Will Of Bridget Manning Of Great Marlow 1735 and Manning research

Will written 1734, proved 1735.

Spinster.

Asks to be decently buried. 

All her goods, chattels, plate, jewell's, rings, ready money, debts, credits and all the rest of her personal estate to her loving cousin Samuel Manning of Great Marlow who is also made sole executor of the will.

Witnessed by Jane Gibbons, Francis Hone and Mary Lethieullier. Drawn up by Thomas Stephens, notary public.

I transcribed and then summarized this p.c.c will from the original held at the National Archives, Kew.

Notes:

Samuel Manning, Bridget's cousin, was the Marlow gentleman and brewer of that name who died in 1745.

Mary Lethieullier was perhaps the daughter of William Lethieullier of Sutton at Hone in Kent. In which case her mother, his first wife was born Mary Manning. She died in 1717 and William remarried. The Lethieullier family came to England as Huguenot refugees and it is suggested that the Mannings were originally from Germany before they settled in Kent. Samuel Manning was the brother of the Mary Manning who married William Lethieullier and the son of Nicholas Manning of Westerham, Kent. Bridget was the daughter of Ranulph alias Randulf Manning of Westerham, Kent (seemingly by his first wife). Ranulf / Randulf and Nicholas were brothers. There were two further brothers- Thomas and John.

Bridget's uncle John, a draper, also lived in Marlow for a while. Though he was of Westerham Kent at the time of his death he asked to be buried at Marlow with his wife. John's 1728 will left Bridget Manning his niece an annuity of £10, a gold brooch and some of his best books. He also mentioned his nephew Samuel Manning and niece Mary Manning. 

This isn't an easy family tree! Bridget's father was married to Catherine Missenden (seemingly his second wife) by whom he had sons called both Ranulf and Ralf as evidenced by the son Ranulf's will. His brother Nicholas was married to Catherine's sister Mary. The women's father was a merchant adventurer based in Hamburg, Germany so you can see how the idea that the Mannings were German of origin may be correct. Others believe them to be in fact an old Kent family. The first name Ranulf was once quite common in England but would have been very out of date here by the late 1600s /early 1700s. Randulf has never been anything other than rare.

Samuel Manning of Marlow's daughter Sarah features in this post.

See the Wills Transcriptions Index here for other similar posts. All mentions of any person on this blog can be found on the A-Z Person Index. Thousands of people are mentioned.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use this summary for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog.

Will And Research Sarah Coombs

Will of Sarah Coombs of Great Marlow, Widow. Will written 1830. Proved 1836.

Appoints James Brooks, baker of Great Marlow and George Wilson of ....Middlesex, gentleman executors and gives them £20 each for their trouble.

Niece Elizabeth Wilson wife of said George Wilson £50.

Nephew Thomas Belton the elder of Sheerness in the county of Kent shipwright son of my brother William Belton £50.

Mary Belton wife of late brother Thomas Belton the of Sheerness £10.

£20 divided equally between all children of James Richards of Sheerness, clerk living at time of testator's death.

Wearing apparel and linen divided equally between the said Elizabeth Wilson and Mary Belton.

Her plate [silver] divided between said Elizabeth Wilson and said Thomas Belton the elder.

All furniture to be sold and the money from that and anything else left in her estate to be divided between said Elizabeth Wilson, Mary Belton, Thomas Belton the elder and the then living children of James Richards.

Will witnessed by Samuel Carter of Great Marlow and Ralph Spicer of Great Marlow.

Notes:

Sarah Coombs was 85 when she died. She was buried with her husband Jonathan who had died in 1812. Their grave can be seen on the blog here. She lived on the Causeway Great Marlow in 1835 a few doors from her executor James Bird Brooks. A clock was stolen from her in a burglary that year. She did not head her own household in 1833. A George Wilson has recently left a house on the Causeway then, this could be the man of that name in her will or another relative.

Nee Belton, Sarah married Jonathan at St Botolphs, Aldgate, London in 1796. ["England Marriages, 1538–1973", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NJ7C-LLF : 12 March 2020), Jonathan Coombs, 1796.]

The probate entry for the will says that the executor named in the will as James Brooks was correctly James Bird Brooks. More on him here.

Ralph Spicer was a lawyer. More on him here.

There were three men in Marlow called Samuel Carter in the 1830s - a blacksmith in the High Street, a shoe maker and a carpenter.

More Marlow wills can be found in the Wills Index on the top drop down menu. 

Will is held in the National Archives Kew. Will transcribed by Charlotte Day and then summarised here by her.

©Marlow Ancestors. If using my summary credit this blog.

For all mentions of an individual here, search the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu where you will find more than 6,000 people listed...

Chartist Edmund Stallwood

Edmund Stallwood, son of Maria and William was born at Marlow in 1810. Their boy would grow up to be one of the more well known Chartists in England - something that would perhaps not have surprised them. As a boy he was hired by wealthy local landlord Sir William Clayton to assist on a game shoot at Harleyford. Clayton did not expect to pay the child more than a pittance to which Edmund had the temerity to object, naming a higher price which he thought fairer. Clayton said he could get a boy from the Workhouse easily enough if Edmund didn't want to do the job at a low price. Edmund retorted that Clayton probably could as his father like other taxpayers were made to pay to maintain those children so that such low wages could be paid to them by men like Sir William. He wasn't invited back to help with any more shoots! 

Although his father William Stallwood is often listed simply as a "labourer" he also kept the Three Loggerheads beerhouse in Quoiting Square (later The Queen). This was very small premises then. Most landlords of similar premises needed to have additional jobs to survive. On a day to day basis it was thus usually their wives that ran the beer selling business. Though it was small in size William occupied sufficient property to be entitled to vote in elections. He voted for independent candidates rather than the conservative powers that be locally. So there is some sense of rebelliousness in Edmund's father but Edmund's mother Maria was also credited with the formation of her son's Chartist beliefs.

In 1830 Edmund married Mary Blackshaw. The couple settled in Hammersmith then Fulham in London before moving eventually to the Gillingham suburb of New Brompton, in Kent. 

In 1836 as a newsagent and bookseller in Hammersmith, Edmund advertised that he would be ignoring the requirement to add tax stamps to the low cost working people's newspapers which he sold. This was illegal and saw Edmund fined. Upon refusing to pay Edmund was sent to the House of Correction for a spell instead. Obviously he was not deterred by a prison sentence. In 1842 he was one of the delegates at the Chartists' Convention in London.

Though he no longer lived in Marlow Edmund never lost touch with his hometown. To him townspeople sent financial contributions to the Chartist cause, and in 1841 Edmund returned to give a speech at the Baptist meeting rooms in Dean Street. Not this time on the subject of Chartism but of  Temperance, a cause to which he was nearly as devoted as to Chartism. Edmund travelled up and down the country speaking up for both causes as well as campaigning for the abolition of the death penalty and the abolition of the custom of primogeniture.

On Chartism Edmund spoke to audiences of both working men and working women. He appeared in public halls, working men's clubs, temperance hotels, pubs and if nowhere else was available out in the open or under a tree.

Edmund wanted to establish Chartist newspapers in every corner of Britain. He himself became a journalist for the radical Northern Star newspaper. Though this was Northern based it had correspondents from other areas.

The paper took his side when he was accused of pocketing the takings from a fundraising ball, concert and raffle held by the Chelsea, Brompton and Kensington branch of Chartist supporters. When tracked down and challenged on this point Edmund was said to have submitted false accounts exaggerating the costs of expenses paid like the musicians wages to cover his theft. The local members of the society found him guilty after investigation and were angered when the Northern Star failed at first to make any report of it and then as only did so in a grudging way. This was not the only time Edmund faced suspicion as to his financial probity. The National Cooperative Benefit Society in 1849 appealed for members to stop sending money to him whilst his management of the Society was investigated. I am unsure as to the outcome as to that. While some distrust of Edmund clearly lingered he had no difficulty in obtaining further positions of trust in Chartist linked groups. The sheer busyness of his life may have been in part to blame for any poor quality accounting rather than dishonesty.

Mary died at New Brompton in 1861.

Edmund died in 1866. He was politically active to his death and was also a churchwarden and one of the singing teachers of the Gillingham church choir.

Written and researched by Charlotte Day.

Related Posts:

Swing riots in Marlow here

More on the Six Bells here

1847 election riots here

James Croxon here

More biographies of individuals on the blog are listed here

General posts about everyday life in old Great Marlow and Little Marlow here

Don't forget to check out the Person Index in the top drop down menu for every mention of someone on this blog.

Great Marlow Strays

Marriages of Great Marlow people I have discovered by sheer coincidence while trawling through the parish registers of other places. Spellings are as they appear to me. I have done my best with old writing.

Anthony, John married 27th November 1802 at Medmenham Bucks Elizabeth Hoare of Medmenham. This could be John Anthony the carpenter.

Breach, Ann married 2nd June 1730 All Saints church Maidstone, Kent John Chambers of Sonning Berkshire.

Carter, Mary and William Phelps both of Great Marlow married March 1st 1741 Stoke Poges Bucks by licence.

Fletcher, Henry married May 11th 1676 at St Helen's Bishopsgate London Anne Seale of Bledlow Ridge, Bucks..

Hall, Robert a widower married 20th October 1814 Medmenham Bucks Rachel Thatcher of Medmenham. More on Rachel here

Harman, James married 1st January 1717 by Licence at St Paul's Cathedral London Elizabeth Rowley of St Dunstan's In The West parish, London.

Heather, Mary a widow married August 24th 1791 at St Stephen's Walbrook church in London John Benson of St Stephen's Walbrook parish.

Ingram, Margaret married 26th April 1703 Bisham Berkshire Ralph Spicer of Chipping Wycombe. The latter place is now called High Wycombe. One of their descendants also called Ralph Spicer was a lawyer in Great Marlow - read about him here

Law, Mary married Bisham Berkshire 9th November 1699 Christopher Welder "a Dutchman".

Norton, Benjamin married February 3rd 1754 at St George's Hanover Square, London Sarah Jones of Cookham, Berkshire.

Tafield? Tofield? Athaliah married at Hughenden Bucks 30th March 1814 William Cock of Bisham Berkshire. By licence. Athaliah was not uncommon as a name at this period especially in this area.

Use the Person Index to find all mentions of a person on this blog. New people are added there daily and there are currently over 3,250 individuals listed there. 

I have more of these strays, mostly from London, Kent and Sussex where my own family history research has focused. I will add to this list as I sift my notes. 

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.

Man The Barricades- It's Sarah Bliss Hammond

 

Written and researched by Charlotte Day.

Sarah Bliss Hammond lived at the above house in West Street, Great Marlow for many years. At that time it was named The Heathers and had formerly been used as both a school and private residence. Sarah was the daughter of William and Elizabeth Bliss Barrett [Elizabeth née Waters]. She was born in 1828 and baptised in 1831 in Moulton Northamptonshire. Her father was a miller and coal merchant. Her mother died prior to her daughter's baptism at the age of just 27. Sarah was baptised on the same day as another child to the same parents, Elizabeth but given the fact that Sarah was a late baptism there is no reason to think that the two girls were twins.

 It looks as if the girls' father had some financial difficulties. In 1830 he took a partner into his business, William Wood, but the partnership lasted only a matter of weeks before being legally dissolved. Two years later William was selling up much of his household furniture. What happened to him I am unsure- there is a possible death in 1841- but regardless Sarah was adopted by her uncle Daniel Sharp.

She married her husband Robert Hammond in Cheltenham on 18th November 1848. Her uncle Revd H Barrett was allowed to perform the ceremony though he was not the local vicar, in a traditional mark of courtesy. The wedding announcement tells us that Sarah was also the niece and adopted child of Dr S Sharp esq of Keynsham Bank, Cheltenham. 

Robert was a Navy man and a local.J.P. He had been born in Penshurst Kent where his father Jonathan was the vicar but the Hammond family were of Marlow origin and owned Marlow property. In a will written 1818 and proved 1819 Jonathan had left The Heathers to Robert along with two neighbouring cottages and other Marlow property and land. Robert intended to follow a long navy career but the unexpected death of three older brothers meant fate had other ideas and he was required to take over the management of the family estates on his father's death. He was perhaps as strong willed and stubborn as his wife according to later reminisces, or as the local paper diplomatically put it, he was a "straightforward, outspoken man".

By 1850 if not right away Sarah and Robert had settled at The Heathers. They took time to re-decorate and modernise the house. A painter at work there had a narrow escape in 1850 when, during a lightning storm, a fireball knocked down the chimney and travelled down it, through the flue and out into the hall where he was working. It missed him by a foot. The local paper bemoaned the loss of one of the "highly decorative chimneys". 

In 1853 Sarah gave birth to their daughter Eliza at the house followed in 1855 by a son Robert. Just a few months later her husband died. He was just 56. Eliza too would die young, in 1875. 

Peter Borgnis of the house Highfields in Marlow was one of the guardians appointed for the children in the will of Robert, which he also executed.

When her son was 4 Sarah formally changed his last name to Hammond Chambers to meet a condition of inheritance set out in the will of the child's great aunt Elizabeth Sparrow, formerly Chambers.

In 1860 while she was attending church Sarah's silk umbrella was stolen by Ellen Gibbons. Rosa Cannon had her own silk umbrella stolen at the same time by a different girl in what was obviously a jointly planned theft. You weren't safe from thieves even in church in Victorian Marlow!

In 1868 Sarah had a serious falling out with her neighbours the Fowlers of Western House. Two years previously she had decided to create herself a kitchen garden. She negotiated the giving up of some extra land which the tenants of Western House rented from her. This land was used for farming purposes being part of a rickyard with also pigsties and other outbuildings upon it. By enclosing this kitchen garden and also adding a front wall to her property she cut off sufficient access for herself to the garden for her dung cart. She believed that no one would object to her coming in with the cart across other land occupied by the tenants of Western House. She was wrong. Western House got new tenants the Fowlers. Words ensued. Sarah at first acknowledged that she had no right of way but said she would take it as a kindness if she could have occasional cart access across the land in order to get to her garden. She thought the Fowlers had not behaved well by complaining but did not wish to argue with them as one of the Fowlers was dangerously ill at the time. After a while matters soured further however. I won't go into all the tiny details but to summarise Sarah came to believe upon legal advice that she did in fact have a protected right of way through the land.

The Fowlers disagreed. Charles Fowler, son of the tenant Maria Fowler, paid a carpenter to erect a wooden barricade on their land to stop Sarah's cart from using it. Sarah demolished said barricade (herself apparently!) and carried on. The Fowlers began legal action.

The judge felt unimpressed by both parties calling them ridiculous and petty for arguing over a 15 yard strip of land. He awarded the Fowlers damages for the destroyed barricade but advised the parties to settle the access matter out of court instead of wasting his time. It does look as if that is what happened. I have a feeling Sarah's slowness to erect a new barn as promised on the land rented to the Fowlers was the real cause of them deciding to object to her continued access to her garden across their property. Sarah had also been petty about them having stacks of wood on their land visible from her house.

The case is interesting because it shows us that there were two sides to Sarah- the genteel lady taking a silk umbrella to church and the other lady who'll tear down your barricade if you stop her dung cart! 

This was not Sarah's first brush with the law when it came to defending her property, or so she saw it. In 1862 she had been in a long running dispute with Lieut General Higginson of the neighbouring The Croft (Gyldernscroft). This related to a right of way she claimed through Higginson's land. One day Higginson's staff put some posts in this path to stop animals straying. Mrs Hammond objected and immediately sent her family servant of over 30 years standing William Bradshaw* and her woodman Richard Holloway to remove the posts. The Higginsons put them back. And yes, you guessed it, Sarah's servants removed them again. They were spotted in the act by Higginson's employee Thomas Harris who threatened the digging pair with a pitchfork which he said he would plunge into their hearts! He actually lunged at them with the fork, knocked down Bradshaw, and grazed the wrist of Holloway who grabbed at the fork to save a prone Bradshaw from being stabbed. Harris was summoned for assault but it could not be proved that there had been any injury, there being no outside witnesses, and the case was dismissed. The lawyer for the defence suggested that "rich people should take such cases to the assizes and not send their servants to fight their battles". Harris was also cautioned not to fight on behalf of his master again.

Not long after he turned 21 Sarah's son Robert bought Beech Lodge not far from Highfields and decided to rebuild it. He is described as resident at the Heathers however in 1882. He was a barrister at law.

Sarah remained at the Heathers. 

In 1894 a fire in some outbuildings (reports differ as to exactly which) threatened not only Sarah's home but nearby properties too. Though some damage was done the fire brigade had the flames under control before anything serious could occur. Sarah wrote a warm letter to the South Bucks Standard afterwards to offer her thanks and to praise to the skill and intelligence of the firefighters. She also wished to give "sincere and hearty thanks" to all other "kind friends" who had stepped in to help at that time.

Two years later at the age of 68 Sarah died at the Heathers after some months in decline. The property was sold by the family in 1908 following the death of her son Robert. She was buried with her husband and daughter in All Saints churchyard. 

NB Stratton House was referred to as "formerly known as The Heathers" several times especially around 1909-1910 although the adjacent Stratton House / The Strattens qv was used as an address in its own right earlier than that. 

*William Bradshaw was famous in Marlow for his stories of selling milk from the cows belonging to the Hammond's to the poet Shelley while he stayed in West Street. The Shelleys were apparently regular customers of his. William would not hear of criticism of Shelley or his morals. The poet was he said, "a sight better than a good many who spoke agen' him", with a polite manner and no hint of snobbery. 

Photo by Kathryn. Post researched  and written by Charlotte Day, with updates by Kathryn.

For more posts like this see Biographies Of Individuals on the menu. For more on residents of specific Marlow houses or streets see the menu option "Specific Shops, Streets ...Etc".

All mentions of an individual on this blog can be found on the Person Index. Hundreds of people from or associated with Marlow are mentioned.

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

Sources:

Wills of Jonathan Hammond and Robert Hammond, transcribed by me from wills held at the National Archives, Kew.

Censuses my transcription from microfilm. Census information remains Crown copyright.

South Bucks Standard 23rd November 1894. South Bucks Free Press 14th June 1860. St James Chronicle 21st November 1848. Bucks Gazette 25 November 1848,  British Library Archives.

Dutton, Allen and Co's Directory 1863.

Royal and Commercial Directory of Beds, Bucks etc by J.G Harrod and Co 1876.

Post Office Directory 1869 by Kelly's Directories Limited.

Inns of Court Calendar 1877 by Charles Shaw. Digitized by Google.

Moulton baptism from Jane Pullinger. Thanks Jane.

The Gentleman's Magazine, February 1848. Digitised by Google. 

The People of Linden Villa, Marlow

 Linden Villa alias Linden House was the left hand portion of the left side brick property in this photograph. Now knocked into the home next door. Situated Wycombe Road. It was an 8 room residence. Note: there was also a Linden Villa in Station Road in the late 1800s.

The first certain residents of the house were Harry and Rosa Calcutt and their children who lived there in 1880. Rosa's father was George Cannon the Marlow bookseller/stationer/chemist. Amongst his large property holdings was Linden Villa. He may well have built it. Following his death in 1882 all of his property was sold off. Harry and Rosa had just moved back to Little Marlow village anyway, where Harry farmed at Westhorpe Farm. Rosa however continued to run her father's shop in the High Street as a printers, stationers, circulating library and music sellers [Calcutt and Elgie]. On these premises Rosa had grown up.

Memories of Linden Villa would have had a touch of sadness for them, as it was there that their 4 year old daughter Mabel died in 1880.

Rosa herself had serious health problems for some years and died in 1891 following a bout of influenza and an operation.

By the late 1880s elderly widow Jemima Price, sometimes known by her middle name Susannah was the resident at Linden Villa. She was née Griffiths. Her census entries indicate she was born Sheerness, Kent though as a young woman she lived in Lambeth with her parents and she married her husband John Price (originally of Marlow) in Plumstead Kent in 1842. He is described as a foreman at a "works" on the census and in other sources as a contractor at the Woolwich docks. Yet another source says he ran a barge between London and Marlow. He retired to Marlow to run a pub. Unfortunately I do not yet know which one.

Jemima was without family in Marlow but reports of her death indicate plenty of friends. Suffering from some type of lung or breathing condition which occasioned mustard poultices for her shoulders, she was found unconscious on the floor of Linden Villa by one of those friends Mary White in 1891. Sadly she died without regaining consciousness. Mary White also lived in Wycombe Road.

In the 1910s the house was ran as a boarding house by Emma Smith. Her husband George was a market gardener.

The grave of Rosa Calcutt is shown above. Says died 1891 age 50. Also dedicated to her little girl Mabel Emily. It can be found in All Saints parish churchyard, lying back to back with Rosa's dad's grave. See separate post here for more about George and his business. 

You can find other posts about the history of specific houses, or streets etc in the index here

And to find every mention of an individual or family here see the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu where you will find over 4,300 names. 

©Marlow Ancestors. You may reuse this blog post and / or the image of Linden Villa for family and local history purposes if you credit this blog and link to it so all my sources remain credited for the information they provided. 

Sources:

Great Marlow Parish Registers

GRO death certificate Jemima Price

GRO death Index, online accessed from them November 2020.

Bucks Herald 10th January 1880, copy of paper held by the British Library, accessed online by me November 2020 via the BNA. [Death notice Mabel Calcutt]

Ordnance Survey map Great Marlow 1899.

My transcription of England and Wales census 1841-81 censuses.

To read more about Rosa Cannon's death and her illnesses before it see:

South Bucks Standard 26TH June 1891. British Newspaper Archive in collaboration with the British Library.

Tax Rebel Revd. James Mountain

Rev. James Mountain was at the Congregational Church in Quoiting Square Great Marlow between 1868 and 1870.

He was born at Wortley near Leeds in 1844 to cordwainer Joseph Mountain and his Irish wife Mary - Ann. His mother died when he was 16 and his father remarried three months later (to Eliza Reynolds.)

James attended Cheshunt Theological College before spending some time in Germany studying further. Finally he was ready to be ordained and Marlow had itself a new minister. 

Shortly after he arrived at Marlow James married. The ceremony took place in a Congregational Church in Clapham. The bride was a widow Joan Hay "late of Singapore", and née Nicholson. She was originally from Lerwick in the Shetland Isles. James would make many trips to Scotland to preach or speak in the years to come. 

In 1870 James chaired a meeting in Marlow on the subject of "the suppression of liquor traffic" by which was meant the reduction of alcohol licences that could be granted. A Mr John Hilton came from London armed with a great many statistics illustrating the problems drinking caused which he presented in a "most exhaustive" speech. A motion was passed to call on the government to suppress the sale of alcohol. In his closing speech Rev. Mountain said such a law would mean the ending of pauperism and allow all men to pay for their children's education (as they wouldn't be needing to pay any poor rate taxes or be spending much on their own alcohol). If he thought that the idea of alcohol suppression would take off generally in Marlow he was perhaps just a bit naive. This is a town with over 100 recorded historic pubs or beer houses (and that's just within the research of my sister and I and we are bound to have missed some) and a brewery as one of the main employers. In 1870 there were two pubs in Quoiting Square, another in Oxford Road which runs along one side of the square plus another seven in West Street which runs along another side*.

To read about the violence and trouble the Salvation Army had in Marlow later in the 1800s while promoting abstinence see Kathryn's post here.

James obviously felt strongly about taxation issues. He was taken to court in 1870 for refusing to pay the church rate levied by Act of Parliament in Marlow to repay the enormous loan taken out for rebuilding the parish church. This was of course the C of E church which James would never use. The unfairness of the fact that all denominations were forced to pay for the C of E church was frequently commented on at the time, including by C of E members. Actually a lot of C of E Marlovians didn't want to pay for their church either. 

Speaking to the court James said he objected to paying on a general principle as he disagreed with the idea of a state church and also in his particular case he would like to point out that neither he nor his family had lived in Marlow when the money was borrowed. The judge said his court could not rule on the propriety of the rate and ordered him to pay up. He did offer some comfort though by telling James that the church loan was nearly paid off. This was after close to 40 years!

Immediately after he left Marlow I am unsure where James went but from the summer of 1873 to that of 1874 he was at the "Free Church of England" place of worship in New Barnet, Herts. On the 1881 census he and Joan were living in Islington. In the early 1890s he was a preacher at the Duchess of Huntingdon's Connexion church (I think the one at East Grinstead) but found that he could not agree to that church's practice of infant baptism. As he was due to become the main resident minister there, this was a problem. He tried a court case to see if he could win the legal right to take up his position without being made to compromise his conscience but he lost. So he just set up his own church, St John's Free Church Tunbridge Wells. He was by then identifying as a Baptist.

As well as being a minister James was the composer of over 250 hymn tunes and published at least two hymn collections including Hymns of Consecration and Faith (1876 compiled with Robert Pearsall Smith. Expanded edition under Mountain's name only 1890) which was still in print in the 21st century. Dates given for his hymns tend to be for when they appeared in published collections. It isn't therefore easy to tell when they were actually composed. I can't tell if James composed any hymns while at Marlow. If I discover any I will come back and update this post with their titles. 

James died at Tunbridge Wells in 1933. Members of various denominations attended his funeral. He was survived by his second wife Frances.

*Those pubs and beer houses were: in Quoiting Square The Queen and Clayton Arms, in Oxford Road The Crown and Anchor, in West Street The Sadlers (qv) Arms, The White Lion, The Red Lion, The Three Tuns, The Ship Inn, The Coach and Horses, The Bonnet O' Blue.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day.

To search for people on this blog use the Person Index option on the top drop down menu. This menu also has a Church Related option for similar content to this, including other minister biographies.

Christchurch have recently relaunched their website which includes some scans of interesting history documents - here's a  link - head to the Magazines and Resources tab. 

Sources:

History of the the Congregational Churches in the Berkshire, South Oxfordshire and South Buckinghamshire Association. Digitized by Google and made available at Archive.org.

London Evening Standard May 1868. Leeds Intelligencer 14th April 1860. Reading Mercury 16th April 1870. Windsor and Eton Express 26th March 1870. Newspaper copies in the British Library Archives and accessed via their partnership with the BNA.

Hymnary Website lists some hymns composed by James https://hymnary.org/person/Mountain_James?tab=tunes

1881 census, Islington from Jane Pullinger's transcriptions from microfilm. Census content belongs to the Crown.

GRO birth and death registration indexes from GRO website.

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