Before our ancestors had easy access to the likes of antibiotics, and tetanus shots, any kind of accident could spell disaster. This post tells the story of the death of three Marlow men and boys, related by birth or marriage, to illustrate how fine the line between life and death could be.
First we have Abraham Creswell (or Cresswell, the family used both spellings as you can see from their graves at All Saints). Abraham was the son of William and Mary Creswell of Wycombe Road Farm. William was a strong minded man who had many battles with those in authority, over land and highway encroachment issues. Read about this entertaining character here . This independent spirit was also stubborn in his dealings with his sons. It is said that while he expected them to help on the farm, he would not allow them any say in it's management, or their own affairs or indeed any share in it's profit while he lived. When Abraham was bought home in 1860 in a tipsy state by a policeman, William refused to let him in and told the constable to lock his son up instead. So they did. William may have been a tough master, but he was also a shrewd investor in land and combined with a talent for thriftiness, this allowed him to leave a substantial legacy of approx £16,000. His land holdings were divided out, with High Rews (Ruse) Farm going to son William, and the Wycombe Road Farm to Abraham. Abraham also inherited £4000 and the house in Wycombe Road. He had fulfilled many other roles before he finally gained his inheritance. He was for example a carrier working for his wife's relations the Johnsons of the neighbouring Plough Inn. He later won the contract to provide cartage services for the Great Marlow Railway Company although he was relieved of this duty 2 years later for failing to perform services, and a failure to render accounts. He probably had heard so many lectures from his parsimonious father about accounting for every farthing to render making up his own accounts an unpleasant task!
Abraham would enjoy being in charge of his farm for just a year. In the February of 1894, he took a trip to Beaconsfield Fair for business purposes. On his return, he pulled up his horse and cart in the farmyard. Then a freak accident occured. He dropped his whip, and as he stooped down to retrieve it from the floor, his horse stepped back and trod on his hand, cutting it badly. It was obviously a painful injury, but worse was to follow. Abraham's arm swelled a huge amount, and he became unconscious. Blood poisoning had set in, and a few days later, Abraham was dead. He left a wife Jane (nee Belcher) and 7 children. There are many unfortunate similar cases relating to accidents on farms, and in fields.
Both Abraham and Jane had lost siblings in tragic circumstances. Abraham's brother Edward died aged 16, also at the Wycombe Road Farm. He went out to the fields armed with a gun in order to scare birds from an area of freshly sown seed. The trigger caught on his sleeve, and the gun fired accidentally. He was hit in the foot but managed to hobble home assisted by his 11 year old brother. At first he did not seem in too much pain, but when his foot was examined, it was realised the shot had gone through his big toe. A surgeon was called - and he came armed with the tools for amputation of the toe. This may sound extreme but it was thought the toe was shattered. After examining the boy, the doctor initially wanted to proceed with the operation. But then he changed his mind. He was well aware of the risk of infection after amputation, and so decided on balance not to remove the toe or at least not yet. But sadly young Edward developed lock jaw or tetanus as we would call it, weakened rapidly and died just 3 days after the accident. The inquest was held at the Plough.
The second case was that of Charles Belcher, the brother of Abraham's wife Jane. She was the "girl next door" living at the Plough with her parents and her maternal grandparents who ran it, the Johnsons. When her brother Charles was 16, he was working for a coal merchant. They praised the fact that he was always busy and could be trusted to get on with his work. They were therefore happy to leave him at the coal yard while they were out making deliveries. One day they returned in cold and wet conditions to see Charles working outside carrying coals. He seemed to be unsteady. They made a good natured comment to him along the lines of "You haven't been working out here in these conditions have you? You'll do yourself an injury!" They told Charles to learn from their experience and do a different task as it was far too slippery to make progress moving loads. They had already expressly forbade the young man to carry heavy weights alone as they knew he did not have the experience to do so. These comments, well meant, unfortunately seem to have had the affect of preventing Charles from admitting that he had in fact tried to lift loads beyond those he was allowed to, and what's more had injured his hip in doing so. He told one worker who noticed him wince that he had had a slight slip and was a little tired but did not mention the heavy weights he had been carrying. His mother thought him in low spirits but did not realize that he was in pain. But the pain got worse, and Charles could no longer disguise it. His mother would not take his denial that he was not injured, and so he confessed that he had suffered an accident at work. But he did not want to tell her he had done it while not following orders or that several days had passed since it occured. Instead he told her he had suffered a fall from a small height the previous day. She immediately called a surgeon. This mans assessment of Charles was based on the fact he had only just hurt himself, rather than the fact the pain had been growing steadily worse over several days. He said that had he known the injury was not a fresh one, and was the result of a strain lifting a weight rather than a fall, he would have treated the boy differently. As the boys condition suddenly and unexpectedly worsened, he confided to his mother how the accident had truly happened, and how he had been frightened he would not be allowed back to work if he told the truth. He said his employer was not to blame, as he had not been asked to tax his strength, and in fact had been expressly forbidden to do so. It was only after speaking to the employers who remembered the wet slippery conditions in the yard the week before, and what Charles had said about a minor slip of foot, that the length of time the poor boy had hidden his injury was revealed. Sadly the delay in seeking help was a fatal one and Charles died. It is believed he succumbed to an internal rupture or hernia.
Astonishingly this was not the end of the families ill luck when it came to accidents. The South Bucks Standard of April 17th 1903 [British Library Archives, via the BNA] reported that Alfred Cresswell aged 11 was severely injured when a gun his 14 year old brother was playing with went off and shot Alfred in the arm. These boys were the sons of Abraham and Jane and the accident occurred at the widowed Jane's then home up at High Rews Farm.
Related Posts
Danger of fire here
More medical history related posts can be found under the General Marlow History option on the menu.
All mentions of any individual on the blog can be found on the A-Z Person Index in the top drop down menu.
Some sources
1871, 1881, 1891 Census transcribed from microfilm by Charlotte Day.
GRO Death Index.
Creswell, Belcher and Johnson family research by Charlotte Day
South Bucks Standard 16 March 1894, 1 November 1895, copy from British Library archive.
Maidenhead Advertiser 1 April 1893 as above.
© Marlow Ancestors
