Marlow in the Civil War

In 1640 King Charles 1st needed money in order to keep Scottish insurrections down and expected parliament to agree to raise this. M.P.s largely felt they would get little reward in return and that if he could Charles would find excuses to be done with them altogether.

An M.P offered a £650,000 loan to the King in return for a bill promising not to "perogue, adjourn or dissolve this  parliament without the consent of both houses". 

Marlow M.P Bulstrode Whitlocke was tasked with drafting this bill . His "An Act to prevent Inconveniences, which may happen by the untimely adjourning, proroguing, or dissolving this present Parliament" went through parliament and gained royal assent assent though very begrudgingly so. Peace between parliament and crown would not last long.

Bulstrode Whitelocke was a lawyer by trade and seated at Fawley Court. He became M.P in 1640. He was at first declared the loser in the election but that result was quashed when it was revealed that the return sent to parliament by the town burgesses had been a false one (allegedly at the behest of the Mayor of Marlow, but did we have one then?). Mr Hoby was the other elected M.P at that time.

Bulstrode was appointed to the committee examining the possible impeachment of the King's chief minister the Earl Strafford. That impeachment was decided upon and Bulstrode acted as one of the barristers for the prosecution. Strafford said afterwards that Bulstrode, unlike some others present, treated him like the gentleman he was but was nevertheless absolutely determined against him.

As war broke out Bulstrode rode to Oxford, with what became by the end of his journey thanks to the gradual picking up of more and more supporters, around 3000 men. They entered the city without opposition. Bulstrode warned that Oxford was an obvious strategic base for Royalist troops and that the town ought to be fortified against their incursion. Lord thought the city unlikely to be particularly desired by the Royalists and so these plans were, to the roundheads significant later regret, not pursued. 

While he was away Bulstrode's home Fawley Court was occupied by a Royalist regiment of horse under the ultimate command of Prince Rupert. Soldiers used valuable books from Bulstrode's library as touch papers to light their pipes and plundered his estates of corn and other foodstuffs. They stole all four of his carriages and used them to carry away his valuables including various family heirlooms. The damage to the house was so bad that it was no longer considered as a really liveable in home ever again and was pulled down and rebuilt 40 years later.

Bulstrode was one of the peace commissioners sent to the King and Prince Rupert at Oxford in 1642 to present a peace treaty. This ultimately was not signed by Charles who gave away the stolen Fawley Court to his supporter Sir Charles Blunt in a further slap in the face for our Marlow M.P.

Bulstrode gave a long speech in Parliament a few months later urging peace. He told his fellow M.P.s that God had given them "in many places great successes against our enemies and sometimes he is pleased to give our enemies successes against us. In all of them whether of the one party or the other the poor English are still the sufferers.  Whose goods I pray sir, are plundered? Whose houses are burnt? Whose limbs are cut or shot off?...Whose blood stains the walls of our towns and defiles our land? Is it not all English? And is it not then time for us who are all Englishmen to be weary of these discords and to use our utmost endeavours to put an end to them?" But peace was not easily to be achieved. 

In 1645 Bulstrode was accused of having with another man been previously in secret meeting with the King, following an accidental meeting between them at Oxford, in which he had in fact urged the King to go to parliament and make peace. It was not permitted for any Parliamentarian to meeth Charles or one of his representatives without openly announcing such intent. Bulstrode was found not guilty.

Nevertheless rumours arose that when Charles stopped at Hambledon right in Bulstrode's home patch, in 1646 Bulstrode had turned a blind eye for fear the king would be murdered otherwise. For religious reasons he had various enemies that might have spread malicious gossip in order to discredit him. They were the movers and shakers behind the earlier charges against him. In any case it was hardly down to Bulstrode alone to watch for a fleeing monarch. 

The former Royalist stronghold at Greenlands Hambledon, had been destroyed following a six month siege two years earlier. Cannons were fired from across the river at the house. Bulstrode later bought the ruins and the land that went with them.

He then lived himself at Phyllis Court which was fortified under his supervision and effectively used as a garrison for several hundred Roundhead soldiers so his commitment to the Parliamentary cause per se isn't really in doubt.

Around this time he used his influence to prevent the libraries of the colleges of Oxford being sequestered. He was a former alumni of Oxford himself.

All the while he was involved in fighting and attempts at making peace Bulstrode also continued to practice law.

When plans to put the King on trial for his life were being put into place Bulstrode fled from his London professional base to the country so as to avoid any order to give assistance. He did not support the execution of Charles or the abolition of the House of Lords. Once he was certain that he would not be personally involved in the trial he returned to the city. On the day of the King's execution Bulstrode stayed home working and praying.

Thomas Scot(t) of Little Marlow, M.P for Aylesbury and a lawyer was one of those appointed to try the King. He voted in favour of the guilt of Charles and was one of the men who signed his death warrant. Unlike some of the other signatories Thomas never regretted his part in the regicide, in fact he declared his pride in it to the end of his days. From 1649 he was the head of national and foreign intelligence whose role included keeping tabs on Royalist exiles abroad. When the tide eventually turned towards the restoration of the monarchy, Thomas himself attempted to shelter from the approaching storm of retribution abroad, but was arrested and returned to face the music. Inevitably considering his continued defiance and lack of repentance, he was executed in 1661 for his role in the regicide.

Seymour Court house in Marlow and the farm that went with it were let by the elderly William Herbert, Baron Powis (nephew of the former Queen Catherine Parr wife of Henry 8th) and his wife Eleanor, (nee Percy daughter of the Earl of Northumberland) during the Civil War. They had other estates and it is uncertain whether they were ever in actual residence here. According to some folklore the house was attacked and damaged by Parliamentarian forces during the war. I can find no direct contemporary evidence for that, though William and Eleanor's son Percy was declared a "delinquent" as a Royalist and had his estates elsewhere sequestered. It also seems that William himself may have lost property in Wales but not obviously in Marlow for the same reason. He was certainly imprisoned for a period despite his advanced age for his political sympathies. The family also suffered financially because of Eleanor's (and possibly her husband's) religious recusancy. In their final years both seem to have run up large debts and experienced much (relative) hardship.

Lord Paget was a local roundhead supporter, living with his family at Harleyford during the war.

But what of the ordinary people of Marlow during the war?

Parliamentary forces certainly came to Marlow, destroyed it's bridge to prevent Royalist troops using it to to cross the Thames and took possession of the church. Both horses and men occupied the church, necessitating a deep clean afterwards, and the churchyard. During this era of course almost no one had a stone erected on their grave and graveyards were fenced so they would have made a more convenient camping / horse grazing place than would be the case today. In his 1981 book Thames Crossings by Geoffrey Phillips said that there was in Marlow a chapel of St Mary, from at least 1394 which was located at "the town end of the bridge" and that the "ruins" of it were removed in civil war to build fortifications. All this must have proved disconcerting to the ordinary folk of the town even if they had roundhead leanings. There are some unanswered questions as to how life for them changed under partial military occupation. Did the soldiers allow access to the churchyard for parish burials or to the church for normal worship for instance? Marriage ceremonies in this era often started in a church porch as it symbolised the bridging of the secular and spiritual world's. The end of the ceremony was then performed inside church. During the civil war the whole ceremony could have taken place in the porch if the parties were allowed that far at least. Baptism was quite commonly performed outside of a church anyway.

Following the war, between 1653 and 1660, marriage became purely a civil act in the eyes of the law though not in the eyes of most people. During this period church marriages had no legal validity so that couples had to present themselves to a Justice of the Peace in order to tie the knot. In practice brides and grooms often sneaked in a religious ceremony as well as a civil one. The then London-based parents of future Marlow resident James Etheridge were one such couple according to his writings. First they married at a chapel in Lincoln's Inn, then the next day they had an official service conducted by the correct official.

Charles Lovejoy the Marlow shoemaker 1648 betrays perhaps some hint that commercial life was being disrupted in the town as he instructs his wife Abigail to sell his Marlow house "at some convenient time". As this was in part to pay his debts which would normally be paid as soon as possible after death, delay would usually have been avoided by all concerned to prevent unpleasantness. Some property transactions certainly did take place however as can be seen at the property records of Buckinghamshire Archives, including those which needed the involvement of those from outside of the immediate local area indicating road travel was not thought impossibly risky. It certainly wasn't easy however with so many bridges closed and road maintenance disrupted.

The civil war disrupted imports, exports and internal trade within England. The barge masters of both Great Marlow and Little Marlow must have faced a headache as their River Thames became a point of contention between the opposing forces for more or less it's whole length. Parliamentary ammunition barges and boats passed through Marlow multiple times on their way from Windsor to Reading. Soldiers were transported by water from London to Reading through Marlow. Some may have stopped in the town on the way. You can bet these were watched in passing by curious or fearful Marlovians. 

The loss of not only Marlow's bridge but other local ones like Maidenhead effected not only the ability of the residents to trade but to see their families. Many Marlow people for instance had relatives just across the river at Bisham but what a world away they must have seemed without a usable bridge between the two banks of the river. It is uncertain whether little rowing boats were allowed to cross at will or whether civilians could even leave such boats by the river because of the possibility that they might fall into the "wrong" hands. Those with friends or family in Windsor must have heard news of the Royalist attack on the town in 1642, when it did filter through, with dismay. Ultimately those Royalists troops were driven back. Some of our townspeople had family in Hambledon too, the site of the Greenlands siege.

Though towns were considerably more self sufficient than today luxury items such as pewter, glassware and silks sold by local mercers largely came from London sources and would have been more of a headache for Marlovians to obtain if they wished to avoid a trip to London and normal supplies couldn't arrive. The Parliamentary army occupied London in 1648 refusing to leave until all unpaid tax levies created to fund the army were fully collected from the residents. The atmosphere in London must have been intimidating. In The Impact Of The Civil War On The London Economy Ben Coates writes that the tax collectors then charged with this duty were often accompanied by soldiers.

The writer also tell us that soldiers in the roundhead New Model Army were not given any food rations except when involved in a siege but rather had to buy their own food. An official travelling "market" followed them. There is disagreement about where those market supplies came from but I agree with the author that it would have been impossible not to need to source food along the way rather than just haul it all from London. Buckinghamshire farmers, including Marlovians, could have rode out to and bargained with the market sellers when they were anywhere within reach in order to sell their crops for cash.

Where soldiers were billeted in a premises food provided might be paid in tickets which could be  exchanged for cash later (well, in theory). Did any Marlow homes or inns get used in this way or was the church accommodation sufficient? Two named inns are known in Marlow town centre at the time, the (Upper) Crown and the Bear and certainly there were several more whose names are lost to us.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day. 

Related Posts=

1600s trade directory  Part One. Part Two

Leisure in 1600s Marlow here

More posts about Marlow pre 1800 indexed here.

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

Some Sources=

The Impact of the English Civil War on the Economy of London, 1642-50 by Ben Coates .United Kingdom: Ashgate, 2004.

Memorials of the English Affairs by Bulstrode Whitlocke.

Property records, Buckinghamshire Archives.

https://historyofparliament.com/2019/08/30/averting-the-prorogation-of-parliament-may-1641/

Memoirs, Biographical and Historical, of Bulstrode Whitelocke: Lord Commissioner of the Great Seal, and Ambassador at the Court of Sweden, at the Period of the Commonwealth. By R.H Whitelocke United Kingdom: Routledge, Warne, and Routledge, 1860.

The Marlow Guide, 1967.

Magna Britannia: Being a Concise Topographical Account of the Several Counties of Great Britain. Containing Bedfordshire, Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire, Volume 1 by Daniel Lyssons. Published by Cadell. United Kingdom. 1867.

Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 51: Scott, Thomas (d.1660) .

Calender of proceedings : preserved in the state paper department of Her Majesty's public record office.Great Britain. Committee for Compounding with Delinquents, 1643-1660 HMSO Publication date 1889. Accessed from the Internet Archive.

Will of Charles Lovejoy transcribed by me from a copy held at the National Archives, Kew.

Chiltern Hundreds by Albert J Foster published Great Britain by Virtue, 1897.

Thames Crossings: bridges, tunnels and ferries, by Geoffrey Phillips . Published Great Britain by David & Charles, 1981.

Early History Seymour Court Road / Seymour Park Road Marlow

 *contains some distressing content*

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Related Posts=

Early Residents of Berwick Road here

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

To find other posts about specific streets etc see here

Sources included:

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

Personal interviews.

Becking Farm / Beacon Farm Marlow Occupiers

Becking Farm later known as Beacon Farm, Great Marlow was near to Booker. The farm was 120 acres in extent in 1709 and 109 acred in 1861. Note this farm is often owned and sold in tandem with Seymour Court, Seymour Court Farm and Tippocks/Triphooks. 

Historic occupiers (who are not usually also the owners):

1709- farm existed. Unknown occupier but Etheridge family look to have owned it. (Etheredge)

1789 - freehold owner or possibly leaseholder (conflicting primary sources) John Johnson Esq of Seymour Court. John died 1821.  

1791-1811 Benjamin Stallwood. Left the farm and moved to Old House Farm, Handy Cross as all the protected game in Sir William Clayton's private game preserve next to Becking Farm kept escaping onto Benjamin's farm and destroying his crops. The damage done was to the tune of £80. Benjamin faced ruin but was mocked by Clayton when he appealed for compensation. His sympathetic landlord John Johnson of Seymour Court Marlow tried to help by advertising for people who knew what they were doing to shoot the straying game and then, when that was insufficient, offering him the rental of Old House Farm instead. Benjamin remained at Old House until 1831. In the years after the game fiasco Benjamin wrote several times to the press to describe the pain he felt at what had happened. His case was also widely used to illustrate the injustice of the Game Laws that allowed rich peoples "sporting" interests to override the basic needs and wellbeing of other country people.  

1814- James (?) Johnson owner as above seems to have been farming it himself.

1822-1830 George Lunn. Wife Mary who died 1822. He died 1830. He also by then farmed at nearby Seymour Court Farm where he actually lived. In his will he left all his farm stock to his nephews Edward and William Poulton. Grew oats, barley and wheat and kept cattle at Becking.

1833- 1838. Richard Lovegrove was the farmer though he lived in Bray, Berkshire. In his 1838 will he left his farm stock on Becking and his leases of both there and Widmere Farm Marlow to his nephew John Lovegrove who was already farming Widmere. Richard was only able to make a mark, not sign his will.

1840 - farm freehold up for sale, by executors of George Rogers Esq. 103 acres and a farmhouse. Note there were two men called George Rogers in Marlow at the same time.

1838-1843 John Lovegrove as above. (Yearly tenant) Also farmed Widmere Farm, where he lived. By 1847 had given up farming and was running the King's Head, High Wycombe. He faced bankruptcy then. 

1848- 1858 James Taylor. Wife Harriet. Raising turkeys was a big part of their trade. Seventeen birds were stolen from the farm in 1857. Also farmed at Prestwood Common. Previously of Little Missenden - he initially remained living there when he took over Beckings. He had been ejected from his last farm after a dispute with his landlord. At that time he'd suffered insolvency but managed to dissolve his debts of £664 in 1851. 

1861- 1865 Stephen Stevenson. Moved from Iver Bucks after January 1859. In 1865 worker on the farm was jailed for 6 weeks with hard labour for stealing a fowl from his employer.

1881-1901. Whoever is farming there does not live in. Carter James North however does live on site on the farm throughout this period. His wife Sarah died there in 1892. In 1889 Beacon and Moor Farms are offered  at auction as a sporting estate in one lot of altogether just over 660 acres. They are described as currently let to a tenant bar 220 odd acres of woodland in hand.  

1928- H Daniel.

Our blog focuses on people in Marlow up to the 1920s so I will leave it there.

Dates next to a person are when I have firm historic evidence of that person farming there. They may have been there earlier or later too. This is ongoing research and I hope that I will be able to fill in any gaps eventually.

Farm occupancies are determined by me from the study of wills I have transcribed, property records, adverts, agricultural journals, censuses, court cases etc.

For other farm related posts see the Specific Shops, Streets Etc option here for Marlow farms or for farms at Little Marlow or other places see the Nearby Places option. Use the Person Index option on the menu to see all mentions of any individual on the blog.  Thousands of people are mentioned.

©Marlow Ancestors. If using this research credit this blog. You are very welcome to do so.

Research And Grave of Indian Mutiny veteran - Stanmore, Marlow

 In loving memory Thomas Stanmore  - an Indian Mutiny Veteran - Died March 22 1911 age 74 .

"Until the day break and the shadows flee away"

ALSO OF

Thirza wife of above. Died Christmas Day 1916 age 84.

"Peace perfect peace"

Location: Marlow cemetery

Research:

Thirza Carter married Thomas Stanmore at Marlow in 1870.

Thomas joined the army in 1856. He belonged to the 95th Derbyshire's also known as the Sherwood Foresters.  After he left in 1866 he worked as a coachman for Thomas Owen Wethered at Seymour Court. The two men both supported the Marlow branch of the Bucks Volunteers. Thomas won their shooting challenge cup for 2 years in a row. 

Thomas died of bronchitis. He had been an invalid for some time before that.

Thirza worked as a dressmaker after her marriage but was a servant prior to that. She grew up in Oxford Road Marlow, while her husband was from Wiltshire.

The couple's single known child was Thomas junior who went on to be a clerk at the Wethered family brewery in the High Street.

Photo and transcription by Kathryn Day, Research by Charlotte Day.

FURTHER INFORMATION

For more graves see the Graves menu here  

All mentions of someone on this blog can be found on the Person Index in the top drop down menu. And for military related posts, see the General Marlow History menu  here

Over 6000 Marlow people are mentioned on this blog so far!

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