High Rews Farm /High Ruse Farm Marlow

A small farm.

List of the historic farm occupiers and history timeline.

Gaps in dates represent gaps in our knowledge. Gaps we will endeavour to fill!

1794 - the freehold farm was advertised in the Reading Mercury 10th March 1794 as up "very pleasantly situated on an eminence". It included then a farm house, yard, barn and 55 acres of arable land. James Webb leased the farm then though his term was up that Michaelmas. Many Webbs farmed in Marlow in the 1700s and 1800s. Search the A-Z Person Index to see all mentions of Webbs on this blog. 

1838-51 Henry Webb the sub-tenant of here (actual tenant was James Deane of The Deanery Marlow and Tunbridge Wells Kent). Henry also leased Wymers Farm and perhaps was also the Henry Webb who was renting Triphooks Farm near Ragman's Castle just outside Marlow as a yearly tenant in 1840. Henry actually lived at Wymers most of the time though both other farms had farmhouses. Wymers and High Rews farms were put up for sale by auction in 1844. Henry left High Rews and eventually the town following his bankruptcy in 1851. There is more on him in my Wymers Farm post here. 

1853-unknown end date Henry Mickling. This name also occurs as Micklem and Micklem. There were a lot of them in the Henley/ Hurley area for centuries. Henry was himself of Henley, and a non residential farmer. He also held Copy Farm in Marlow at this time. During the 1860s and 1870s and quite possibly in the 1880s too there continued to be no residential farmer at High Rews though some of farm's carter's and agricultural labourers and their families lived in two dwellings there. It is hard to be certain whether one of these was the actual farm house. During this time the woods near the farm were sometimes the site of poaching and wood stealing activities.

1893 William Creswell. The farm once again has a residential farmer. William died at the farm in 1901 aged 60. There is already  biographical post about him on the blog here. His brother's widow Jane continued to live at High Rews after his death and was then the farmer in her own right. In 1903 Jane's son Alfred Cresswell aged 11 was severely injured when his brother in playing with a gun accidentally shot him in the arm. This family had astonishingly bad luck when it came to accidents as is detailed in this post, which also gives more family background for them.

1901- at least 1911 Jane Creswell. From late 1907 George Eaton, originally from the West Country was also farming at High Rews. Whether this was in partnership with Jane, or whether he had taken over part of the land is uncertain. By 1911 Jane's twenty year old son Cyril also calls himself a farmer there. He lived with his mother in the farmhouse. There was a small fire at the farm in 1906. 

1907-1918  George Eaton as above. His wife was Agnes nee Young also of West country origin. Their marriage record is available free on Familysearch- Link. George was at the time of his marriage a gardener though Agnes as the daughter of a farmer must have had plenty of useful knowledge as to all things agricultural. The Eatons arrived in Marlow with several of their children. One of those Private Ernest Eaton died of wounds received in war service and is buried in Marlow Cemetery. At the time of his death he was a married man aged 33. At the time of his enlistment he had been living in Tring. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission record for him says that his parents lived in Queens Road Marlow at the time of their son's burial. This must have been a recent move as they were not present in that street in 1915. His father was still farming at High Rews after this date. It would have been a walkable journey to work for George from Queens Road to High Rews. Link to CWGC record for Ernest here. When George decided to leave in 1918 all his farming stock was auctioned off.

1920- Phillip Morris and George Tylor both farming at High Rews. In 1923 a Captain George Tylor was at High Rews raising turkeys.  In 1925 the farm was up for sale now only listed as 40 acres not 55 as it had been in the late 1700s. There seems to have been some division of the property either before or after this sale. Phillip Morris continued until at least 1939 to be listed as the farmer (dairy and arable) at High Rews Farm while George Tylor was now referred to as farming at "End Farm" next to it. Tylor's wife was Lorna, while Morris was married to Harriett.

Compiled by Charlotte Day. ©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use this research for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog.

Some Sources:

The Agricultural Gazette and Modern Farming. United Kingdom, n.p, 1923

Kelly's Directory 1883, 1903, 1907, 1911, 1915, 1920 and 1939. By Kelly's Directories.

Mussons and Craven's Commercial Directory Of Buckinghamshire and Windsor 1853.

South Bucks Standard April 17th 1903, British Library Archives. 

Reading Mercury 21st September 1918. British Library Archives. Bucks Herald 25th July 1925.  These editions accessed by me via the BNA.

Personal interview.

The People Of Westhorpe House, Little Marlow

Westhorpe House is a Georgian mansion by Little Marlow. It previously sat in around 100 acres of parkland and was often sold and occupied in conjunction with nearby Westhorpe Farm and Little Marlow Manor. In this post I aim to shine a light on some of the people who made the house their home above or below stairs.

The house was built in the late 1600s by the Chase family.

Field Marshal Sir George Nugent and his wife Maria were perhaps the most prominent residents of the house. George had been a commander in the American Revolutionary War and for five years governor of Jamaica. American-born Maria kept a journal of her time in Jamaica which was published posthumously. This is considered a key text in Jamaican history and is an interesting read. Her attitude to the slaves she encountered was bafflingly contradictory. She was willing to dance with a slave and continually asserted that slaves had souls just like anyone else and so were worth saving in the religious sense. Also while she criticized the slave population for laziness and immorality she thought that the fault for that lay not with them but with the bad example set by their lazy and immoral masters. At the same time she thought most slaves well treated, being willfully oblivious to the fact someone declared a slave [e.g a non person] is by definition being appallingly treated even if no additional suffering is heaped upon them by violence etc. It also stretches credibility when Maria tells us that a boatload of newly arrived slaves which she examined to see if they looked sad and in need of spiritual succour surprised her by actually looking happy and being more interested in her carriage than taking in their new surroundings.

Maria and George left Jamaica in 1806 and were at Westhorpe by 1819. Four years later they threw a party at the house to celebrate the 21st birthday of their son George junior.

Maria was the driving force behind the couple gifting 100 blankets as well as items of warm clothing to the poor of Little Marlow every year. England had seemed particularly cold to her she said after her time abroad in Jamaica, India and the USA.  

Maria became suddenly ill while taking the air in her carriage in 1834 and died shortly afterwards.

At the time of the 1841 census the widowed George lived at Westhorpe with his married daughter Maria [sometimes given as Mary] and her husband Rice Richard Clayton AKA Richard Clayton for company, not to mention a whole pack of servants.

George died in 1849 aged 91 and was buried at Little Marlow. Following his death the contents of the house were sold including a large library of quality books and a cellar full of expensive wines. 

Maria's sudden demise was not the only unexpected death at Westhorpe. In 1859 occupier Sir Arthur Buller's butler William Forward committed suicide by shooting himself in the face in the cellar of the house. He had been complaining of ill health and acting in a subdued manner. The jury at the inquest [which took place at the house!] thought that his long time separation from his wife Sarah was a key factor in his low spirits. It seems that this marriage was not known of by his fellow workers. Only when going through his personal papers did they discover evidence of it. 

Arthur Buller was born in India in 1808 and worked for the British state there, in Sri Lanka and in Canada before moving back to England, his family's ancestral home.

It is not certain how long Arthur had been at Westhorpe when his butler died. Certainly not quite as far back as the time of the 1851 census when Lt Edward and Eliza Simeon lived there, but probably soon afterwards. Edward and Eliza had moved in in 1849 after George Nugent's death. With them in 1851 were 10 servants including two footmen MJ Rogers and Phillip Eaton. One of the female servants F Hinzel had come all the way from Switzerland. 

Both Edward and Eliza were the  survivor's of their previous marriages. Her parents resided at Leeds Castle, Kent. His was a Berkshire and Oxfordshire family.

A few months after the census Edward died and was buried in Reading. It is likely that Arthur Buller moved into Westhorpe soon afterwards.

He moved to London eventually and the house was sold in 1859 to George Jackson Esquire. George put the house up to let in 1862 for a minimum period of 7 years but perhaps there were no takers as he apparently continued to live at Westhorpe until his death in 1896. He had previously resided at Little Marlow Manor. 

The 1863 property to let adverts say that the house and gardens had both recently been overhauled. The house interior, prospective tenants were reassured, was decorated with "taste and simple elegance". Outside were the luxuries of hot houses, melon pits and  an expanse of ornamental water not to mention a trendy rock garden [The gardener from at least 1869 to at least 1890 was George Davis].

During George Jackson's time at Westhorpe there was another sudden death in the house- an unnamed nursery maid aged just 22 whose heart gave out as she changed her clothes after coming back from a walk with her charges.

The 1861 census shows George a widower with 11 children from just a year old up to 19 years old. 

One of those children Felix, away working at a brewery in Burton Upon Trent when in his 20s, fell into some machinery and was killed instantly.

Keeping the Jackson family going in 1861 was a group of 10 live in servants. 

By 1871 with the number of children at home reduced, only 7 servants were kept.

The 1871 cook Ann Chaplin had had an impressive rise from being the 16 year old sole servant in a London household on the 1861 census, to the cook in the large household at Westhorpe in 1871. She was the daughter of James and Elizabeth Chaplin and was born circa 1840 in Easthampstead Berkshire. I was not able to find her in 1881. The cook at Westhorpe then was Fanny Gilbert, and Eliza Humphrey in 1891.

1871 footman Enoch Watts, born circa 1827 had risen to butler by 1881. Enoch was a married man whose wife Theresa and family did not live with him at Westhorpe though, they were staying in the village of Little Marlow.  This was quite an unusual situation for a butler who tended to be unmarried or married to the cook/ housekeeper of the same household. He continued to live in Little Marlow after his retirement with his married daughter Sarah Piggott. Theresa died 1881. She worked as a laundress, as did Sarah before marriage. (To see the grave of Enoch and Theresa see here)

Westhorpe House was sold in 1896 following George Jackson's death. He left an estate worth over £100,000.  A Mr Gordon was the resident in 1899.

The estate was again sold in 1917.

The 1917 sale guide said that the house had 19 bed and dressing rooms, 2 bathrooms, a billiards room and library amongst other things. In a sign of changing times some of the stabling had given way to motor garages.

Our blog primarily deals with Marlow people pre 1920s so with that I will bid farewell to this handsome house.

For more on Marlow's links to both slavery and its abolition see here . More Little Marlow content can be found listed under Other Places on the menu. All mentions of an individual on the blog can be found on the Person Index.

To find posts about everyday life in old Marlow, see the listing here

Sources:

Reading Mercury 31st December 1849 [suicide], 18th April 1863 [nursery maid death] and 19th August 1882 [Felix Jackson death]. Bucks Herald 17th May 1862 [property description] Copies at the British Library accessed via the BNA October 2020.

Little Marlow Parish Registers.

1841, 61, 71 and 91 censuses transcribed from microfilm by Jane Pullinger. 1851 and 1881 census my own transcription from microfilm.

Wikipedia articles on Sir George Nugent, Sir Arthur Buller and Sir John Simeon [father of Edward] all accessed October 13th-15th 2020.

Lady Nugent's Journal, reprinted 1907 by the Institute of Jamaica. Can be purchased on Amazon if you want to read it.

Auction sale guide, 1917. Loose. Poor condition. Partial.

GRO Death Index online. Accessed February 2021.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day.

©Marlow Ancestors. If reusing this research (which you are very welcome to do for family or local history purposes) please give credit to this blog and link here.

But None Of Us Are Perfect! New Court and Globe House

UPDATED NOVEMBER 2024

New Court house and outbuildings were, controversially at the time, built in 1875-77 partially on what had previously been the grounds of Globe House in the High Street. I am uncertain how old Globe House was though I think that it was probably the home of Luke Medwin in the 1780s. There was another house too which stood next to it also fronting onto the High Street and also demolished to make way for the stable and other buildings of New Court.

Between (at least) the 1810s and 1840s the Hone family owned that other house and much of the land behind it which would become the site of the New Court grounds. John Hone left his High Street home to his son also called John in his will written in 1813 and proved 1819.

In 1831 the Hone property was empty. Two years later it was described as consisting of the house, lawn, greenhouses, pleasure garden, orchard, kitchen garden, stables, large store house and coach houses and had an estimated annual value of £50 a year.

John junior had married Susannah Gage daughter of the vicar of Bisham in 1822. She did own the house after his death but I haven't got John's will and their daughter Susannah junior who died young in 1844 left all her (unspecified) property to her mother so it is possible the house went first to Susannah junior.

Globe House meanwhile was occupied by Stephen Gardiner a merchant in 1841 and by Elizabeth Welch in 1851. It was worth £12 a year in 1833. Behind it were sheds and a yard. 

George Davenport lived there from at least 1861 to the time of his death in 1869. George had earlier in his life been declared insane due to religious mania and a generosity of habit that was considered irrational. George had for instance refused to prosecute a man who stole his coat on the grounds that none of us are perfect! He also couldn't stop giving money away to the point that the wellbeing of himself, his wife and their children was considered to be under threat. Thus the official declaration of insanity. 

By the time he moved to Marlow poor George was a widower. He had a paid companion to "watch" him, as well as four other servants. He died of apoplexy in 1869 aged 61. His obituaries speak of his great generosity to the Marlow poor so those impulses of his hadn't been entirely curbed.

53 year old Esther Wethered, who had an independent income, was resident in the house in 1871. Née Peel she was the widow of Florence James Wethered who had for years been the Vicar of Hurley near Marlow before his death in 1867. Their son Florence Thomas was also Vicar of Hurley. If you are puzzled about these two male uses of the name Florence, don't be. For most of history males were the only bearers of the name.

Esther moved out of Globe House to The Cottage, Oxford Road. Despite the name, The Cottage was not little, but a good sized house. There Esther died in 1903. With her at both of her Marlow homes as well as in Hurley was her long term parlour maid / housemaid Emily Eaton who was originally from Caversham.

Esther had actually wanted to move from Globe House into the Old Workhouse building which was put up for sale by the parish. She put in an offer of £1200 for the building but withdrew from the deal after the offer had been accepted, causing some ructions.

On a more positive note, Esther was a dedicated supporter of the Cottage Hospital both in terms of financial donations and practical gifts for the inpatients such as eggs for their breakfast.

In 1875 Frederic William Berger was the owner of Globe House and it was he who knocked it down, and the house next door which had been occupied by William Vincent Baines a coal and salt merchant in 1871. The demolition in itself didn't get people's backs up, it was what he replaced them with. The street frontage of the property was the stable block and coach house plus a brick entrance archway, the new house being well back from the road. Nowhere else in England, lamented the Bucks Herald, would you be allowed to put the back end of your stables onto a town's main street. For others the red brick of those stables and the size of the arch were a vulgarity no matter where they were placed. In the building trade and architecture community the archway in particular was seen as a triumph of design however.

Globe House had had an archway entrance too, there are some old photos of Marlow which show it however this was itself apparently not hugely old as property descriptions of what I believe to be Globe House in the late 1700s say that the arch then had a room at the top, something which the photographed arch clearly does not so that must be a later archer.

The architect of New Court was not a Marlow man but the builder of the stabling and archway was, Thomas Corby, based right next door to the new stable block. He, his father and their workers built so much of Marlow at the time. I will do a separate post on him and his work in the future. He may have actually built the house as well.

Frederic Berger had previously been living at Court Garden house in Marlow. Hence the not very original New Court title for his new home. He was a horticultural enthusiast famed in gardening circles, especially for the full orchard within a glass house he had at Court Garden. He had much less space to play with - between 2.5 and 3 acres depending on what source you believe - at New Court. But he made sure to include a gardener's lodge within his plans, a vital thing for attracting and keeping the most skilled head gardeners. The grounds also contained substantial glass houses, a vinery, a small orchard and pleasure grounds. Inside the house were seven bedrooms, a morning room, study, dining room, drawing room and kitchen.

Unfortunately Frederic died in 1878 and the house was sold. I could not decipher the name of the person who bought it. It was sold again in 1880 by Mr Norman Layton. See my post on the Rookery in Marlow here for more of how he fits into the Marlow story. 

In 1883 Jane Ward, widow bought the house for her and her (grown up) children. Née Hoane she was a Marlow woman born 1814. Her husband William Lakin Ward was of Essex origin but by then practised in Marlow as a successful solicitor. He was the Clerk to the local Magistrates and the Clerk of the Commissioner of Property, Land and Income Taxes in Marlow. Many a Marlow will I have transcribed from the Victorian era was witnessed or drawn up by him. He died in 1872 before the family moved to New Court. 

Jane was one of those women who were able to vote for the first time when County Councils were first formed in 1889. Not only did she vote  but she banded together with a group of other Marlow women to nominate a (male) candidate to represent Marlow. This level of engagement with the full electoral process so early on was highly unusual for women.

Jane donated books to the town's new Institute's library in 1890 and supported other charities too. 

A list of those attending her funeral and laying wreathes include her household staff - butler Mr Flint, housekeeper Mrs Stretton [Sarah, listed as the cook 1901 census], maids Miss Curd and Miss Sure, head gardener Mr Turnedge and under gardeners Messrs Brinsden and Silver. 

Her grave in All Saints churchyard is shown above.

Her children were also active in local affairs. Daughter Elizabeth never married but filled her time with concern for improving the lives of the poor. She even studied for an examination in domestic hygiene to help her understanding in this area. She also liked gardening and was involved with the parish church. She died aged just 38 in 1888.

Jane's son George Rolls Ward was a mad keen cricketer from his schooldays onwards. He served as the captain of Marlow Cricket Club and Honorary Secretary of Bucks County Cricket Club at different times as well as being a churchwarden, Chairman of Marlow Gas Company and JP. He too never married. He died of pneumonia in 1907 aged 57.

As Jane herself died soon afterwards and in 1908 the house was again up for sale. By this time it had gained the mod con of a bathroom!

Mrs Robert Forrest, widow, was living in the property in 1918 when her daughter Nesta married William Wain of the RAF. Nesta married secondly William Duncan Forbes Liston in 1921. They made their home at New Court but with this we are stretching beyond my normal blog time period so I'll leave it there with just a few more notes. Nesta added a library extension to the house in 1931. She left New Court and the grounds to the people of Marlow. Since the end of the house as a private residence several of the specimen trees which once graced the garden such as the mulberry and Judas trees have been lost though the wellingtonia redwood still soars into the sky. The house still stands however, divided into multiple residences for older people. The archway and stable block remain next to the High Street. You can walk through the arch into a little shopping complex built onto the one time grounds of the house. 

More posts about individual houses in Marlow, big and small, can be found under the "Specific Shops, Streets...Etc" menu option. That's also the place to look for other High Street related posts.

More grave photos on the menu under Graves.

See the Person Index for all mentions of any person on the blog.

Post researched and written by Charlotte Day.

Research sources:

PCC will John Hone held at National Archives Kew and transcribed by me.

1833 parochial assessment surveyor's working notebooks held by my family and transcribed by me.

Census - my transcription of census page images on microfilm.

Bucks Herald 30th October 1875 and April 27th 1907.  Newspapers held by the British Library and accessed via the BNA. 

Boyle's Court and County Guide 1869, digitized by Google.

Death and marriage certificates obtained from the GRO.

Post Office Directory of Northants, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire. Edited by ER Kelly. Published by Kelly and Company London. 1869.

Building News and Engineers Journal, volume 31. Copy held by University of Michigan. Digitized by Google. Other loose physical pages possibly from a different edition of the same publication.

Gardener's Weekly Magazine and Floricultural Cabinet 1863, digitized by Google.

Great Marlow Parish Registers, old transcription by myself.

Reading Mercury 11th December 1875. Copy held in the British Library Archive, accessed via their partnership with the BNA.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day, photos and additional research by Kathryn.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use this material for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog and a link here.