Early History Seymour Court Road / Seymour Park Road Marlow

 *contains some distressing content*

Seymour Court Road existed as a trackway leading from the town up to Seymour Court House from at least the late 1700s but it was not until the 1890s that it was made into a proper road. 

It then became the most practical way to reach the villages of Lane End and Stokenchurch, rather than the old way of first going up Munday Dean Lane and then along a tiny lane coming out at the top of Seymour Court Hill near Seymour Court. A tollgate lay near that house, about a mile from town and is discussed more fully here.

The old gradually inclining trackway was the site of the occasional foot race between individuals whilst once the new road was properly laid down its slope was an enjoyable challenge to tackle for Marlow's early cycling club. In 1904 when the Church Lads Brigade was having a fundraiser Mr Wethered of Seymour Court lent out his car for paid rides from the town up Seymour Court Road and back down the hill.  At a time when virtually no one had ridden in one it is no surprise that it was the fundraiser's star attraction. Mr Wethered was one of the prime movers in getting a proper surface put down on Seymour Court Road.

Seymour Park Road was laid down in 1899, far earlier than you'd think. Large building plots 40ft wide and up to 180ft long were auctioned off there that year with the expectation that bungalows and villas would soon be erected there. The auctioneers stressed the elevated position of the new road and the wonderful country views new homeowners would enjoy from there. Of 35 plots offered only 12 were sold however. They fetched between £40 and £50 each. I can find no evidence of further efforts to sell the remaining plots, nor of the sold plots being actually developed which is an unexplained mystery. 

I found one home there in 1930 and that's it before the Council and other homes were built later. 

I'll keep digging to see if I can find evidence of lost Victorian or Edwardian homes there! One thing to bear in mind is that the earliest name for Seymour Court Road (in the late 1800s) was New Road and this lead to Seymour Court Hill being called New Road Hill. 

Above, Seymour Park, looking towards Seymour Court Road and Berwick Road. 

The former Seymour Court Road council houses date mostly from the 1930s with others arriving post war. Most long ago went into private ownership.

In 1939 resident James Perry became the first person in Marlow to be summoned for showing a light during the wartime blackout. He had one shining from number 83 at 10.30 in the evening. As everyone was still getting used to the rules James was not fined, only asked to cover the court costs.

Seymour Court Road was one of the first streets to suffer the loss of a resident in the war. Lance Corporal Alexander Butler of the Royal Tank Regiment aged 22, whose parents Fred and Mrs Butler lived at number 57, caught an illness which proved fatal to him while stationed in Egypt. Like many others he had spent part of his army training at the camp in Bovingdon Green before being sent abroad. He was interred in the cemetery on 10th August 1939 after a service at Holy Trinity church, the nearest C of E place of worship for Seymour Court / Seymour Park Road residents.

Six years later an American Corporal faced a court martial for the murder of Seymour Court Road resident 17 year old Beatrice Smith AKA Betty.  Poor Betty was at the pub with her sister Vera when the girls got talking to two American soldiers. Drinks were bought and games of darts played together. At the end of the evening Betty, who was heavily pregnant by an individual her family did not know but was not an American soldier, was walked home by 23 year old Corporal Leonard Dale Robertson of Missouri. Some time later a resident of the quite new houses up at Sunnybank just off Seymour Court Road was awoken by groaning sounds as if someone somewhere was unwell. Corporal Robertson knocked on his door and said a woman was ill and could he have a glass of water for her. On inspection however, Betty was dead. It was suspected she had suffocated after being strangled.

A court martial was held by the Americans in the Chapel of Wycombe Abbey. The trial had several bizarre aspects, including the use of truth drugs on the defendant. He insisted that he had never placed hands on her throat but had been blowing air into her mouth because he thought that would be pleasurable to her (!), and that she had freely agreed to engage in intimacies with him. The army medic who gave evidence said Betty had died of an "air embolism". This could not be caused by strangulation but could have been caused by him forcibly blowing air into her. There were no signs of a struggle or violence on her body. 

He was acquitted. Reports as to the case leave many unanswered questions, including whether Corporal Robertson had continued to blow air into Betty's mouth after she showed signs of respiratory distress, or whether she had truly consented to his actions. From what I can gather air embolisms do not kill easily. Charges of negligently causing her death don't even seem to have been considered against him.

The recreation ground was in place off Seymour Court and Seymour Park Roads by 1939. In the Summer of that year swings and a see saw were provided for the children. In the early 1900s the grass area between Berwick Road and Seymour Court Road, which was later used for council houses, was used as an unofficial play area for children who lived in Berwick Road.

As to shopping residents had one shop at the top of Seymour Court Road on the way out of town and others in easy walking distance in Queens Road and Dean Street.

Related Posts=

Early Residents of Berwick Road here

Trouble at the Toll House (the Seymour Court Toll Gate) here

To find other posts about specific streets etc see here

Sources included:

Reading Mercury 30th September 1899 and 21st October 1939. Gloucester Citizen 11th October 1945.

Personal interviews.

Burrell Research and Graves Great Marlow

See "Research" at the bottom of this page to read more about these people and how they connect to each other.

Above - Harriet, wife of Thomas Burrell d. Feb 20 18(..4?) age 40, name Thomas is inscribed below but the other details too worn to read.

Above, another grave. Thomas Burrell. Smith of this town, d. Sept 9th 1776 age 48

ALSO OF

Elizabeth his wife d. Feb 16 1799 age 67 years. 

Above, John Burrell, d. Sept 30th 1819 age 52

"Under this stone here lies a stone living with GOD above/ built on the rock was such a one/ whom force nor ...   could move/Near this place lay the remains of ..

Thomas Burrell d. Oct 8th 1818 age 57 years. 

John Burrell as above. Another view of same.

HB 1850, TB 1860, ?B 186?

AB 1829, WJB 1865

 Above, Sarah Burrell died Mar 1st 1825 age 65 years.

Research:

Harriet Burrell née Badger married blacksmith and ironmonger Thomas Burrell at Bisham in 1833. They lived, and Thomas worked, in premises on the East side of the High Street, Marlow by what is now Institute Road corner. That year his premises consisted of his house ,"shop" as in workshop, garden and an "iron house" and was worth an estimated £10 a year. Thomas was baptised at Little Marlow in 1801 to Thomas and Alice Burrell. His family was however of Great Marlow origin. Harriet died between the 1841 and 51 censuses leaving behind several young children. Thomas's married sister Elizabeth East (married Charles East 1822) moved in with him to help look after the family. In 1841 Thomas inadvertently bought for 3 shillings some copper wire stolen from the cellars of James Bavin in Marlow by William Heather and George Perry. The thieves initially used the wire to poach game but having been seen by a gamekeeper and fleeing, they decided to sell the guilty wire to various Marlow business people instead. They were jailed but no summonses were sent to those who had innocently bought the wire. The family had had a much more shocking brush with the law in 1839 when that Charles East, husband of Elizabeth was found guilty of sheep stealing and transported. More on this case here.

 On a more positive note Thomas Burrell came to the rescue of one of the Marlow church bells which had developed a crack in 1849. An iron band was made for it in his High Street forge, and a man, perhaps Thomas himself, ran with the red hot ring to the church. There it was heated a little more in a temporary fire made in the bell fry before being successfully fitted and quenched with water. 

Thomas was the victim of a robbery himself in 1862 (Windsor and Eton Express 20th December 1862) during a town crime spree. Old coins and 45 shillings in current money were stolen from his premises, as discovered by his daughter upon her returning from church.

It is possible Thomas eventually took over the smithing and ironmongery business of his uncle John. 

The Thomas Burrell in the second grave photo (d 1776) was the grandfather of Thomas, husband of Harriett. His wife was Elizabeth (d 1799) who appears in a grave photo further down this page. The couple married at Great Marlow in 1757. Elizabeth was née Saunders. In her will written in 1794 she mentions her sisters Jane Saunders to whom she left £5 and Ann Cork, wife of John Cork whom she left £150 invested in stocks. A share she had in 3 cottages in Wooburn went to her son Thomas while son John got 2 sheets and 2 pillows. Her two daughters (unnamed but one was Sarah) got to share all her wearing apparel. All the rest of her money and property was to be equally divided between all her surviving children. Sons Thomas and John were made joint executors.

The John Burrell on the grave (d 1819) was also a blacksmith, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth. He left his stock in trade and business to his unmarried sister Sarah who also features in the graves above and in her mother's will.

John's will was witnessed by his close neighbour George Davis landlord of the Chequers, William Hatch the baker from across the road and attorney Robert Goldsmith. Executors of the will were John Mossenton the cordwainer (of Chapel Street) and Sarah the primary legatee.

The Thomas Burrell who died 1818 was the son of Thomas and Elizabeth, brother of John, and father of the Thomas who married Alice.

Alice is presumably the AB 1829 on the grave above as she definitely died that year.

The HB 1850 may be Harriet, daughter of Thomas and Harriet who was born circa 1838, and the T.B may be her brother Thomas born circa 1836.

Photos and grave transcriptions by Kathryn Day, research and will transcriptions by Charlotte Day.

More information:

To find all mentions of an individual here, use the A-Z Person Index in the top drop down menu. New posts / people added daily. Over 4,000 people get a mention!

More grave photo posts for Marlow, Little Marlow and Hurley here

Will transcription posts listed here

Posts about everyday life in Marlow for the Burrells and others here including links to posts about specific trades, recreated trade and address directories etc. 

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

Avis and William Perry

Avis Butler married William Perry in Great Marlow in 1829. She was baptised there in 1805, the illegitimate daughter of Ann Butler. William's census entries indicate that he was born in Marlow too but I can't find his baptism. There were certainly other Perrys about the town, including in Dean Street where Avis and William settled.

William was an agricultural labourer early in life, with a significant sideline in poaching! An attempt by two Marlow constables to arrest him on one such charge in 1840 led to a riot of some 100 people (and an angry bulldog) in Dean Street and the virtual lynching of one constable who was left unconscious by a blow to the head. The reports on the case tell us that William and his friends used backwards speech to secretly communicate with each other when anyone else was listening. That is if I wanted to say "look out!" to you I would say "tuo kool!" instead. I was aware of such speech in London amongst the "criminal classes" but this case was the first I heard of it being used in Marlow. Full story here

None of the rioting helped William ultimately avoid arrest however. On the 1841 census he was in Aylesbury gaol. Avis was home in Dean Street Marlow on the same census, living with Ann and Richard Carr. 

William, a large man, also made some money from cudgel fighting. A sport in which the more heads you split open the more you won! For a report of a cudgel match organised at the Crown in Marlow see my post on "The Crown Inns" here.  Competitor names then are not known. William fought at Windsor as well as Marlow.

By 1851 Avis and William had the Fox and Pheasant beer house in Dean Street. Given his notoriety as a poacher and fighter it seems extraordinary that William could get his name on an alcohol license! You were supposed to be a person of good character. On a day to day basis Avis probably ran things as William still worked as an agricultural labourer during this time. As the license was officially in his name he was the one fined in 1859 when a constable found the premises open during illegal hours. The charge was not denied. He was also fined for using short measures for his alcohol and twice more over the years came convictions for selling beer during illegal hours.

Most Dean Street pubs operated as lodging houses too but there is only minor evidence of that with Avis and William. 

The couple were apparently without children.

Shortly after the 1871 census the licence of the Fox and Pheasant was transferred to a Mr Larkin. More on him and other landlords of the pub here.

William continued to work for John Langley the Marlow fruiterer, farmer and keeper of the Verney Arms also in Dean Street. Sent by him to Datchet to pick apples, William fell from a ladder. He was carried, paralysed from the waist down, to the hospital in Windsor. The next day aged 73 he died.

To spare Avis, his body was formally identified by his niece Harriet Bowles.

Avis became a pauper dependent on the parish, still living Dean Street on the 1881 census. She died in 1882.

John Langley the fruiterer mentioned above has a long biographical post here.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day. 

Related Posts

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

 Interested in other pubs or beer house keepers? See the list of pub etc related posts: here

Crime and disorder in old Marlow here

More Dean Street related posts are listed in the "Specific Shops, Streets...Etc" menu here

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

Sources included:

Census my own transcriptions from microfilm.

Newspaper copies at the British Library accessed via the BNA October 2020: Reading Mercury 14th July 1860 and 26th March 1864. 

Bucks Free Press August 13th 1880. Bucks Free Press Archives.

Great Marlow Parish Registers.

Will Nicholas Perry of Great Marlow

 Nicholas Perry Gent* of Great Marlow proved 1668.

Says he in perfect health, mind and memory.

Commends soul to God.

Daughter Susan Perry his messuage in Bourton in the parish of Shrivenham in Berkshire and all the freehold land belonging to it. Also to her one half of his messuage or dwelling house in Marlow in the tenure of Jeronimas Bannes and the malthouse belonging to it with the use of the gateway in Lumps, also the Lumps House, ...st.. Mead and the closes over the lane. If testator's son Thomas gives Susan £300 then he can have the property instead.

Daughter also gets half the testator's household goods plus the harps...

Son in law Thomas Stratton and his wife my daughter 20 shillings each for mourning rings. To their son testator's grandchild Thomas Stratton 40 shillings to buy him books. 

Poor of Marlow £5 to be distributed at testator's burial by the overseers of the poor.

Executor: Son Thomas.

Overseers of will: son in law Thomas Stratton and nephew John Ridge.

*he was a lawyer by trade but may have retired by the time of his will.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use my will transcription summary if you credit this blog and link here.

Will from the National Archives, Kew.

**To find all mentions of an individual on this blog choose the Person Index option on the drop down menu**

**Other wills on the blog are listed on the Wills menu option**

More Dean Street Landlord and Beer Seller Listings *Updated*

Updated by Charlotte Feb 2026.

If the premises you are searching for isn't listed here, search for it in the Pub Related option in the top drop down menu. 

Well End was one of the original names of Dean Street. It was used mainly pre 1850's, although some trade directories still utilised it in the 1860's. It is not to be confused with Well End near Little Marlow. 

THE FOX AND PHEASANT

Note there was also an early The Fox in West Street.

1851 - William Perry, age 52

1859 - William Perry fined £1 for having his beer house open during illegal hours on a Sunday.

1860 - William and Avis Perry. Lots more on these in our Poaching Perrys post. His brother Samuel was landlord of the dean Street pub the Rose and Crown. More on him in the Poaching Perrys post here . William was fined this year for using short measures, one of 4 establishment so caught. 

1864 - William and Avis Perry. William was fined £2 and 10 shillings plus costs for opening the premises on a Sunday morning (and thus was attracting people away from attending divine service instead). Avis is the one in court on William's behalf. 

1868 - William Perry fined £5 for opening up his beer house for sale of beer on a Sunday

1871- William Perry transferred to John Larkin who came to this pub from the Carpenters Arms (see this post) Also a carpenter. Wife of Larkin was Eliza. 

1872 - John Larkin.

1881 - John Larkin?

THE ROSE AND CROWN 

Beer house with yard

1833 Richard Clarke. Came from The Jolly Malsters Dean Street. Died 1836. More about him on that post.

1840 - described by the Bucks Gazette as an "obscure beer shop in Dean Street" when a drinker who fell asleep in the tap room was relieved of more than £6 by a pick pocket. 

1842 - Samuel Perry. Brother of William Perry above. See the Poaching Perrys post for more on him and his family. Dead by 1851.

1844 - J Carr. Almost certainly Josiah Carr who this year was involved in a very long (over two days) fight with another man that started in the Rose and Crown, carried on in the street outside then moved to "Crown Close" (near the back of Boots today). All over a game of cards being played for money. Josiah was a serial poacher convicted of offences at Fawley and Marlow. See also The Anchor below for more Carrs.  

Gone by 1872.

THE ALMA presumably named for the 1854 battle, however records suggest the premises first received a licence in 1830. This would indicate that this was one of the many pubs that changed name over time. On Queens Road / Gas Works side of the road. 

1860 - James Patterson (fined for having defective measures, and unusually one was an "over measure" rather than a short measure!) Having a defective measure was a very common offence and seems often to stem from manufacturing defects in the measure rather than dishonesty on the publican's part. In 1861, he was living elsewhere in Dean Street and working as a cordwainer with wife Ann. By 1871 he and Ann have taken on The Nags Head, also in Dean Street. Possibly the James "Pattison" at the "Blue Bonnets" [Bonnet O' Blue] West Street 1855. 

1861 - James East, also market gardener. Wife Charlotte. A James East was listed as a Well End / Dean Street beer retailer in 1849 at uncertain premises. This was not necessarily the same James as later at the Alma however. The James that was at the Alma looks to have been the cousin of  Mrs Diana Smith landlady of the Bricklayers Arms in Chapel Street. More on that pub here.

1869 -William East of The Fighting Cocks applied for the licence as he said that he only put his name down for the Cocks to save it from closure but he had no intention of staying there. William was unsuccessful though, as he'd faced trial at a Quarter Sessions.  He wasn't found guilty but this was regarded as a "moral stain" and only those of good character were allowed a licence - in theory at least!  John Finch took on the Alma instead temporarily.

1870 - James Meakes had it briefly (he was a brewer and he may have been running his own pub until he could find a live in landlord)  then Henry Harding (hold over). William Brown applies for the licence but the magistrates feel the local character references he supplies are not sufficient as he's only been in town for 3 months. Therefore they  don't represent a satisfactory insight into his character they feel. NB this is not the same William Brown who was a landlord at The Mint or Jolly Maltsters. 

1872 - Mr Finch. William Thatcher was spotted going intothe  premises during prohibited hours and was fined 1s, a nominal sum for his first offence. His defence? He just wanted to borrow some salt for his vegetables from Mrs Finch.

1873 - John Finch to George Allen. John appears to have moved to The Bank of England, where the brewers were required to find a new tenant after the previous one was accused of harbouring criminals. 

1877 - John Finch qv (lodging house also) 

1878 - William West  (hold-over)

1879 -Henry Hester with wife Charlotte. Licencing authorities are assured Henry has a character of excellent "sobriety, industry, and honesty". An attempt to transfer the licence little later that year to Daniel Price is refused due to lack of sufficient character references for Daniel. He did succeed taking it on briefly the next year it seems. 

1880 - 1. Henry Hester transferred licence to Thomas Price or Daniel Price. 

1881 - Daniel Price transferred licence to George Allen.

1882 - Licence renewal for George Allen refused. The premises had been closed several months at time of the licencing sessions. In April two homeless women, Sarah Brewer junior and senior were arrested for sleeping in the empty building. Sarah senior spent 7 days in prison for this, the younger was released without charge. By September the owner of the premises, James Meakes (Meekes) was extremely frustrated that he had been unable to find a suitable tenant (or rather one the licencing magistrates will accept as suitable) So he decided to apply to take over the licence himself. If they did not grant this, James said that the property would become valueless as it will have to stay closed. His pleas were unsuccessful. Probably because they suspected that the other business interests of James would not in reality allow him to personally manage things with the close attention they felt the Alma needed. In October the licence was refused again to George Allen. This refusal came after the magistrates went to view the property - for reasons we cannot yet discover but the most common reasons for refusal on grounds of the property itself rather than the behaviour of the landlord were too low a rateable value to qualify for a licence, the perceived condition of the building or a physical feature that was considered likely to make the premises hard to police - eg entrance on to a back alley.

1884 - "The Alma Inn". We are uncertain if the premises were still actually open for business but the name still seems to have been up.

THE FIGHTING COCKS

Was immediately next to the Nag's Head

1840 - Samuel Beckett. John Perry was convicted of shooting at and damaging the sign of the Fighting Cocks.

1844 - S. Beckett. Also a carpenter. 

1851 - Samuel Beckett

1853 - Samuel Beckett

1861 - Samuel Beckett (also a carpenter). Wife Emma nee James. Samuel was born circa 1812, the son of James (a carpenter) and Ann Beckett who lived Quoiting Square Marlow. Samuel was dead by 1882. Emma died in 1883.

1868- William East. Probably had come from The Nags Head.  

1869 -William East transferred to Joseph Perry. William applied to take on The Alma as he said he'd just stepped in when the Cocks was at risk of closure and so put his name on the licence with no intention of staying long term. He was not successful in his application for The Alma. See below. One local report states the licence transfer was to a James Perry, not Joseph but the majority of evidence suggests that Joseph is correct. The new Perry in charge said on his application for the licence that he was already resident at the Cocks. He said he currently worked seasonally on threshing machines and at hawking fruit. He however did have experience of running an unnamed beer-house in Canterbury about 12 years previously. He did so for a year after which time he "could not make it pay". 

1871- Joseph Perry born 1834 (also an agricultural labourer, former skewer maker -more on his family's involvement in this trade here). Wife Ann. 

1873-  a lodger had coins and buttons stolen from the premises.

1878 - Joseph Perry (also labourer)

1881 - Joseph Perry (also agricultural labourer)

1883 - Joseph Perry to his widow Ann. 

1884 - James Perry 2. John Bryant

1884 - John Briant /Bryant (later a greengrocer/ shopkeeper/ market gardener in Queens Road. John was a retired soldier) 2.) Mrs Perry (unknown first name). She was given notice to quit by Wethered's Brewery as she was caught selling beer outside of legal hours. At court she received a 15s fine for this.

1885 - proposal to close The Fighting Cocks if the immediately adjacent Nag's Head was awarded a spirit licence. An identical proposal had been accepted the previous year but paperwork wasn't filed in time so the Nag's Head spirit licence had to be applied for again this year. Proposal accepted in principle but Fighting Cocks did not close. See below. 

1889 - Proposal again made by owners to close this down in exchange for being granted full licence for Nags Head. It doesn't seem to have happened as in 1892 a second proposal is made to close it in exchange for the Wethered Brewery getting an off licence that would allow it to sell smaller quantities of bottled beer off the premises to trade customers who came from small beer houses. Their existing licence only allowed them to sell beer by the large cask or in a minimum of 24 bottles at once, which they said was too much for some of the smaller concerns who would happily come and collect their own bottled supplies direct from the brewery if permitted. Seems The Fighting Cocks was still open however until 1897. When the off licence was considered, Wethered's had suggested they would close the Cocks to encourage the magistrates to find in their favour, and the magistrates intimated they would like to see this happen. However it doesn't seem they made it an actual condition of granting the licence, so perhaps that gave the brewery no sense of hurry in the matter. 

THE ROYAL EXCHANGE 

1860 - John Langley. Fined for using short measures this year. Wife Ann. 

1861 - John Langley (John aka John Langley Senior was at the Verney Arms by 1871, see also The Crown).

1863 John Langley tried to get a spirit license for the premises but it was refused.

1869- John Langley tried again to upgrade premises to an alehouse in September. Not successful. His existing premises were large enough to host a club dinner for 150 persons in May. He opened the Verney Arms in October with an official grand opening in December. It was described as newly built premises.

Not listed in an 1872 list of beer houses. 

THE ANCHOR, on the Queen's Road side of the street.

Primarily a lodging house, albeit one with beer selling licence. Not the same as The Crown and Anchor. 

1840 Joseph Carr?

1841 - George Carr (beer seller and lodging house keeper, premises not named, but right street). Carr's Beer house "Near Marefields." . Wife was Ann.

1844 - George Carr 

1853 - George Carr 

1854 - premises for sale, "that well accustomed Beerhouse" the Anchor, Dean Street. Includes tenement adjoining and large yard.  

1857- George Carr fined 50s for having his beerhouse open for longer than the legal hours. This was a large fine for that offence. Mrs Carr represented him in court and said she had kept a beerhouse for 20 years without being summoned so we know Mrs Carr was equally involved in the business. It also suggests the possibility of the Anchor existing as far back as 1837, or of the Carrs having previously been at another house.

1860 - George Carr. Fined 2s 6d for giving short measures, one of several beer sellers caught doing the same in Marlow that year.

1861 - George Carr 2. Ann Carr widow of George.  She was a lodging house keeper and marine store dealer on the same premises as well as being a beer seller. 

1862 - Ann Carr "Anchor Beer House". Fined for having 5 people drinking in her bar after hours. She said she had lost track of time. Ann was said in the South Bucks Free Press (Nov 1st 1862) to be a good looking, blonde woman (or as it was said precisely "fat, fair and forty") who did a good trade as lodgings provider for itinerant people on the fringes of society. This made her a desirable match. A widowed man called Richardson had been playing court to her seemingly with success even though they sometimes physically fought but eventually they fell out for good. Ann told him to leave. In revenge for one night he let anyone who wanted to put their horses in her meadow and eat the grass for the sum of 6 shillings. He broke the lock in order to do this. Presumably she was keeping the grass for hay or it was thought the animals might damage the hedges or just startle Ann by their unexpected presence. An odd sort of revenge anyway. She had him arrested but chose not to appear in court to press the case and the charges were dismissed. Ann by the way was nearly 50, not 40.

1863 - Ann Carr, still also lodging house keeper and marine store dealer. 

1867 - Charles Price. Fined 21s for keeping the premises open after hours on one occasion and 10 shillings on another. Went by 1871 to Crown and Cushion Dean Street, first to live with his sister in law the landlady then to run the place himself.

1876 - George Carr, now a lodging house only. Believed to be no longer licensed at this point. Perhaps son of George and Ann above though we couldn't see such a baptism.

1897 - is still in existence and apparently licensed again as there was reference at a local coroner's inquest to a man who lived elsewhere in the town going for a drink in the Anchor, Dean Street Marlow. A resident of the premises then was an Alice Hurst.

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 Dean 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

* For more on the dramatic life of William and his wife Avis see our post here.

SOURCES

Licence hearing reports, property transactions, court cases, advertising, wills etc and...

1853, 1863 Mussons and Cravens Commercial Directory from University of Leicester Archives.

Kelly's Post Office Directory - 1859, 1864, 1869, 1877. By Kelly's Directories Limited.

1833 Parish Assessment. Original record held by my family and transcribed by Charlotte Day.

1872 Beer House Listings, Old Bucks County Council Archives

Pigots Directory 1844

Census 1841,1861,1871,1881,1891 transcribed from microfilm.

Bucks Herald 3 October 1840, 17 July 1841, 9th August 1873, 22 May 1902 - held at British Library and accessed via the BNA March 2021.

Bucks Advertiser and Aylesbury News 14 July 1860, as above

Reading Mercury -10 November 1855, 25 September 1875,  29 November 1890, as above

South Bucks Standard July 14 1876, 20 September 1899, June 10 1904, December 25 1908, March 25th 1909 as above. 

Windsor & Eton Express January 25 1868, January 9th 1909 as above

South Bucks Free Press July 14 1860, as above and August 8th 1884 via the Bucks Free Press archives.

Maidenhead Advertiser September 4 1889, as above

Slough Eton and Windsor Observer Aug 29 1885 - Slough Library. 

Post researched and written by Kathryn Day

©Marlow Ancestors. 

Executions And Turnip Rustling- Marlow Bottom Farm

Hold on to your hats- this is complicated!!!

C1767 - Webb family occupy "Marlow Bottom Farm", tenants of the Claytons. 

1813 - "Marlow Bottom Farm" given as 170 acres.

1829- 1832 Richard Webb occupied a farm with this name. Still owned by the Claytons. Wife Mary. Leased the farm and also Burford Farm in Marlow Bottom which had previously been occupied by James Webb, presumed father of Richard, and Thomas Rolls. Also had land elsewhere in Marlow as well as other property, especially in the Dean Street area. Burford was his by lease from 1813. Appointed executor of will of Elizabeth Winter written 1813, proved 1814. He himself died 1832. Photo of his grave here. In 1825 his former employee Edmonds was executed for twice stealing his horse (the same horse, stolen, recovered and stolen again). Richard said Edmund's had been a good employee once and asked he be treated with mercy to no avail. To read the full peculiar story, see Kathryn's post here! In 1830 he was one the local farmers threatened by letter for using mechanization on the farm. He does not seem to have given in to demands to remove his machines or been attacked by the Swing Rioters. For more on the Swing Riots in Marlow see Kathryn's post here. 

1833- The 1833 parish assessment lists "Marlow Bottom Farm" twice, once as owned and occupied by William James Atkinson, and once again as owned by the Clayton's and occupied by David and James Webb. So there are two farms now using the name! See below, and note that the short form "Bottom Farm" can refer to either of them or even to nearby Burford Farm. 

1833- David and James Webb have "Marlow Bottom Farm", the one owned by Clayton that is. It had grown to 256 acres.

1833- William James Atkinson owned and farmed a property designated as "Marlow Bottom Farm" of 305 acres. He continued to live elsewhere in Marlow however. For more on William and his family see here. William eventually, as described below, gave up the majority of his farm Marlow Bottom and let it out to others instead. The farm thereafter is usually given as much smaller as he kept some land back for himself. He may also have let portions of land to tenants other than the main farm occupier. 

1838- 1843 James and David Webb who were brothers, the sons of Richard and Mary Webb above. (Clayton property) In 1841 John Perry and Henry Green were fined for poaching on their land. The Perry family were notorious poachers. For more on them see my post here. In 1842 the two Webbs went bankrupt. Amongst money owed was to the parish for unpaid poor rate taxes. They had to sell off their horses, implements and crops of hay, wheat and turnips but obviously managed to continue at the farm for some while as both were still farming there 1843 and David at least was still at the farm when he died in 1846. Warrants were out for their arrest in 1842 because of the tax issue. At the same time there was a warrant out for David's arrest over an alleged assault of Eliza Frith. I don't know what happened about the latter charge. James and David also occupied Burford Farm Marlow Bottom until ejected by their landlords in 1843. In addition they farm 90 acres at Hill Farm. 

1844-46 David and James Webb (Clayton portion) David died in 1846 while away visiting his brother Alexander. James continued the farm until Michaelmas 1847. 

1848- Crops sold off, barley, wheat, oats from the farm of William James Atkinson "Marlow Bottom Farm". He continued to farm a small amount of land here until his death in 1850 when his property descended to his nephew Benjamin Atkinson who owned the farm until at least 1862. In that year he also owned and let let out Town End farm in Marlow. Benjamin is covered in detail in this post. 

1851- John Miller. Wife Mary. Mary raised the fowls on the farm, two chickens were stolen from her in 1853. I am unsure of whether he was at the Clayton or Atkinson owned "Marlow Bottom Farm".  John gave evidence at a hearing on local political corruption -see here.

1854 - 1860 Mary Miller, by then a widow, left and sold up her crops of barley, clover, peas and chaff as well as her stock of poultry. Ducks were stolen from her that year, as was a sack. For the latter offence Charles Frith was sentenced to a month in jail.;Yep, for stealing a sack. Mary died in Kilburn London in 1865. 

1860-1863 George Wells. He fell out significantly with a Mr Hall who had bought some of Mary Miller's crops which were still on the farm when Wells tried to come in as a tenant. Plus Mary Miller was still in the house and wasn't giving him the keys to his barns. His issues with Hall led to a suit in court, a counter suit for slander and then more suits. George Cannon the bookseller and chemist of Marlow High Street, unfortunate mutual friend of both parties, tried very hard to mediate but was ultimately unsuccessful. No wonder Mr Wells didn't stick around for long. He must have been sick of the sight of that stressful farm! Presumably George was at the Clayton owned farm.

1862- Benjamin Atkinson as owner farmed his "Marlow Bottom Farm" himself for a while but decided to give it up and put it up to let again in 1862. He was a doctor and did not reside at the farm at any point. It took until 1863 to get a new tenant. Benjamin said that he was giving up farming altogether so sold off the stock of both his Marlow Bottom Farm and Town End Farm in 1862. He held the farm until his death however with tenant's running it. Following his death in 1867 his widow Eliza held it. By 1880 she had a bailiff Mr Daniel Goodwin running things for her rather than renting it out to a tenant. He lived on site.

1863-1871 William Spiller. Not sure if he was at the Clayton or Atkinson owned farm but most likely Spiller was a tenant of Atkinson's as his arrival fits with Atkinson's relinquishing agricultural pursuits himself. Spiller's farm was mostly arable. He was fined 20 shillings for beating a boy who worked for him for disobeying him [Reading Mercury 14th July 1866, British Library].  The next year he was fined for employing a boy called Robert Twitchen aged just 10 years old as a carter! All but one of William's hens were stolen from the hen house in 1869. Left once his lease was up.

1870- A "Marlow Bottom Farm" is described as having a newly erected farmhouse and as being a corn and sheep farm. The farm is said to be in some sources 150 acres and in others 318 acres. It's never simple when it comes to tracing the history of the farms there! It would seem there were still two farms and sources were getting confused between them as to acreage.

1871-1880 Joseph Birch. Wife Emma. In 1874 John Todd of Marlow was fined for taking turnip greens from Joseph's field. Joseph went bankrupt in 1878 but seems to have managed to stay at the farm for a while afterwards. He was jailed in 1879 for several months after it was revealed he has attempted to move and conceal some of his property from his creditors. The main creditors were the executors of his late father to whom he owed £500 (perhaps a loan to start up farming?). They had one night forcibly removed much of his farm stock, horses and equipment so they could auction them off, effectively ruining him as a farmer and forcing the bankruptcy. He tried to keep back items such as his wife's piano. As he couldn't pay his rent his household furniture and crop of hay was seized by his unknown landlord. Joseph and Emma left Marlow for Chesham in 1880.

1878 - "Marlow Bottom Farm" for sale - but which one! Described as a "capital sheep and corn farm" with "dry and healthy land". Offered with modern farm house, 5 labourers' cottages and a little over 315 acres.  Same year another "Marlow Bottom Farm" containing 140 acres of land and woodland and a farmhouse is up to let. Told you things were complicated. The farm with 140 acres was put up for sale the next year but only a minor part of the land was sold.

1881 - A "Marlow Bottom Farm" now of only 86 acres was up for sale- arable, pasture and woodland with an orchard and farm house. Vacant possession. Perhaps this was the 140 acre farm which the owner attempted to sale in 1878 minus the little bit of land successfully sold at that time.

1881 in July Mr E.B Curtis entered into the "Marlow Bottom Farm" previously owned by Mrs Atkinson and was still there a year later. He knocked two workers cottagers into one for his farm bailiff to live in. Bailiffs were most often seen at farms where the owner or tenant reduced elsewhere but Mr Curtis did live in Marlow Bottom. He and his farm bailiff Daniel Goodwin couldn't get along and they parted company in under a year. It ended up in a court case in which Curtis was found to have given Goodwin insufficient notice when he fired him. This Goodwin was the same bailiff that had worked on the farm for Mrs Atkinson.

1888- a Mr Chilton at "Marlow Bottom Farm" but which one?

1884 - 1902 Henry White. Originally from Cornwall. Raised chickens, bees and field crops at "Marlow Bottom Farm" but which one?

1903- 1921 William Chappell. His wife offered rooms at the farm to rent to tourists. They seem to have taken over the premises of Henry White. Kept cattle, poultry, pigs. In 1906 their employee John Lovegrove had to have his thumb amputated after his bird scaring gun exploded in his hand. This farm was sold by unknown owner 1921.

1931-34 Mr F.C Mathews, a supporter of the Working Men's College of London. He invited some of the unemployed men training there to a summer holiday camp on the farm in 1933. Apparently gave up resting chickens on the farm in 1931 as he sold off all his stock and equipment. A Great Marlow Parish councillor.

1934 Mr William Ray Coryton of Marlow Bottom Farm had a serious fire in his farmhouse gutting a bedroom, dining room, the stairs and the hall. Two firefighters from Marlow Fire Brigade were injured in the attempt to control the fire. There was no water but a small well with which to fight the flames. Report Bucks Free Press 14th December 1934, Bucks Free Press Archives.

1938- poor boys from London brought here for a camping holiday. Alfred Arnold was the occupier, as he was in 1939 though he was described as a grocer rather a farmer. It is possible that the other former "Marlow Bottom Farm" had become Cranes Poultry Farm which appears at Marlow Bottom on the 1939 Register (Ancestry). Scout groups had held summer camps at the farm regularly for some years.

Farm occupier listings are compiled by me by cross referencing property records, ads, trade journals, censuses, wills, court cases and more.

To look for other people on the blog use the Person Index option on the top menu. There are over 10,000 people listed there. 

For other posts related to Marlow Bottom and nearby see here

Lots more farm occupier lists to come on the blog for both Great Marlow and Little Marlow areas.  Use the Specific Shops, Streets Etc option on the top drop down menu to find other farming related posts.

©Marlow Ancestors. 

Skewer Makers of Dean Street

UPDATED JULY 2024

If you took a wander down Dean Street in Great Marlow, early in the morning in the first half of the 1800s, you would have seen a stream of men and donkeys heading out of town. Their mission was to gather hazel or privet wood known as "prickwood" from hedgerows for the making of skewers. The skewers these men fashioned supplied much of the London meat industry although they were also used by butcher's shops throughout the South. So associated with skewer making were these men with their donkeys that anyone in Buckinghamshire who saw a passing man and donkey presumed that there went a Marlow "skewerter." They then proceeded to lock up their hedgerows so to speak! More on that below. Dean Street was colloquially known in town as Skewer Street. The skewer makers sat in their doorways on Sundays making their skewers, having spent the rest of the week gathering the wood. Some women as well as the children learning the trade sat making them too. The family donkey would be in the passage of the house looking on.

Skewer making was a major industry for the town but one that doesn't get the attention of the lace, thimble or paper industries for which Marlow is well known.

Late Victorian references to the by then mostly vanished trade said many of those involved had been of gipsy origin. It is certainly the case that a number of Dean Street families had gipsy roots. Even though most were living a settled lifestyle as early as the beginning of Victoria's reign their descendants could still recall their origins and would define themselves as gipsy into the modern day.

Not all families involved were gipsy however, not by any means. 

Some of the gathering of wood ("prick wood") from hedgerows around Marlow itself rather than further afield, was also done by the women of skewer making families travelling on foot.

One of the problems the skewer makers always had was getting the wood both in the Marlow area and further away. The hedgerows belonged to the landowners and taking any amount of wood from them was theft. Many convictions for such were accrued by the Dean Street men. However considering the scale of operations even those levels of prosecutions suggest that some tolerance may have been exercised by some landowners. Either that or the skewerters were good at a speedy getaway!

Prosecutions often involved wood stolen from the richest local landowners. Marlow skewerters sometimes expressed in their defence at those times that they did not regard their taking of skewer wood to be a crime. They were pursuing a traditional occupation complicated by no fault of their own and without them having any power to prevent it by Enclosure acts which cut the poor off from traditional common land. Some of the wood taken was from coverts which the landowners themselves maintained purely for leisure game shooting. Popular opinion amongst the poorer people in Marlow was firmly with the skewerters and their right to gather.

The first conviction we have found for wood theft by skewer makers was in 1829. Then "Todd and Robinson" skewer makers of Great Marlow received 2 months in Aylesbury Gaol for stealing prick wood at Burnham.

Most thefts were small but in 1839 three Marlow men were convicted of stealing EIGHT THOUSAND sprigs from the undergrowth of a hedgerow at Gray's Court near Henley. Charles Bowles aka Guinea Bean was committed to Oxford Castle for 12 months and was ordered to be whipped twice in addition. Thomas Bowles was fined £8, and Thomas Frith the same but in default of payment was also imprisoned.

A probable relative of the two Bowles men above was John Bowles who was fined 9 shillings including costs for cutting wood for skewers in 1846. 

The youngest skewer maker I have seen so far is aged 16 on the 1851 census, Joseph Perry (later of the Fighting Cocks Pub). His 19 year old brother James and dad also James followed the same trade. The mum in this family Ellen [correctly Eleanor] was a lace maker like a high percentage of other women in Dean Street both married and unmarried. That women like Ellen also worked for pay, outside of the socially preferred model of family life at the time which would have them be full time housewives, is a sign that skewer making was not a high income occupation for their husbands. That is likely also why such a high number of Dean Street skewer makers were also convicted poachers. 

In the opinion of many being of a thieving disposition and being a skewer maker went hand in hand. The London Daily News for instance in 1848 thought that because the profession was built upon the habitual use of stolen wood something like a moral infection crept into the souls of these families and they couldn't resist poaching or other stealing. It was too much like second nature for them. The paper more or less labelled theft in the town as being down to the malign influence of these skewerters. Why the country courts throughout England were perpetually full of poaching or other larceny cases despite the absence of the skewer trade they didn't say.

Skewer making was seasonal, as suitable wood could not be found all year. Thus although many defined themselves predominately as skewer makers, none could follow this occupation year round. In between times most men were day labourers (which could get little work in winter and were always very poorly paid) while other men and some women became hawkers of fruit and veg, especially cherries. The transitory nature of skewer making work didn't seem to be understood  by the powers that be.

Investigations by the government into the poor laws in 1834 heard evidence from Marlow officials. These said that the part time skewer makers were often on poor relief and committing fraud by working at the same time for good wages. This makes little sense as by the officials own admission those on poor relief were required to work from 6 am to 6pm for the parish. This would be the hardest work in all weathers. No one would do this if they were, as alleged, making a good wage from just a few hours work of an evening skewer making. One Marlow poor relief officer a Mr Gibbons said the guilty skewerters of Dean Street could "live very extravagantly in reference to their station in life" and be "excellent customers to the public houses for beer". These would be the tiny beer houses in the street which made so little money most families who ran them needed to have an additional occupation and take in lodgers in order to survive. And by living extravagantly he must have meant living in overcrowded conditions in poorly maintained houses as that is what the skewerters did. Many went to gaol as they couldn't pay the fines given to them upon their conviction for taking the prick wood. They may have been seen at certain times of the year buying multiple articles, such as new clothes, but that was because those were the good times when skewer making season was on again, and the involved families finally had money to spend on essentials after often months of hardship.

The skewer trade began to fade in the 1860s but it took a while to die. Edward James Mortimer Collins writing in 1869 still said that Marlow was famous for skewers without putting that fact in the past tense. There were still skewerters in the early 1880s too and as late as 1889 John Bowles skewer maker of Marlow was fined for letting his donkey stray onto the highway.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day.

To find ancestors on the blog look at the Person Index option on the drop down menu.

Some Sources:

Newspapers at the British Library, accessed via the BNA:

Bucks Gazette December 12th 1829.

Bucks Herald 13th April 1833 and 8th June 1889.

Oxford University and City Herald and also the Bucks Gazette 13th April 1839.

Oxford Chronicle 31st Jan 1846. As above.

Above copies held at the British Library and digitized by the BNA. Accessed by us April 2021.

London Daily News. London Daily News 30th November 1848.

Windsor & Eton Express 19 July 1831, as above. 

1851 census Charlotte's transcriptions from microfilm.

Two Reports Addressed To His Majesties Commissioners Appointed To Inquire Into The Poor Laws. 1834.

The Ivory Gate Volume One by Edward James Mortimer Collins. Published by Hurst and Blackett 1869. Oxford University Library. Digitized by Google.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use this content for family and local history purposes with credit to this blog and a link here so that our sources listed above remain credited for providing information.

Edward Hatton, Town Crier, Beer Seller and More - updated December 2024

Updated July 2023

Edward was born 1832 in Marlow to William and Mary Hatton and grew up in Dean Street (then usually going by it's original name Well End, not to be confused with the hamlet of Well End near Little Marlow/Bourne End). His father was an agricultural labourer, his mother a housewife.

He appeared on the 1851 census as an apprentice shoemaker lodging with widow Mary Perry and her children, one of whom was also an apprentice shoemaker. Edward must have been nearly finished with his apprenticeship as he was married the next year to Sarah Blewett and apprentices were not allowed to marry.

Sarah was a satin stitch worker like so many Marlow women at that time. She grew up in Gun Lane, just off Dean Street. Gun Lane is now known as Trinity Road.

On the 1861 census Edward, Sarah and 5 children lived in Cambridge Place (no longer exists, was off Cambridge Road). By the next year they had moved to West Street (Henley Road end) where Edward ran the Volunteer beer house. This doubled as a lodging house. It was located very close to the Hand and Flowers. Shoemaking was a competitive and very poorly paid trade so having a try at another occupation was very tempting. Edward knew more than most the precariousness of the shoemaking trade as his uncle also called Edward Hatton had gone bankrupt while following the trade in 1856.

In 1862 Edward was fined a shilling for using a short measure in the pub. (Plus 12s 6d costs!)

In 1867 one of his lodgers, 23 year old William Stacey and another young man John Howard stole a lamb from a field and killed it for food. They hid the remains in his garden. A third of the lamb was given to Edward to cook. He was thus charged with knowingly receiving stolen goods but was found not guilty. Several respectable citizens of the town signed a statement in support of Edward. They said he was of good character, and he also bought some character witnesses to the trial. Stacey and Howard both recieved 6 months with hard labour for their efforts. (Stacey had turned kings evidence but no reduced sentence for him as he was regarded as the instigator of the deed.)

Several tradesman wrote to the court to testify to his good character, and two more appeared personally to do the same- William East a market gardener and Owen Wright a baker.

By 1871 Edward, Sarah and 8 children were back in Cambridge Place with Edward shoemaking once more.

On the 1881 and 1891 census they lived again in West Street in the first cottage after Potlands Alley, effectively next door to the Red Lion Pub. Their little 4 room home no longer exists. It has been replaced by a car park but there are photos of the Red Lion on the SWOP site which allow you to catch a glimpse of the Hatton's home. Life was not altogether happy here for the Hattons. Sarah was suffering from ill health and in 1898 was described as in a weak and "nervous condition". The poor woman found herself in court when her 23 year old son Ernest hit her on the arm with a poker. Furious father Edward took out a warrant for Ernest's apprehension as he'd left hurriedly afterwards. Eliza made a sad figure in court, sobbing and begging the authorities not to press the charges as she was had not been much hurt. Her husband did not agree, and nor did her other son Walter who had "knocked about" Ernest on discovering the offence. Edward said this was not the first occasion on which Ernest had behaved shamefully to his mother and he had already decided to ask the courts for an order of "ejectment" to be made to remove him from their family home. Ernest admitted hitting his mother but without the intention of hurting her.  Magistrate General George Higginson did not take kindly to Ernest's self pitying defence or complaints relating to the punishment already inflicted by his brother. Higginson said that Ernest had appeared to loose "all sense of what is right" and would be sentenced to 6 weeks in prison with hard labour after which he'd be bound over to keep the peace. On hearing this Ernest burst into tears, but Higginson he could not be moved to pity because "a man who strikes his own mother is unworthy of consideration". He added that brother Walter had acted quite naturally in punching Ernest on discovering his actions towards their mother. On a more positive note Ernest was a one time player for Marlow Football club, as well as some of Marlow's less well known teams.  

Difficulty with his son was not the only of Edwards woes. It's not often remembered that if an elderly person unable to provide for themselves was admitted to the Union workhouse in Saunderton had adult children earning their own living, the children were expected to contribute to the maintenance of their family member. The amount depended on the children's income and dependents. In 1886 Edward found himself in court because he had failed to make the required payments in respect to his father. The court had previously considered his circumstances when deciding the sum to be contributed but Edward thought the claim unreasonable. He said he had 6 children at home age 7-19, only two of whom were working and two others had had been sick for a number of months. The paper said Edward's defence was "rambling" and whether it was or not, did him no good as he was ordered again to pay up. Edward told the magistrates the decision was "unchristian" and threatened to go to gaol rather than pay but I think he did not carry out this threat. 

In 1901 Edward was listed as a bill poster. This was an official job which involved pasting up official parish notices, like that of an upcoming election. It often in Marlow went hand in hand with the role of Town Crier and this was also the case with Edward. It looks like he took on both roles in 1894.

Edward's other role in the town was as an active Wesleyan preacher on the local circuit, from 1876-1904. 

He died in 1913, Sarah in 1911.

To find all mentions of a person on this blog use the Person Index on the top drop down menu. To find all pub and beershop related posts see the Pub related option in the same menu. For a full list of old Marlow beer shops see the list  here

©Marlow Ancestors. 

References:

Bucks Herald 13th April 1867. Copy held at the British Library. Accessed by me online via the British Newspaper Archive October 2020.

Reading Mercury 28th June 1862, as above.

GRO index of marriages, and of deaths online. 

Census my transcript from microfilm.

The Poaching Perrys

The men of the Perry family of Dean Street / Hatches Row Great Marlow were notorious for their prolific, unapologetic and at times violent poaching in the 1800s.

The main suspects were brothers William and John Perry, sons of Joseph and Sarah (née Heather, married 1803). William was born circa 1804 and John in 1810.

Look them up on the census or other records and they tend to appear as harmless agricultural labourers and in William's case a beer seller too but at the end of that working day their other, to them probably more important work, began. It's a bit of a surprise that any game survived locally!

The first conviction for William I found was in 1830 when he received 3 months in jail for poaching. In 1838 he was fined for illegal use of a gun, while in 1839 he was forced to pay up after being caught trespassing in search of game. By 1840 he was already described as a notorious and long standing poacher. That year he was caught poaching by a gamekeeper at Shottesbrook. William beat the gamekeeper about the head with the butt of his rifle and escaped. Reports of the incident lead to two Windsor policeman pursuing and arresting him. Could they hold him between them? No. The Perrys were consistently described as tall, heavy built men. William was one of those in Marlow who sometimes fought with cudgels for a share of a prize pot. This sport had its heyday in Marlow late 1700s to about 1840s. He was said to be one of the best fighters in Buckinghamshire.

If William thought he would get away with attacking the gamekeeper however he was wrong. The Windsor constables he escaped from knew exactly who he was and where he lived.

Marlow Parish Constable Henry Stallwood, another Constable Daniel Cox, Tithing Man (Marlow was divided into East and West Tithings each with a man responsible for certain criminal matters on their patch) James Cox and Constable Horton from Windsor got together to try to take William into custody. They didn't expect it to be easy.

James Cox must have drawn the short straw as he was the one to knock on William's door.

The constables went round the back.

William was in and asked for the warrant to be read out in full to him, perhaps giving himself time to weigh up his options. John Perry the brother of William shouted at him to run away and save himself. His friend Charles Gibbons used the "say it backwards" language of criminals in those days to urge the same "t'nod og!" [don't go with him, the constable] . Horton however cuffed William and escorted him towards the door. A man called Richard Carr came in causing a distraction (not necessarily on purpose) and John Gibbons another friend of the Perrys who was also already on the premises attacked Horton and freed William. A different Constable stepped up and seized William getting him as far as the street. Horton followed and also took hold of the prisoner. At this point someone struck him on the head. Others including Charles Mould and Charles Gibbons moved in to try to rescue William once more. Horton had a staff as part of his official kit and used it to prevent this. People began pouring out of their houses in support of William until an estimated 100 people had gathered. Some openly called for the Constables to be killed. Horton was repeatedly hit by Charles Gibbons and Charles Mould and set on by a bulldog before being knocked unconscious with a stick. It was thought Charles Gibbons was responsible for that blow. A James Richardson dragged Horton away down a side way and confiscated his staff.

William made something of a run for it, to the cheers of the crowd, but the other constables did manage to capture him. They also recovered the unconscious Horton and sat up all night tending him. Later they successfully arrested James Richardson, Charles Gibbons and Charles Mould. All would be jailed for several months for their part in events.

Considering all these convictions it is a puzzle to see just how William managed to get a beer house licence. These had to be renewed yearly and you were supposed to have good character to get one. Yet time after time William was allowed to keep his beer house the Fox and Pheasant (appropriate title!) in Dean Street. He and his wife Avis (née Butler, married Great Marlow 1829), were there by 1861. William was still listed as landlord in the late 1860s when he was fined for being open illegal hours.

His last poaching conviction was in 1876. The weary sitting magistrate said that that occasion was the 10th time he alone had sentenced William, mostly for similar poaching offences.

William died in 1880 at the quoted age of 73 or 74 after falling out of a tree in Datchett whilst gathering walnuts and apples for his employer John Langley the fruiterer. It was thought a dizzy spell brought on by heart disease caused the accident. He fractured his spine in the fall. Avis had predeceased him. 

What of his brother John?

He started his criminal career in traceable records with a charge of handling a stolen silver pocket watch in 1829 when he was 19. In 1840 he was fined 10 shillings for shooting at the sign of the Fighting Cocks pub in Dean Street, causing it damage. Inebriated poaching practice? William East was charged with the same offence. The Easts seemed to have had something of a shakey on-again off-again relationship with the poaching Perrys. (Thomas East was one of those who witnessed the fight occasioned by William's arrest and gave evidence against Richardson in that case.)

In 1842 he was described as a "stout, resolute poacher" in the Windsor and Eton Express. The Marlow constable Henry Stallwood surprised him in bed with a warrant for his arrest on multiple charges of poaching at Fawley. Stallwood must have had a short memory as he believed John when he promised that he would come quietly and waited for him to dress himself before taking him outside. Can you guess what happened next?

Yes, John shoved him aside and ran off. Several days later Stallwood had another go. He found John in a beer house. John made no pretence of going quietly that time and struggled. Stallwood threatened to show him the work his Constable's staff could do if he kept resisting. John ignored him and ended up so badly injured his life was feared for. Despite having multiple severe head injuries and a badly bruised body he stood trial, found guilty and sent to jail for 14 months.

While he was being help in the lock up prior to trial various Dean Street women and men gathered outside the premises and urged him with their shouts to try to escape. They presumably didn't realise how badly he was injured at the time.

Did this experience put him off offending? 

Not a bit. As "John Perry the notorious poacher" he was back on trial for the same in 1843. 

He teamed up with his brother William in 1844 for another bout of poaching. In 1884 John tells the J P at his latest trial for shooting game, that now he's over 70 he will "go poaching no more". Knowing John he probably meant he would try not to be caught any more! The justices awarded John a £2 fine, promised  future angelic behaviour not withstanding. 

Joseph and Sarah Perry had two more sons - George born 1813 and Samuel born 1804. Both were convicted poachers. Samuel (m Mary Ann Miller) also ran the small Rose and Crown beer house in Dean Street by 1842. Samuel died in a tragic accident, falling from a ladder which gave way under him while he was gathering walnuts in 1844. Historic landlords listing for this pub is on the blog here

He served 3 months in jail for poaching in 1830 and a further 2 months for the same in 1837.

Poaching wasn't his only crime - he was jailed for being part of a gang that burgled a house in 1831 and stole 2 great coats, 2 pairs of breeches and sundry other articles.

Samuel's grandson Alfred Perry features in my History of Marlow Bridge post here

George received an unusually large fine of £5 for poaching in 1840. If he failed to pay it he was to be jailed for 3 month instead. He had been caught on the land of Colonel Higginson.

The same year he and his brother John were caught poaching together and described as "incorrigible poachers" when jailed again for two and three months respectively. Later reminisces recalled many a "desperate and more or less bloody struggle" between later parish constables Richard Davis and Tom Walker and a Perry or two. 

Later generations of Perry men clocked up their own poaching convictions too. The last I saw evidenced was in the 1930s.

Of course not all Perry men poached. I think it is fair to say too that the family seemed to have been thought of affectionately by those reminiscing about the old poaching days. If you weren't a poacher or an official they may have been perfectly nice to you. Something made those 100 people come out to support William that time. Poachers were arrested all the time, especially in Dean Street without the arresting officials being subjected to that much hatred.

The Perry women had no criminal convictions that I can find except Keziah (née Warwick married 1853) wife of a James Perry. She managed to get into a fair amount of trouble generally and was jailed in for stealing money from a shop till. I am uncertain how this James relates to the poaching Perry family above. He was the son of James and Ellen/ Eleanor. His brother Joseph went on to be landlord of the Fighting Cocks.

Sarah Perry mother of the Perry poachers and widow of Joseph worked as a lacemaker during her long widowhood. Elizabeth wife of John (née Coleshill m 1832) was a seamstress.

The trade of wooden skewer making was once a Marlow speciality. Various Perry men worked in that trade and and are amongst those that are featured in this skewer making post.

There was a wealthy lawyer named Nicholas Perry in Marlow in the 1600s. I have transcribed his will and it can be read here.  There were Perry residents of Dean Street by the mid 1780s.

*To find all mentions of an individual on this blog choose the Person Index on the drop down menu*

Post written and researched by Charlotte Day, with additional research by Kathryn Day. 

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use this research for local or family history purposes if you credit this blog and link here so that my sources also remain credited. Thanks.

Sources:

Censuses Great Marlow 1841, 51, 61, 71, 81 my transcription from microfilm.

Great Marlow Parish Registers, my transcriptions.

GRO Marriage Index.

Property records in my family.

Reading Mercury May 1840, 2nd December 1844.

Windsor and Eton Express 27th October 1838, 15th August 1840, 26th February 1842.

Bucks Herald 17th July 1841 and 14th August 1880.

Bucks Gazette 5th March 1831.

South Bucks Standard 25th October 1884 & 7th April 1899

Newspaper copies above are in the British Library Archives and supplied by the BNA. 

A History of Marlow Suspension Bridge to the early 1900s.

 

Before the current bridge was built Marlow had an infirm wooden bridge, that began at the end of St Peter's Street. It had only been built in 1788 and was made of oak yet storm damage and heavy traffic kept taking a toll on it. For years locals decried the state of the bridge on the grounds both that it was an eyesore and a danger. The bridge wardens tried to get official help to repair or replace the existing structure. However it took legal action against the County of Buckinghamshire to force them to organise a new bridge.

Not everyone agreed the bridge should be replaced rather than repaired. The artist JMW Turner sketched the old bridge at the end of its life and thought it one of the loveliest he had seen. He said that parts of the bridge were painted to look like stone.  An 1801 description agrees on the stone effect given by the white wooden ballustrades.  On the other hand, the Berkshire Chronicle in 1832 thought the old bridge was "cumbrous and ugly". 

Justices of the Peace decided a new bridge should be provided. The Bridge wardens owned some land which they could sell and put towards the cost but nowhere near enough. There were some rich people in the town willing to put some money up as subscribers but again not enough. The County took out loans. It was at first thought £2000 might be sufficient extra cash to build the bridge altogether - but estimates came in at four times that amount with the cost of the chains alone expected to be £2000 then. (And the estimates were themselves hopelessly optimistic) The county of Berkshire paid something towards the total. Still, a lot was going to be owed.

Tenders were put out and plans drawn up without every aspect of a financial plan on a concrete basis.

Work began in September 1829 when the bridge's designer and engineer John Millington laid the first stone of one of the pillars. Mr Owen Wethered first placed some coins as a sort of time capsule into the hole dug for that. The chains would be the patent links invented by naval man Capt Samuel Brown, as used on Brighton Chain Pier. 

The church bells rang in celebration and each worker present was given a token shilling and 10 pence as a gift. 

Ominously however as the town stood around that important first hole, it filled back up with water. So a planned official "laying of the first stone" (which would not actually be the first of course) ceremony with more pomp was postponed. 

Work progressed on the bridge at what seemed a glacial place. Weeks into the works there wasn't much to see beyond an enormous hole built for those pillars. Pumps had proved incapable of keeping water out of it. Millington asked the incredulous magistrates who had ordered the bridge what he should do about it. They replied that a qualified civil engineer such as himself would be rather more the person to know what to do than them. We must be fair to Millington and point out the pumps supplied to him were clearly not powerful enough but the powers that be baulked at more expensive but more effective pumps. What Milington was really saying was "What is it you think I can do about the bridge as you don't want to buy me a proper pump?" He claimed that it had always been agreed that he should be provided with a steam powered pump, and in the end one was purchased for his use at the cost of £400. He reasoned that it would only be in use for a few months and so could be sold thereafter for only a small loss. (He was wrong, and the pump only fetched £100 in the end.)

Marlow became a local laughing stock. Dark mutterings that the engineer was incompetent, even fraudulent grew. Issues beyond problems with pumps were at play. 

Right from the get go Millington had faced allegations that his bridge was not going to be strong enough to support itself. Other similar bridges had collapsed in recent years, critics argued. Some of those expressing doubts were involved with building it. Millington tried to prevent critics looking at his plans or speaking to the justices. Some of the bridgewardens were on his side and were willing to help him with this. Probably they felt he didn't need to have to justify himself to armchair experts. And all the while costs were spiralling. Some Marlow residents accused the bridgewardens of being fleeced by any which contractor or surveyor possible in pursuit of their white elephant vanity project. (Hardly fair - it wasn't they who specifically wanted a suspension bridge). Why can't we have a good old stone bridge came the cry.

In 1829, the Marquis of Chandos, on a visit to Wadham Wyndham at Beech Lodge, travelled to the construction site. He expressed surprise at the state of things and was "astonished to see no engineer or clerk of the works present." It was if these essentials had been done away with entirely he thought. Another of the party was heard to call the sight a "disgrace to the county." Although Milington had announced  in July 1829 that he would take up residence in Marlow to personally supervise the work, he left for London after a few months. William Francis, schoolmaster and thorn in the side of any underperforming person in authority, was also a prolific letter writer to the local press, often under the pen  name of Veritas. He poured scorn too on the bridges progress, and in particular the fact that Millington had apparently left supervision of the works to inexperienced teenage junior. This could not be Savage who was middle aged, so presumably another perhaps baby faced assistant was at work on site!

Poor Millington gave up and announced he was off to work on some mines in South America. He would leave full plans and instructions with assistant James Savage who was expected to complete the work. And he would like a full settlement of his account before he left! 

His bridge would not have fallen down it is fair to say. Copies of his plan managed to survive and later engineers who looked at them did not find them dangerous. They would have given Marlow pedestrian footways of 5 foot width rather than the slightly narrower ones there  today. However James Savage was not confident in the design (especially the load bearing capacity of the pillars which were to be in iron) and felt the instructions supplied to him were not good enough to work with. 

Perhaps Millington was as much fed up with the backbiting and factional nature of the town as regards the bridge as the engineering challenges it presented. 

Enter William Tierney Clark. Millington's design was junked in favour of one of his. Clark had built a similar bridge at Hammersmith and it was still standing which was pretty much the sole criterion on which he got the job. Marlow was nervous and it wanted reassurance. (Engineer Savage of St Katherine's Docks does not seem to have continued in his role.)

So what could go wrong?

Well how about broken down engines, unacceptable quality ironwork being supplied, threatening contractor's who hadn't been paid on time, incompetent workmanship on the created approach roads so that they were impassable, disputes with nearby landowners....

1830 came and went. So did 1831. The Bucks Herald thought rumours that bridge would finally be passable in January of that year might be true and if not, they feared the bridge would have it's name changed to the "Procrastination Bridge" by the world at large. The stonework had at least been finished the previous year, and it was, according to the Reading Mercury "very handsome."

National interest in the saga began to show itself. Visitors followed the earlier example of the Marquis and made a point of inspecting the scene and asking embarrassed locals and frustrated workers why the bridge still wasn't ready.

Things were getting ever more fractious on the bankside. In order to have an approach road to the bridge a small piece of land had been taken from the gardens of Court Garden House. The trees felled in the process were old and tall and Court Garden's then owner didn't feel that he had been adequately compensated for the loss of the timber they represented. This was a bit of hot air to be honest as the trees were clearly ornamental and likely never would have been cut down for sale as timber. He also complained that the bridge wardens had failed to build him a new boundary wall for his property. Wary of the expense involved when the project was already so much in the hole, they dragged their feet in resolving these complaints. 

 Nor could anyone agree as to how the loans for the bridge should be repaid. A locally levied income tax for the sake of the bridge was unpopular with those who were paying it, but equally plans to pay off the debt by charging every future horse, carriage and herd of cattle a toll to cross it were bitterly opposed. The income taxation continued in the end.

Persistent accusations about false accounting (through incompetence) directed at the bridge wardens didn't help the mood. Financial matters surrounding the bridge had got so complex between Bucks, Berks, the bridge wardens, landowners, a long list of changing contractors and suppliers etc it seems no one could agree who owed what to who let alone all the what, where, when or whys.

An additional expense was the basic repair of the old bridge in 1830 so that it wouldn't completely fall down before the new one was ready.

Those who did have faith in the suspension bridge were rewarded when 3 years almost to the day the original work had begun Mrs Clark's (perhaps wife of the engineer but there were Clarks in the town otherwise) carriage became the first vehicle to cross the new bridge. She was on her way home from London.

Officially the bridge opened on September 23rd 1832.

This meant the old bridge could be dismantled and sold in three lots by local auctioneer Thomas Rolls. He cautioned that as it was largely rotten not a lot should be expected for it. Someone acting for Rolls' company bought one of the three lots it was divided into in a (slightly shady one must say) attempt to pretend to other buyers in the room that it was a desirable thing. In the end £92 was raised. Not apparently what some had hoped for. It is interesting to compare the description of the wood with that appearing in the notice of auction which described it as suitable where strong timber would be required such as lock repairs! 

Not quite all bridge construction problems were then at an end. That badly laid approach road was still considered unfit for use in 1836. Tierney Clark still hadn't been fully paid by then and was preparing to sue.

Marlow did grow to love its bridge. It served as the end point for most races of the town's beloved rowing regatta as well as a great place to watch the event from. Punting races, when part of the regatta, used it as a starting point. 

Countless painters and early photographers came to Marlow specifically to capture the landmark.

On a sadder note the bridge became a suicide spot, especially in the late 1800s.

Someone who jumped from the bridge and didn't mean to harm himself was Alfred Perry of Dean Street. An employee of Robert Shaw the boat builder based by the bridge, 30 year old Alfred leapt off after apparently trying to prove he could do what an elderly fisherman had just demonstrated he could- dive from the bridge into the Thames. Unfortunately Alfred dived onto the asphalt path below instead. He was badly injured and expected to die but pulled through. It must have been an anxious time for his wife Ellen. They had a band of young children to support. Happily, Alfred was alive and well on the the 1891 census, though he had switched jobs to that of fisherman. 

The bridge attracted some anti-social behaviour. Within days of the bridge opening signs had to put up to discourage the little boys who were clambering onto the bridge and swinging from its chains. Three youths -Thomas Burns, William Cox and Roland Rose plead guilty to throwing stones from it in 1899. A letter to the South Bucks Standard in 1904 lamented the local habit of spitting from the structure.

Some vehicles could be problematic too. By the mid 1870s too-heavy vehicles using the bridge were stressing the structure and signs forbidding them to cross were first erected in 1877. They were largely ignored. In 1909 a traction engine pulling a cargo of very heavy lead caused the carriageway in the centre of the bridge to collapse. A team of men worked all night to free the engine from the hole it had created. Just weeks later an 8 tonne vehicle was caught going over it. Most drivers of overloaded vehicles were not locals but Thomas Lowe [or possibly Love, Jane found the original record hard to read] of Chalk Pitt Cottages was summoned for taking a heavy motor engine over the structure in 1908. In the same year, some councillors had demanded that heavier vehicles should be allowed to cross the bridge arguing that if it wasn't a strong enough structure to support them, it should be made so. 

Some Other Marlow People involved in some way with the bridge construction project:

Miss Symonds- more than a third of money loaned for the project came from her. Sadly I do not know her first name.

John Rolls- sold some of his land for the bridge to be built on (reluctantly). His brother Thomas was an industrious bridge warden. Left to him the project probably would have had far fewer problems.

Thomas Lovegrove- repaired the work's steam engine.

William Bond- one of those paid for carpentry work. He did most of it. A post on him and his father with a photo of their home is here on the blog 

Corby and Clifford building company for brickwork and stone masonry [Thomas Corby and Theophilus Clifford.] The latter named a daughter with the middle name Suspensiana after the bridge in 1829. A biographical post on Theophilus will be found Here

To find people on this blog select the Person Index option on the drop down menu. More general history posts are listed under General History on the menu.

To read about the adjacent  old Marlow church replaced at a similar time, see the post here

To read more about the old bridge and the repairs done in 1860 to the new bridge see here 

The legend of a bargeman eating puppy pie under Marlow Bridge here

Researched and written by Charlotte Day & Kathryn Day.

©Marlow Ancestors. 

Some sources and background reading:

A Memoir of Suspension Bridges by Charles Stewart Dewry 1832. Published by Green and Longman. Digitized by Google from a copy held by the University of Michigan. In this you can see Millington's design for his bridge.

Bridgewarden accounts and papers at Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies some of which were accessed by Jane Pullinger.

Newspaper copies held at the BNA: Berkshire Gazette 12th September 1829, Windsor and Eton Express 15th &19th September 1832, South Bucks Standard 17th June 1904, Maidenhead Advertiser 24th February 1909. Bucks Herald 9 October 1830.  Berkshire Chronicle 29 September 1832. 

Phillips, Geoffrey - Thames Crossings (David & Charles 1981)

1891 census from microfilm images transcribed by me and supplied by the LDS at a family history research centre.

Beauties Of England and Wales or, Delineations topographical, historical and descriptive, of each county - John Britton, Edward Westlake Brayley et al. (1801)

South Bucks Standard Directory of Marlow 1891. 

So far this blog contains mention of

4,300

people from or associated with Marlow.