More Historic Shopkeepers of Quoiting Square Marlow.

A grocer's shop formerly operated from where the children's shoe shop is today in Quoiting Square.

Aaron Maskell originally from the Cookham area (born 1814) ran the business in these specific premises by 1861 (seemingly from 1854). In 1862 he was summoned to court after inspectors found his weighing scales were not properly maintained and thus not weighing true. He said this was just an oversight and the court believed him -it was a common problem. He was allowed to pay only the court costs rather than a fine plus costs.

Aaron hired a shed further up Oxford Road in which he kept ducks and geese. In the 1800 grocers did not usually sell any fresh birds so this looks to have been a different side line business for Aaron. Some of these birds were stolen and slaughtered before they could be recovered in 1865. He is also listed as a bacon curer in 1854. Many grocery shops produced and sold their own bacon in this era with curing taking place on the premises.

Aaron died suddenly in 1873. He had been suffering from chest problems for four years and had been previously diagnosed with heart disease but had not had any recent medical attendance. On the day of his death he woke up with pains in the chest and arm. Today we would understand these as symptoms of a potential heart attack and an emergency situation but Aaron had to be persuaded to even go back to bed to rest let alone seek medical attendance. Eliza Mann* who lived with the Maskells gave him some ginger water (which would have been seen as invigorating) and then called for a doctor. Sadly his condition deteriorated and his life could not be saved.

Aaron's wife Anna (née Hemmens, stated as of Alton in Middlesex when they married in Heigham Norfolk 1837) then took over the helm of the shop. In 1878 her niece in law Emily Hemmens (widow of Charles) who had been assisting the couple for some years became the manager. These proprietor's all had spirit licences too and sold beer, including that of Marlow's Wethered Brewery. 

Emily died in 1884 and her assistant George Henry Britnell ran the business himself. George was from Little Marlow originally and married his wife Jane Larkin in Kensington Middlesex in 1885.

In 1890 George's shop assistant Ellen Harris was a witness when a boy stole from the till of a shop in nearby West Street. She gave evidence in court for the prosecution. Theft from shops was very common in Victorian Marlow but it was most often of goods hanging outside or displayed in the window rather than of money.

In the early 1900s George retired in favour of Edward Albert Piercey who moved from Lane End where he had been a licensed victualler. By this time the shop was mostly operating as what we would now call an off licence with groceries of secondary importance. Edward only stayed a few years, transferring the business and its alcohol license over to Edward Neighbour in 1906. Edward kept the store equally as a grocery shop, provisions merchant and off licence. Below is an ad from 1915.

When I was a very little girl I had an elderly friend Elsie Coster who lived as a child in Oxford Road near this shop. Her brother Albert worked running errands for the business as a teenager in the early 1920s and I believe Elsie herself worked there as a shop assistant for a brief period.

Edward's father has a biography post on the blog here. Edward's maternal grandparents feature in this post, while this one features both his aunt and maternal grandma.

The business continued as "E Neighbours" until at least 1933. The business is not in the 1939 Kelly's Directory. Bertram Scammell general shopkeeper was probably in the premises then.

Elsewhere in the Square William Bowles ran a fruiterer's shop from at least 1873 to at least 1897. He survived bankruptcy in 1886. He had a fruit store up Oxford Road and also occupied Oakengrove / Oaken Grove Farm. An old building in Oxford Road he no longer needed was the first home of Marlow's Salvation Army members. This made him somewhat unpopular and he eventually evicted them on the grounds their band practices and meetings were too noisy. You have to remember that the Army apart from promoting teetotalism which was seen as threatening in a brewery town was perceived as radical even dangerously subversive religiously and socially for many other reasons in it's early days. William was not as far as can be seen a member himself.

The shop where William lived and worked no longer exists, neither do his fruit store or the first Salvation Army building. More about the controversial (and violent!) early days of the Salvation Army in Marlow here.

*Eliza Mann married James Meakes of Marlow and the couple kept the Plough pub. More here.

See also previous post on "What did Platts used to be?" for shops that used to be on that Quoiting Square spot here.

See also here for my previous post on Elizabeth Tyler/ Lee whose husband just might have been in the Maskell/ Britnell/ Neighbour etc grocery store in earlier times.

For some history and the historic landlords of the pub next door to the grocery shop mentioned above (the Clayton Arms) see here

Sources:

Historic advertising material.

Bucks Examiner 17th December 1890. Copy held at the British Library Archives. Viewed by me via the British Newspaper Archive March 2021.

Reading Mercury 28th June 1862, accessed as above.

UK Census images my transcription from microfilm, National Archives. Census information remains Crown Copyright.

Heigham Parish Registers

Kelly's Directory of Berkshire, Bucks and Oxon 1854, 1883, 1911, 1915, 1920, 1939 by Kelly's Directories Limited. 

Marlow Town Guide 1891.

Marlow Directory and Almanack 1907, 1915. Marlow Printing Company.

Duttons Directory of Buckinghamshire by Dutton, Allen and Co 1863.

GRO Death Index online

Kensington marriage from Jane Pullinger.

Property records.

The Most Difficult Job In Marlow History?

 Marlow is a place where even the election to an unpaid parish position could result in civil disturbances, accusations of bribery and corruption and occasionally bloodshed. Elections to parliament were even worse. The 1880 election riot, and women's bread riot of 1800 are probably the best known. Someone had to officially call these elections or polls and announce the often unpopular (with the disenfranchised) results, and for the first half of the 19thc the man with the short straw was Henry Stallwood. 

Hidden history of Quoiting Square

Henry was of relatively humble origins and yet he came to wield some power and responsibility. Born in 1807, I believe he was the son of William and Maria Stallwood and therefore brother to influential Chartist Edmund Stallwood whose biography I've linked to below. William ran the small Three Loggerheads beerhouse in Quoiting Square (later The Queen), and Henry lived next door for a while. He worked as a young man as a shoe maker like William. (Combining beer selling and boot and shoemaking is almost a cliche in Marlow at this time.)  But it's Henry's parish roles we are going to focus on. Quoiting Square was the centre of non conformity in Marlow, home to the Congregational Church or Salem Chapel as it was then known. It was also the centre of liberal and "radical" politics (the Clayton Arms pub was in particular, named for local landowner and liberal political  candidate Sir William Clayton of Harleyford Manor.) So many of the residents of West Street, Oxford Rd and Quoiting Square  were identified at this time with being "independent" either in terms of how they voted or how they worshipped (and usually both). 

Marlow was regarded as a pocket borough, which returned two M.Ps. In other words, it was in control of the majority land owners the Williams family of Temple House. Generally it was considered, rightly or wrongly, that if you were one of the minority of Marlow residents with the right to vote, and you were one of Williams tenants, you'd better vote for him and his running partner or you might find yourself promptly evicted or trade withdrawn from your business. Accusations of voter bribery and intimidation were common on the other side too. Who you voted for was publicly known after all. So in 1835 Henry, and William Stallwood, found themselves commemorated in a list of 34 "Independent Voters" who'd dared to vote against the status quo, unsuccessfully as it turned out.  This list was intended to mark the bravery of those concerned but it probably marked them out for a certain amount of abuse from opposing quarters too. 

Parish Constable - A Bloody Business

I've mentioned one fairly thankless task Henry will have, that of returning officer for the borough. But Henry may have come to mind to those who voted him in because he'd already fulfilled another clutch of very difficult roles in Great Marlow history. These were those of parish constable, tithing man, and hayward. You might think a little country town might not be an especially stressful place to be a petty constable. Unfortunately for Henry you'd be wrong. Marlow had a reputation as a centre for poaching and some of these men were violent, both to keepers, witnesses against them, and to the arresting officers. Generally Henry took the option of  safety in numbers and a group of tithing men and petty constables did their best to surprise the offenders at home. The tussle to arrest one of the most notorious poachers, watched by a 100 strong crowd in 1840, is covered in detail in this post here. You will see from that that in 1842 Henry inflicted some severe injuries on the same suspect during an arrest. Henry was not afraid to use the staff given to him shall we say. Were the suspected criminals violent on arrest because the police were rough to them or was it the constables felt they were entitled to give as good as they got? Hard to say but it's fair to say Henry and his colleagues often had the crowd against them, and they were very much outnumbered. When Henry as tithing man was attending the Marlow horse races* in 1836, his attempts to keep the course clear nearly got him a ducking in the river. He was implicated in an assault by a parish constable on a race goer who had apparently ignored instructions to stay behind a line. The man received a head injury, and the crowd thought the constable and Stallwood had used excessive force to make their point. No action was taken against Henry but the constable was successfully sued for damages. 

Henry the sleuth 

Henry was a parish constable for much of the 1830 and 40s. Technically any householder could be selected for this role, which was then unpaid, and the position lasted a year. But if you were selected, and didn't want to do it, you could nominate a substitute and pay them to do the job for you. Henry was obviously one who was willing to take more than his fair share of turns. He was regarded as a brilliant constable, at least by those who didn't feel the brunt of his official staff. 

He took the role seriously, and very frequently we can find him patrolling the streets at all hours of day and night looking for the criminally inclined. (In this age of violent arrests, Henry was nevertheless usually patrolling alone. There were not enough police to do otherwise even if they wanted to.) He seems to have been a vigilant soul. To give one example from 1838.. One night, Henry sees William Meads lurking suspiciously outside the shoe shop of John Beck. He waits and watches as William breaks open the shutters, and goes inside. William then emerges back  through the window and sidles off. Henry follows him back to his lodgings, collars his man, and finds 12 pairs of shoes about his person. William Meads had a previous conviction for theft and so the sentence was inevitable - transportation for life. 

A bold thief attempted a break in at Henry's own house in 1854. (He was then living in Chapel Street.) The bolts were too strong to break through. They did manage to get into a store and liberate 2lbs butter though. 

More jobs for Henry

In 1839 Henry was elected to the position of surveyor of the parish roads. It was a hotly contested affair with numerous candidates, and allegations yet again of nefarious tactics.  Why did anyone care so much about what seems a role of only very local importance? More people had the right to vote for these parish positions than had the right to vote, and candidates were promoted by one political party or another so it became a way to show support for them. Many of those who won were the "liberal" or "independent" voters in political elections and they said it showed what the result would be in terms of their choice of M.P if the franchise was wider. Henry obviously did a good job as he was returned with little opposition the following year. In this role he had to check the roads were in good order and repaired in good time if not. 

Then in 1842 he was nominated for the joint position as registrar and relieving officer  (eg for the administration of poor relief funds) for the Marlow district of the Wycombe Poor Law union. The previous man in the job has been sacked due to numerous "defalculations" in his accounts.  How many of these roles Henry wanted to fulfil in their own right is hard to say, but I suspected he was generally put forward to represent the liberal interest whenever an opportunity arose. On this occasion he was unsuccessful at the poll, although he did come second. 

This was a time the parish position contests were getting yet more political. A sustained attempt to ensure Conservative voters turned up at the parish vestry in 1843, meant all "rad" holders of parish positions were ousted - including "Lord Chancellor Stallwood" as one paper put it. No more parish constable Stallwood either. However any attempt to keep our man out of local affairs were doomed to failure. 

Dirty tactics of another kind

Henry was still occupying parish positions in the 1850s and 60s. He continued in the unpopular (elected and this time paid) role of parish rate collector for more than 20 years from 1849. In other words, he issued demands for payment of the local taxes 3 times a year, and then came to collect the money due. Marlow people did not like paying their rates in general. In this job he would clash with some of those on his own side politically who objected to some specific rates or how they were administered. But Henry showed no favour and was not averse to applying a little pressure on the late payers. One  complained that Henry employed a group of "dirty boys" to "huzaa" (shout and create a hullabaloo) outside the house of anyone who wasn't ready to pay the first time he called to collect his dues. The magistrates were sceptical that someone in a respectable position would do any such thing, but when asked Henry happily admitted that he did employ one boy to create a disturbance! He suggested the youngsters' friends probably tagged along. The J.Ps responded that Henry had "a painful duty to perform".

He was obviously doing his best to be impartial as regards collecting the rates but I suspect he sympathised with those who felt they were too high. He was one of the founding members of the Marlow rate payers association, and at its inaugural meeting in the Clayton Arms in 1866, he was elected to the chair. Their brief was to watch over parochial spending  and ensure everyone got good value for money. 

From 1859 he was also the parish inspector of nuisances and chair of the Nuisance Committee. This usually meant investigating reports of overflowing cesspits, stinking drains and overgrown piles of farmyard manure. The scale of the challenge facing Henry here is hard to imagine. In his first year he reported  605 cases of nuisance within the town! This only accounts for those cases where he found there was a legal cause for complaint, not every one he had to investigate. Let's hope he didn't have a good sense of smell.

These kind of offences were not just unpleasant but often dangerous to health. In 1866 Henry chaired a meeting which aimed to prevent another cholera outbreak in the town. (In recent years there had been ones in 1832 when 49 people died, 1849 with 12 deaths, and 1850 with "many" fatalities.) It was settled upon to begin a house to house inspection to look for dodgy wells whose water would be tested. It was also decided to organise a subscription for a new parish pump to provide access to clean water.  I'm not sure which pump this was - the ones in Quoiting Square and St Peters Street are both possibilities. 

I will mention one last role, which he kept up to his death - county court bailiff. 

At election time

As mentioned above, one of Henry's most eye catching roles was the one of returning officer.  He took this on in 1836 and continued it for decades. This involved him taking the official public nominations for "right and proper persons" to represent the borough in parliament. Special hustings were erected outside the town hall/ Crown in Market Square for this to take place. If only as many candidates were bought forward (and seconded) as there were seats, this was straightforward. If not, a show of hands in favour of each would be M.P was requested. Henry had the job of deciding if two people had a clear majority of support. If not, he would declare a poll was necessary, and formal voting would take place on another day shortly after. If Henry's decision was disputed by either side, a poll could also be requested by those present. I don't think the show of hands ever actually settled the election, it was more of a formality. Henry usually gave some speech appealing for calm and good conduct.  He was present on the platform throughout voting  and supervised the recording of each eligible persons vote in the poll book. He then had to announce the winner. The actual voting part of the day was usually accompanied by some shouting and jostling but the real trouble generally began once the victor came forward. I don't think Henry was ever injured as a result, but as missiles were recorded as thrown at the stage more than once, he may have just learned when to make a speedy exit.  Winners and losers almost always make a point of thanking Henry for his even handed behaviour and diligence in this position. 

Henry himself was not prevented from engaging in political causes. In 1867 he was present at a reform meeting at The Greyhound Inn. Almost all those publicly recorded as attending were non conformists. He put forward a proposition that the franchise should be extended to the working class and that there should be a clamp down on voter intimidation and bribery. This was unanimously carried. In particular Henry wanted to see those accused of either offering bribes or accepting them punished properly. Other votes were to support the use of a secret ballot. 

Family man

I've not mentioned much of Henry's personal life because his public one has taken up so much room! Married to Mary (b c 1809), he had several children including little Clara who died after 3 weeks illness in 1853. Another daughter, Mary Ann would be a school teacher as a young woman. As such she was considered for the position of schoolmistress at the Union workhouse school at Bledlow but in the end was unsuccessful. I've wondered whether this Mary Ann may have been one of the juvenile pupil teachers of the Marlow girls British school but more research is needed. Henry was definitely an early supporter of the Marlow British schools (that is ones that were non denominational in their religious teaching) and was on the committee to start the first one (boys only originally) in 1852. Mary Ann also worked as a dressmaker. 

The Stallwoods were members of the Congregational Church in Quoiting Place (Quoiting Square now). Henry was a proud teetotaler like so many of his fellow worshippers. He said he took the pledge in 1841 and never looked back. He addressed the local temperance society several times. 

It's hard to imagine Henry had much leisure time but we know where he could be found when he did -  at the Great Marlow Literary and Scientific Institute reading room in the High Street. He was a supporter of this from the start, and often sat on the committee. 

Goodbye Henry

Henry died in the summer of 1872 age 65. The Bucks Herald declared he had been a "shrewd, industrious and diligent man" who was "painstaking and efficient" in his work. At that point he had moved to Cambridge Terrace (Cambridge Rd). Marlow would have to find someone else to do their dirty work!

Additional information:

Chartist Edmund Stallwood : here

 Early policing - crime fighting societies, parish constables, tithing men, sheep stealing and the night watch here

Index of posts related to Quoiting Place / Square: here

Index of posts about riots, dodgy elections, bribery and other crimes here

*Marlow Horse Races- comprehensive history, updated October  here

The British schools in Marlow: here

The Literary and Scientific Institute - here

Three Loggerheads beerhouse : here

All mentions of a person or family here can be found in the A-Z person index on the top drop down menu. 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day.

 

SOURCES INCLUDE:

1833 parish assessment, from original in our possession. 

Robson's Commercial Directory 1839. 

Census - transcript from the originals by Jane Pullinger. 

Windsor and Eton Express February 11th 1854, 13th December 1862, 11th August 1866, 23rd March 1867 - Slough Borough Libraries

Report of The British Schools Society 1856. 

Bucks Herald 6th January 1838,  31st March 1860, 2nd Jan 1862, 27th July 1872. Bucks Gazette 28th March 1840 & 5th November 1842, Bucks Advertiser and Aylesbury News 20th July 1872,  Berkshire Chronicle May 11th 1842, Reading Mercury 5th November 1853 & 23 March 1867  - all British Library Archive. 

"England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2JT4-32Z : 31 December 2014), Henry Stallwood, 1872; from "England & Wales Deaths, 1837-2006," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing Death, Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, General Register Office, Southport, England.

© MarlowAncestors

Way Family Premises

The home and business premises of John Way in Marlow High Street are today a toy shop.

John was baptised at Marlow in 1809 to Richard and Rebecca (nee Fowler) Way who had moved to the town in the early 1800s from Oakley Bucks. Richard was a farmer who lived in 1833 in Quoiting Square Marlow. 

Like many people in those days John suffered the loss of many family members in their prime- his sisters Rebecca and Ann died aged 16 and 22 respectively in 1819, followed two years later by his mother when she was only in her 40s. His father passed away in 1836 and his brother Joseph at the age of 26 in 1837.

John ran a poulterer's shop in the above premises from at least 1833 until his death circa 1846. In 1841 he expanded his business by obtaining a licence to sell game too. As poaching and the resulting illegal sale of game was a big problem getting a license to deal in it wasn't easy and it shows that John must have been considered as having an honest and trustworthy character if he was granted a licence. In 1845 his shop was broken into and a hare, a rabbit and a pheasant stolen. These items were allegedly then raffled in a local pub.

John must also have used a stable in St Peter's Street as part of his business as in 1833 his horse was stolen from that stable during the night.

In 1837 he had married Sarah Hibbert at St George's Hanover Square, London. By 1841 there were three children in their family - Rosa, Laura and a tiny baby boy as yet unnamed on the 1841 census. The family was sufficiently prosperous to be able to employ a live in servant then, Sophia Lissiman.

After John's death Sarah carried on the shop for a while, winning her own game dealing licence. This may have been only a temporary measure while his estate was settled. She was not in business in 1851.

John's older brother Richard, a carpenter, moved in to John and Sarah's former home. He lived there until his own death in 1865 age 66.

Sarah the widow of John was at Upton Cum Chalvey, Bucks in 1861 and a fund holder. Her daughter Rosa lived with her. In 1871 they were at Leytonstone Essex. Rosa did not marry and became a milliner and dressmaker.

NB These premises were occupied for many years in the later Victorian era by Kempsters the bakers / confectioners who also had a West Street premises.

Sources included:

1841,51,61 Censuses Great Marlow my transcription from microfiche at an LDS Family History Library, London. These can all now be accessed online.

Upton Cum Chalvey census transcription from microfilm by Jane Pullinger. 

"England and Wales Census, 1871", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VFFV-DB4 : 25 June 2022), Rosa Ann Way in entry for Sarah Way, 1871.

Berkshire Chronicle 25th July 1846. British Library Archives. Reading Mercury 25th November 1833 British Library Archives via the BNA.Bucks Advertiser 13th December 1845, as previously.

©Marlow Ancestors. Census information remains Crown copyright. You are very welcome to use my research for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog.

War Dead Congregational Church

The Imperial War Museum has transcribed the memorial to the members of the Congregational Church (as it was then called) in Quoiting Square Marlow who fought in the First World War.  The transcribed names are listed below and I have added some research into those young men.

Bartlett, Gilbert

Batting, Horace

Grove, William B

Keates, Ronald

Loaring, William J

Peddle, Alfred 

Plumridge, Albert E

Robinson, William

Smith, Henry J

Research:

Gilbert Bartlett. Son of Mrs and Noah Bartlett. Born 1891. His dad ran a grocer's shop in West Street overlooking Quoiting Square. I believe Gilbert is also memorialised in the WW 1 memorial in Sir William Borlase School, which he certainly attended. He had emigrated to South Africa by the time the war started and was thus serving in the South African infantry when he died in 1916. More about his parents in this post where you can find a picture of their premises as they are today.

Horace Batting. Born Horace John Batting 1897 to Charlotte and John Batting. Dad was a gardener. He himself was a grocer's assistant. Lived York Road as a small child. As a 13 year old Herbert was soloist in the Congregational Church's choir. Lance Corporal in the Royal Fusiliers. Died 29th April 1917. On the war memorial at Arras. Parents had previously suffered the loss of their 3 year old daughter Gertrude.

William B Grove. Born 1897 to George and Emma Grove. Lived 1901 Cambridge Place, Cambridge Road. Died 1915. Kings Royal Rife Corps. Featured on the Menin Gate memorial. Dad George worked on the river as a boat building labourer, waterman and a steam launch driver as well as being an amateur rower.

Ronald Keates. In full Ronald Sidney Keates. Born 1895 to Anne and James. Grew up West Street Marlow. Age 10 won a prize in Marlow Horticultural Show 1905 for a bunch of wildflowers he had picked. I know it is a minor thing to mention but the image of the child Ronald wandering peacefully in the fields enjoying the flowers struck a chord with me when I read it considering what he would later live through. Private in the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry. Before the war he was a clerk. His father James was a builder's foreman, elected parish constable and town councillor.

William J Loaring. Private in the Royal Fusiliers 13th Battalion. Killed 4th August 1917 by a sniper. Included on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres. Employed at Morgan's the drapers in the High Street before the war. The Morgans were also Congregational Church members. To see an historic photo of the premises where William worked or to read more about the Morgan family see my post here

Alfred Peddle. Born 1894 to Alfred and Helen Peddle.

Above, grave of Alfred Harry Peddle. Killed In Action in France March 2nd 1917 age 22. Of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.  Grave is in Marlow Cemetery. He is buried with his parents who lived in York Road at the time of his death. He was a plumber.

Albert E Plumridge. Albert Ernest. Born 1881 in Bisham. Did not die until some years after the war. It may have been considered that his military service caused his death nevertheless. He was badly gassed in 1917 and was sent home to hospital in Stourbridge England. Albert was a worker at Temple Mills before becoming a motor launch driver on the river. He lived at Bisham with his wife Edith (née Finch) at first before moving to West End Gardens Marlow. These houses still exist but are not now known under that name. They are in Henley Road Marlow. Albert had been a regular player for Bisham football team as a teen / young adult, sometimes serving as the Vice Captain. I think he may also have been a rower.

William Robinson. Possibly born 1885 to Alice and William Robinson.

Henry J Smith. The town's main war memorial gives the name H.W Smith which was Henry William, who may be a relative. Henry J was a Private in the Buck's Battalion.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day.

For detailed posts on Marlow in WW1 see Kathryn's Posts 1914  1915  1916  1917  1918 and 1919

For more church related content see the Church Related option on the menu. There are also A-Z Person Indexes, Graves  and Wills options on the menu.

Sources Include:

Transcription of the memorial is ©WMR-8379. Imperial War Museum. Available on a Creative Commons BY-NC licence. 

Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Details of memorials on the continent and dates of death.

Bucks Herald 25th August 1917. Copy held at the British Library archives. Accessed March 2021 via the BNA.

South Bucks Standard 23rd December 1910. As above.

Reading Mercury 25th August 1917.

1891 and 1901 Census transcribed from microfilm images by me.

World War One Service Records 1914-20 database online. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVBG-1V55 WO 363. National Archives, Kew.

War Memorial All Saints Church, Marlow (commemorates all denominations).

Written and researched by Charlotte Day. 

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to reuse our research if you link here so that the sources listed above remain credited for the information they provided.

1833 Parochial Assessment Great Marlow Quoiting Square / Oxford Terrace Continued

My family has the original working notebooks written up for this assessment. It was to be used to set the 1834 rates. 

It's age means the material is faded and falling apart so I am transcribing it in parts starting with the house and building information. The notebooks have some corrections and additions added up to circa 1839. If any are present for these entries I will indicate so. I have been adding the different parts to this blog as and when they chime with other bits of research I am doing.

Format I use:

Name

Property

Annual value of property

Any notes of mine added in square brackets

Quoiting Place [Quoiting Square] and Oxford Terrace [in Oxford Road] in book but the assessors made a hash of this section. Many of these properties were actually round the corner in West Street and I have noted this below as appropriate.

Continued [1st part of Oxford Terrace and Quoiting Square is here]

Thomas Davis

House, woodhouse, garden, stables and shed

£11

*****

William Harper [tinplate worker. Apparently actually West Street. Certainly was West Street earlier]

House, two gardens, workshop and yards

£10

*****

George Wyatt

House, woodhouse, stable and lofts

£10 10 shillings

Large garden

£2

*****

Thomas Wyatt 

Cottage and garden

£3

*****

Edward Tyler [a tallow chandler and market gardener who was sent to a debtors prison in London in 1834. Property actually West Street though probably by Quoiting Square turning].

House, storehouse and large garden

£9

A large market garden 

*****

Henry Stallwood [The Marlow parish constable and hayward for Marlow manor. Very good at his constable job! His dad William lived next door see other 1833 assessment posts]

Cottage

£3

*****

Miss Lord [Eleanor Lord. This was a boarding School. See my Schools In Marlow History post published here. Premises actually West Street].

Dwelling house, yard and convenient offices

£23

*****

Widow Clark [Actually West Street]

House and garden

£8

**

Widow Puddifant [Sarah Puddifant. Died 1840. Actually West Street. Post about her here].

House, yard and garden

£12

[Added in pencil after the name of widow Puddifant without crossing her name out is the name James Thomas Lovegrove and added to the annual value column in pencil words "raised to £22". More on James here]

*****

John Musprat [Actually West Street]

Three Tuns [inn] house, yard, stables and garden

£11

[More on John and also the Three Tuns here ]

*****

Samuel Carter

House and garden

£5

*****

George Greenwood

House, garden and shop

£13

Large garden

£2

*****

George Gale [master of the National School in Oxford Road]

House, play ground, stable and gardens

£17

Large Garden

£2

*****

William Windsor [a baker. Also actually West Street. He still there 1844]

House and garden

£5

*****

Richard Musprat [actually West Street]

House, yard and garden

£6

******

William Smith [actually West Street]

Cottage and garden 

£4 10 shillings

*****

James Allum [actually West Street]

House and garden

£6

*****

William Humphrey [West Street]

House and garden

£7 10 shillings

*****

Francis Pearce

House and garden

£7

*****

William Pusey [Surely this too is actually West Street?] [A straw bonnet maker and chair turner. See here for more about him and his family]

House, washhouse, shop, yard and large garden

£11

*****

Robert Sawyer [West Street again]

House, part of yard, stable, sheds, piggery and large garden 

£15

Tolls of the market 

£3

*****

George Westbrook

The Crown [Inn. This was in Market Square though the grounds and back of it could be accessed from Oxford Road], house, pleasure gardens and garden adjoining, large garden at the top of the yard, stable yard, stables, coach houses, skittle ground and other convenient offices

£60

The Town Hall card room [next door to the Crown, again not in Quoiting Place or Oxford Road!], parlour etc belonging to it

£10

*****

Oxford Road

Late Charles Bowerie Esq [probably Bouverie]

House, yard, stable, coach house and garden

£30

*****

Sarah Pimm [nee Hale, widow of Richard Pimm, hurdle maker who had died that year aged 62]

Cottage and garden

£4 10 shillings

*****

Richard Frith

Cottage and garden

£4 10 shillings

*****

Alexander Higginson Esq

House with offices, lawn, garden and green house

£45

To find all mentions of an individual here, use the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. There are thousands of people listed there.

For other posts about Quoiting Place, Oxford Road or West Street see the index here

For a full list of former schools like Miss Lord's school see Schools in the index here

Index to posts about the every day life for Marlow people at the time of the assessment and others see - here

© Marlow Ancestors

Grave William Greenaway Jaques

 In the graveyard of the former Congregational Church / Salem Chapel Quoiting Square Great Marlow, now called Christ Church URC.

William died 22nd June 1875 aged 76 (78?) He leased the corn (that is flour) and grist watermill at Marlow by 1830 although his families involvement with Marlow Mills stretches back further. He lived close by to it and leased another nearby property Weir Cottage (a 6 bedroom house with stables, coach house etc so no little cottage) which at least latterly in his life he sublet to others. 

His census entries suggest that he was born in Hurley Berkshire. I have not found his baptism but of course if his family were nonconformist Christians it is always more of a challenge to find those baptisms. Family wills however point to him being most likely the son of Greenaway Jacques and grandson of a Mary Jaques, widow of Wallingford who wrote her will in 1811 and died in 1823.

William had the same servant, Caroline Haynes / Haines for over 30 years. It does not appear that he ever married. I have not read his will but the main legatee was a James Greenwood, presumably a descendant of his uncle Charles Greenwood.

©Marlow Ancestors. 

Chartist Edmund Stallwood

Edmund Stallwood, son of Maria and William was born at Marlow in 1810. Their boy would grow up to be one of the more well known Chartists in England - something that would perhaps not have surprised them. As a boy he was hired by wealthy local landlord Sir William Clayton to assist on a game shoot at Harleyford. Clayton did not expect to pay the child more than a pittance to which Edmund had the temerity to object, naming a higher price which he thought fairer. Clayton said he could get a boy from the Workhouse easily enough if Edmund didn't want to do the job at a low price. Edmund retorted that Clayton probably could as his father like other taxpayers were made to pay to maintain those children so that such low wages could be paid to them by men like Sir William. He wasn't invited back to help with any more shoots! 

Although his father William Stallwood is often listed simply as a "labourer" he also kept the Three Loggerheads beerhouse in Quoiting Square (later The Queen). This was very small premises then. Most landlords of similar premises needed to have additional jobs to survive. On a day to day basis it was thus usually their wives that ran the beer selling business. Though it was small in size William occupied sufficient property to be entitled to vote in elections. He voted for independent candidates rather than the conservative powers that be locally. So there is some sense of rebelliousness in Edmund's father but Edmund's mother Maria was also credited with the formation of her son's Chartist beliefs.

In 1830 Edmund married Mary Blackshaw. The couple settled in Hammersmith then Fulham in London before moving eventually to the Gillingham suburb of New Brompton, in Kent. 

In 1836 as a newsagent and bookseller in Hammersmith, Edmund advertised that he would be ignoring the requirement to add tax stamps to the low cost working people's newspapers which he sold. This was illegal and saw Edmund fined. Upon refusing to pay Edmund was sent to the House of Correction for a spell instead. Obviously he was not deterred by a prison sentence. In 1842 he was one of the delegates at the Chartists' Convention in London.

Though he no longer lived in Marlow Edmund never lost touch with his hometown. To him townspeople sent financial contributions to the Chartist cause, and in 1841 Edmund returned to give a speech at the Baptist meeting rooms in Dean Street. Not this time on the subject of Chartism but of  Temperance, a cause to which he was nearly as devoted as to Chartism. Edmund travelled up and down the country speaking up for both causes as well as campaigning for the abolition of the death penalty and the abolition of the custom of primogeniture.

On Chartism Edmund spoke to audiences of both working men and working women. He appeared in public halls, working men's clubs, temperance hotels, pubs and if nowhere else was available out in the open or under a tree.

Edmund wanted to establish Chartist newspapers in every corner of Britain. He himself became a journalist for the radical Northern Star newspaper. Though this was Northern based it had correspondents from other areas.

The paper took his side when he was accused of pocketing the takings from a fundraising ball, concert and raffle held by the Chelsea, Brompton and Kensington branch of Chartist supporters. When tracked down and challenged on this point Edmund was said to have submitted false accounts exaggerating the costs of expenses paid like the musicians wages to cover his theft. The local members of the society found him guilty after investigation and were angered when the Northern Star failed at first to make any report of it and then as only did so in a grudging way. This was not the only time Edmund faced suspicion as to his financial probity. The National Cooperative Benefit Society in 1849 appealed for members to stop sending money to him whilst his management of the Society was investigated. I am unsure as to the outcome as to that. While some distrust of Edmund clearly lingered he had no difficulty in obtaining further positions of trust in Chartist linked groups. The sheer busyness of his life may have been in part to blame for any poor quality accounting rather than dishonesty.

Mary died at New Brompton in 1861.

Edmund died in 1866. He was politically active to his death and was also a churchwarden and one of the singing teachers of the Gillingham church choir.

Written and researched by Charlotte Day.

Related Posts:

Swing riots in Marlow here

More on the Six Bells here

1847 election riots here

James Croxon here

More biographies of individuals on the blog are listed here

General posts about everyday life in old Great Marlow and Little Marlow here

Don't forget to check out the Person Index in the top drop down menu for every mention of someone on this blog.

1833 Parochial Assessment Great Marlow Quoiting Square / Oxford Terrace

 The original assessment working notebooks with related correspondence from 1833 (to be used for the 1834 parish rates readjustment) have been preserved by my family. There are handwritten corrections to circa 1839. The notebooks are fragile however so I am gradually transcribing it on this blog so it is not lost. I am transcribing the parts in the order that chimes in with other research I am doing.

Layout I have used is:

Name

Property

Assessed Annual Worth

Any notes by me in square brackets

By Charlotte Day.

Quoiting Place [Quoiting Square] and Oxford Terrace [in Oxford Road. Note the assessors went out of property order in parts of this section. They did not say which properties were in Oxford Terrace and which in Quoiting Place, though in many cases I do nevertheless know where the properties mentioned were located].

Widow Dolby

House and yard

£8

*****

Robert Wakelin [a bricklayer. Wife Hannah]

House and yard

£8

*****

David Jones

House and yard

£8

*****

George Reading

House, yard and sheds

£9

*****

John Boulter

Crown and Anchor house [pub] and garden [This was Oxford Terrace, in Oxford Road]

£8

*****

David Evans [a chimney sweep who employed at least 2 men by 1842. May also have worked c.1848-53 as a "fire defender". Biography of his wife here] 

House and garden

£5

*****

Levi White [Later landlord of the Three Tuns]

House and garden

£5

*****

John Beaver

Cottage and garden

£3

*****

John Suthery

Cottage and garden

£4

*****

William Bryant

The Lodge house and garden [Oxford Road]

£6

*****

Thomas Piggott 

House and gardens near the Lodge [Oxford Road]

£8

*****

Sir William Robert Clayton M.P [At The Cottage, later Quoitings House, not to be confused with Oxford Cottage]

Dwelling house with conservatory, stables, coach houses, coach yard, shrubbery, walks, kitchen garden, green house, lawn and other convenient offices [off Oxford Road]

£70

"A small cottage at The Cottage" [usually gardeners lodge]

£2

*****

John Lloyd Locke Clayton

Dwelling house, yard, stable, coach house, offices and garden

£30 [Oxford House?]

*****

William East

Six almshouses in the occupation of poor widows "if rateable" [Oxford Road, William presumably a trustee or guardian of these charity properties] each:

£3

*****

John Flint

House, yard, stables, coach house and large walled garden [probably at end of Hayes Place, which opened onto the side of Quoiting Square]

£15

Wood house and garden adjoining

£2

****

Robert Looseley

Cottage and garden

£5

*****

John Cox

Shop and garden 

£5

House in front, woodhouse, gardens and yard

£6 10 shillings

****

John Tanner Hitchcock [in 1832 acquitted on a charge of stealing an umbrella from a fellow drinker at the Red Lion in nearby West Street. He had simply picked up the wrong umbrella. His wife was Ann nee Badger of Bisham who died in 1847. John was of Colnbrook at the time of their 1805 marriage. A corn dealer. In same property, which he rented, in 1840]

House yard and garden

£5 

*****

Joseph Martin

House and garden

£5

*****

William Gunnell [Quoiting Place]

House yard and garden

£5

*****

James White jnr

Cottage and garden

£4

*****

Joseph Cox [wheelright, likely working for Thomas Cox below]

Cottage and garden

£3

*****

William Bavin [Quoiting Place, a chairmaker there since at least 1830. Later a beer retailer who moved to St Peter's Street to run the Two Brewers by 1837 and was later at the first incarnation of the Carpenter's Arms. For more see here] .

House, shop and shed

£6 10 shillings

*****

Michael Field [Marlow doctor and horse racing enthusiast. He died 1834]

House etc

£4

*****

Gilman [a blacksmith, no first name]

House, shop, Shoeing house, yard etc

£10

*****

William Ward [Quoiting Place]

Six Bells Beer House, yard and garden

£9 ( Read his will here) List of proprietors of the Six Bells is available here

*****

Robert Ward [Quoiting Place]

House and garden

£6

*****

William Creswell [Quoiting Place, he was a shoemaker, who had previously ran the Six Bells]

House and garden

£5 10 shillings

*****

Thomas Cox [Quoiting Place, a wheelwright. Had workshop premises behind this that don't seem to be mentioned here!]

Cottage and garden

£4 10 shillings

*****

Joseph Horne

House and yard

£8

*****

Robert Clark (probably a builder).

House and garden 

£6

*****

Richard Way [came to Marlow in the early 1800s from Ockley. Wife Rebecca. He died 1836, Rebecca in 1821. Richard was a farmer in the 1820s. I am unsure if he was still farming in the 1830s. Their son Richard was a carpenter in West Street (later High Street), while another son was a poulterer in the High Street - see here - and another a publican. For the latter see here].

House and yard

£5 10 shillings

*****

William Stallwood [died 1837].

The Three Logerheads [Quoiting Place. Three Loggerheads pub, later the Queen], house and yard

£7

List of occupiers of the Loggerheads/Queen - see here

This assessment continued in a second post here

1700s Quoiting Square residents here.

1700s Oxford Road residents here

1700s West Street residents here

To find all mentions of an individual or family here, use the A-Z Person Index on the top drop down menu. 

To find other streets/areas in the assessment, search for them in the Specific shops, streets etc index here. 

 For posts about everyday life in Marlow for the people mentioned here see the post index here

Elizabeth Lee / Tyler of Great Marlow - Clayton Arms

Elizabeth was born circa 1795. By 1817 she had married Marlow baker William Lee of Chapel Street and was mother to a daughter Rose Ann, known usually as simply Ann. 

I have not located the marriage of Elizabeth and William. He was baptised into a nonconformist Christian family which may explain that. I believe the couple worshipped at the Salem Chapel, Quoiting Square now known as Christ Church.

According to an obituary for Rose Ann, her father William Lee was hung in Aylesbury Gaol for forgery, one of the last to suffer this punishment for the crime. This must have been traumatic and embarrassing for Elizabeth. I believe the offence was actually fraud.

By the time of the 1841 census she had remarried Joseph Tyler and they were running the Clayton Arms pub in Quoiting Square. Joseph was there personally, with or without Elizabeth, by 1838. He was the first landlord of Clayton Arms, which was owned by the Clayton family. 

Prior to this pub job Joseph had been a linen draper, at first in Watlington, then by working with John Meadows in the High Street, before striking out on his own with a business in Quoiting Square (probably next door to the Clayton Arms). He gave up the latter and sold it in 1830.

Joseph had a reputation for providing excellent dinners at the pub - or was that really Elizabeth's doing?

On the 1841 census Elizabeth had her daughter Ann with her. The girl would go on to marry Henry Moss. On the 1851 census Ann and Henry were living with Elizabeth who by then was a widow and running the pub alone.

The licence was transferred to someone else in 1858 following her death.

For more posts like this see the listing Biographies Of Individuals and Pub Related Index.

For more Quoiting Square (formerly Quoiting Place) content see this index

All mentions of a person on this blog can be found on the Person Index.

Sources:

Newspaper copies held at the British Library and accessed by me October 2020 via the BNA- South Bucks Standard May 17th 1895 [Rose Ann's obituary], Reading Mercury 15th March 1830 [Joseph Tyler information].

GRO death index online.

1841 and 51 censuses transcribed by me from microfilm images of census pages.

Buckinghamshire Baptism Index, baptism of William Lee. Find My Past. Accessed October 12th 2020.

© MarlowAncestors 

Revd John Briggs

Revd John Briggs came to the Congregational Church in Quoiting Square Marlow (now called Christ Church URC) from a previous post in Preston Lancashire late in 1866. The Independent Chapel in Whitby also wanted John but he turned them down.

John originated from the wonderfully named village of Idle near Bradford in Yorkshire. His father was a clothier and by the time he was 13 John was working as a cloth weaver for him. However a change of direction occurred at some point and John graduated from Airedale College, a specialist training college for Congregational ministers, located then at Undercliffe near Bradford. His was a Congregational family like many others in the village of Idle.

The Grimshaw Street Independent Chapel, Preston seems to have been John's first post, from 1861 onwards.

Prior to being appointed there John visited the chapel multiple times as a guest preacher. As was often the case when a man was seen as talented in that way, his future congregation had him pencilled as their preferred new minister when the time came that they had a vacancy, long before that vacancy occurred.

The attraction of John was obvious from reportage on his work, the Preston Chronicle calling him a man "in the first rank of our local orators" to give one example of praise for his sermons.

As well as the usual extra sermons given in aid of Sunday Schools, missionaries and the like the local Preston paper in 1865 advertised a sermon he was to preach on the life and death of Richard Cobden, a politician who had campaigned for the repeal of the Corn Laws, pacifism and the establishment of free non - denominational schools for children. John himself was outspoken in drumming up support for free education for children. 

His other big passion was his opposition to the system of Easter Dues exacted by Church of England clergy. He was the secretary of the Preston Anti-Easter Dues Association and something of a firebrand speaker anywhere and everywhere in that respect. In 1865 he and his associates managed to persuade the local vicar to publicly hand back to two men who had refused on principle to pay their dues some goods seized from them in lieu of cash - two hams and a barometer!

John was also a big supporter of the Young Men's Christian Association in Preston but does not seem to have been involved with that organisation in Marlow. In fact compared to other ministers of the Congregational Church at Marlow in the 1800s, John was very quiet. Whereas others were often to be found at major events in the town and were actively involved in hot local discussions about issues such as tax, the system of education and temperance John seldom appears as a speaker or organiser of events other than those directly related to his work at his own church. That doesn't mean he didn't attend other events, perhaps he preferred to attend in a quieter, less "up on stage"capacity. It was a marked change in his behaviour though between Preston and Marlow, which is puzzling.

John and his wife Sara / Sarah (nee Burrows married at the Grimshaw Street chapel August 1865) lived in the Congregational minister's house in Chapel Street Marlow. There on March 16th 1867 a daughter Mabel Sara was born to them. Sadly she died after just a few weeks as did another child, John Burrows, born to them the next year. 

On a happier note John received 26 new members into his church in 1867. That would average out at one a fortnight across the year. Impressive! Keeping members as active church members apparently wasn't as easy. In The Story of Christ Church, Quoiting Square 1693-1986 Arthur Macurthur writes that in February 1867 it was decided that those who had not attended the Lord's Supper for six months forfeited their church membership.

John resigned in Spring 1868, with the intention of entering the Church of England as a clergyman. This he did indeed do, becoming the curate of St John's Church in the suburb of Tuebrook, Liverpool when it opened in 1870. He served under vicar J.C Reade whose wealthy wife paid for the church to be built. Like many a curate John  performed a large amount of the marriages and other ceremonies at the church. Though obviously dedicated to Tuebrook, the Reades did not actually live there. 

John never lost contact with his old home of Preston. His entry to the Church of England did not go down well at all with some of his old associates there however. In fact a fair amount of venom was directed at him for perceived hypocrisy particularly by those still opposing Easter Dues. A later secretary of the Preston Anti Easter Dues Association was particularly scathing, to the point of publicly insinuating John had never been to University and was falsely claiming to have been sufficiently clever and hardworking to earn a degree. Ouch. There was no substance to this allegation by the way. John was an M.A.

He did not lose contact with Marlow either, returning in 1873 for the funeral of William Wright a prominent worshipper at his old Congregational Church in Quoiting Square. He was considered one of the guests of honour at the funeral so there was no obvious resentment in Marlow stemming from his removing to the Church Of England.

John resigned as a curate of St John's in 1871 to become Honorary Secretary of the Colonial and Continental Church Society. He was credited with being a highly successful fundraiser for that organisation. He remained based in Liverpool though he traveled widely in his role. 

He and Sarah lived at 43 Victoria Road in the suburb of Tuebrook where daughters were born to them in 1873 and 1875.

He died in 1877.

***

Further reading:

An 1870 religious pamphlet written by John is available free and in full here on Google Books.

Christ Church, Quoiting Square website which includes scans of history booklets here.

More biographies of Marlow clergy on this blog including John's successor Revd James Mountain, can be found under the Church Related option on the menu. All mentions of someone on the blog can be found by looking at the Person Index. Over 2,300 people are mentioned so far.

St John the Baptist, Tuebrook church website including photos of the attractive interior here.

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

Some Sources.

Preston Herald 23rd March 1867 and 9th May 1868. Preston Chronicle February 25th 1865. All via the BNA. Copies held in the British Library Archives.

The Story of Christ Church, Quoiting Square 1693-1986 by Arthur Macarthur. Thanks to Martin Ashford for giving us a copy of this.

"England and Wales Census, 1851," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SPMF-VBW : 12 September 2019), William Briggs, , Yorkshire,Yorkshire (West Riding), England; citing , Yorkshire,Yorkshire (West Riding), England, p. 24, from "1851 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.

GRO birth and death registrations, Bucks, Registry Office index.

More Beer Sellers Than Bakers - Temperance In Marlow

  

If you have read our list of Marlow beer sellers and pubs, you will see that Marlow was quite well served when it came to places to buy an alcoholic drink! For some people this was a pleasant thing, but for others it was the root of a lot of Marlow's problems. This post is about Marlow's temperance campaigners and teetotalers and the somewhat up hill battle they faced. 

It was never going to be easy to sell total abstinence from alcohol in a town where many people were employed by a brewery. Temperance, moderating alcohol consumption short of giving it up altogether, seems to be the cause that progressed most consistently through time in Marlow, although some of the groups campaigning under this banner were actually asking people to take a pledge of teetotalism after all. This point irritated Thomas Owen Wethered of the brewery, and he exchanged many words, printed and in person, with the likes of the Church Of England Temperance Society about this. 

Although Dean Street is well remembered as a place well served by beer shops, ale houses and the like, it was West Street and Church Passage that had the highest concentration of alcohol sellers per square foot prior to about 1830. Marlow had a reputation for having a lot of licensed premises per population size even then. In 1830 the Reading Mercury noted that 10 new beer houses had recently opened in Marlow, taking advantage of a relaxation of certain conditions required for a licence. Three were refused a licence in 1839, but most carried on..

 

Is that a victualler at the back?

Back in the 1840's, the temperance cause in Marlow was said to be progressing "very rapidly". This may have been a little optimistic as the number of beer sellers actually increases after this time! In 1841 the existing mission room in Dean Street was set up for use as a coffee house and reading room. The idea was that working men would stride past the lure of the streets many beer sellers and instead take advantage of a subsidised cup of coffee. The reading room would be a pleasant place to browse a newspaper or religious book, and so gave the men somewhere to relax out of home that wasn't a pub.  

In this year, a temperance meeting was held in the mission room on both Christmas Day and a few days later. It was chaired by George Brangwin. The organisers said that a licensed victualer attended and was so awed by their arguments that he signed up as a financial subscriber to their society. Whether he also signed a pledge to give up alcohol himself they did not say, but perhaps it was taken as a given. Research has not yet turned up anyone giving up their licence at this time, who seems a candidate for this character. You would imagine the teetotallers would trumpet the news about such a significant convert later on, but perhaps the story got muddled in the re telling by the London United Temperance Association. 

Chin up, it's Chinnum! 

One person who definitely was not likely to sign a pledge then was Dean Street character "Chinnum". Local George Stevens, remembering his own life in 1840's Marlow, recalled  Chinnum's antics, although not his real name. I have subsequently found him to be Thomas Anderson of Dean Street.  Chinnum was frequently before the bench on charges related to being drunk and disorderly as well as poaching and brawling. The exasperated authorities decided to try a different sort of punishment on him. They told the Parish Constable to dust off the town stocks and give Chinnum a six hour stint in them. George thought our drunken friend was the last miscreant to be clapped up in this way (March 1845), although other reports suggest there was one more, Thomas Ellis in 1858.*** Regardless, the stocks had not been in regular use for some time and the novelty value of seeing a man put in them drew a crowd. Chinnum was sat on a stool in the Market Square with his ankles and wrists in the holes made for them. The constable secured Chinnum and then went off, perhaps aware the crowd was largely supportive of his captive. When he returned to release the man, a crowd was still present and Mr Chinnum was blind drunk. How could this have occured? Well Chinnum had many friends present and when he said he was a little dry, a group of Dean Street ladies popped to the Coach & Horses and bought out a quart of beer and a pipe for him to enjoy. They had to help him drink it as his arms were out of use, but there was no shortage of volunteers and more drinks followed with predictable results. Chinnum might sound a jolly character, but he had a distinctly violent side when in drink and even savagely attacked his own mother. You can read more about that here. He was incidentally charged with being drunk and disorderly again less than a year later. 

Rags to riches ?

A different kind of example was before those attending a public lecture in the Lecture Hall, St. Peter's Street in 1862. The smartly dressed and respectable looking John Plato of Chesham held before the audience a set of ragged clothes. These were the the very outfit he had worn when signing his abstinence pledge 22 years before. He said the turn around of his fortune began at this moment, his alcohol dependency being the reason for his earlier poverty. 

A few years later, a speaker from London came to Marlow to address a meeting advertised as addressing the issue of Suppression of Liquor Traffic. The meeting was chaired by the Congregational church minister James Mountain. The "exhaustive" speech was accompanied by a dizzying number of facts and figures supporting the benefits sobriety could bring. This lead to the group passing a resolution calling on the government to do more to restrict alcohol sales. 

Supply and demand

 The reports of the teetotalism campaigners success, or lack of it in Marlow ebbs and flows as the 19thc goes on. The Marlow Correspondent for the Maidenhead advertiser, commenting in 1884, thought temperance was a subject that dared not be mentioned in the City - a slang term for Dean Street inspired by the pub names The Bank Of England, The Mint and the Royal Exchange. He argued that Marlow was a thirsty community and the number of pubs could probably be successfully doubled in some parts of town! He does make a good point that all seemed to be doing a good enough trade to keep going despite plenty of competition but of course the aim of the "other side" was to reduce this demand to nil. 

To this end, more open air temperance meetings were held in places such as Spittal Square (Common Slough) and Quoiting Place (Quoiting Square). 

Questionable advice for domestic bliss

In the 1890's the Temperance cause seems to gather pace again in Marlow. In 1891 it was noted that the town contained around 50 places to buy alcohol which was more than twice as many as the total number of butchers, grocers and grocers premises combined. This was one alcohol seller per 30 adults. But there was also said to more abstainers than ever before. 

A meeting was organised by the non conformist places of worship as teetotalism was a cause long dear to their hearts. It was decided that none of their chapels would be big enough for the hoped for audience so the Lecture Room was hired. Many speakers came and some offered helpful hints as to how to convert others to the cause. Rev Messer, a visiting temperance advocate, suggested that woman should determine to die an old maid rather than marry a drinker. Others told the woman how important it was to "bridle their tongues", act meekly and make the home comfortable so as not to drive their husbands to drink. Advice for woman who had to try and waylay their husband on his way home on payday before he spent some of his earnings in a beershop was not forthcoming. At the end of the meeting it was decided to have a series of lectures in the town to promote signing the pledge with the overall aim of closing down every beer seller in town* 

A society is formed...again

Marlow had had a temperance society in 1862, if not before but presumably it faded away as a Marlow Temperance Society was formed again in 1892 with long standing campaigner Rev Tavender** of the Congregational church elected president. This was active mainly with the "non-conformist" places of worship, but there was also Marlow branches of the Church Of England's Abstinence Society and a Total Abstinence Society which usually met in the Wesleyan Sunday School room. In late Victorian times Marlow also had a Lodge of The Independent Order of Good Templars. This was a friendly society with temperance as a requisite for membership and failure in this regard forfeited all benefits. Weekly meetings were held in the  Congregational school room with entertainments on offer not just speeches. We should also mention the popular Band Of Hope, where young people signed a pledge to be life long abstainers, and also engaged in many other activities. 

In 1893 Tavender invited a temperance "van" that had been travelled around the company to make a stop in Marlow. It arrived in Quoiting Square and those travelling with it made speeches and gave out leaflets. Unfortunately it's arrival had been well advertised and a group of men were ready to make a disturbance that made it difficult to hear the speakers. 

Still, the advocates must have been happy when a Temperance Hotel opened up in the very centre of Marlow in 1895. It was on the corner of Institute Road and the High Street, in the premises just vacated by W B Langston's boot and shoe stores who would now just use their newer premises directly opposite. The hotel was fitted up with every modern apparatus for the preparation of tea, coffee and cocoa, and also had a grill room for those wanting something substantial whether guest or sober visitor. It closed a little over 2 years later, it's promoters and supporters "finding the venture a very unprofitable one". The same fate had befell the previous High Street Temperance hotel which closed in 1885. It was then under its second business owner in former West Wycombe chair maker Alex Hughes -  he went bankrupt after 14 months of slow trade. However the corner  premises seems to have had a later  resurrection in the Temperance line, also offering accomodation. I've not researched this further as it is out of our time focus. But I can say it's use in this incarnation does not seem to be continuous as it is absent from fairly exhaustive hotel and temperance related listings for a number of years around the First World War. 

The site of the Temperance Hotel, formerly original site of Langston's Boot and Shoe Warehouse. Later uses included a tea room and jewellers. Currently no 55, building bears date of 1878 on side. Image ©Colin Groves and used with permission. 

Last hurrah for the beer drinkers?

In 1907 John Debenham landlord of the Carrier's Arms in Wycombe Road, asked for his licence to be removed in favour of the magistrates granting him a new one for a yet to be built premises in New Town Road to serve the newly developed New Town area. He said he sold only 2 barrels of beer a week at the tiny Carrier's Arms. The proposed new pub was to have a frontage of 33ft onto the road and a depth of over 90ft. There were 53 inhabited buildings in New Town plus 2 laundries and 2 brick kilns. George's request was ultimately refused after petitions for and against were read. George Swadling, working at Mr Wellicome's brick kiln, said he was strongly in favour of a public house there as "brick making is thirsty work." Full marks for trying Mr Swadling!  

Changes in licencing laws did eventually reduce the number of pubs in Marlow. Some landlords found that even when they were happy with their income, the authorities could decide they were surplus to requirements and close them for good. Compensation was offered to both the brewery owner and the licencee in that case, but some of the amounts paid seem paltry when making up for a families loss of both home and livelihood.

 A plan in 1908 to place more restrictions on pubs (no women would be allowed to work in them, Sunday opening times reduced) and to reduce this closure compensation further drew a furious response in town. Petitions had been placed in the pubs and hotels against almost all previous licencing changes and the formation of a Marlow Licenced Victuallers Defence Association was muted in 1881. This time a well attended protest meeting was held. The upshot was a group of 300 Marlow people travelled on a special train to Paddington. There they unfurled a banner bearing the word Marlow and marched to Hyde Park to take place in a large scale procession and protest. In the end the proposed legislation failed but Marlow still lost many of her pubs to forced closures over the next few decades. 

*Between September 1873 and September 1874 36 people in the Great Marlow licencing district were convicted of drunkenness or crimes relating to that. 2 were women. All but two of the men were first time offenders. In addition 1 person was convicted of selling alcohol without a licence and 2 licensees were convicted of breaching their licence conditions in some way. This compares to 78 convictions related to drunkenness in Slough over the same period, 45 in High Wycombe, 35 in Chesham and 23 in Buckingham. Most people escaped an arrest if they did not insult the constable and followed his advice to go directly and quietly home. 

**Mrs Tavender was also a temperance campaigner. She belonged to, and often chaired meetings of, the Women's Temperance Society which usually met in non conformist places of worship. 

*** Thomas Ellis spent 6 hours in the stocks. Originally convicted of drunkenness and fined, he could not pay. A order was made to seize goods to the value of the fine plus costs, but he had nothing worth taking, hence the stocks. This was controversial in the town. 

The blog list of Marlow pubs of the past can be found here (over 100 of them!)

Biographical posts on Revd Tavender and Revd Mountain can be found here and  here.

More about the Langston's boot stores here

See the "Pub" tab on the drop down menu above for more information on specific premises or landlords. 

For other posts about everyday life in old Marlow see the index here

Researched and written by Kathryn Day. 

SOURCES

The Teetotaller, 1841. London United Temperance Association. (George Henderson, London)

Couling, Samuel, 1860. History of the Temperance Movement in Great Britain. (William Tweedie Publications)

Turner, Peter W. 1893. The Temperance Movement and it's Work - Vol 1-2. (Blackie and Sons Ltd, London)

Band of Hope Society, 3rd Edition 1895. What are Band of Hope Societies and how to form them (Band of Hope Library)

Band of Hope Records Vol 2-4, 1858, digitised by Google. 

Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons Vol 49, 1876. 

South Bucks Standard, 3 June 1885, 19 September & 19 December 1890, 29 March & 2 Nov 1895, copies from the British Library Archive accessed through the BNA. 

Reading Mercury -  22 Nov 1830 & Sept 21 1839, 11 September 1858 as above

Bucks Herald  11 September 1858, as above. 

South Bucks Free Press, 22 March & 3 August 1862 as above. 

Wethered, T O, 1885, Teetotalism and the Beer Trade. 

Bucks Herald 11 April 1885, as above. 

©MarlowAncestors. 

1700s Oxford Road People

 The following occupied property in Oxford Road or Oxford Lane as it was then known, during the 1700s. Dates next to each persons entry are for when I know they were in Oxford Road. Most of the properties we see today in the road were yet to be built so the number of residents in the 1700s was low.

 **It is strongly recommended that you also search my 1700s Quoiting Square post as Oxford Road forms one side of that square and for some people their address is randomly given as one or the other**

 Most of those listed did not own the properties they occupied. I have noted owners here only when they have a family link to the occupier. In some cases who owned the property is unknown to me. It is usually impossible to know exactly which property is being referred to- but I am working on it! Finding names of 1700s residents anywhere is very difficult. The fact I have any at all for any street in Marlow is down only to years of research. I'll never be able to find everyone but along with Kathryn I'll give it my best shot! To check for more info about any of those individuals mentioned here use the top drop down A-Z person index - it contains links to over 6,000 people and families and counting...

Henry Barney. Occupied a close of land called "Oxford Lane Close". Late deceased 1770. Also owned it. (And land at Spinfield etc) 

Thomas B...n (illegible). Tenant of a cottage 1772.

Widow Bowles. Tenant cottage 1729.

Thomas Carter. Tenant 1729.

William Croxon. Tenant of a cottage 1772.

Henry East. Tenant of home and garden 1786.

John Hester. Tenant of cottage 1729.

Richard Stevens. Tenant 1758.

Widow Thompson. Tenant of home and garden. 1786.

More Information:

More 1700s residents in Marlow posts:

Chapel Street here

Dean Street here

Quoiting Square here

Spittal Street here

My long Recreated 1700s Trade Directory for Marlow and Little Marlow is here.

All mentions of a person on this blog can be found on the Person Index.

©Marlow Ancestors. You may freely use this research for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog and a link here. Thanks.

Revd William Roome And His Son

Revd William James Boden Roome was at the Congregational Church in Quoiting Square between 1871 and 1873.

William was born in Chesterfield Derbyshire in 1832 and baptised at Sheffield. His father had since 1831 ran a "classical, mathematical and commercial academy" for young gentleman in Hollywell Street Chesterfield. William's mother was Charlotte née Boden. Her father James Boden was a very long serving Congregational minister at Queen Street Chapel Sheffield (hence her son's Sheffield baptism) not to mention both a writer of and collector of hymns. When he retired it was to Chesterfield. Her brother was also a minister while her sisters ran a school for young ladies in Chesterfield. So both Congregationalism and involvement in education were well established in William's background. 

In 1841 nine year old William suffered the deaths of both his mother and maternal grandfather. This was followed the next year by the loss of his maternal grandmother too. At the same time his father was suffering severe financial difficulties so life must have been hard for the boy.

By 1851 William had moved with his father and brother to Chelsea in London from where Mr Roome ran a small private school. Some of their pupils lived in with them, others came daily. 

At some point in the 1850s William left the family business to pursue his vocation in the church and in 1863 he was appointed to the Coventry Road Congregational Church in Birmingham. The next year he married (in the Camberwell registration district) Emma Eugenia Waterman.

In the late 1860s William moved with Emma to Lindfield, Sussex before being offered his post at Marlow in 1871. He left Lindfield in April of that year with a £40 purse donated to him by his congregation at his leaving do plus another £15 gifted to him after the official goodbye celebration.

At the time of the 1871 census William was in Marlow but not yet resident at the Congregational Church's manse in Chapel Street. Instead he lived at "Rose Villa". He was not officially received as the minister of the church until an event in the Sunday School room in late September 1871. During the Summer refurbishment work had been taking place inside the church building which may explain the several month's delay between his arrival in Marlow and his officially starting work.

If William had time on his hands he likely took the chance to indulge his passion for astronomy. He was a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and both lectured and wrote about all things space related. He was also interested in ancient cultures whose religions were entwined with astronomical observations so he gave talks on the likes of the Ancient Egyptians and Babylonians. None of these talks seem to have been at Marlow.

At the event welcoming him to the church in September 1871 the traditional rattling of a collection box occurred and the local newspapers reported that William's new congregation donated a generous amount towards the cost of those recent church refurbishments.

Nevertheless William seems not to have found Marlow quite to his liking as after just under two years as minister here he offered his resignation on the grounds that he did not feel supported in his work by his congregation. 

Just before he resigned one of the most important members of his flock, William Wright of Marlow Mills, died. The funeral was one of the biggest in town for several years but while Revd Roome was asked to say some prayers at the funeral the Wright family requested that former minister Andrew Mearns return to Marlow from London to conduct the main service. Revd Mearns was very popular and much in demand as a preacher everywhere- see my dedicated post for more about him. Perhaps William Roome felt a bit slighted.

He was certainly generally piqued as he not only said goodbye to Marlow, he turned his back on the whole Congregational church movement, becoming instead a Presbyterian minister. Initially he served in London, before moving to Aldershot Hampshire. 

William and Emma's son William junior trained as a surveyor but became a missionary in Africa working with the British and Foreign Bible Society and others. He traversed that continent seven times and as a result was able to draw up useful maps for other missionaries. He also made precise records of where each African language he encountered was used as he believed only by presenting Christian material in local languages would missionaries be ultimately successful. He published a biography of African Evangelical preacher Apolo Kivebulaya whom he had met there.

While he travelled widely within Africa, William junior specialised in the Belgian Congo. His lectures on the culture of the Pigmy peoples he met there were in demand in England and Ireland alike. He illustrated these lectures with photographs and film footage. His membership of the Royal Geographic Society pushed him to make some deviations from missionary routes to visit famed African places. He climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and visited the spot where Doctor Livingstone's heart was buried for instance. When not in Africa he worked as an architect and surveyor, mostly in Belfast where he chose to live. His mother Emma once widowed retired to live with him there. It seems the Irish links of the family may have come from her side. Both she and her son remained devoted Presbyterians. They regularly helped raise money to aid Belfast "cripples". Emma died aged 76 in 1917.

More minister biographies under the Church Related tab on the menu. All mentions of each person on this blog can be found in the Person Index on the top drop down menu. 

See:

United Presbyterian Magazine 1876.

Evangelical Magazine and Missionary Chronicle 1863, digitized by Google.

Reading Mercury 30th September 1871 and Bucks Herald 15th April 1871.

List of Fellows Royal Astronomical Society.

Marriage Registrations England and Wales GRO.

England and Wales Census 1851 and 1871 [My transcription from microfilm].

Thanks to Aiden O'Brien for finding the Sheffield baptisms.

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

What Did Platts Use To Be?

 

The site of a farmhouse throughout the 1600s to at least the earlier 1700s this building was used for a grocery shop come cheesemongers in the 1840s and early 1850s by Thomas Butler who later went on to be the postmaster in the West Street Post Office. 

The building then became the premises of Robert Graham the pawnbroker who was probably a Scot by origin. Robert's apprentice Joseph Evans took over the business in 1861 or 62 in partnership with Alfred Edward Batting but they dissolved their business relationship in 1864 and Alfred continued alone.

In 1860 Joseph Evans was one of the witnesses to give evidence against Mary Hill a needlewoman living with the Frith family also of Quoiting Square who stole towels and ribbons from the Frith's and tried to pawn them in Robert Graham's shop. I think she needed to make a bit more of a getaway first! The house the Frith's occupied no longer stands but it was about 30 seconds walk from the pawnbrokers, if that.

Joseph Evans and Alfred Batting together and then Alfred Batting alone also operated as furniture brokers and secondhand clothes dealers.

Alfred ended up moving premises into nearby Market Square leaving his Quoiting Square shop to be taken over by furniture dealer Alfred East circa 1880. Mr East was eventually able to live off site, the big dream of all Victorian and Edwardian shopkeepers. Being able to separate business and home life was the sign that you'd made it. His home Myneholme was in Institute Road.

More Quoiting Square shopkeepers will feature in future posts. List of 1700s occupiers of property in the Square here. More Quoiting Square related posts are listed here. Use the Person Index to find all mentions of someone on this blog.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day.

©Marlow Ancestors. Please feel free to use my research for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog and a link here. You are also free to use my photo here. 

Historic List of Landlords Of Quoiting Square/ Quoiting Place Licenced Premises

For the Clayton Arms, see here. For the Crown and Anchor Oxford Lane landlords see here.

THE QUEEN-  Previously known as The Three Loggerheads, in operation as such from at least 1833. Appears to have changed name upon the coronation of Queen Victoria. On the corner with West Street.

1833 - As Three Loggerheads - William Stallwood. He died 1837.

1841 - Henry Beckett "Beer Shop" 

1844 - Henry Beckett (also carpenter) His wife Almeria was the daughter of William and Fanny Stratford of The Bonnet O' Blue in West Street -see here.

1851 - Henry Beckett.

1861 - 63 William Betts. Wife Mary Ann. This couple moved to St Peter Street Marlow where Mary ran a boarding house for many years.

1870 - James Ireland. 

1871 - James Ireland died. James Goldswain took over.  An 'elderly' man with heart trouble...

1872 - . James Goldswain dropped dead in the pub from heart disease. James Theobald(s) or possibly H Theobald (sources differ) then takes on the licence. Henry Theobald was definitely the one there in October 1872 anyway. The pub was then under threat from the new Licensing Act which set a minimal rateable property value on licensed premises if they were to be allowed to continue to operate. It was suspected that the Queen was below minimum value. Previously licences were considered to add value to a premises but under the Act this consideration was removed and properties valued as if they were domestic houses and not a pubs. Lands attached to the pub except for gardens were also removed from consideration. Deficient premises were allowed to have building or other improvement work done to them to raise their value if it had been deemed too low. Either the Queen unexpectedly passed it's valuation survey or it was  improved enough to continue operating.

1873 - Henry Theobald transferred licence to Miriam West, a widow.

1878 - Henry Stephen Hawkins (known as Stephen).

1881 - Henry S Hawkins (also a wheelwright).

1886 - Henry Stephen Hawkins. Faced closure this year as it did not meet the new minimum rateable value required for a licensed premises. It was agreed to incorporate the neighbouring cottage into the premises - a building that had often been occupied by the tenants of the Queen anyway. The outer door was bricked up after  complaints were made the property could not be rated as one with two separate entrances and no interior communication. The Cherry Tree, Crown and Anchor and  Bricklayers Arms had to adopt similar measures. 

1891 - Henry Hawkins (also a wheelwright).

1907 - Henry S Hawkins  then Albert (possibly Alfred)  Henry Whitmore.

1908 - Albert Henry Whitmore.

1909 - Thomas Edmund Griffen (holdover).

1911 - Thomas Vaughn.

1915 - G E Gardner.

1917 - G E Gardner.

1928 - Last landlord W C Tilbury [William Christopher, wife Annie]. Sells 2&1/2 barrels of beer a week.  Closed December 31st, as licence renewal refused under powers to limit the number of licensed premises in an area. Annie Tilbury is later to go to the adjacent  Clayton Arms. 

SIX BELLS

1782 - George Allen /Allom / Allam  (Possibly also Allum), then later that year his widow Elizabeth. 

1784- George Allom. A son of the above couple perhaps.

1823 T. W Allum? Went bankrupt this year. 2. William Bowles

1824 - William Bowles "Oxford Lane". He went to the Greyhound See here.

1830 - William Creswell - owned by William Creswell of The Compleat Angler but ran by nephew, also called William Creswell. Both suffered bankruptcy. 

1831 - William Cres(s)well

1832 - William Cresswell 

1833 - William Ward 

1844 - William Ward

1849 - William Ward "otherwise Piddleward" as described in his will, which was proved that year!! Owned the premises as well as occupied it. William Ward's will transcription summary is on the blog here. The house remained in Ward family for decades, in domestic use. 

1852 - Elizabeth Ward. 

Above, centre, site of the tiny Six Bells with the former Queen / Three Loggerheads almost next door, on the corner with West Street.

Researched by Charlotte and Kathryn Day.

This post will be updated as new information emerges. 

For more posts like this see our Pub Related index here . To find every mention of your ancestor however small use the A-z Person Index. More Quoiting Square related posts can be found indexed here.

Many Marlow landlords changed premises multiple times. You will often find they had family members running similar establishments too. 

See:

Kelly's Post Office Directory 1903, 1907 . Published by Kelly's Directories Ltd. Via Google Books. 

1833 Parish Assessment. Original  notebooks held by our family and transcribed by Charlotte Day. Being uploaded onto the blog gradually.

Census 1871,1881,1891. Transcribed from microfilm provided at a Family History Centre ran by the LDS. Such records are now easily available online.

National Archives Catalogue, Discovery online.

Articles from Reading Mercury, Bucks Herald and Oxford Journal, as held in British Library Archive and accessed via the BNA February 2021.

Will of William Ward Alias Piddleward, proved 1849, and transcribed by Charlotte Day from the PCC copy held at the National Archives, Kew

Pigots Directory 1823, 1830

Slaters Royal,National and Commercial Directory 1852

©Marlow Ancestors.