The Other Royal Celebrations In Marlow

We have posts due on events such as the Golden and Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of Queen Victoria's reign, but this entry is about how the town celebrated (or not) some of the other events in Queen Victoria's life. 

If your ancestor lived in Marlow in June 1838, then it is very likely they at least heard celebrations of the Queen's coronation because it appears to have been a very noisy event. Victoria had succeeded to the throne in June 1837 so the residents of Marlow had plenty of time to consider how to mark the occasion. The reports vary widely with rival political groups accusing the other of doing little, which is reflected in the accounts published in local newspapers. The Windsor and Eton Express said that the church bells were rung on Coronation day and that the shops were closed. Others said this was a lie, and only the Tory supporters in town would be content to do so little. The Bucks Gazette said liberal tradespeople took on the task with enthusiasm as did the Clayton family at Harleyford. The Clayton's Conservative political rivals, the Williams of Temple House, who included the Marlow M.P, were accused of not organising anything grand. So the reports have to be filtered with the understanding of the political bias of the reporter. One thing all can agree on is that many fireworks were let off, some guns, and a few cannons. The last were courtesy of Harleyford where the din of artillery was said to have been kept up all day. After 41 discharges of cannon, even the most devoted royalist in the neighbourhood must have been happy a new Queen was not crowned everyday!

 Amongst the criticism levelled at MP Thomas Peers Williams and his supporters such as the Wethered family of the Brewery, was that they had not as wealthier citizens put their hand in their pockets to subsidise any celebrations for the poorer classes. It seems they had been expected to pay the bell ringers for their services, but had not offered to do so so the money had to come out of the Church rates fund. It was also hoped a subscription would have been raised to provide some relief to the poor.  The Bucks Gazette went further and said those who put on events publicly had "resisted the will of the domineering tyrant in the town." (Williams) This may be a little unfair, as while Williams was a controversial politician who was accused of evicting those of his tenants who did not vote for him, his family did entertain members of the Royal Family at Temple House in latter years and so was not exactly anti royal. It seems the feeling was that big occasions meant those who acted in power in the town should play their part and help those with little money to celebrate. Failure to do so was regarded as "selfish". 

Those who did include the less well off were Joseph Tyler of the Clayton Arms in Oxford Lane/Quoiting Place. Joseph entertained more than 100 to dinner - an "elegant repast". And Messrs Wright of Marlow Mills gave a hot beef dinner with ale and punch to 100 or so staff and their family members. This dinner included plum pudding which might seem unseasonal to our eyes but it's a regular feature of many Victorian celebration dinners in Marlow and elsewhere whatever the time of year. 

Moving on to 1840, when Queen Victoria was married to Albert. On this occasion the liberal papers again accused the conservative interests of failure to mark the occasion properly. The celebrations were described as "very limited". But Harleyford House bought out their "artillery" again. (41 discharges of cannon). The bells were of course rang and guns fired. The reliably generous and kind Benjamin Atkinson of The Rookery entertained all his staff to a meal along as did a few unnamed tradesmen working on a smaller scale. But the "most influential  inhabitants of the town who owe all this wealth and influence to the lower ranks of society did very little."

In 1858, the Queen's eldest daughter, Victoria the Princess Royal was married in turn to Prince Frederick of Prussia. Mr Borgnis and Mr William Ward decided to treat the boys of the Blue Coat school (now Borlase) to something to mark the event. Their choice would probably not get distributed today, given that it consisted of cake - and wine! Those attending the National schools recieved some tasty buns while the pupils of the British Schools were given a full tea, presumably without alcoholic beverages. 

The Queen's birthday was usually marked in a small way. Prayers for her continued health were a standard in the local churches. The church bells were rang, and some shops and homes were decorated with bunting. This is more often recorded in the later part of the reign. The local Oddfellows lodge (friendly society) held a church parade (that is a parade to the parish church in full regalia for a  special service) on several occasions in the 1880s in honour of Her Majesty's birthday. In 1887, they were lead by the town band and they followed this with a public dinner for 100 people at The Greyhound.

Various members of the Royals visited the big houses in the area such as Temple, Gyldernscroft and Harleyford. Some of these visits were "under the radar" but others very much the opposite. When the prince and princess of Wales passed through Marlow in a steam launch, on their way to visit the Williams at Temple House, they were expected. Their arrival was somewhat inconveniently timed to occur during the Regatta. They were late, but they did indeed arrive in the end and were greeted with a royal salute. 

The last event other than the Jubilees to mark was of course the death of the Queen. The first notification of any significant news usually came courtesy of a telegram to the post office which would then be displayed either inside or out for all to see. (Less seriously the match reports of Marlow Football Club when playing away also arrived this way.) A week before the Queen's death, a telegram bought news the Queen was seriously ill. Special prayers were said in the various churches and chapels the following day, in the hope of a recovery. Public events due to take place in the next few days were cancelled as a gesture of respect - dramatic performances in the Music Room and a football match. But on 22 January 1901, the news was recieved by telegram late in the day that the Queen had died at Osbourne House, surrounded by her family. It was immediately ordered that the bells should toll in the church. This sound was said to be what made many Marlow residents realise that the rumour about the Queen's death were true. 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day. 

Related posts:

Coronation Celebrations 1902 here

Jubilee 1887 Here

Storm disruption during 1897 jubilee Little Marlow here

Royal furniture makers the Mealings here

Other posts about everyday life in old Marlow here

To find every mention of an individual here, use the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. 

Sources:

Goodrich, Samuel Griswold. Peter Parley's visit to London during the Coronation (Library of Alexandria, 1838)

McCarthy, John - A History Of Our Own Times, 1871. 

Wilson, Robert. Life and Times of Queen Victoria (Cassell and Company, 1891) 

Bucks Gazette 14 July 1838, 22 February 1840 - British Library Archive, accessed via the BNA. 

Reading Mercury 30 January 1858, 31 May 1890, 26 January 1901 - As above

Bucks Herald 13 July 1878, as above. 

Windsor and Eton Express 30 June 1838. As above. 

Slough Eton and Windsor Observer May 28 1887, Slough Library. 

©Marlow Ancestors

A Victorian Christmas In Marlow Part One

  

The celebration of Christmas in Victorian Marlow was obviously very different for individual families, depending on their income and how much leisure they could enjoy. Every lavish feast on a well provided for family table existed because a servant or more had spent time on Christmas day working to prepare it. But it was also a time when the better off made particular effort to cheer the homes of their less well off neighbours.

Hot beef and plum pudding

One of the earliest Victorian traditions was for the children of the National Schools to be given a hot beef dinner, complete with plum pudding, on Christmas Day itself. This was paid for by Colonel William Clayton of Harleyford, and James Simpson of Spinfield. The earliest reference I can find for this is in 1833, when it's described as something that happened "as usual." It should be remembered that for much of the Victorian era most people looked forward to a beef dinner at Christmas rather than turkey or goose as is often imagined. Even when these became more common roast beef was usually on the table alongside them. In fact roast beef and plum pudding was the go to celebration meal in Victorian England for ANY occasion at ANY time of the year. Only when topped with holly did the year round party dessert plum pudding become "Christmas" pudding specifically. 

Clayton also made an annual gift of clothing to the poor at Christmas - in 1839 400 individuals received something. Christmas was also the traditional time for distributing annual gifts provided for by various old bequests and charities, not all of them specifically associated with Christmas, but it provided a convenient and easily remembered time for an annual share out. And how well appreciated the gifts must have been in winter in particular with heating costs high and fewer opportunities for casual outdoor employment to supplement the income. Beef and clothing were both popular choices, given for example by the Wethereds of Remnantz for many years, in addition to the bequests by their ancestors. In 1887, 627 poor people received a gift of shoes or clothing from the church wardens acting for the charities they were then in charge of. Marlow had many many families in need of this aid. 

The town centre shops loaded their premises with extra supplies of tempting goods for those with spare cash to hand. Thomas Fullicks, said his currants and raisins were so superior in 1843 that there "were never such Christmas puddings in Marlow as there will be this year." Just under 50 years later Mr Clifton of the High Street (later Grays, on corner with what would become Institute Rd) had decorated his windows with all the "necessaries that go towards making the most toothsome plum pudding."  In 1899 the grocers were "loading their stores with the finest and best of everything for the production of plum puddings, mince pies and almost every dainty for the Christmas dinner table." Hungry yet?  Deaths the West Street bakers were offering a new trend in 1897 - Christmas cakes in all sizes "sugared and ornamented with Christmas mottoes". 

One tradition which has long gone is for grocers, butchers, fruiterers and the like to hold "Christmas Shows." By convention, many were held on the same day by shops of the same type, but not exclusively so, especially later on. This was a day in the week before Christmas when the shopkeeper would put on display their finest produce, hoping to secure the festive trade of as many households as possible. In general the customers were placing their orders to be delivered later. They went to great lengths to decorate their premises and windows for the occasion, and their "Christmas Show day" were advertised in advance. Many of the carcass covered butchers and poulterers that appear in prints were decorated for this occasion, with the images used in advertising thereafter. Some shows lasted a day, others a couple, Death the bakers often went to 3. A while before the butchers had their show, a Christmas fat stock show would take place. This was ostensibly a livestock show, with all the animals entered being offered for sale at the end. The butchers would then compete to secure the prize winning animals, and they would advertise they had bought the best in class exclusively for their customers. The extent that these shop shows were regarded as a big occasion is easy to underestimate. The newspapers sent reporters there and Marlow shops could report hundreds of visitors in one day aside from the everyday shoppers. For example the two day shows of Mr Westbrook and Mr Creswell in Chapel Street, chiefly of beef and mutton, received several hundred visitors each in 1843. Rachel Hall of West Street also exhibited her butchers stock on the Wednesday.  The animal carcasses were described as decorated with holly, ivy and mistletoe in 1897, with other shops making use of streamers and rosettes. In 1874 the journalist reported that "The grocers and confectioners show windows have been more than usually radiant with the good things of Christmas Tide." 

Christmas Balls and Suppers

For the well off, a Christmas ball could be enjoyed, at either the Upper or Lower Crown inns before the Victorian period, moving to the assembly room at the town hall when that opened. The Crown Hotel (Upper Crown) used the latter in connection with their hotel so they were the hosts there. In 1879 hotel proprietor Susan West decorated the ball room to look like a fairy palace. The guests (around 100 of them) arrived at 10pm and only finished dancing to the Burnham Quadrille band just before dawn. With supper also served during the evening, Susan and her staff must have been more than ready for some sleep the next day. 

A tradesman's festive ball is also recorded early on, resurrected briefly in the 1840's and attended by non Marlow tradesman too. In 1844, the tradesman ball was held at the (Upper) Crown and it was noted that "such a ball has not been known for some years." It was actually held in January, given that the tradesman had little rest during the Christmas period itself. Seasonal entertainments of a different kind were the regular festive concerts in the "large room" of the Verney Arms, Dean Street. In 1870, the Verney had attracted a group of vocalists from the Cambridge Music Hall in London no less, who performed to a full house. 

The week or so before Christmas was also the time for the pubs to host their grand share out of the Slate Club funds. These were sort of friendly society where members paid in a fixed weekly amount in exchange for accessing payments from the shared funds in the event of sickness or unemployment. In 1900, 6d was the usual weekly sum. Any funds left over at the end of the year were divided between members who had paid in regularly, and the event was usually marked with a special dinner. A simple but effective savings bank. Most of the pubs hosted one at one time or another, with those at the Clayton Arms, Prince Of Wales (with 70 members in 1900) and the Verney Arms among the most established. Because they were strongly linked to pubs, some of the chapels also started Slate Clubs more suitable for alcohol abstainers. Without the slate clubs it was acknowledged that many a Marlow workman's home would "perhaps otherwise be more or less cold or desperate" at Christmas. 

And of course many larger employers also organised special dinners or suppers such as the Brewery "Christmas Box Feast" at the George and Dragon, and at the Greyhound prior to that. 

The sounds of Christmas

If we think of a Victorian Christmas we quickly think of carol singers. The church choir of All Saints did indeed make a trip around the streets, sometimes accompanied by members of the congregation, and usually on Christmas Eve. Given that they hoped to gather donations, it's no surprise they were usually described as calling at the principle houses and streets in the town. In 1872, Rev George Cree set out with 20 singers from the Church at 9.30pm and arrived back at 1am on Christmas Day, having stopped at Remnantz, the Rookery in Chapel Street, Thames Bank, The Glade (now Cedar House, Glade Road) and Highfields (demolished, off Henley Road.) The singers were traditionally offered refreshments hence the length of the tour. And yes they carried lanterns - they would have needed them especially when heading out of town to Highfield. If you did not live in one of the "principal streets" then the Salvation Army band was likely to provide your doorstep entertainment, in the 1880's onwards. They also performed in the town centre, cheering up the shop workers still working hard on Christmas Eve. And you may well have found them about on Boxing Day too, hoping to catch people in the glow of festive feeling who might drop a coin or two in the collection boxes worn around the neck. Special collections for the poor were made at the Christmas Day services at Holy Trinity and All Saints church too. Marlow's various other bands could also be found performing in the Market Square, or as the Bucks Herald put in in 1882, they made themselves "harmoniously audible."  Given that the Lane End band also made a traditional Boxing Day visit, Marlow must have sounded very lively. Hopefully they all did not perform exactly at the same time as one another! 

The other sounds closely linked to Christmas in Marlow was the traditional "ringing in" of Christmas morning, in the form of a peel of bells performed by the bell ringers of All Saints at midnight Christmas Eve going into Christmas Day. 

More Christmas Shopping

Victorian shop keepers were good at commercialising Christmas in their own way. Shops that did not normally offer toys or novelties  stocked up on them at Christmas. Marlow had it's toy shops but surprisingly perhaps the other main place to buy toys were the drapers, with every one advertising some kind or another at Christmas, such as dolls at Morgans, and clockwork novelties at Hides. The other places to expand their gift  offerings and introduce toys for the season were the printers and stationers. They were also the place to go for your Christmas cards. And yes, they began advertising them long before December! Smith & Co (High Street) offered to show customers a sample book of 345 varied and artistic designs for Christmas and New Year cards, starting at 3s 6d for 25. (1899 price) In 1900 the same shop claimed to have 10,000 Christmas cards in stock, with envelopes provided free of charge. Elsewhere in the High Street Mr Toovey offered cards "at once elegant and cheap." Look where we will "our shops are ablaze with all sorts of novelties to tempt the giver of good things" as the South Bucks Standard put it. 

And if you wanted to buy a festive outfit, Sutton's Emporium in West Street offered the "cheapest,  best and most fashionable clothing for Christmas." 

School treats

In addition to any meals provided for the youngsters attending the schools, little gifts were also often given out. The children of the Parish Church  Sunday Schools were fortunate enough to enjoy a second treat from supporters of the church.  For example, the Oxford Lane infants Sunday school nearly always had a Christmas tree, bedecked with presents provided by sponsors. "Prettily dressed dolls" , mouth organs, spinning tops, and horns were some of the delights presented to the excited children in the late Victorian and early Edwardian period. They almost always got to take home an orange and iced bun too. The children attending the Catholic convent schools had their own treats and celebrations. A magic lantern show in the adjacent Music room (public hall) was a perennial favourite. 

Part two  here deals with Christmas Day itself, more food, the Marlow Common gatherings and Boxing Day. 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day. 

Related posts:

Victorian Christmas in Marlow part 2

 here

Edwardian Christmas in Marlow here

New Year traditions here

Skating on the Thames etc here

Bonfire night in Victorian Marlow here

A listing of other posts about every day life in old Marlow  here

Easter and May day here

 Go to the Specific Shops, Streets etc section  to find out more about historic Marlow shops and what you could buy in them. 

©Marlow Ancestors