1833 Parochial Assessment Great Marlow High Street East Side Part One

I am gradually transcribing onto this blog the original handwritten assessment working notebooks used to compile the official assessment. These are held by my family. They were to be used to readjust the local taxes for 1834. Our notebooks contain some information updates written in during the later 1830s and related correspondence. I will add these updates if present for any properties below. I have also included my own research notes into the people mentioned and links to posts dedicated to some of them. Parts of the assessment are uploaded by me as and when they chime with research I am doing for myself or others. Lots are already available in the blog

To see the others available already look here

Transcription by Charlotte Day.

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

Format for transcription:

Name

Property occupied

Annual value of property

Additional research notes by me in square brackets.

High Street [East Side]

Rolls and Son [auctioneers]

House, storehouse, cellars, yard, offices and garden

£24 10 shillings

Furniture warehouse

£5

Garden belonging to Baines

10 shillings

*****

Benjamin Baines [a confectioner and foreign fruit dealer. I have a picture of his grave and a dedicated post about him on the blog here]

House, bakehouse, yard, stable and garden

£20

*****

Frederick Wyatt [stagecoach proprietor. Post about him and his family here].

House, stable, barn, yard, garden and orchard

£20

*****

Thomas Evans Brinsden [a surgeon]

House part of barn and 2 gardens

£15

****

William Chamberlain [a hairdresser]

House and garden

£14

*****

Miss Sneath [the Miss added in pencil. This was Katherine Sneath, a much loved Marlovian. Daughter of surgeon William Sneath and Elizabeth née Webb. Her mother's will is here and more about her family property here. Please see the Person Index for all other mentions of Katherine].

House, lawns, yards, storehouses, stables and large gardens

£30

Orchard occupied by Mr Aveling

£4 

*****

Richard Aveling [a grocer. Biography here]

House, yard, shed, barn, garden, stable and orchard

£20

*****

Thomas Corby jnr [builder. Thomas lost his right to vote because he did not have a separate entrance to his part of the property. Detailed post about him and his father here]

Part of house and garden [Dad below in other half]

£11

*****

Thomas Corby [builder, see above for link to a post about him]

House, storeroom, lofts, yard and garden

£14

*****

Widow Stevens [this property no longer exists]

House, yard and sheds

£12

*****

Hone [no first name] [Building now demolished. It was empty in 1831 but owned by Hone family].

House, lawn, stables, greenhouse, pleasure garden, large kitchen garden, coach houses, orchard, large store house and other conveniences

£50

*****

Edmund Mealing [he was an upholsterer and cabinet maker. Post about him and his family here ]

House, shop and yard

£9

*****

W. H Mathew [William Henry. Son of the below]

House and yard

£10

*****

Widow Mathews [Ann Mathews. She was running a grocery shop].

House and yard

£14

*****

Edward Griffiths [A tailor. In same premises 1832]

House and yard

£10

*****

Steadman Camden [a shoemaker and clothes seller. Biographical post on him here]

House, shop and lofts

£12

*****

John Way [he was a poulterer]

House, yard, sheds etc

£10

*****

William Bond [he was a builder, carpenter. Full biography here]

House, yard, workshops, counting house and shed

£18

Chaise house etc by Mrs Ralphs [Charlotte Ralfs on other side of High Street]

£1

Part of wharf and workshops at Bankside

£3

*****

Late Palmer [no first name]

House and garden coach houses, shrubbery etc

Hard to read property value.

*****

Sir John Mortlock [This was Alfred House later known as Cromwell House. More on him and this property here]

House, lawn, greenhouse, 2 large gardens, yards, stables, barn, coach houses

£70

*****

Revd Thomas Coxwell [this the old vicarage. Thomas Tracey Coxwell]

House and garden

£26

*****

Ralph Rose [a brewer]

House and garden 

£12

*****

Morris and Son [John Morris and son, drapers. Post about this family here].

House, yard, store houses and garden

£20

*****

George Davis [Landlord of this pub since at least 1826]

Chequers house [pub], yard and garden

£14

*****

John Wade

House and garden

£14

*****

Thomas Burrell [ironmonger and blacksmith. He was still in these premises 1851. More about him and his family here].

House, shop, garden and iron house

£10

*****

John Heppard

House and garden

£8

*****

Transcription and research by Charlotte Day.

To be continued...

More Great Marlow Strays

Lost track of a Great Marlow born or resident ancestor? Look for them in these Great Marlow Strays listings.  If we come across mention of someone from Great Marlow living, dying, marrying or otherwise popping up elsewhere in the country, we collect the information and post it here. To find all mentions of an individual or family on the blog use the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu.  

Etheredge - see Moore

Elliott, 

MARRIAGE - 1685, Elizabeth Elliott of Great Marlow, spinster aged about 22, daughter of William Elliott, butcher, to Richard Stocke of St Trinity in the Minories, citizen and Merchant Taylor of London, bachelor age 22.  

Fitzpatrick - Henry of Great Marlow to Esther Swift of Brentford, Middlesex. By licence. March 1745, At George's Chapel, Hyde Park Corner. 

Frewing - Rev J J, eldest son of James Frewing of Oxford Road, Marlow. MARRIAGE - 11 August 1892, to Blanche Maria Harris, daughter of Charles Harris of Tewkesbury. At the Congregational Church, Tewkesbury.  (South Bucks Standard 26 August 1892)

Hackshaw, Henry

MARRIAGE: Henry, eldest son of Mr J Hackshaw of Great Marlow to Emma Harrison of "Mead-Row, near Godalming". At Holy Trinity Church, Paddington. 3 October 1850. [Sussex Advertiser, 15 October 1850]

Hone, Susanna: 

1. DEATH Paris, November 1844. Eldest daughter of late John Hone, Esq of Great Marlow. Age 22. [Morning Herald, London 25 November 1844] 

2. DEATH At Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Age 70. February 1869. Widow of John Hone of Great Marlow. 

Hone, Annie - MARRIED at Tunbridge Wells, April 10 1850. To Rev George Goldney M.A. of Southfield.  [Gentleman's Magazine, 1850] Only surviving child of the late John Hone, Esq of Great Marlow. 

Harris, Mrs (no first name given)

DEATH - May 28 1894, St Mary Cray Kent. "Born Chapel Street 1826", 48 years resident in Marlow. (Newspaper cutting, untitled,  June 1894.)

Jorden, Elizabeth - See Morsender. 

Lovegrove, Miss Charlotte

Died age 83 in Brixton on March 29th 1865 [Bicester Herald April 7th 1865]

Lovelace, Lydia MARRIAGE - of Great Marlow to John Butler of Wooburn. St James Chapel, Mayfair, January 1746. 

Mealing, Robert

MARRIAGE - Robert, of Great Marlow to Sarah, daughter of William Evans of Cheddar Somerset. Marriage took place at St Michaels Church, Chester Square, London, by Rev J H Hamilton on 7th October 1862. (South Bucks Free Press, 11 October 1862)

Moore, Catherine

MARRIAGE - April 1683, Catherine Moore, spinster of Great Marlow, to Sir James Etheredge age 26 bachelor of The Inner Temple. She age 20, and married with consent of her mother her father being dead. At "St Bennet Finck, London", by licence. 

Morsender (qv), Robert 

MARRIAGE - widower and labourer of Great Marlow to Elizabeth Jorden widow also of Great Marlow. St James Chapel, Mayfair April 8th 1729. 

Plumeridge, Joseph

MARRIAGE  - Joseph of Great Marlow to Rebecca Woodley (of Harwell?) Berks. At Harwell, 12 Feb 1779. By licence. 

Salter, Agnes 

MARRIAGE - October 1607 to Richard Sanders, at Chesham. Both of their mothers are widows. (Transcript Chesham Parish Registers by John W B Pegge, 1904)

Smith, Mathias

MARRIAGE - April 1680, Mathias Smith of Great Marlow, widower age about 55 to Mary Glew, spinster of St. Pauls, Covent Garden, Middlesex, aged about 45. At All Hallows in the Wall, London. Mary married "at her own despose" that is needed no parental consent as she was an adult according to her testimony. 

Trew, William. Surgeon of Great Marlow. 

DEATH - at father's residence in St Peter's, Thanet, Kent. Age 36. February 24th 1851. Father given as Thomas Trew, Esq. (Medical Directory of Ireland.  John Churchill 1852. Does not just list Irish doctors)

Wilcocks, Joseph

DEATH - at "Slow nr Windsor" (Slough?) Of Great Marlow, July 1793 (Bath Chronicle, 18 July 1793)

Additional Sources:

The Register of Baptisms and Marriages at St George's Chapel, Mayfair, edited by Sir George J Armymage, (Mitchell & Hughes, 1889.)

Notes from the parish registers of Harwell, Berks taken by Rev F J Williams, 1909. 

Allegations for Marriage Licences Issued by the Vicar General of the Archbishop of Canterbury, edited by George Armytage (Mitchell & Hughes 1890) 

©GreatMarlowAncestors

John Adams Toy Seller And Fancy Goods Man

West Street was a good place to go if you were a little boy or girl clutching a spare coin or two in the Victorian and Edwardian era. It was a street never without a toy retailer. Mr Salier, Hannah Blizzard and the Norths are three toys sellers that come to mind but the subject of today's post is John Adams. 

John was born in Westminister c1827. He arrived in Marlow when he was about 20 years old, on foot, seeking work. He called at cabinet maker Mr Mealing in the High Street. In this he was lucky. He gained a job there, first as a furniture polisher and then as a cabinet maker. But like so many early Victorians John had his finger in many pies, and some ventures went a little more smoothly than others! 

 

Above, the Mealing first workshop and  showroom premises where John initially worked. The Mealing business premises moved very slightly further down the High Street a little while later.

A difficulty of another kind hit John when he fell in love with Sarah Maria Gudgin soon after settling here. Sarah accepted his proposal but her family certainly did not. They considered John an unsuitable match - her family were better off than his for one thing. The couple eloped to London to marry at St Pancras in February 1851. But although the couple had taken out a marriage licence, the priest refused to marry them. It seems this was because they had lied and claimed they were both resident in the parish where the marriage was to take place and the priest knew this not to be so. But the marriage proceeded the following day with the bride's residence corrected to Marlow. This was St Valentines day by a sweet coincidence. How the families "strong opposition" to the couples union broke down after the fact of their marriage isn't clear. But John and Sarah made their home in Marlow and lived here until the end of their lives. 

The exact date of John starting out in business on his own account isn't clear. He was still working for Mr Mealing at the time of his marriage and defined himself as a cabinet maker in some sources even after the first mention of his "toy warehouse" can be found in 1854. Combining sources of income was standard for small shopkeepers at this time in Marlow, the wives usually managing the day to do day shop work. John's obituary mentioned that he had first taken over a small West Street stationers and newsagent and expanded into the neighbouring premises to offer toys and confectionary. These two little shops were in the building currently occupied by the main Sainsburys supermarket. John's toy shop was certainly different from one today - it sold tobacco in that side of the business! Later it also squeezed in some groceries. 

John comes across as a man who always had his eye on a new business or money making opportunity. He is said to have suffered heavy losses on the racetrack, and by unsuccessfully speculating on gold mines. For a while he had a second shop, in the "best part of the High Street", which was a fancy goods repository. What a fancy goods seller offered varied by shop and over time, but in John's case, he sold fancy clothes trimmings and accessories such as braiding and silks, embroidery supplies, costume jewellery, ivory, pearl and tortoiseshell brushes and combs, as well as robes and "oriental goods". And confectionary of course. He combined this with a coal selling sideline, another common Marlow side income. A fire in his warehouse in 1866 saw the building left with just the walls standing.  Luckily John was insured for this loss. In 1869 John offered both the fancy goods business and coal merchant part up for sale as he was "declining" coal selling. But it seems there were no takers. In 1872 John was at least creating the impression that the fancy goods business was doing well. He advertised that he was going to invest in a grand redecoration of his premises. This would involve a big stock sale to create room. But a second notice, saying the clearance would be effected by selling everything at 20% below cost price does sound like the work of a man either extremely eager to begin his decorating, or one with a cash flow problem. Sure enough, less than a year later, John was trying without success to sell his fancy goods business again. Unfortunately the stock in trade and shop fittings were then auctioned off on the premises to appease his creditors and stave off bankruptcy.  It was then back to concentrating on the West Street business. Not to be defeated, John gained a licence to sell British wines there in 1873. He was known for his low prices, and seems to have flourished again. He was constantly improving the two premises, and they became known as a bazaar which probably suits the eclectic range of novelties to be found inside. Some of the fancy goods element had found its way back in by the time Sarah Adams died aged 64 in 1894. 

Around the time of his wife's death, John decided to split his West Street shop back into 2. He would continue with the newsagent side, and unmarried relative Hannah Blizzard would take over the toys and fancy goods element in the neighbouring premises. A few years later Hannah would suffer a horrible death when her apron and then the rest of her clothes caught alight as she cooked potatoes for her dinner on a little stove. Hannah's niece Ruth North would later take it over - read about her here.

John himself lived alone behind the shop after his wife passed away. In 1897 he too died at home, thankfully more peacefully than the tragic Hannah. In the 10 days before his death, he had begun to have his meals at the adjacent toy shop, provided by niece Elizabeth Blizzard. One day he did not come for his tea. Elizabeth knocked at the shop to tell him it was ready but received no answer. Believing him to be out, she though no more of it until he also failed to call for breakfast. She ran to the High Street to fetch John's nephew James Gray who broke in through the back door. They found John dead in his fireside chair, a newspaper folded on the table alongside his customary jug of beer bought from the neighbouring Sadlers Arms. It was decided he had died peacefully of heart failure during an afternoon nap. His shop was subsequently used again with it's neighbour as part of the North's toy shop. 

Note: there was another man in West Street, in the 1890s and early 1900s with the name John Adams. This other John was younger and a domestic coachman /publican.

Written and researched by Kathryn Day. 

More about the Meaning family, furniture makers to royalty see Charlotte's post here

 Use the A-Z people index at the top to find every mention of an individual here, and the Specific Shops, Streets etc option to find other entries relating to shops or West Street. Thousands of people are featured on this blog.

 For posts about everyday life in Marlow in the past, see the post listing here

 Happy hunting! 

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

Sources include: 

1854, 1869 & 1883 Post Office Directory (Kelly's Directories Ltd)

1876 Harrods Royal and County Directory (Harrod & co)

Marriage Licence research by Charlotte Day

GRO Birth, Marriage and Death index

1851, 1871, 1881, 1891 census transcriptions from microfilm by Charlotte Day

1905 Marlow Guide

South Bucks Standard 22 Jan 1897, British Library Archive, accessed via the BNA. 

1872 sale of stock notice, John Adams. 

Bucks Herald 13 September 1873 as above. 

Reading Mercury 3 July 1869, Maidenhead Advertiser 27 January 1897, as above. 

Bucks Free Press June 5th 1896, Bucks Free Press Archives.

Mealing Grave Great Marlow

 Photographed April 2021.

All Saints churchyard. Grave of William, Edmund and Sarah Mealing. William was the father of Edmund, and Sarah the wife of Edmund. To read all about them and their royal furniture making and to see where they lived in Marlow High Street please see my post here.

By Charlotte Day

©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to reuse this content for family of local history purposes with credit to this blog.

Royal Chair Makers and Cunning Burglars!

William and Edmund Mealing- furniture makers occupied Great Marlow High Street premises for many years in the 1800s.

William was born circa 1775  in Penn near High Wycombe. Like so many Wycombe Mealings he went into the furniture trade though he was 10 years in the army first. Wycombe was especially famed at the time for chair making. William was also an upholsterer and cabinet maker while his son William Junior focused on chair making. 

The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers cited below conflates the two William Mealings, "my" William and his son. This they acknowledge is a possibility. After a lot of a research I can confidently sketch out the family and their royal links. 

William Senior was the one listed as located within the High Street High Wycombe in 1823 (near the Market House). The other William would be only a child then. 

William Senior was still by the Market House in 1829 when he went bankrupt. Not only his stock in trade but all his own furniture had to be sold to satisfy his creditors.

After he left the premises, his "large and handsome shop" and home which occupied a single build were put up for offer as well. William must have been doing well as the house had no less than 6 bedrooms, 4 sitting rooms and 2 kitchens not to mention a chaise house, stables and granaries.

His wife was Ann but I have not been able to trace their marriage. She died after 1815 but seemingly well before her husband.

Their son Edmund (in the dictionary mentioned above mistakenly rendered as Edward) married Sarah Stevens in Hedsor in 1828. This marriage like other life events for these Mealings took place in Non-Comformist places of worship. They were of Wycombe in the record. Their two daughters Ann and Jane were baptized at the Easton Street Ebenezer Chapel in High Wycombe.

Circa 1830 the couple moved to the premises in Marlow High Street. 

In 1833 the Mealing's Marlow house, shop and yard next to what is now Liston Court  had an appraised annual value of £9. A little later the family would use now demolished premises a couple of doors down where Sainsburys Local is now.

It is Edmund then who is the listed occupier or head of household in 1833. Where his dad was living then is uncertain. William was still in business however as "William Mealing and Sons" with a premises near the Red Lion Hotel in the High Street High Wycombe before a fire damaged the premises. Either because of that or because he needed extra room William had set up chair making premises in the Newlands area of High Wycombe which was awash with other chair and furniture makers.

In 1838 his company provided two gilt and carved music chairs for Royal Pavilion Brighton, and six chairs for Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace. In 1839 they supplied 48 carved beech stools for the music room of Buckingham Palace plus more chairs and stools for the Royal Household 1840-41.

At the time of the 1841 census William was living in Marlow with his son Edmund. Presumably due to seniority of age and experience William was then listed as the head of household rather than Edmund as previously. William was also listed as the head of the business in Marlow in other records. William Junior as I say remained as a chair maker in Wycombe while William Senior focused on cabinet making and upholstery.

In 1853 Musson and Craven's Directory William was also listed as a paper hanger. (Early wallpaper that is). His workers also painted interiors and in common with other businesses such as builders and chairmakers that employed skilled carpenters, Mealing manufactured coffins and as a natural extension of that organized funerals.

In 1861 at the time of the census another son of William's - a Robert - was also living and working in the family business. Previously Robert had worked for the Excise office. William died in 1863 aged nearly 90, and Robert and Edmund were jointly listed in Kelly's Directory 1864 as running the business. William is buried in All Saints Churchyard Marlow. His estate was valued as less than £800 which was of course still a lot in those days. Son Edmund was the executor of his will.

Sarah Mealing, wife of Edmund died in 1864 and is on the same headstone in Marlow as her father in law. Please see the Graves Index for a photo of the grave.

By 1871 Edmund had moved to a large and attractive house on the other side of the High Street. Robert and his wife Sarah lived in the old family premises for a few years before the building was given over entirely to use as a showroom. 

On the 1881 census Edmund said he employed 3 men. That would be permanent employees and others may have been taken on as and when required for particular commissions. One of the permanent employees was Charles Stark who had married Edmond's daughter Jane. Another was James Stark, brother to Charles. The Stark boys were sons of the Mr Stark who was the coachman at Bisham Abbey. 

Edmond died a little later age 80. The business continued for a few more years as Mealing and Stark under the care of Charles. 

In 1884 the premises were burgled by thieves who managed to squeeze in through a tiny side window they had completely removed. The reports of the robbery tell us that the premises were a house incorporating a two storey showroom for their stock with workshops out back. In the show rooms were glass display cabinets showing samples Utrecht velvet and silk plush upholstery plus accessories you could buy at the same time such as curtains and tablecloths. It was these items plus a large carpet that the thieves had taken. The carpet had been left outside as perhaps it was too bulky for a quick getaway. The goods that were carried off were valued at  £60- £70.

Charles had retired by 1891 (I think in 1889). Hopefully this was not because of his losses sustained in the burglary. He sold out to Messrs Hill and Tugwood who had worked for him from the time of their apprenticeships onwards. In 1898 many of their business goods were sold off by auction, implying perhaps temporary financial difficulty. The Hill & Tugwood partnership would be dissolved not long afterwards. The Hill family however carried on alone as cabinet makers etc.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day. 

Mealing grave here

For a biography of the Mealing's assistant John Adams see Kathryn's post here here

More posts on historic Marlow traders are indexed street by street here.

For every mention of an individual on this blog see the A-Z Person Index on the top drop down menu which contains thousands of people.

Sources: 

'M' in dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840 ed Geoffrey Beard and Christopher Gilbert (Leeds 1986) pp. 563-8. British History Online http://www.britishhistory.ac.uk/no-series/dict-english-furniture-makers/m Accessed March 24 2021.

1833 Great Marlow parochial assessment. Original handwritten notebooks held by my family and transcribed by me.

Bucks Gazette 23rd May 1829. Copy held by the British Library Archives and accessed by via via the BNA March 2021.

Windsor and Eton Express 17th January 1829. As above.

Bucks Herald 26th July and Reading Mercury 19th July 1884. As above.

South Bucks Standard 11 November 1898

1841,51,61,71,81,91 transcribed by Jane Pullinger.

Kelly's Post Office Directory 1864.

Musson and Craven's Commercial Directory 1853 from University of Leicester archives.

GRO Death Index.

Hedsor Independent Chapel marriages transcribed from microfilm images by me from film #007561679 provided by the LDS church, Intellectual Reserve Inc.

National Archives Royal Hospital Chelsea Soldiers Service Documents Ref: WO97. 

Graves Marlow All Saints Churchyard 

©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to reuse this research or image for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog and link here so that the sources listed above do not lose credit for their contributions.