For the little children of old Marlow, playing in the streets was a common occurrence. Of course with children expected to start work sooner, and many families unable to afford bought toys, not all children had the same experiences.
With some of the streets busy with horse drawn traffic, many of the children's games were not looked on indulgently when they interfered with the business of their elders. In the early Victorian era, "sliding" in the streets was the game of choice for many, and a perpetual cause of complaint from the adults. This was easier to do on the pre tarmac road surfaces. In the 1840 the son of draper Mr Morgan of the High Street was injured when he collided with a cart carrying manure while intent on sliding. He was not seriously hurt.
In the 1840's complaints of children driving iron hoops along the streets became frequent. The press expressed some sympathy for the young miscreants while recognising that their play was dangerous and sometimes illegal. The children had no other place to amuse themselves in save the streets they reasoned, making their games "in some measure excusable". The Enclosure acts formalised the use of Gossmore as a recreation ground later but there was as yet no Higginson Park or Riley or Seymour recreation grounds.
The other dangerous if common childhood amusement was to try and catch a ride on the back of passing carts and waggons, and later steam traction engines and the like. In 1903, there was a tragic accident involving this practice, the victim 7 year old Percy William Allen. Little Percy had just left school in the Causeway and was walking home, with his brother James. A lorry driven by William Skipton, in the employ of Mr Porter of Station Road, turned into the High Street. A number of little boys ran after it to try and gain a ride by clinging to the back or sides. As James and Percy reached Timberlake's Cycle and Phonograph depot, Percy ran off towards the lorry and managed to jump on to the back and hold on for a ride. The driver could not see him there but he had noticed several boys hanging onto the sides. He was heard to call to them 3-4 times to get off. Sadly Percy lost his grip and fell under the vehicle. The lorry was carrying 2 tonnes of flour so with a wheel going over the little one's head and leg, he stood no chance whatsoever. The driver heard a bump and stopped instantly. He was horrified by what had happened. It was immediately apparent the boy was beyond surgical aid. Dr Nicholson was in attendance immediately and arranged for the poor parents to be called. The kind Mrs Mundy, whose shop the accident had occured more or less outside of, would not allow the little lad to lay in the street and picked his body up and carried him into her shop. The inquest was held at the Verney Arms in Dean Street, with the jury donating their appearance fees to the family. Mr Porter paid for the funeral - the boy was buried at Holy Trinity but the marker can no longer be seen. There was "an extraordinary amount of people in attendance to show sympathy for the bereaved parents".
Another gripe was the frequency with which children played football in the road. Three boys, Phillip White, Benjamin Mundy, and Arthur Stroud, were fined 6d for using the highway near All Saints for a game in 1896 for example.
A letter writer (anonymous) to the local press in 1896 thought the youth of the day were a badly behaved lot, causing "pandemonium" in the High Street during their 2 hour lunch break - and after the school finished at 4. (Long lunch was a feature of Victorian schools because many children went home to eat, and some went quite far.) And what were the young miscreants up to other than making a great deal of noise? They incessantly rang door bells, stripped fruit and flowers from gardens, played ball in the road, sat on peoples doorsteps, wrote "filthy words" on any surface their pencils would work on and in the summer bathed nude in the river. Or so the writer said.
Some of those getting into trouble for "play" in the streets or on the highway were adults. Playing marbles and pitch and toss was not the preserve of just the young. The adults were suspected of gambling on the result, hence why it was frowned upon beyond logistical reasons. The quieter lanes were favourite spots for this - with cases noted in particular in Munday Dean Lane, around Bovingdon Green and Frieth, and on Gossmore.
Written and researched by Kathryn Day.
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