1833 Parochial Assessment Great Marlow High Street East Side Part Two

 I am slowly transcribing the original handwritten assessment working notebooks which are held by my family. Additions and corrections were made to some of the records up to circa 1840 in the same notebooks.

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

Format for transcription:

Name

Property occupied

Annual value of property

Square brackets hold any comments or further research by me

High Street East Side continued

David Nichols [aka Nicholls. David later crossed through in pencil and the name James substituted faintly. This was in 1851 the home of James Nicholls blacksmith who probably worked for Burrells blacksmith and ironmongers, a near neighbour. James was probably already in occupation of the property in 1835 when he is recorded as an independent voter of the High Street. Frederick the son of James later took over Burrells]

House £7

*****

Ralph Clark [a tailor and independent  viterin 1835, this property later John Collins Clark / Clerk the tailor]

House and garden £11

*****

? Haynes [first name altered and illegible as a result, looks like James after alteration, possibly formed from original entry "Francis". A James Haynes / Haines was a carpenter - see here for a biography. He did later than the assessment live definitely in this house]

House and garden

£11

Workshop, garden and yard at wharf

£5 (occupied part of the old "tithe barn" by the bridge.) 

*****

Elizabeth Palmer

House, garden, lawn, stables, coach houses, offices and yard

£50 (Palmer House/Palmers)

*****

Josiah Clark [a grocer. Robbed of bacon and butter the previous year. More about his illustrious family here and a photo of his grave here]

House and garden

£15

*****

Thomas White

House and garden

£8

*****

Charles Clark

House and garden

£9

***** 

John Cozens [a John Cozens senior died 1836 aged 81. Had moved to the town from Oxfordshire]

House, yard, chaisehouse, stable, garden and house and garden adjoining

£25 (A beautiful stucco and bow fronted house now demolished) 

*****

Late Charles Wethered

House

£18

*****

Thomas Hardy 

House, garden and yard

£14

*****

George Creswell [barge owner, inn keeper, constable and farmer. Long post about him here]

House and garden

£10

*****

Henry Badger (the Parish Clerk) 

House and garden

£10

*****

End of High Street East Side

Transcribed and researched by Charlotte Day.

Two Dedicated Victorian School Mistresses

This post is dedicated to two Victorian ladies who devoted themselves to the children of Marlow, working in sometimes difficult conditions, only stopping when their health failed. Both were the head mistresses of the National schools in St Peter Street in the late Victorian period. 

First we have Harriet Thimblethorp(e). Harriet was in charge of the girls school. She arrived in 1881 to a school building less than 20 years old. It was not however in good condition, and regular reports were made of a  leaking roof and smelling toilets. The school was also crowded by modern standards, with about 50-60 girls per class. Average attendance for the school was about 143 pupils a day, which was actually as few less than the buildings were designed to deal with however. 

Image courtesy of ©Colin Groves

 Harriet also suffered the closure of her school on a number of occasions because of outbreaks of disease. Scarlet fever and measles reared their ugly heads sometimes, and a nasty outbreak of small pox in 1893 caused a break in lessons of several weeks. As a result when the school inspector came round that year, he was willing to make some allowances for a lack of progress in the young girls education. The inspector concluded however that the main reason for unimpressive attainment in the children was that the particular intake of children it had lacked natural intelligence! He did mention their nice sewing and singing at least. 

Singing was an favourite activity of Harriet's. It is nice to think of those walking down St Peters Street in the Victorian period catching the happy sound of the girls' singing through the open windows of the school. She may have been described as naturally reserved but she was able to show affection and kindness to her girls and it seems to have been reciprocated. She was also described as absolutely devoted to her charges and always just in dealing with them.

By 1898, Harriet was not well. She refused to give up her work, though that was the advice she received. Sadly her condition deteriorated and it was clear she was suffering badly. She received news that her condition was now deemed incurable but it seems she wished to carry on at work as long as possible. In June 1898 however she was so ill that she had to give in and resign. She left Marlow for the sort of places people went in the hope of improving their health, or delaying it's decline. But a little over 2 months later, she died at Brighton. During the time of her funeral, the children sang her favourite hymn at the school. It's hard to imagine she would have preferred any other farewell. 

Our second devoted teacher is Elizabeth Harriet Hunt (AKA Lizzie) who was born in London in 1847. She was the head teacher at St Peter's Street School infant's department by 1876. She had accommodation provided for her in St Peter's Street, along with Harriet and the mistresses of both schools. 

The South Bucks Standard in 1893 said she deserved "the highest praise" for her work at the school. Her assistants then were Miss Evans and Miss [Florence] Nicholls. Between them they educated an average of 131 children each day. There would have been pupil monitors too.

Ill health forced Elizabeth to teach her last lesson on Tuesday 27th July 1909. That evening in the schoolroom local dignitaries and school teachers gathered to thank her for her years of service. She was praised for the "love she displayed for her work and for her children". A purse of £35 was presented to her by way of thanks.

Elizabeth went to live with her brother in London where she died in 1917. Thankfully she got to enjoy something of the retirement that Harriet never did. 

To find all mentions of an individual here, use the A-Z person index on the top drop down menu. For other posts about St Peters Street use the Specific shops, streets etc option there. For a list of 75+ historic schools in Marlow see the post here. A fuller list of Victorian/Edwardian teachers for the national schools will follow. 

Sources

GRO Birth and Death Registration Indexes by the General Registry Office.

National Union of Teachers report 1888, 1893. 

Kelly's Post Office Directory 1883 (Kelly's Post Office Directories Ltd)

South Bucks Standard 3rd March & 12 December 1893,1 September 1899, and 30th July 1909. Copies held in the British Library archives. Accessed via the BNA March 2021.

Harris Royal Country Directory 1876.

"England and Wales Census, 1901," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X9YB-P1F : 20 May 2019), Elizabeth H Hunt, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom

Researched jointly by Charlotte (Elizabeth) and Kathryn Day (Harriet)

©Marlow Ancestors. 

Nicholls Graves

 Grave (set down) in Marlow Cemetery for Ed.. Nicholls who died 1917 aged 86 "Rest in Peace" and Harriet his wife who died 192...[looks like 6 or 8] aged 72 "Thy Will Be Done". Due to sinking ground and unstable monuments nearby I could not safely get nearer, sorry.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are free to reuse this image for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog.

Photographed November 2020.

See September 2020 posts for another Nicholls family grave.

List of landlords of The Checkers /The Chequers, High Street, Great Marlow.

 Updated by Charlotte April 2026.

The premises that the original Chequers /Checkers extended into, above. 

The core Chequers premises. 

This post is updated as new information emerges. The building is clearly old and may have been a pub far earlier than this but we have no firm evidence of that. Pubs in old buildings are not necessarily old pubs as not many started life  in purpose built premises. More usually they were set up in converted houses or other buildings which already existed.

1801 = pub known to be operating. The Chequers social club (for men) was formed and ran until the early 1880s. 

1823 - George Davis " The Checkers".

1830 - George Davis.

1833 - George Davis.

1839 - David Davis "Checkers  Inn". David was also described as a liquor merchant in 1832. Wife Elizabeth nee Pecover of Reading. 

1843 - George Davis.

1845 - David Davis. Suffered serious break of his knee that year after falling down the cellar stairs while carrying several bottles of wine. It proved difficult to set and was thought likely to leave David with a limp. 

1853 - David Davis "The Checkers"

1864 - David Davis.

1865  - David Davis "The Chequers Inn" transferred premises to Edwin Nicholls (2nd source gives name as Edward).

1869 - Ed. Nicholls.

1871 - Ed.  Nicholls (also carpenter).

1872 - Edwin Nicholls.

1876 - Edwin's wife Ann confronted two men that she caught robbing the till. She was the one serving at the time. The men were later jailed.

1877 - Ed. Nicholls (also builder).

1880 - 1.) Edwin Nicholls 2.) William James Lovegrove.

1881 - 1.) William J Lovegrove  2.) James Warne Udy ? "Chequers Inn" .

1882 - "Lewis" Wade, real name Edward Wade, bought the business.

1883 - "Lewis" Wade [Edward]. The magistrates said that the licence of Lewis would not be renewed as he was considered to have run a "badly conducted house". In particular the serving of beer after hours. After numerous complaints, Sergeant Maneely of Marlow police organised a watch on the premises and caught Lewis seeing beer some time after last orders should have been called. An attempt for the drinkers to flee out the rear was unsuccessful!  2. John Finch (hold over, John often stepped in to temporarily look after a premises while a permanent landlord acceptable to the authorities was found. He is also at the Cherry Tree this year, and see also the Bank Of England)  3. Edwin Greetham. (Creetham?) 

1887 - John D W Merer. (Wrongly put as Meres in one source) John's wife Catherine dies this year at Fir cottage Beaumont Rise, age 42. 2 -  John Phillips.  John was previously a coachman to Col O P Wethered. 

1888 - John Phillips.

1892/3 - John Phillips transfers  premises to WT Shaw.

1895 - Premises extended into adjacent house. Now has large "coffee room" as well, opening onto the lawn at the rear, the latter which has a private entrance from Institute Rd. The hotel can also boast of a bathroom (singular) with hot and cold running water. Has a separate 26 x 20 foot billiard room with a dais each side of the room to allow spectators to more easily view matches. This was made by the Marlow based Buckinghamshire Chair Co from wood grown at Thames Bank and Quarry Wood. The hotel also has a sitting room for guests, and at the front, both a public and private bar. It also acts as a depot from which "telephonic conversations" can be had. 

1899 - William Thomas Shaw     

1903 - W.T. Shaw "hotel and billiard room"

1904 - W T Shaw (see ad below).

1909 - WT Shaw. Premises are on the telephone already. 

1910 - Mr Shaw retired. John Kelpen Ellis took over. Ellis came from the Crown Hotel, Cookham. Lasted less than a year. Succeeded by WH Dawe. 

1905 advert above

1911 W H Dawe died. His widow Hannah took over. 

1915 - Mrs W Dawe (Hannah, the W is her husband's initial following the conventions of the time)

1916 - Hannah Dawe then Emily J Lewis. 

1917 - Emily Lewis transferred to Lillian Long.

1917- 28 (at least) - Mrs Lillian Long. "First Class family hotel" with billiards offered. Lillian came to Marlow from London in 1917.

1935 - C L Stanley.

1939 - Clarence Leopold Stanley.

1940 - Lucy Nicholls Stanley who struggled to keep up with the new war regulations. She was fined three times that year for related offences, twice for blackout offences and once for failing to complete alien registration forms for her guests. She retired that year.

1942 - Herbert Lee. Fined in this year for having poor blackout of the rear windows. Previous warnings had been given hence the fine. 

(At least) 1959-63 - "Joe" [Maurice] and Mary Hussey. Joe died in 1963.

Notes - 

Many Marlow landlords changed premises multiple times. Some places changed in how they were described over time- so licenced premises listings on this blog take in not just beer houses, pubs and inns but common lodging houses and hotels which sold alcohol too. 

Related Posts:

There are posts on this blog about individual families associated with certain pubs, as well as on individual pubs themselves so have a look at the Pub Related index here  & don't forget the Person Index for all mentions of someone on this blog. Find it on the top drop down menu. 

Posts about life in the High Street and neighbouring streets here

More beer sellers than bakers -Temperance in Marlow here

Lists of posts about everyday life in old Great Marlow here

SOME SOURCES :

1853 Mussons and Cravens Commercial Directory (Compiled 1852) 

Bucks Herald 28 October 1865, held at British Library and accessed via the BNA November 2020

South Bucks Standard - 14 October, 1892, 22 February 1895, 27 May 1910 as above

South Bucks Free Press 25th November 1887

Berkshire Chronicle October 25 1845

1833 Parochial Assessment. Original notebooks held by my family and transcribed by Charlotte.

Kelly's Post Office Directory 1864, 1869, 1877, 1883, 1903. Published by Kelly's Directory's Limited. Accessed via Google Books December 2020 - March 2021.

Bucks Free Press 2 Jan 1942. 

Pigots Directory 1823, 1830

Robson's Directory 1839

Census 1871,1881,1891. Transcriptions from microfilm by Charlotte. 

Numerous court cases, property records, licence hearing reports etc. 

© Marlow Ancestors. You can reuse this research for family and local history purposes if you credit this blog and link here so that our sources remain credited for information provided.

Nicholls Family Gravestone Marlow *Updated*

 

For Gertrude Alice Nicholls who died aged 67 in 1931, Herbert William Nicholls who died aged 73 in 1932 and "Bugler G C (Percy) Nicholls" of the 3rd Rifle Brigade killed in action in France aged 24 in 1914.

Gertrude suffered a tragedy in 1887 when her little girl, Agnes Clara age 1 was burned to death in their Oxford Rd home. Gertrude had left Agnes in her high chair near a fire protected with a guard for about a quarter of an hour while she watched another daughter walk to school.  Afterwards she spoke to a neighbour Mrs Freegard  for a few minutes as the latters daughter normally walked Gertrude's to school but had not stopped by that day. A neighbour - Joseph Pratt's - daughter smelled burning and alerted the neighbour to smoke coming out of Gertrude's door. He rushed in and found the little girls clothes alight along with the hearth rug and washing left drying on the guard. He grabbed hold of the infant and assisted by another neighbour Mrs Rogers, put out the flames.  The inquest was held at the Duke of Cambridge and poor Gertrude was censured for leaving her girl in a dangerous position, especially as she had just built up the fire. It was thought as she left the front door open and it was a windy day, the fire had suddenly flared up, and caught the washing and then little Agnes. The coroner's jury was asked to consider if Gertrude had been criminally negligent. They immediately decided no,  and ruled the death as accidental. No doubt they considered that she had intended to be gone very little time and was only absent to ensure the safety of another daughter. 

Use this © photo if you wish with credit. Photo and transcription by Charlotte Day.

These are not my ancestors. Everything on this blog is provided to help others with their own heritage.

To find every mention of a person on this blog use the Person Index option on the drop down menu.