the small price of slate club membership Francis made no charge for visits and gave any necessary medicines for free. He was universally known as a kind man and friend to the poor, and unlike other doctors of his day would never turn anyone away even an obviously unable to pay patient calling on him in the middle of the night. For countless impoverished Marlow families he was the last and only hope they had when someone in the family fell ill.

Given his tender heart many aspects of his job must have been hard to bear. Francis had to attend distressing cases as a matter of routine including dying children who could not be saved and multiple attempted suicides. He was also called to give medical evidence at criminal trials. A particularly sad case was the death of a baby of the Boddy family believed to have been the victim of infanticide by its mother. This case is discussed in detail in this post. He was also the attending surgeon in the Moor End murder case of 1891. You can read more about that event here

He was also the Marlow Vaccination Officer and the Medical Officer for the Wycombe Board Of Guardians [of the poor]. For more than 20 years he served on the Marlow council and was once chair of the Parish Council. For leisure he played in friendly football matches for Marlow teams, as well as in cricket ties including for the Marlow Institute cricket team.

Francis died in 1940, greatly mourned.

****

Mary Baskin possibly became a domestic cook.

George Morlock came into a large amount of money in 1886. The next year he moved to Haggerston. He was given a reasonably large fine for non compliance with an unspecified court order in 1887 and was also sued for the non repayment of a loan so he was not necessarily as reliable a man as his job may suggest. The work he and his wife did for orphans and inner city disadvantaged children, giving them access to the countryside and sea is however not open to doubt.

Francis's brother Frederick also became a surgeon. His mother Rosalind survived until 1903. Both she and Frederick moved to Hastings, Sussex.

Further information:

All mentions of a person on this blog can be found by looking at the A-Z  Person Index - thousands of people 

For more medicine related posts see the General Marlow History option on the top drop down menu and the medical history sub category within it.. here's a selection:

Patients treated at the Cottage Hospital  here

Call the Apothecary here

Marlow Hero Nurse Cassidy here

Matron Mary Cole here

Marlow Heroes Emily and Dr Dunbar Dickson here

Written and researched by Charlotte Day

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

Some Sources:

Mary Baskin's works are mostly available to read on Google Books.

Newspapers in the British Library Collection via the BNA: Newcastle Courant 22nd Feb 1886, Hackney and Kingsland Gazette 5th Feb 1886, Bucks Examiner 6th March 1886, Sunderland Echo 25th October 1884.

"England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVH1-F9PZ : 2 November 2021), Francis J F Culhane, 1940.

GRO marriage registration index, GRO.

Census for Great Marlow, my transcriptions from microfilm. Dartford census transcribed by Jane Pullinger.

South Place, Great Marlow

South Place seems to have been first developed in the 1850s. It was formerly the rick yard for Platt's Farm whose farm house you would have found off Mill Rd a little further towards the river and on the other side of the road. It was purchased by George Cannon in 1839. 

South Place is one of those Marlow Streets that if you lived there your address was likely to be described in a bewildering variety of ways in its early days. If you believe your ancestor lived in South Place watch for them being stated as being in Mill Road/Lane (which is the road that South Place leads off), Strong Beer Acre (a vanished area of Marlow previously adjoining the location of South Place), Mill Lane, Platts Road (alternative early name for parts of Mill Road) or Marlow Fields. Census records usually give South Place correctly but other records are very wayward. By the 1890s you should be alright with little variance of address to confuse things.

The earliest residents of South Place lived on the edge of the then built up area of town. Once the nearby railway station arrived in the early 1870s development of the surrounding area picked up pace. The people of South Place however remained easily able to walk out onto open fields and down to the River Thames. 

Being close to the river could have disadvantages of course - the little street was badly flooded in 1894, 1896,1903,1908 and again in the 1940s.

The Prince Of Wales pub on the corner of South Place and Mill Road was often used by barge men for lodgings. The pub started as a beer house. It was there by 1861, getting a full licence in 1864. For a list of the historic landlords of the Prince Of Wales see this post.

As well as the pub lodgers other residents worked on the Thames. One such example was George Picton who lived in South Place with his wife Ann by 1881. In 1893 George was labouring for the Thames Conservancy when the punt he was using overturned near Oxford, drowning him. It was some time before his body was recovered. Ann's first husband James Rockell also drowned in the river. To help manage financially after the death of her husband she took in lodgers at her South Place home but emotional recovery from her double widowhood proved impossible for Ann. Six years after George's death she slit her throat with a razor that had belonged to him. Her married daughter Jane Cox who also lived in South Place and the local surgeon Francis Culhane tried unsuccessfully to save her life after Jane discovered her dying mother. 

For another sad case of a South Place resident drowning in the Thames see Kathryn's post here. 

Ann was not the only suicide in South Place history- twenty two years earlier resident John Ford, a gardener, hung himself in his bedroom. His wife had left him taking his 4 young children and many of their possessions with her. He had gone to Coventry for a while in an unsuccessful attempt to find them. He was described as very depressed upon his return. He had also been physically ill and was living off money raised by selling what remained of his furniture. His body was discovered by his sister Sarah Sparks who had been keeping an eye on him and trying to lift his spirits.

The cottages in the street were generally very small- two rooms up and two down was the standard. In 1897 two such cottages with each their own wash house, outside toilet and garden were rented out to two different families at a collective rent of 17 shillings a year. Bargain!

Small houses didn't deter larger families from settling there. Francis and Prudence Corby present on the 1861 census had six children aged from one year old Harriet up to 18 year old journeyman plasterer Henry at home. Francis was a journeyman bricklayer. Journeymen were skilled labourers who had finished training in their trade but worked for others rather than on their own account. The family still lived in South Place a decade later.

Thomas and Annie Croxon meanwhile squeezed 8 children into their home at the time of the 1881 census. Thomas then was a servant. Later he is censused as a general labourer and an army pensioner.

The couple were still in South Place in the 1910s.

A new and better well and pump were provided for the residents to share in 1866. Other mod cons like street lighting and a proper paved street took longer to arrive in South Place. The road was labelled unsanitary in 1896 so more improvements were still needed then.

Additional notes:

Francis Corby was the born 1817 son of Ambrose and Sarah Corby. He and Prudence Martin married in West Wycombe in 1838. Before they lived at South Place the couple lived at Dean Street [under its original name Well End, not to be confused with Well End Little Marlow] with Prudence's parents.

Thomas Croxon and Anne "Annie" Edwards married in 1866. Their daughter Alice had an illegitimate baby girl who died soon after her birth in South Place.

More information: 

See the "Specific Shops, Streets Etc" menu here  to look for other Marlow addresses and check the Person Index in the top drop down menu to look for all mentions of any individual here. 

Thousands of people are listed!

Posts about everyday life for your ancestor in old Great Marlow: here

©Marlow Ancestors. .

Photo snapped September 2020 by Kathryn Day. Researched and written by Charlotte Day.

Sources:

Censuses, my transcription from microfilm. Census content always remains Crown Copyright.

Property records 

Pub and beer house research of Kathryn Day.

Maidenhead Advertiser 8th Feb 1893 and South Bucks Standard 6th January 1899, British Library Archives.

"Particulars and Conditions of Sale of a very valuable and highly productive freehold estate called Platts Farm" 1839.