Sergeant Columbine Will Drill You Now

 

If you had strolled up the relative quiet of Little Marlow Road in Marlow in the 1850s, you might have heard the sonorous voice of James Columbine drilling the young boys of Prospect House Academy, extolling them to keep perfect time and co ordination. This was a boarding school for young gentleman offering a mixture of classical and commercial education. It was located in the now demolished Prospect House at the junction of Wycombe and Little Marlow roads, close to where the Plough pub would be. It was not therefore a military school but they boasted a drill master nonetheless. They stressed in their advertising that James Columbine was a proper military man. And as a former Colour Sergeant or Pay Sergeant in the Grenadier Guards, that's exactly what James was. It was fashionable for private schools for boys to offer military drill exercises to develop mental and physical discipline..or so they hoped. Borlase at Marlow would also offer one later on. At Prospect House under then proprietor Thomas Mathew, the curriculum was flexible and the boys families could opt their sons in or out of numerous subjects, of which drill was one. Those that did take part paid an extra fee on top of the general school fees. James remained in his role at the school for about a decade accompanying the school when it moved to the considerably more grand and spacious premises of Marlow Place. You can read more about this school in the posts linked to below. 

James and wife Ann (nee Miller, married Windsor 1843) were not living in at the school. They lived in West Street, in Albion House (part of Shelley Cottages) and part of the then subdivided property leased in an earlier time by the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and his family. It was a home normally leased by reasonably well off citizens of Marlow. Next door, and still part of Shelley's original home was however a little beer house known then as the Bonnet o' Blue and later the Royal Standard. Marlow streets were often then more mixed in their character. 

When not putting the lads of the Marlow Academy through their paces, James could be seen drilling the adult men of Marlow who were a member of the 1st Bucks Volunteers. He had joined them as soon as they were established in 1859. He took part in all their encampments - often held along the river opposite Quarry Woods. There was another Columbine to be found frequently mentioned in the records of the Volunteers. James had a son, James William, who was believed to be the youngest member of any of the Volunteers in Bucks, at 16. He was an excellent shot and caused quite a sensation by winning the 1860 Bucks Volunteers shooting competition at that age, naturally beating the numerous more experienced contestants. He was greeted on his return to Marlow by a jubilant crowd who hoisted young James on their shoulders, cup and all and paraded him around the streets to much cheering and throwing up of hats. The cup was "christened" by 2 bottles of sherry provided by Benjamin Atkinson, 3 bottles of port (Ensign Wethered) 2 bottles of champagne (Owen Wethered) and 2 quarts of sherry (Private Habgood). Let's hope James junior was safely off shoulder by the time his entourage had sampled all that! 

James senior caused the young volunteers to marvel at his feats of strength apparently, as well as his skill at throwing and catching his Snider rifle. Maybe not something to try at home. 

But neither of these roles was actually the main job of James. He arrived in Marlow around 1852 - he is recorded as a pay sergeant at the St Georges Barracks in Windsor the previous year. (James was not a Marlow born man, he was from Southampton, his wife was born on the Isle Of Wight and son number two Robert was christened in Winchester in 1847.) Almost immediately he began acting as a house agent, that is someone organising the sale and rental of homes and businesses. If you wished to view a house that was to be sold at auction, you could call on James who might show you the property himself. Otherwise he would hand you a "card" which you could present at the advertised house in order to gain admission as a serious potential buyer. Among the houses whose sale or rent he was involved in was other parts of Shelley Cottages, and The Cottage off Oxford Rd (later known as Quoitings). 

 Soon after he was working as the agent for the Marlow portion of the Harleyford Estate of Sir William Clayton. In fact securing this role may be the reason for his move to Marlow in particular. He is also listed in commercial directories as a rent collector (not just on behalf of the Harleyford Estate), a job often running in hand with that of house and land agent. Naturally this sometimes involved James in court cases relating to unpaid rents and proposed evictions. A difficult and sometimes contentious job but obituaries of James stress his "straightforward honesty of purpose" and integrity. If you were unfortunate enough to be behind in your rent, you could have done worse than have James manage your case it seems.  James also collected money for charities supported by the Clayton's such the London based Destitute Children's Dinner Fund.  

James and wife Ann had their only daughter Mary Ann/Marian in Marlow. Son Robert at 14 was living at Danesfield in 1861, working as a garden apprentice on the large estate there. (Later he would also join the army, eventually settling in Yorkshire.) The family lived at Albion House for something like 25 years, sometimes with a live in servant. (In 1871 it's 14 year old Elizabeth Collins) The end came suddenly with the sad and unexpected death of James at home in April 1878 age 67. The grief felt locally and his involvement in the Volunteers meant his funeral was a big affair. It was decided after an "earnest request" from the men and officers of the Volunteers that the the funeral should be conducted on a "strict military model". This meant the coffin was born by the Volunteers in parade and it was attended by a vast number of Volunteers members from all over Buckinghamshire. The Bucks Herald paid tribute to the "gallant" James who had won "the good will of all". They described that whatever job James set his mind to, he devoted himself to with energy.  They added that the "fine stalwart" set an example that carried a well deserved influence with all ranks.

 Widow Ann died age 66 in 1884. (In Acton where her son engineer James William lived. Daughter Mary Ann/Marian had married John Frederick Bennett of Surbiton, at Marlow in 1869.)

Researched and written by Kathryn Day. 

Related Posts: 

Other residents/uses of Albion House : here

Life of another Marlow drill instructor for the Bucks Volunteers - here (contains distressing information)

Military related posts: here

Prospect House School: here List of 72 Marlow schools of the past here

Everyday life in Great Marlow at the time the Columbine family lived here: here

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

 

SOURCES INCLUDE:

Kellys Directory of Buckinghamshire 1869. (Kelly's Directory Ltd)

Dutton,Allen & Co Commercial Directory 1863. 

https://books.google.com/books/about/Women_Families_and_the_British_Army_1700.html?id=sdHVDwAAQBAJ

Census 1841,51,61,71 : transcripts from microfilm by Charlotte, and Jane Pullinger. 

England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NYY9-LBQ : 19 September 2020), James Columbine in entry for James William Columbine, 1844.

Bucks Advertiser 27 April 1878 and Bucks Herald 25 June 1853, 11 June 1857, 20 April 1878, 06 December 1884. 

Windsor and Eton Express 3 December 1859. 

Reading Mercury 25 March 1854, 20 October 1860

James Columbine, 1843;  "England & Wales Marriages, 1837-2005," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing 1843, quarter 4, vol. 6, p. 519, Windsor, Berkshire, England, General Register Office, Southport, England. 

 James Columbine, 1843; from "England & Wales Marriages, 1837-2005," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing 1843, quarter 2, vol. 3, p. 47, Chelsea, London, England, General Register Office, Southport, England. 

Bucks Free Press, April 20th 1934 (article on sport in the 1870s by Francis Colmer) 

© MarlowAncestors

The Fountains of Dukes Place / Burroughs Grove

 The Fountain family lived in Dukes Place Great Marlow from (at least) 1908 to (at least) 1913. Peter Fountain was born 1868 in Wendover Bucks to Emmanuel, a gamekeeper for Alfred De Rothschild Esq, and Charlotte. Mary Ann his wife was née Clarke and married him in 1895. 

Peter appears on the 1881 census as a 12 year old plough boy. The following year his family suffered the loss of his baby brother Henry. The 16 month old died from convulsions brought on by severe whooping cough.

By 1891 Peter lived at "Dirty Bottom" Marlow Bottom and was an agricultural labourer lodging with a 62 year old widower James Clarke who was presumably a relative of his future wife. In the years prior to his marriage however he was working as a gamekeeper for Lord Carrington. As such he appeared in several court cases as a witness for the prosecution when poachers were bought to justice. That didn't seem to stop Peter taking an interest in poaching himself - he was fined in 1901 for stealing a nest of pheasant eggs from another man's land. At the time this was classed as poaching because pheasants were game birds. This didn't seem to stop Peter being employed in later years as a gamekeeper.

Mary Ann was born around 1869 just outside Marlow at Burroughs Grove. I saw an online tree that gave her parents as William and Mary however on the 1881 and 1891 censuses she was living at Burroughs Grove as the daughter of David and Mary Clarke. David was a farm labourer. 

In 1908 Peter was fined for being drunk in Little Marlow. This was (at least) his second conviction for public drunkenness. (Fine 10s including costs.) By then the family had moved from Burroughs Grove to Dukes Place. Greater trouble came to the family through Mary Ann a few years later. In July 1912 she was fined £1 for stealing a pair of scissors and a hairbrush from Mrs Debbin at Prospect House. Mary Ann was not a very careful thief as after the act she went for a drink at the Horns public house just down the street from Prospect House. Multiple people in the tap room saw the stolen scissors on the floor at Mary Ann's feet and the hairbrush sticking out of her pocket. In December that year she and James Clarke (perhaps her brother) were found guilty of stealing a ferret from the garden of her Dukes Place neighbour Archibald Grainger. Again careful planning was not foremost in Mary Ann's mind. The theft occurred while another neighbour Mrs Ann Tilbury from no 2* Dukes Place was visiting Mary Ann and was thus a witness to her and James disappearing into the garden and coming back with the ferret. When suspicion began to be thrown at Mary Ann and James, Mary Ann told Mrs Tilbury not to admit to having seen them with the ferret, while James tried to get rid of the incriminating animal by offering it for free to a fellow drinker in the bar of the Railway Hotel. The original intent was to sell it. James tried to say he had found the ferret in the garden of the Carpenter's Arms around the corner from Dukes Place but the court dismissed this explanation.

In May 1913 Mary Ann was jailed for two months hard labour for stealing the hand bag of another woman on the train between Cookham and Maidenhead. Her accomplice was another Marlow woman Gladys Edwards. Inside the bag was 2 sovereigns which the women split between themselves and a gold watch and chain. Gladys kept the gold items. She sold the chain to High Street jeweller Frederick Rowe. The bag was thrown down a drain to hide the evidence. When arrested Mary Ann claimed that the bag was found by Gladys on the Maidenhead platform and having asked anyone around if it was their bag, decided to keep it when it was otherwise unclaimed.

Context for this is provided by a newspaper report that later the same year Peter was brought to court for abandoning his wife and family and thus rendering them as paupers dependent on the Parish. Poor Mary Ann may have been desperate when she stole the ferret. Her youngest child Annie was then only two years old. How much of her previous stealing had been acts of desperation caused by an uncommitted breadwinner? Peter said he left his home because it was used for "improper purposes". The Bench said there was no doubt his house was "badly conducted" but that was no excuse to leave. He was sent to prison for a month. 

Four years later Peter, during WW1, was arrested in Marlow as a deserter from the army. More humiliation for Mary Ann. 

Mary Ann knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of theft. When she was six her sixteen year old neighbour Sarah Green and Green's father John were jailed for breaking into the Clarke's home via a window and stealing from a box some shoes, 2 pairs stockings, a bonnet and 2 petticoats. The loot was discovered by a constable under the Green family's kitchen floorboards. Mary Ann was out with her mother at the time. Her brother William discovered the theft.

Above, Dukes Place in 2022 including the row known as Sunlight Villas/Cottages. 

*numbering in Duke's Place seems to have altered since.

Related Posts:

All mentions of a person on this blog can be found on the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu - 4,000 plus individuals are mentioned here. 

A short biography of another, earlier Dukes Place resident Elizabeth Keen is here.

Everyday life in old Marlow post index here

Index of posts relating to specific streets, properties etc here 

Other Borroughs Grove related posts here

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

Sourced included:

Census transcriptions from microfilm. my own.

South Bucks Standard editions 18th July 1912, 11th December 1913. British Library Archives.

Bucks Herald 16th October 1875. As above.

Artists in Marlow History

The riverside setting of the town and the nearby Quarry Woods have long made it a beacon for roaming artists (including no less than JMW Turner, see my post on the history of Marlow Bridge for more). Some decided to stay on.

Below I have outlined some of those I have found to be connected to Marlow. 

On the 1841 census portrait painter Giles Blake, originally from Bisham, can be found living Chapel Street Marlow with his brother Richard, a frame maker. Earlier records show that Richard was also a carver and gilder. The two men lived 1841 with their mother Eliza. 

A couple of years later Giles had left Marlow for Marylebone, where he married Louisa Newman and remained. He later described himself  as a colour man or oils man. I see no evidence of Giles achieving any fame but clearly he was accomplished enough to make a living from being a portrait painter for at least a few years. His brother Richard continued to live in Marlow, latterly in West Street. He worked as a gilder and a photographer. His wife Rebecca ran her own photography business from their West Street home doing portraits but also street and country views. More on her here

Those who wanted to learn to draw themselves could pay for lessons at the Marlow Institute when it opened its permanent premises late in the 1800s.

The drawing professor of the Royal Military Academy in West Street 1802 to 1808 was watercolorist William Alexander. He was trained at the Royal Academy and later worked in the Antiquities section of the British Museum.

Exhibitions of art were held in the town centre from at least 1893. A Marlow Artists Society was founded 1895. Though it had a male-dominated leadership, the Society also had female members such as Maud Henderson  who had a minor artistic career in drawings. She was staying with her mother at Old Wharf Cottage Marlow when the Society formed and so joined.

Perhaps the best known of the professional founder members of the Society was Frank Percy Wild. Of Northern origin he initially visited the area as a summer holiday maker. He and his new wife Beatrice seemed to make Marlow their permanent home circa 1893. They lived at the Eyrie which was renamed Gossmore House in 1899*. He had a studio in Chapel Street known as Dial Studio. The studio was periodically open to the public, especially before Frank sent works up to the Royal Academy. Marlow saw them first. Small local exhibitions combining both amateur and highly regarded professional artworks were an interesting feature of late Victorian Britain. Royal Academy artworks in your local town centre with a chance to meet the artist in person, at the same time as admiring your neighbours enthusiastic daubs. For all our modern efforts to make art accessible we don't really compare! Frank taught art part time at the private Convent Higher School in St Peters Street from 1894.

Frank specialised in portraits but also painted many Marlow riverside scenes. Do a Google and you will easily find them. The most amazing of his portraits was probably a miniature on ivory of Nina Poore , the size of a shilling, and painted as a wedding gift to her from her future husband the Duke of Hamilton. It was set in a jewelled case bearing her family arms. 

Dial Studio was initially used by animal portrait painter Basil Bradley. Obviously not worried about getting his hands dirty, Basil was also one of Marlow's volunteer firefighters. He lived in Marlow from at least 1888 to circa 1892. He was born in London but most closely associated with the Manchester School.

After Frank Percy Wild relinquished Dial studio another artist Carleton Grant took it on.

An amateur artist who had her picture displayed at an exhibition at the Royal Academy exhibition in 1892 was Florence Hannam of West Street, daughter of a jeweller.

Bovingdon Green (and around Marlow Common) was something of an artists colony in the Edwardian and Pre-War era attracting both British and European artists in various media. Most were temporary visitors but in the 1915 Kelly's trade directory sculptor Conrad Dressler was still listed at White House Bovingdon Green (or Marlow Common). A founder of the Medmenham Pottery Company, in the 1890s with his wife, he hired a house in Glade Road, The Limes, before later moving up to Bovingdon Green where the pottery was expanding to. More about the Pottery here

Following a disagreement with his secretary Conrad was accused of violently attacking him with his walking stick dark night on Bovingdon Green leaving the victim lying briefly unconscious with a head wound. 

Conrad as you might have guessed from his name was of German descent, though London born. A full post about the pottery at Marlow Common is available here

Suffragette and artists Mary Sergeant Florence of nearby Lords Wood, Marlow Common and Edith Hayes of Bovingdon Green are discussed more fully in my Groundbreaking Women in Marlow History post published last year here

Edward John Gregory lived more in the heart of town, at Brampton House. The painter was also the president of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists. He and his wife Mary are both buried in Marlow.  I will add a photo of it to the blog in future.

Artist George West Cope RA had a very unhappy time at school in Marlow in 1818 at Prospect House but was not of local origin. More on that school in a dedicated future post. 

Separate longer biographical posts on artist Martha Higginson here and photographer Rebecca Blake here

To find every mention of a person here see the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu.  

Some research sources:

Kellys Directory Buckinghamshire 1915 from the University of Leicester archives.

Census transcription my own from images of census pages provided by the LDS church at a family history centre except for London censuses which were via the Familysearch website operated by the LDS, accessed July 2020.

Bisham baptismal register, digitized by Google Books accessed July 2020.

Tate.org and National Portrait Gallery online for information on Dressler.

Bucks Herald 23rd May 1896. Copy at the British Library accessed via the BNA August 2020 [For Dressler's assault case]. Bucks Herald 30th April 1892 as previously. 

A Dictionary of Artists of The England School by Samuel Redgrave 1874. Copy from the Bavarian State Library. Published by Longman, Green and Company. Digitized by Google. Accessed September 2020.

Wikipedia article on Edward John Gregory, accessed October 2020.

©Marlow Ancestors. If reusing this work, please link back here so my research sources remain linked to the work and properly credited for the information they gave me.

Wadham And Anne Wyndham Of Beech Lodge

Beech Lodge was at Red Pitts off Henley Road with views over the Quarry Woods, a major attraction for tourists and day trippers. This view was always one of the main selling points when the house was up for sale or let. 

The lodge came with 30-37 acres of land. 

Wadham and and his Irish born wife Anne Wyndham lived in "Beech Lodge Great Marlow" by 1819, however they could not have actually owned it before 1824 when the previous owner died and asked in his will for his executors to dispose of it. Together Wadham and Anne had 20 children, 16 sons and 4 daughters, many of them born at Beech Lodge. Like most later residents of the house they also maintained a London home. Theirs was 24 Dorset Place.

In 1833 the property consisted of the house plus a lawn, flower garden, a large kitchen garden, a small yard, coach houses, stables, harness rooms and "other offices". Plus the other fields and land adjoining.

Wadham and Anne were close to the Marquis of Chandos, Wyndham's cousin, who visited them at Beech Lodge at least twice. At the time of his 1829 visit the Marquis went with Wadham to view Marlow's new suspension bridge and caused a lot of red faces when he expressed surprise that after months of supposed work on the project progress was minimal. To read about the painfully protracted business of building this bridge see my post here.

In 1827 Wadham chaired a meeting in the town in which voters met to decide whether to petition parliament against granting further civil rights to Catholics. Lieutenant-Colonel William Clayton gave an impassioned, hysterical speech in which he equated Catholicism with tyranny, evil and stupidity. Wadham's own opinion is not made clear at this meeting as he did not as far I can see speak himself. Lord George Nugent M.P spoke against the petition but the townspeople overwhelmingly voted to send it to parliament.

Wadham worked with George Nugent as a trustee of the Marlow to Reading turnpike road. He was also a local magistrate and the Lord Lieutenant of Bucks.

Wadham's leisure hours were spent in part following horse racing. His father had been devoted to the sport and Wadham owned several race horses himself. He and Anne at least once attended the annual horse racing meeting at Marlow, bringing I think his brother to watch as well. More about Marlow Races (and the cheating that went on there!) in this post.

In 1828 Anne and Wadham and their 8 living children woke up in the night to discover their dining room was on fire. Wadham and his brave servants fought the fire themselves and succeeded in saving the rest of the house from damage though everything in the dining room was destroyed. Anne and the children found shelter in a nearby cottage while the flames were being quenched.

In 1835 Wadham put the house up for let or sale. As he was leaving he decided to sell off his furniture and library of books including volumes on the subject of travel, famous lives, novels and plays by the "most approved authors" [British Library Archives, Bucks Herald December 19th 1835]. If he and Anne did leave it wasn't for long and the house was not in fact sold as the couple were definitely still resident there (at least) 1841-1845. In the latter year Anne passed away after a severe illness. By then only 7 of her 20 children were still living. Their 17 year old daughter Anne had died at Beech Lodge in 1835. This event may have precipitated the couples wish to leave the house for a while that year. Son Wadham junior along with his friend drowned in a boating accident on the Thames near Temple in 1839. He was 22.

I am not sure when Wadham moved away from the house but it was Frederick Parker who lived at Beech Lodge by 1846. Wadham lived at The Deanery, St Peter Street Marlow at the time of his death in 1849. He asked to be buried in the same grave as his wife and deceased children in Kensal Green Cemetery in London. However he was actually buried at Marlow. I'll post a pic of his grave in future. He left his personal estate in the hands of trustees for the benefit of four surviving sons. These included Chandos and Penruddocke who as children were pupils at the boarding school for boys Prospect House Academy at the junction of Little Marlow Road and Wycombe Road in Marlow (now demolished). More about the school in this post here. 

To read about one of the Wyndham's servants Sarah Hawkins see here

Beech Lodge was demolished and then rebuilt in 1877/8.

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

Other Sources:

Will Wadham Wyndham 1849, my transcription.

Censuses my transcription from microfilm. Census information always remains Crown Copyright. 

Windsor and Eton Express May 1827. British Newspaper Archives.

Property records in my family, transcribed by me.

Centre of Buckinghamshire Studies, property conveyance. 

The Family Topographer Or The Ancient And Present State Of The Counties Of England by Samuel Tymms, 1832.

Chapel Street Area Schools

The earliest known private School in Marlow was established circa 1757 by George Faux AKA Fox*. This was a boys' school and was known as Faux's Academy. It was located in where is now The Cedars near the corner of Glade Road and Chapel Street. He died in 1797 and left all he had, including 3 cottages in nearby Chapel Street to his wife Ann. It does not appear that he owned the school premises however.

Ann was involved with the domestic arrangements of the school. In her youth she had been a servant of Princess Amelia, daughter of George 2nd. She died at Marlow in 1823 age 85 according to her obituary. At that time tribute was paid to how Ann had paid "the most correct and anxious attention to the health and comfort to the hundreds of pupils who were educated at that respectable seminary".

By 1818 the school was operated by a Mr and Mrs Henry Terry as Great Marlow Academy. Former pupil Charles West Cope in his memoirs recalled his time at the school then as one of absolute misery amid constant bullying by other boys. He was then  aged seven. He described how the usher (assistant teacher) at the school took the boys into the beech woods on their half day off but did nothing to stop the older children deliberately getting the younger ones lost and then leaving them alone, or killing squirrels with sling shots. During one bullying incident Charles suffered a broken elbow and dislocated shoulder. Whilst he was recovering he was thrown into a ditch of thistles and burnt (accidentally but negligently in that case) with a candle by other boys. 

With a serious burn and thistle injuries to deal with as well as his original injuries Charles weakened and developed a fever. A surgeon called for leeches for the poor child- and amputation tools in case he considered it best to remove the arm!

Thankfully that did not happen but Charles never recovered full use of his injured limb. He was removed from the school and returned to his family in Yorkshire. I wish I could say his school life was happier thereafter but his memories of his time at Leeds Grammar School included masters who pulled boys' ears till they bled amongst other cruelties. The price the family of Charles paid for his "education" by the Terrys was 24 guineas including board, lodging and laundry (the last was often not included in standard fees.) For boys over 8 years the fee was 26 guineas per annum. Some subjects were charged extra for if studied- these included Latin, Greek, French and land surveying / mapping skills. 

Henry Terry and his wife Isabella were clearly not the best when it came to supervising their student's behaviour. This may have told on them in the end as Henry suffered bankruptcy in 1826. All his school equipment including 300 books had to be auctioned off to pay creditors. Reverend William Faulkner, originally from Oxford, bought the equipment and took over the premises after some refurbishments. His was a high class boarding school for boys and a great success but perhaps it was not really William's vocation as he was after all an ordained clergyman. It was common for clergy without positions to set up as school masters. In 1838 he got a position as a vicar in Hanging Heaton Yorkshire and gave up the school. His wife Rose (nee Bond of Great Marlow, his second wife) had died of fever in 1832, while his son Frank a trainee doctor had drowned in the Thames at Marlow** whilst on a visit home so perhaps he felt like leaving the town anyway. The sale of goods when he gave up his school make his establishment sound a fun place because as well as the usual school desks, maps and globes there was scenery and props for amateur theatricals, an "electricity machine" for science demonstrations (William was one of the members of the British Society For The Advancement Of Science), a pianoforte and tambourines. The school had a dedicated playground then too as it had done when the Terrys ran things -in those days the boys had used it as somewhere to roast in makeshift ovens the squirrels they had killed in the woods! We can only hope this was not due to a lack of other food provided!

Tragically, William became ill and died within a few months of arriving at Hanging Heaton.

The former school building was put up for sale just as an ordinary house after Faulkner left but along came someone else who wanted to run a school on the premises - Samuel Field Cooper (previously of Regent House Academy, Romford, Essex) and his wife Elizabeth who used the name Prospect House Academy for their enterprise. This can be a little confusing as there was later another house called Prospect House nearby later. That was also used for a school for a while. More on that further down this post. 

Samuel Field Hooper died in 1840 not long after the family arrived in Marlow. He was in the prime of his life. The couple's third son 9 month old Markham died of influenza at the school just two months later.  Elizabeth (nee Grace) continued to run the school with two live in schoolmasters. She had more than 20 residential pupils in 1841. 

One of Elizabeth's assistant teachers William H Baker, appointed head master after her husband's death,  took over the premises full time in his own right after he married his master's widow in 1841. William pursued a revolutionary, for the time, system of education for the young boys he taught and boarded. He believed children didn't need to learn by rote or by having a terror of making mistakes instilled into them. Treat them with kindness he said and encourage their natural love of discovery and the boys will develop a life long thirst for learning and get through their lessons far more quickly. Harsh measures were on the other hand "calculated to debase the minds of youth'. Although a member of the Church of England, he stressed that the religious education offered would be suitable for congregationalists and other dissenters. Regular lectures on science and philosophy were an extra option during the colder months when the boys couldn't use the school's large playground so much in their leisure hours. William was passionate about astronomy in particular.

In fair weather he encouraged his pupils to play cricket in a nearby meadow which the school had long used and to go angling on the Thames, which in those distant days could actually be seen from the house. He took the boys down to the river to teach them to swim. The boys' cricketing uniform for a match against a Wycombe school in 1843 consisted of a straw hat with blue ribbon around it, a blue striped shirt and white trousers. 

His wife Mrs Baker helped run the school and offered "abundant, nutritious food". Her maternal care was considered to make the school especially suited to boys of a delicate constitution - or so they said! 

The annual price for a boarding place at the school, including washing of clothes (which as mentioned before often wasn't included in school fees) and school books was 30 guineas. Dancing lessons extra. Each pupil was required to bring with them a silver spoon and 6 towels. 

Boys at the school were prepared for university or commercial pursuits " foreign or domestic" including agriculture. Book keeping and land surveying were thus amongst the subjects studied as well as traditional ones such as grammar and French. A later reminiscence about the school said wealthy farmers especially liked to send their children there. (Although other pupils were undoubtedly from the gentry.) In 1846 it was decided to target the market of agricultural families more particularly. Baker advertised that he would be adding regular series of lectures on subjects such as geology and chemistry adapted to agricultural purposes to the curriculum. Overall the range of subjects studied was much broader than that usually offers in grammar schools and the like. Elocution, drawing, Latin, French, Greek, modern history (not just ancient), and geography taught with "globes both terrestrial and celestial" were all on the menu. 

Religious instruction was of course also attended to. "Particular regard is given to the moral and religious deportment of the pupils who are regularly instructed in the pages of the holy writ" claimed Mr Baker. 

Each year the school had a public examination of the pupils, to show off their learning and of course attract the attention of parents of prospective pupils. Sometimes this was held at the school, at other times in the town hall. The pupils work in the form of penmanship and drawing was also put in display, to very favourable reviews. In 1845 the pupil exhibition included a play performed in French with "a purity of accent not to be expected in ones so young".

While it did well at first and the Bakers were much liked in the town, for unknown reasons they developed financial difficulties and had to move away.

Prospect House Academy was taken over in 1848 by Thomas Mathews who offered a classical and commercial education for boys. Buoyed by his success attracting new pupils, Thomas in 1857 took the impressive Marlow Place for his school which became known as Marlow Place Academy. To read more about this school see my general schools post published here and a more detailed post here

Their former school building became home to the Cock(e)s sisters by 1861, who renamed it The Glade. More on Charlotte Cocks here

With the name Prospect House no longer in use it was reused as the name for another house almost opposite the Glade at the junction on Little Marlow Road, Chapel Street and Wycombe Road. This building no longer exists. It too had been in use as a school. In this case it was a school for girls ran by a Miss Clark or Clarke in 1844. The school seems to have gone out of use relatively quickly and the building was for a while in domestic use. A James and Sarah Cox lived at the new Prospect House from at least 1869. James farmed some of the fields nearby. He ran a dairy business until he retired in 1883. By then he had moved to St Peter's Street.

Mary Henderson died at Prospect House in 1899 aged 55 (when she was paying £55 per annum for her lease) while a Mr Christopher Sparks was the resident by 1903 and until at least 1908. Christopher was a builder, tax assessor and insurance agent. In 1900 the house was described at auction as containing 5 bedrooms, 2 reception rooms, a kitchen, and stabling while earlier descriptions invariably mention a large detached wash house too. 

Two years later the building was returned to scholastic use. It was a general school for girls and a prep school for boys called Prospect House School. Day and boarding places were available. Subjects offered included Domestic Economy, Home Nursing and Musical Theory. This school didn't seem to last long however as Prospect House was the ordinary home of a Mrs Debbin, widow, in 1912.

Captain and Mrs Homerton were the residents in 1918 when their son was born there.

Our blog focuses on pre- 1920 Marlow so I'll leave it there.

Written and researched by Charlotte  Day with additional research by Kathryn Day.

*Faux or Fox probably gave his name to Foxes Piece which originally described land on both sides of Glade Rd, just beyond Cedar House and on the opposite side. Find out more here

**William's brother James a Chartist and Temperance campaigner not to mention grocer, druggist, town councillor and temperance hotel proprietor of Oxford also drowned in a river.

More Chapel Street related posts indexed here

Sources for this post included:

Pigots Royal, National and Commercial Directory 1831 and 1844. Both University of Leicester Archives.

1841, 51 census transcribed by me from microfilm. Census information always remains Crown Copyright.

Memoirs of Charles West Cope, published by Bentley. 1881.

Kelly's Directory 1911 & 1915.

Newspapers at the British Library archives, supplied by the BNA: South Bucks Standard 17 June 1898, 7th February 1908,  30th September 1910 and 18th July 1912.

Reading Mercury 17th February 1838, 16 December 1843 as above.

Oxford University and City Herald, 6th July 1839. As above.

Morning Chronicle 15 January 1819, & Aylesbury News 20 December 1845 British Library. 

Windsor and Eton Express 08 February 1823, Slough Library.

Property records held by my family and transcribed by me.

"Particulars and Conditions of Sale of a very valuable and productive estate known as Platts Farm" - 1839, printed by George Cannon. (Foxes Piece land descriptions) 

GRO death index

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

The Men Who Built Marlow Part One.

William Bond, a carpenter, architect  and builder born circa 1755, lived in this house in the High Street Marlow by 1822. Access to his yard behind the building was a little before it as you came down the High Street.

He was resident in the the town and working as a carpenter and builder by 1784, I just am not sure if he was in these premises then. Between 1804 and 1805 William built two new buildings for the Royal Military College in West Street [modern Remnantz] for which he was paid over £1000, a fortune for the time. He also carried out building repairs at the college and did carpentry work on Marlow's new Town Hall. 

William died in 1828. He left his business and all his tools like turning lathes, other turning tools, stock of wood and "ironmongery" to his son William Junior. His widow Ann was left his watch and chain, and all their household furniture, plate, china, linen and wearing apparel. She was also to receive profit from the business and act as one of the trustees for other parts of husband's estate. This included a property in Chapel Street Marlow. This no longer exists, it would be under where Waitrose is now, soon to be a Lidl. Ann moved out to Prospect House in Marlow in 1831 to live with her married daughter Rose Faulkner whose husband ran a boys' boarding school there. It is possible that she assisted in the school though she is listed as gentry. 

Anne was the sole executor and one of the residual legatees of the will of her friend Hester Sawyer proved 1830. She also received a silver teapot and other tea accessories from Hester in that will. To read a full transcription summary of Hester's will see this post

After Ann's daughter Rose Faulkner died she moved out of Prospect House to a home in St Peter's Street. A peculiar criminal incident occurred at her home there not long afterwards. While she was away a man disguised as a woman turned up at her house, barged in and started unpacking clothes. This person told Rose's servant Jane Pinner that she was the advance party for a couple and more servants coming to stay with Ann as old friends. The servant knew nothing of such plans and told the other "maid" she was not under any circumstances going to share a bed with her that night as had been suggested. The "maid", "master and mistress" and other uninvited servants refused to leave the house even after others of Ann's employees said they were not known in the household and should leave. Eventually someone found a gun and used it to force the group to leave. Ann on her return confirmed she had never heard of the "master and mistress" who had presented themselves as her old and dear friends. They were never traced. The motivation for this crime is baffling. Burglary seems to be what was suspected at the time but it seems something of an elaborate scheme. Free accommodation?? If the "maid" had not been a man in disguise a lot less suspicion of the group's motives would have occurred. We'll never know I suppose!

 Ann died in 1835.

 On the 1833 parish assessment the main family property in the High Street (photographed above) as lived in by William Junior consisted of a house, yard, workshops, counting house and shed. He also had a wharf down by the river which he probably used to receive timber deliveries.

That year a George Ilsley was jailed for 3 months for stealing a piece of elm timber from William.

As well as carpentry and building William Junior did surveying. He

was one of the building contractors who worked on Marlow's new suspension bridge which was finished after a protracted and very vexatious process in 1832. I have previously written a post all about this where you can read more, see here.

Getting paid for work on the bridge was at times like getting blood from a stone. William Junior would have further trouble later in his life getting paid by a Samuel Tupper and Company for work [I think in London]. He took that case to Chancery.

He was also the builder responsible for the Parish Church in Marlow finished in 1834. The previous 1600s building was, controversially for many locals, knocked down to make way for it.

William built the new Salem Chapel / Congregational Church in Quoiting Square 1839-40 too.

William Junior did not marry. He died in 1856. At the time he owned 12 cottages in Pinkneys Green, 1 in Cadmore End, a large fruit, flower and vegetable garden in Marlow complete with hot houses intended for growing grape vines [This property was called New Field. It seems to have been close to what we now call Glade Road, perhaps on or very near Foxes Piece. But that's just speculation on my part. There was also pig and cow keeping buildings there and a cottage all belonging to William. His dad had owned a garden at "Town End" which may be the same one] plus a meadow with stables, piggeries etc in Spittal Street entered by an archway [Later these were run down and considered an eyesore. This property seems to have been near to where the Methodist Church is now].

Extra note: William Bond the Elder, builder, and William Bond the younger, builder, were appointed executors of the will and trustees of some property of John Rance Lovegrove plumber and glazier of Marlow in 1828.

Ann Bond was a witness to the will of Catherine Allnutt in 1819.

Other children of William Senior and Ann as per William's will=  Sarah wife of William Clabbon, Mary- Ann wife of Daniel Pitt, Martha (then deceased) wife of John Wells, Elizabeth wife of William ?Crove and Ann wife of Edward Bond (yes Bond).

The Men Who Built Marlow Part Two deals with the Corbys and can be found here. Part three is about Young Lovell and is available here

Photographed November 2020.

Sources:

Wills of William Bond, Hester Sawyer and Catherine Allnutt. PCC. Transcribed by me. They are at the National Archives.

1833 Parochial assessment. Original records in the custody of my family. Transcribed by me. 

Reports of cases in Chancery, Kings Bench, and Common Pleas volume 25 Part 1. Digitized by Google. Accessed March 2021.

Bucks Gazette 1st March 1833. Copy at British Library Archives and accessed by me via the BNA March 2021.

Bucks Herald, 18th October 1856, accessed as above.

John Bull, 30th April 1832, accessed as above.

Piggotts Commercial Directory 1831. Copy held by University of Leicester.

Journals of the House of Commons volume 61.

Great Marlow Bridgewardens' papers and accounts, Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies.

England and Wales Censuses transcribed by me from microfilm.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use this original research and image for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog and a link here so that the sources listed above remain credited.