Ellen Terry, Horseless Carriages and more - Suffolk Lodge & Marlow Lodge

Updated October 2023

Tucked away off Station road is the house now known as Marlow Lodge. It was built as Suffolk Lodge, and this post is dedicated to some of the people who lived there. 

At the time the house was built, it  enjoyed views over the famously beautiful Quarry Wood across the Thames. Such a view is not possible in the same way now, as it is hemmed in by subsequent development of Lock Road and nearby. The grounds belonging to the property were once extensive. The main garden was just under 4 acres but at one point nearly 30 acres of additional grounds were attached to it. The house itself may not be a mansion, but taking the place as a whole, it was a substantial holding. These grounds were reduced over time and are now built over. 

The couple responsible for building this "neat red brick villa" were Samuel and Jane Brandon (nee Wooster). Samuel was a market gardener and valuer from Paradise Row, Rotherhithe. He was a very successful businessman, and built himself a house to be proud of. The name Suffolk Lodge was presumably chosen because a suspected connection between the Brandon's and the Duke of Suffolk in the families past. It perhaps inspired the name of nearby Norfolk Cottage in Station Road too. 

Samuel sold produce to Covent Garden market amongst other places. In 1846 his employee Richard Phillips was seen to be behaving in a suspicious manner on his arrival at the market. He seemed to take some bundles of goods out of the cart he arrived in and then conceal them elsewhere while taking the remaining vegetables to be sold. He had secreted 6 large bundles of Samuel's celery worth 5 shillings with the intention of selling them for his own profit. He was caught and sentenced to 2 months in prison. 

Suffolk Lodge was often said to have been built in 1861, however Samuel and Jane were already described as resident there in early February 1861 so it seems likely the work started a while before that. I do not believe they initially actually maintained it as their primary residence. Samuel kept up his home in Paradise Row, and indeed died there in 1865. It seems the property was let during these first few years. However  Jane seems to have made Lodge her main home (until at least 1881) with her son, also Samuel. This younger Samuel by the age of 45 was describing himself as a retired market gardener, and a few years later was living off "private means". 

Samuel senior may have died relatively soon after building the house at Marlow but I think he would have approved of the fame the garden produce would go on to have. Mrs Brandon employed a gardener and there was a gardeners lodge for their accomodation by the late 1870's if not before. It was common then for a married gardeners wife to act as a housekeeper or servant in the main house and this is the case often at Suffolk Lodge. The gardeners there were lucky to have a first class range of glasshouses at their disposal. The garden staff regularly won prizes for the quality of their produce, with fruit an especial source of pride. In 1874 for example they won awards for grapes, cherries, gooseberries, apricots and apples. A list of gardeners here and at other Marlow houses can be found here. The extensive orchards were far beyond what the family could use, so it seems the Brandon's were using at least part of their extensive estate as an active market garden. 

In 1884, Thomas William Lockyer arrived at Suffolk Lodge where he remained until 1891. I believe he was a tenant. By this time the gardens could boast a tennis lawn and summer house as well as an ornamental fish pond. There was also incredibly several hundred fruit trees within the grounds at this time, some within an orchard, others dotted throughout the estate. Surely a legacy of the Brandon's and their market gardening connection. 

The house was sold in 1895 with 3.5 acres of garden for £2,500. At the time D'Arcy W Reeve had been the resident for a few years. In 1897 it was bought by actor Max Lindlar from Pinkneys Green, owner of one of Marlow's first motor cars. You can read more about Marlow's early motorists here. The Lindlars had many friends in the film and music trade and they used these connections to organise or assist with  fund raising performances, concerts and fetes during their time in Marlow. Sometimes the beneficiaries were local, sometimes further afield. Ellen Terry was one of those who arrived for a summer performance in the grounds of Suffolk Lodge in 1900. She was joined by other artists from the Lyceum theatre in London. The show was put on on the lawns, with a yew hedge as the backdrop. The weather was kind and a large crowd of distinguished guests attended. The performance was one of two hosted by the Lindlars in Marlow for the Oxford House musical and dramatic society which had the aim of bringing "quality" music and drama to the East End. It was possible to buy a ticket if you were not an invited guest, from Mrs Lindlar amongst others. 

At the time of the Lindlars purchase, Suffolk Lodge it was described as having two floors, 4 reception rooms, 7 bedrooms and a bathroom. There was also stabling of "ornamental design". The grounds were still described as well timbered and secluded. 

The Lindlars moved to Bisham Park Farm. In 1908 on account of Mrs Lindlar's adultery with a friend they divorced. Mrs Lindlar was of Spanish origin.

Next resident of Suffolk Lodge was Emile Sigismund Enoch, (Enock) German born and Jewish, and wife Bessie. They bought the freehold in 1901. Emile was one of the "&sons" of Enoch & Sons, the London sheet music publishers. His company was a famous name for music lovers in his day. Emile organised a gramophone concert in aid of the Church Lads Brigade in 1908. This meant an audience gathered in front of a top of the range gramophone, instead of in front of a live orchestra. These events were very popular at the time. It was held in the boys school room in the Causeway (now the church hall). Emile's business also donated music themed prizes for many a prize giving and charity event. He seems to have been a generous man. It was around this time the house became known as Marlow Lodge, although the old name stuck stubbornly for many. Emile kept ownership of Marlow Lodge until at least 1917 although he let it out for the summer or "river season" on a number of occasions. We have now reached the end of the period our blog deals with. 

Notes:

I have come across a couple of references to "thousands" of bedding plants and flowers offered for sale from Suffolk Lodge in the 1880's and 90's. It was common for  gardeners to offer excess plants in this way. Sometimes the profit from this was considered a perk for the head gardener. 

You can find all mentions of your ancestor under the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. The Specific Streets etc menu can be used to find info about other Marlow houses. 

Related posts:

Marlow's other early motorists here

Written & researched by Kathryn, 

© MarlowAncestors

Sources include:

1863 Dutton, Allen & Co Directory

Kelly's Directory 1883 (Kelly's Directory Ltd)

Harrods Royal County directory. (JG Harrod & Co,1876)

Census 1881,1891 transcribed from microfilm by Jane Pullinger. 

Gardeners Chronicle & Agricultural Gazette (Haymarket, 1854). Digitised by Google. 

Sheahan, James Joseph  History and Topography of Buckinghamshire 1862

South Bucks Standard 4 June 1897, 12 June 1908, British Library Archive, accessed via the BNA. 

Bucks Herald 1 April 1865, 01 August 1874 as above. 

Reading Mercury 13 July 1901, as above. 

Berkshire Chronicle 9 February 1861, as above. 

Morning Post cutting, July 1900. 

https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/print.jsp?div=t18461123

Families claiming ducal connections 1700-1800. (1985, Jane Pullinger) 

Will The Horseless Carriage Ever Catch On In Marlow?

In 1897 the South Bucks Standard pondered whether "vehicles worked by steam, electricity or some other power not yet discovered" would ever become a standard method of transit. The reason for their contemplation was the appearance of what they considered to be the first ever motor car to grace the streets of Marlow. The sight of a horseless carriage complete with passengers going at a smart pace along the High Street "astonished" passers by. They did not know to whom it belonged. The following year, two such vehicles passing through to Henley were described as an "uncommon spectacle as yet in Marlow."

Yet just two years later, the same paper said that hardly an hour went by without the "peculiar rumbling" of a car being heard in the town. The Marlow families known to have a car in 1899 include Max Lindlar of Marlow Lodge (previously Suffolk Lodge, off Station Rd,) and surgeon Mr Allingham who split his time between London and Blounts Farm house, and then had a house built at Marlow Common. In 1901 Allingham's driver suffered severe cuts and bruises when the car in which he was the only traveller skidded on ice in Oxford Lane and then overturned. The car was smashed up itself and naturally the scene attracted a curious crowd. 

There were many complaints of speeding vehicles but our ancestors expectations of how fast a motor car should travel were far different from our own. For example complaints of cars "sweeping" down Oxford Rd towards the West Street corner at a dangerous pace were said to be travelling at as much as ...12mph. (1903)

Car de Luxe

As times move on you can see the carriage builders, cycle manufacturers, blacksmiths and inns adapting to the times and offering services to cater for motorists too. For example in 1902 Walker's Forge would not only competently  shoe your horse but were also advertising themselves as "tyresmiths" for motor vehicles. Hotels proudly announced that they had a garage and perhaps an inspection pit for running repairs where once they might have boasted of fine stabling. The Crown Hotel was one of these in 1915. (The Crown was one of the first in Marlow to advertise their suitability specifically to motorists and by 1904 they stated that they had been appointed the official local hotel of "the Automobile Club".)

 

C Drye, as seen above in 1905, started out as Warner & Drye Carriage Builders but gradually changed their focus to encompass first bicycles then cars. They eventually called themselves The Marlow Carriage and Motor Car Co. They would still build you a horse drawn carriage to order, but could also fix your car. Their main premises was in the High Street  where W H Smith is now. Cycle depot C J Bateman's in West Street also began to describe themselves as a "Motor and Cycle engineer" and most of the towns many cycle sellers and manufacturers began catering for motor cyclists at least. The Station Road cycle workshop premises became the Marlow Motor Car and Engineering Co, offering motor repairs of every description thanks to the inspection pit. They tried to offer every service an Edwardian motorist could wish for, from driving lessons to the ability to hire an expert chauffeur and/or vehicle at a moments notice. They also sold cars as the district agent for the Belsize Car. In 1907 they advertised the Belize 6 Cylinder as the Car De Luxe. Sounds perfect. 

The condition of Marlow's roads and pavements caused a lot of angst in the late Victorian and Edwardian period. Back in the 1840's sand was sprinkled on the highway to improve conditions, but it can't have helped much. William Crouch Junior who made a living from sweeping the dung of the highway was fined in 1843 for damaging the road surface by taking the sand up accidentally while removing the manure. Perhaps the authorities should have employed him instead. A common complaint was the authorities did not notice problems with the road surface very quickly, and once they did it took endless meetings and procrastination to get something done. Those with the power to fix the situation were reluctant to begin work that would have to be charged to the rates. William was not the only person to earn an income from collecting road scrapings in those pre car days. The scrapings, chiefly dung, were sold on to gardeners and farmers and the right to collect them from a specific area had been sold by the authorities in turn. Later the council, or their sub contactor would be responsible for sweeping the roads and disposing of any rubbish. (See note 1)

A plague of dust and mud

The problem of swirling dust was also a cause for complaints. It was commented on by visitors and even Punch made a mention of it - "Oh why doesn't Marlow water it's one great street?" The water would dampen down the dust in theory, but too much made surfaces sticky and unpleasant in a different way. And of course, then winter rains sometimes caused "a plague of mud" which caused "much suffering" to householders and business in 1899. The roads developed for housing around this time suffered the most as they were not necessarily on the regular road watering or maintenance schedule. In 1908 the 24 households then in Claremont Road petitioned the council to do something about the atrocious road and path conditions in their road. The parish surveyor was sent to make a report but change came slowly. At this time more of the side streets saw their "footpaths" tarred as they described it, for example Glade Road and Institute Road in 1910. (The main roads themselves had been "tarred" from 1909. The rest were surfaced with "field flints" and gravel.) 

If Marlow had thought horse drawn vehicles bought up the dust, it was nothing compared to the work of the motor cars. At a Marlow Urban District Council meeting in 1904, those attending complained that cars passing down the street meant everyone in the vicinity got coated with filth and that the choking dust clouds lingered in the air some time afterwards. This made walking the streets very unpleasant indeed. The problem was at its worst on Sunday because the roads were not watered (damped down in order to suppress dust) then. This is when things got complicated. Some present considered that asking people to work on a Sunday on the roads would be wrong and not sufficiently justified by the fact doing so would make life easier for those walking to and from church services. Some actually considered it monstrous that driving was considered a Sunday suitable activity at all. Why should the "disgraceful" behaviour of a few motorists force others to break the Sabbath? Aside from a few arguments about what did and didn't count as the Sabbath, the alternative voices argued that those objecting to Sunday labour did not make opposition if the lamps in their streets were lit on Sundays by a worker and so on. In the end a compromise was made that the main streets would continue to be watered on a Saturday but would be done later in the day than before so the effects would hopefully last until Sunday Morning. They didn't, and complaints flooded back in. 

Tarring the roads themselves didn't solve all the problems of dust, but it did help tremendously. Of course not everyone was satisfied. In 1910 the main street of Bisham was now "a tarred abomination, smelling evilly, and wearing a squalid and abominable look" due to the arrival of the motor car. The village had now "the unwelcome choice of two evils; to be half choked with billows of dust, or to coat its roads with tar compositions " according to a travel guide. 

Reports of early car accidents are outnumbered by those involving Edwardian motorcyclists. For example  in 1904 motorcyclist Cecil Adrian Stacey of Bisham was fined for dangerous driving after he knocked Marlow cyclist, Sidney James Chalk off his bicycle in  the High Street. He was going out of Institute Road at a "considerable pace" - 10mph -  and took the corner badly. He swerved into the wrong side of the road and then tried to squeeze through a narrow gap between the cyclist and a cart. He knocked down Sidney by doing so. He continued on without checking what happened to the victim, who was thankfully not seriously hurt.  

Another hazard for wannabe motorists was a lack of visible street names. The Parish council complained about this in 1895 but it took another three and a half years for a new batch of handsome blue enamel plaques to be ordered from Mr Batting. Not all roads were labelled but funding was again the issue. 

Town trade killed by the motor car?

The motor car was here to stay. Marlow was a town that did so much trade from visitors for the "river season" and day trippers too that increased transport availability must have bought some additional visitors in. But in 1913 Edward Riley (the man who gave Riley Recreation ground to Marlow) thought that trade in the town had been "killed by the motor car". This is an interesting comment considering how few Marlow residents could have afforded to own a car at that time. Perhaps so many of the wealthier summer only residents spent their time motoring off to access bigger shops and attractions that the town traders no longer saw the trade boost they had came to rely on. 

For more on other forms of transport see a post on Victorian and Edwardian Marlow Cyclists and Cycle Manufacturers/sellers  here

And information on the Wyatt stagecoach masters here

Other transport related posts are featured on the General Marlow History menu option.

Notes. 

1. The issue of where to dispose of these scrapings and rubbish caused a lot of angst, especially as those collecting the waste for the council were accused of tipping it into any old ditch or corner, most notoriously around Strong Beer Acre (Station Road, 1897 use of a name with long heritage for the general area). The muted use of the old gravel pit at what we would now call Seymour Court Road at the top of Dean Street was ridiculed by the more progressive council members who pointed out this meant moving the rubbish dump closer to one of the most populous areas of Marlow, which would hardly deal with the problem. The pit would be better filled in they said, as it was old and unsightly. There is indeed now housing on the site.

Undated album page, featuring the Wethered family and their motor at Remnantz. 

 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day. 

Related posts:

More general Marlow history and travel related posts can be found under the General History listing  here

More about the Lindlars and other residences of Marlow Lodge here

All mentions of a person on the blog can be found under the A-Z  person index in the top drop down menu. 

Sources

The Horseless Age Vol 21 (The Horseless Age Co, 1911)

The Spectator June 15 1895, digitised by Google Books. 

Berks Chronicle 21 February 1843, copy from the British Library.

South Bucks Standard 9 July & October 1 1897, 20 May 1898, 6 & 13 January, 13 October 1899, 18 April 1902, 10 April 1903, 08 May 1908 as above. 

South Bucks Free Press 28 June 1898, 27 December 1901, June 10 1904, October 18 1907 as above

Punch - August 21 1886 Volume 1, digitised by Google.

Marlow Guide 1905

Harper, Charles George - Thames Valley Villages. (Chapman 1910)

Country Life clippings, 1904. 

©Marlow Ancestors