The Dreaded Pox In Marlow.

 Smallpox (not for the squeamish!)

You are feeling a bit tired, and at the back of your mind there is the thought that you might be going down with a cold. You check the funds in your purse or pocket and contemplate a visit to the reliable Mr Foottit in the High Street or perhaps good old Mr Cannon. Those chemists always have some promising pick-me-up when you feel yourself sagging. I'll go later, you think, it might pass. Save my money for now.

By the afternoon there's no doubt that you are sick. You ache all over. Your head throbs. You stand shakily on the threshold of your home. The shops are only a couple of streets away but suddenly such a walk feels too far. Standing up worsens the growing pain in your back. You call to one of the neighbourhood children playing nearby and send him to the nearest chemist with the promise of a coin for his trouble. See what there is for a cold, you say. No, say influenza. This can't be only a cold.

You receive a powder, and the bill from the boy, dose yourself and retire to bed. There you remain for days, feverish. The powder is doing nothing for you and your throat feels raw. Pushing up the sleeves of your nightshirt you notice spots on your skin. A fearful possibility has entered your mind. With all the strength you can muster you get out of bed to find your looking glass. With a little prayer you raise the mirror to your face, opening your mouth. The bursting sores you see inside leave you in no doubt. There are no other disease rashes like this. You have smallpox and within days there is a one in three chance that you will be dead...

Few diseases were the source of such terror as smallpox or "the dreaded pox" as it was known. Those that didn't die from it frequently bore deep scars on their faces for the rest of their lives to the degree that some covered their faces in public or refused to go out at all. The marriage possibilities of numerous young women and even some men were felt to have been destroyed by the pox's ravages on their complexion. Scarring also occurred elsewhere on the body as the pox spots would spread from the initial mouth area to much of the body including the soles of the feet and palms of the hands. These spots started flat before hardening and filling, bursting open, and then scabbing over.

In 1837 nearly 100 people died of smallpox in Marlow. Two years later the town suffered another outbreak which killed 164 people and infected many more. Periodic smaller outbreaks occurred regularly in the 1800s. In the closing years of the 1800s a Marlow magistrate recalled a time within living memory when as many as a third of those you met in the streets carried smallpox scars. At the time of his speaking you would still meet similar people but nowhere near as regularly. 

The above magistrate was speaking well after the introduction of a smallpox vaccine. Marlow was a place known throughout the Victorian age and into the 1900s for vaccination reluctance. In 1859 Marlow doctor Robert Colbourne lamented that forty nine out of fifty children he met had not been vaccinated against smallpox. The vaccines were suitable even for babies. This was critical as at least half of the children under the age of one who caught the disease died from it. In some outbreaks that figure was even higher. A foetus could, it was reported, contract the disease from the mother in utero and thus be born with it.

Vaccine refusal was usually on the grounds of safety concerns but perhaps was also sometimes on religious grounds, as local non-conformist Christian families seem especially likely to have refused all vaccinations, not just the smallpox one. They may have felt vaccinators were wrongfully "playing God". Vaccination did not necessarily prevent smallpox infection, far from it, but it made death less likely. Also counting against the arguement for vaccination was the fact that some of those who received the vaccine came down with a form of pox as a direct result of it. This was not typically fatal but it could still cause disfigurement and days of illness (and thus unemployment) which poor families could not afford to endure. 

In 1920 in a council meeting it was stated that about 1 in 7 Marlow children still had not had their available childhood vaccinations, smallpox or otherwise. Councillor Harvey said that he thought vaccines were largely a money making scheme for doctors, which caused the present Dr Dickson, a smallpox survivor himself, great offence. Smallpox vaccines were free to the patient but doctors received money from health authorities for giving them out. They would come to your home to inject you and also visited places such as schools. 

While Drs Dickson and Colbourne were firm advocates for vaccination the efficacy of the smallpox vaccine received a more lukewarm response from other local medical men. In 1894 the Wycombe Union district number one chief medical officer said that he couldn't really say whether smallpox vaccines worked to prevent smallpox though he thought they were worth persisting with until they were conclusively proved to be ineffective. This was just after the town's last major outbreak of the disease in the 1800s, when 28 people were infected. Thankfully this was by a milder form than usual and no deaths were recorded.

As a survivor Dr Dickson would have got reasonable though not absolute protection from reinfection. For this reason women who had pox scars to prove that they had been infected were much in demand to nurse the newly infected, saving members of the patient's household running the risk. Even if there was no active outbreak in their home area some people in the 1700s and 1800s decided to employ smallpox survivors as servants as a matter of routine as they were unlikely to bring the pox into the family.

Families also liked their doctors to have had smallpox previously if possible. You didn't want to arrive at his house with indigestion and go home with the pox. There is evidence that during outbreaks people held back from consulting doctors on other matters for fear of infection. This had a bad effect on their businesses. Dr Culhane during the 1893 outbreak was estimated to have lost £50 of his expected income through his, heroic and dedicated, serving of patients effected by smallpox and the reticence of others to be seen by him as a result. The authorities compensated him slightly over half of his losses which is all he asked for. This was somewhat begrudgingly given by the local poor law union, especially by one member who asserted that smallpox was a big fuss over nothing and could be cured by the application of cream of tartar!

A two month closure order on the schools also brought unintended financial consequences for the town's educational staff. Teachers were unable to collect the usual fees from their pupils if the children weren't allowed to come to school and to add insult to injury the dim-witted education authorities threatened to cut funding from Marlow schools for their "poor attendance rates" during the time they were officially closed. The mistress of the Bovingdon Green School didn't know how she was going to keep her school going.

Who got the pox?

Children often seem to have brought smallpox into the home of affected Marlow families. Once there it spread easily between people by way of shared bedding (most children shared beds with their siblings), or by the affected person talking in close proximity to, coughing near, or otherwise being in close contact with others. The responsible variola virus wasn't sufficiently contagious to affect those not in very close contact and contagion usually flowed from patients who had reached a stage of feeling quite ill (and thus not likely to be out and about) rather than from those still in the earliest stages of smallpox.

It was understood that isolation of patients should occur but that was a hard ask for families living in one or two room homes which was the case with some Marlow households in the early and mid Victorian era and of course earlier. 

Being in the overcrowded workhouse also increased your smallpox risk. Marlow Workhouse in Munday Dean Lane had no ability to isolate the sick from the well. Skin infections and lice were a routine problem as a result and in 1841 came smallpox to add to the woes of the inmates. The Wycombe Union houses where Marlow paupers were sent after our own workhouse closed in 1843 suffered their own regular outbreaks. Fourteen inmate children were found to have smallpox in 1864. The workhouse used two rooms at the top of the main building to contain the infected and all inmates were banned from leaving the premises for a fortnight as a precaution. It isn't known whether any Marlow children fell ill during this outbreak though Marlovians were at several other times blamed for bringing the pox into the union house.

Infected domestic homes would be disinfected, the patient's clothes burned and everyone within the household offered vaccination. As I stated above, vaccination did not bring complete protection from the disease. It was thought wise to re-vaccinate someone every time they were suspected of having come into contact with the disease, rather than trust to the continued effectiveness of any previous vaccinations that they had been given. Some people's arms became so marked with vaccination scars that they joked that they were more disfigured by the cure than the disease. Vaccination within 4 days of exposure was considered best for protection. 

Supplies of lymph from calves infected with cowpox were sent from London at a cost in 1893 of two shillings for a tube that could vaccinate three against the related smallpox. Those three people were then used as human wells for vaccine and the next three people to need it were vaccinated using lymph drawn from their arms once the initial vaccination was thought to have sufficiently "taken". The bodies of the second lot of people would then be used as a source of vaccine for three more people and so on. This "arm to arm" programme was cheaper then using bought in calf lymph for each potential person to be vaccinated but it could be fiercely resisted. Outside of times of outbreaks the main people to be vaccinated were very young children and many parents took a dim view of this repeated cutting of their children. It was painful and left scars. 

Technically from 1852 receiving vaccination against was compulsory for children who did not have poor health or whose parents did not get an exemption on the grounds of ethical beliefs against vaccination. This was little enforced before the 1870s and even then parents often secured exemptions if they wanted them and a great many local authorities simply refused to prosecute refusers right into the 1900s.

Eventually a permanent isolation hospital was built for the Wycombe district at Booker. A temporary hospital had been erected earlier at Marlow Common in order to contain the 1893 Marlow smallpox outbreak. On that occasion a milder form of the disease predominated and of 28 infected Marlow people (all from Dean Street) sent to the hospital, none died. Dr Culhane treated the 28, plus 2 sent from Wooburn, and monitored the families of the patients who had to isolate in their homes with the help of nurse Mary Menday, sent from the Wycombe Board of Guardians.

Servants living in the homes of their employers stood at great risk of being dismissed or at least temporarily sent away if they were so much as suspected of having the disease. In 1870 smallpox suspect Miss Jones was paid off and told to leave by her panicking employers when she began to feel unwell at her job in London. She did indeed have the disease and her return to her parents in Bovingdon Green caused an outbreak in Marlow. The poor girl almost collapsed with exhaustion in trying to reach the care of her parents. She walked home to Marlow from Bourne End station after catching the train from London Paddington where she had had to endure a five hour wait, alone and unwell, for the right train. Understandably this abandonment of a young, very sick girl by her employers caused outrage. Not all employers were so unfeeling. The girl's father worked for Wethered's Brewery* and they continued to pay him during his enforced isolation at home with her. Without such payments rental obligations could not be met and eviction and homelessness was a very real possibility for families stricken with the disease. The local guardians of the poor promised to cover the rent of some families while they isolated but there was, with good reason, often distrust that sufficient money or any money at all would indeed be given to them. A case in point was Mr Bowles of Marlow who suffered illness for six weeks during the 1893 outbreak. His wife did not become ill but couldn't go out to work as she was required to isolate and the family were pushed to the brink. They had been promised in front of witnesses money to cover their rent and to replace the contaminated clothes they had burnt but received nothing. 

Miss Jones wasn't the only person to bring smallpox home from London. The same month Jones returned, a man with smallpox did the same and started his own small outbreak in Marlow. A decade earlier five female rag sorters at Temple Mills fell ill with smallpox after handling London rags which were noticed too late to "smell of smallpox". The peculiar and distinctive smell which clung to smallpox patients, their clothing and bedding, mostly in the late stages of the disease, was reported quite often by ordinary people but medical journals rarely mention it.

The 1893 outbreak in Marlow also began when a rag sorter handled contaminated rags. She passed infection on to her little daughter who then unwittingly spread it further. The little girl and her mother had the last name Ford but lived in the household of the mother's employer Mr Simmonds, the rag and bone man. 

The perception was that smallpox in London began most often in the autumn and then spread out to the nearby counties by way of travellers packed tight into stagecoaches or, later, railway carriages. There seems some evidence to suggest infections were at their most severe around April and May. 

We can't blame London for all Marlow infections. You can bet the severe outbreaks at High Wycombe in 1870 and at Reading back in 1772 affected Marlow too. 

There was a belief that rubbish and dirt could harbour the pox and that bad smells could make you more vulnerable to infection. James Beckett in complaining to the Marlow Urban Council council in 1898 said that he believed that the piles of refuse dumped in an old gravel pit next to his marlow home had caused a smallpox outbreak in the immediate vicinity. 

Treatment 

Symptom management was the best that could be hoped for from doctors. Either your immune system could cure the disease or it could not and there was nothing that anyone could do about it. 

Cooling drinks such as chilled milk and lemonade (non fizzy in those days) were recommended for those in the grip of the fever which was such a prominent early symptom of the disease. Eating wasn't easy for small pox patients so liquid strengthening foods like the ubiquitous "beef tea" (the water beef has been cooked in, no tea involved) or gruel had to be resorted to. Opium was proscribed for pain. Severe back ache in the lumbar region was one of the diagnostic features of small pox. A lesser known complication of the disease is blindness so the eyes of sufferers needed careful bathing and care if the conjunctiva became inflamed. The rest of the body was gently sponged to clean the patient and to soothe them. Olive oil was dabbed onto your skin sores if the person nursing you was a gentle soul, carbolic acid if they had more a more savage approach to patient care. Both the oil and the acid had their advocates as means of decreasing smallpox scarring.

You will note that too many of these remedies were well out of reach for the poorest patients, the very ones most likely to suffer the disease. Beef, lemons for making lemonade and olive oil were all rare luxury items for them. If they had no well or water supply at home (and during the earliest most severe outbreaks most would not) they would be dependant during their isolation period on kind neighbours bringing them water with which to wash the patient or make up gruel. In cases where diarrhoea and vomiting accompanied the disease maintaining the hygiene of the patient without a domestic water supply must have been impossible.

Once isolation hospitals, temporary or permanent, became available, life for the affected poor became somewhat easier as while in hospital they were fed and treated at taxpayer expense not according to their own meagre means. If room ran out in the hospital the patients forced to isolate at home instead were delivered the necessities that they would have received in hospital. 

Smallpox is now extinct worldwide so that vaccination occurs only with those working in places such as research labs. The last cases locally were apparently in the 1920s. 

Written and researched by Charlotte Day. ©Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to use my research for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog .

*A biography of Miss Jones' characterful mother Emily is available on the blog here

You may also interested in=

The 1890s flu epidemic in Marlow here Romantic troubles for Doctor Culhane here. Dr Dickson biog here

Selected Sources=

The World Health Organisation.

A Treatise On The Theory And Practice of Medicine by John Syer Bristowe of London. 1879 edition. Published by H.C Lea.

Transactions Medico-Chrirugical. The Journal of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society, London. 1896. Volume 79.

The Lancet, April 2nd 1870. Google Books.

Reports to the Medical Officer of Privy Council 1866.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/10855-smallpox

Bucks Free Press 15th April 1859, 5th February 1864, 22nd Dec 1893, 11th April 1894, 30th December 1898 and 7th May 1920. Bucks Free Press Archives.

Buckingham Express 28th January 1871. South Bucks Standard April 13th 1894. British Library Archives accessed via the BNA.

Life in 1500s Marlow

The 1500s Town -

The very earliest reference to a named street in Marlow that I have found is the will of Robert Sands of Harleyford, proved 1509, in which the testator left his daughter Jane a house and plot in Oxford Lane, now called Oxford Road. West Street is mentioned in 1574 and a little later we hear of "Hawkins Lane" leading to Hawkins Farm. We know too that the High Street, Dean Street, Spittal Street, Chapel Street, St Peter Street (and what we now call Station Road leading to it), Old Pound Lane and the part of Pound Lane which connects old Pound Lane to the High Street all existed in the 1500s though not necessarily under those names in all cases. In the first few years of the 1600s Quoiting Square (as Quoiting Place) and Potlands are mentioned and it is safe to assume that they were also present in the 1500s. The Potlands (note not "Portlands" as today) area included a footpath down to the river and church. This is now known as Portland Alley. It has been speculated that this might have been an actual roadway in the even more distant past. Similarly the idea of an old roadway connecting Spittal Street at around the site of the Cross Keys to St Peter's Street has been floated. In the 1610s we find mention of the Medmenham Highway (now Henley Road), Dedmere Highway (Dedmere Road) and Gun Lane (now Trinity Road). All were likely also present in the late 1500s at least.

The Danger of Smoke Free Homes..

In the collaborative Hollinshed's Chronicle of England, Scotland and Ireland published in 1577 writer William Harrison wrote that there had been recently a huge increase in domestic building in England. "Never so much oke hath been spent in a hundred years before as in ten years of our time, for everie man almost is a builder, and he that hath bought any small parcel of ground, be it ever so little, will not be quiet till he have pulled downe the old house if anie were there standing, and set up a new after his own device" As well as the new cottages and houses springing up there was much expansion and alteration to the older style homes of the rich. 

The population of England had grown considerably, doubling since the 1510s, so the need for new properties was obvious. It is likely therefore that the footprint of Marlow grew during the Elizabethan era and that individual streets became more crowded with buildings.

The building boom led to a nationwide shortage of timber by the end of the 1500s. Brick and stone buildings were both now commonly used for homes for the better off but wood was still needed for them. According to architectural historian Nickolaus Pevesner the hall of the Old Parsonage in St Peter Street Marlow was constructed the previous century if not earlier, of chalk with stone windows which shows another option that 1500s housebuilders of Marlow may also have used. There was a chalk pit up at Harleyford by the 1550s. The origin of the Old Parsonage is not certainly known.

The raising of the oak frame of a timber framed house occured once the frame had been left to season for a while by the carpenter who crafted it. The raising must have been a significant job, and probably involved helpers other than the householder and carpenter's workmen as it was common to have a little feast, drink distribution and celebration on the day of the raising, which sounds like a community thankyou. 

If you think of a timber framed building of the 1500s you probably picture a black and white or black wood and brick structure but according to the authors of The Cottage Homes of England this blackening of the wood was often done artificially in the 1800s, and Tudor woodwork would have been left naturally greyish most of the time. I have seen elsewhere however reports of house frames being "burnt" before use which implies possible deliberate darkening of the wood. Perhaps it was down to individual choice.

Only a few people had glass windows, the rest had holes in the wall, covered by translucent cloth. Floors downstairs in humble cottages were often of compacted earth. These were skillfully laid and not quite the equivalent of kicking around in the mud as you might imagine. Don't worry though, with unpaved streets 1500s Marlovians had plenty of opportunity to squelch their way about the town following any rainfall.

Chimneys had become common by the mid Elizabethan era, and indeed fancy chimneys, were a status symbol. Poorer people still made do by and large with a hole in the roof to allow the escape of smoke. Some household smoke was thought to cure and strengthen the timber used in the construction, and even to make the inhabitants healthier! It also smoked any cheese or meat hung from the beams and rafters of the house. For this reason the clearing of the air in the home caused by new efficient chimneys was regretted by more than a few people, including William Harrison. He couldn't believe the amount of coughing, choking and rheumatism caused by living in a smoke free home!

Smoke would have deterred domestic flies but it doesn't seem that mice found it too off-putting. Though keeping cats as mousers was common, an attitude of resignation as to living with some mice had to prevail. There were as yet no daddy long legs spiders in English homes however. They cadged a lift on ships from warmer climbs a century later.

A surge in home furnishings also occurred in the homes of all but the poorest (but remember that they made up the majority of the English population). William Harrison wrote that inferior artisans and mean farmers (his description!) "have for the most part learned also to garnish their cupboards with plate, their beds with tapestries and silke hangings, and their tables with carpets and fine naperie".

All household items cost far more in real terms than they do today so that items that we would not consider special were seen as worth singling out as gifts for loved ones and friends in wills. Reynold Shirwood of Marlow who left his will in 1528 as well as his valuable pewter bequeathed tablecloths and napkins. His wife Margaret mentioned napkins too and even a towel alongside her more obviously valuable amber beads, ring, girdle and raw cash.

The poorest people lived in cottages with one or two room downstairs, often with sleeping compartments reached by ladder above them. A yeoman family usually had more rooms downstairs, and might have a fully floored upper storey for sleeping, though that was still reached by ladder not a staircase. It is presumed that any people who could not manage ladders would bed themselves down on the lower floors. Most beds were straw filled pallets. Homeowners could expect beds with frames on which hangings for warmth and privacy could be attached, but other family members in the same household were not always so lucky. Servants did not expect any covering on their beds beyond an over sheet, and maybe not even that.

William, Lord Paget had Great Marlow Manor by grant from Queen Mary in 1554. The manor had been in Crown hands since early in the reign of Henry 8th. Tucher Bold had Harleyford Manor Marlow from 1516. In 1542 he got a license to have a preacher there to officiate worship as his home was so far from the parish church in Marlow. William Lord Paget ended up holding both Harleyford and Great Marlow. The other Marlow manors of the day were Semers or Seymours and Widmere. John, Lord Russell occupied Widmere from 1571. Earlier it was held successively by the Widmere family, the Knight Templars and Knight Hospitallers. 

Little Marlow Manor was in the hands of the abbess of the priory there, until of course the Dissolution.

Commercial life

Marlow is known to have had multiple inns and the like during the 1500s. The Upper Crown existed by 1596 (where Boots is now). Shopkeepers usually served customers from their homes. Marlow for generations had had two fairs a year which provided additional retail opportunities, as did the weekly market. In later times this market focused on meat sales but there is no reason to think it was not a general market in the 1500s.

Self-sufficiency was key for most people rather than commercial consumption. A cottage's garden was the medicine chest, perfumery, and culinary flavouring resource for it's residents. Some would keep bees for honey. It is often said that honey was the only sweetener available in England before the arrival of sugar but that is not strictly true. Sweet birch sap, and pollen from various flowers were available. Sucking the sweet young flowers of white dead nettles was the 1500s version of sucking a lollypop for the kids. Linden tree blossom could also be sucked as a sweet and made into a floral-scented tea. The roots and leaves of angelica plants, cultivated in gardens, also sweetened dishes.

The Bridge 

There had been a bridge crossing the Thames at Marlow since at least the late 1200s. It is presumed that the bridge of 1500s Marlow and earlier stood at the bottom of St Peter Street, as the new bridge constructed in the 1780s certainly did. Davy Shirwood / Sherwood left money for the repair of Marlow Bridge in his 1524 will. Historically the people of Marlow seem to have been pretty poor at maintaining the structure despite our bridge trustees having multiple pieces of land in their hands to rent out and thus gain income for necessary repairs. 

The People

While most people were not too far ranging during their lifetime it shouldn't be presumed that all the residents of the town in the 1500s were from ancient Marlow families. Not many of the last names of 1500s Marlovians were names that had been present in the 1400s and vice versa, implying plenty of population movement, even if it was only to and from the wider local area. A 1524 tax list for the town shows us one resident had come much further away - Henry Conrade the Dutchman. He'd be subject as a foreigner to additional tax. His occupation isn't known though quite a few Dutch and Flemish iron workers came to England at this time. I have some in my own family, though they set up in the Sussex Weald, a known iron making area, rather than Buckinghamshire. 

The countryside

It is an open question as to how native the beech woods of South Buckinghamshire are. What we see today may be largely the result of human manipulation due to the needs of the later furniture trade. That's not to say that beech trees are not native to England, or that the woods around Marlow did not anciently contain beeches. It is thought however that the woods started out as a mix of beech and other native species, most of which were slowly removed by humans so that mixed woodland became beech dominant woodland.  Whatever woods there were would have been used as foraging spots for Marlow's free ranging domestic pigs by those residents who had pannage rights.

Work

Agricultural labouring would have occupied the majority of men, and women also worked on the land as a matter of routine. Marlow wills suggest that sheep were the predominant livestock kept in the town. Married couple Margaret and Reynold Shirwood who died within days of each other, probably from a contagious illness, in 1528 mention in their wills growing barley and wheat. They were clearly doing well as Margaret specified that her farm cart is a horse cart. Horses were expensive and the use of oxen was more usual. She also talked of the ploughs and harrows that she possessed in plural terms, so we know that she and Reynold could make use of at least two teams of workers at once when it came to ploughing and harrowing.

Farms known to have existed in the 1500s are: Blounts, Seymour Court Farm then just known as Seymours or Seymers and presumably part of the lost manor of Seymers, Hawkins Farm, and in Little Marlow Monkton Farm. Most of what we now consider Marlow would have been only farmland. Large swathes of land, were kept as common fields and divided into strips for individual holders. This system would continue for many years after the 1500s.

Field boundaries where they existed historically in England were mostly banks and ditches with a hedge of hawthorn atop the bank. Hawthorn known then as quickthorn or maythorn was chosen as it makes such a good animal barrier. Hedgerows were also strategically planted at intervals with those trees whose leaves provided extra fodder for livestock (cows love young lime leaves and other trees have foliage that can be dried and used for animals in the winter), or berries and hazelnuts for humans. 

Even those who had other trades frequently farmed some land as well. 

I published a reconstructed 1500s trade directory on the blog last year which can be read here. As you will see from that post I found multiple men in Marlow occupied as bargemen, butchers, carpenters, innkeepers (who were often brewers too or at least their wives were), shoemakers and weavers. We also found one off individuals who were bakers, blacksmiths, drapers, glove makers, millwrights, and wood merchants. Obviously we can recover traces of the occupations of only a fraction of Marlow people during this time. Commercial fisherman on the Thames at Marlow are known earlier and later so we can safely presume they existed in the 1500s. 

Servants in grand houses such as the manors were usually male with the exception of laundresses and dairy maids. Only less well off families employed female servants (who were cheaper but carried no distinction). The male and female employees of farming families were routinely referred to as servants despite spending much of or all of their day out working on the land rather than in tasks we would associate with "servants". The word servant also referred to trade apprentices and shop assistants.

Young boys were sent out to fulfill apprenticeships as far afield as London if the example of young Peter Russell of Marlow apprenticed in 1512 is anything to go by.

Religion

The All Saints of the 1500s (not the church we see today) seems to have had a chapel dedicated to Saint Mary and probably still had an altar sacred to Saint Anne as it had done back in 1495 when Radulph Carter wrote his will and mentioned it. When chantry chapels were shut down by Henry 8th the one at Marlow was worth £8 13 shillings and 4 pence. The chantry priest then was a Sir James Grai (Grey, Gray, one of the most common last names in 1500s Marlow, probably in fact the most common).

The church warden accounts of the late 1500s show that the church bells, the ringing apparatus and the clock (vital for the town as virtually no one had any timepiece at home) required constant expenditure. A visit by Elizabeth 1st to Bisham caused one of the bells to be hastily mended in order for her to be saluted. Well you didn't want to upset Queen Lizzie did you? The church bells in the late 1500s were routinely rung at the anniversary of her coronation and on St Hugh's Day. I know what you're thinking- Saint who? Hugh's not well known today but he was once Bishop of Lincoln and Lincoln was the mother church of Marlow. Wills of 1500s Marlovians often mention gifts to the mother church as well as to Marlow church itself. Hugh's feast day was in November. He was the patron saint of amongst other things sick children, and appropriately for Marlow, swans. His pet swan at Lincoln had guarded him while he slept and followed him everywhere he went. 

Above, medieval St Hugh. Public domain image.

In 1595 some players were paid by the church to "play" in the "church loft" the location of which isn't certainly known. Presumably these were performing a religious play for the townspeople. The payment was made in May, the traditional time for Mummers plays. As well as the Church Loft there was also an unplaced "church house" in Marlow. Church lofts are referenced elsewhere, including at West Wycombe, where it was a separate building (and still exists). The phrase could also refer to the musicians' gallery common to churches then and which was usually sited above the rood screen. Plays could be performed on such galleries.

The churchwardens had custody of a set of morris dancing costumes. They were willing to let other parishes borrow these. What morris dancing, rooted as it was in pagan pre-Christian rituals, was thought to have to do with the work of the church is anyone's guess. May Day or midsummer celebrations were the main times for Morris dancing in Tudor England. 

Talking of unusual articles kept in a church, in some earlier Tudor parishes a communal plough was stored there ready for anyone to borrow but there is no evidence of this occurring in Marlow church.

At Little Marlow stood a church dedicated to St John and a small, moated Benedictine priory dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The priory was home to five to six nuns at a time. Margaret Vernun, prioress at the time of the Dissolution, received a transfer to the famous abbey of Malling in Kent, which would have been a significant promotion- albeit a short lived one as that was also forced to close just a couple of years later. The priory site at Little Marlow was given briefly to Bisham Abbey then leased to Elizabeth Restwold and John Titley. Elizabeth was already leasing some of the Priory's other lands when the nuns first left.

Margaret Vernun's origin is unknown but she was clearly from a wealthy family, most prioresses were. Before being based at Little Marlow she had served at St Albans. Margaret was a friend of Thomas Cromwell, to whom she wrote many times. How they met is unknown but the friendship was genuine. She kept and educated his son Gregory at her priory, and it appears Thomas visited her socially at Little Marlow. She and her other nuns had also gone to dine with him and invited him to Little Marlow in return. Entertaining one of the King's senior ministers was perfectly acceptable for a cloistered woman. Nuns in this era don't generally seem to have been as closed off from the world of men as we might suppose, indeed it wasn't an option for any prioress or abbess to live that way. They were landlords and administrators of the finances of their institution, ladies of business. The priory held lands not only in Little Marlow, but at various times also at Great Marlow, Hambledon, High Wycombe, Penn, Taplow, Wendover, Colebrook, Weston Turville, Beaconsfield and Benfield in Berkshire. At one point Margaret borrowed money from Cromwell in order to buy some extra land for the priory which she knew she could quickly turn a profit on. 

The nuns of course had a live-in male chaplain for mass and confession. In 1835 Margaret paid him £5 6 shillings 8d a year. At least one priest engaged by Margaret for her nuns at Little Marlow brought with him his own pupil which he had previously been engaged to educate. It was the norm for parish priests to supplement their incomes by taking in pupils so it is likely that the priest at All Saints church in Marlow had his own little "school" too. No other known educational provision existed in 1500s Marlow.

The taking in of both male and female residential pupils was also very common for 1500s priories. Cromwell junior had left Margaret not long before the Dissolution but Margaret was hoping towards the end of the Priory's life to negotiate the arrival of new residential pupil, a little girl that she had heard of as staying in Bisham. Margaret hoped that if she came the girl would be a comfort to Margaret in her "old age". We know she had had multiple pupils at St Albans and pupils before Gregory Cromwell at Little Marlow too. Such children came from well off families and it is presumed those families paid well for the privilege. A male teacher was provided by his father for Gregory Cromwell at the Little Marlow Priory with Margaret supervising his work. Another little boy shared his lessons. The bringing in of outside teachers seems to have been the usual way of serving the pupils in priories.

As well as her income from pupils and land rentals Margaret raised money by selling wood. The priory owned 8 acres of woodland. Her priory was also entitled to offerings from a chapel at Colebrook, for unknown reasons.

Margaret's distress at the impending loss of her Little Marlow home was poured out in her letters. She pleaded with Cromwell to do what he could for her and her fellow nuns. He secured her the Malling post.When Malling too stood on the brink she again wrote asking to be allowed to sell one of the manors belonging to Malling to fund either a one off lump sum retirement payment or ongoing pensions for her nuns. There was only so much Cromwell could do. In the end the manor sell off was not allowed to take place but Margaret did manage to secure a £40 a year pension for herself.

The closure of Little Marlow happened over several months. First the king's men came to assess whether any nuns aged under 24 were present and if so to declare them no longer nuns. The state didn't want young people starting out in the cloistered life. Margaret had 3 such women and the day they were ordered out she lost most of her community. A few months later the priory was shut entirely and Margaret and her last remaining colleague left. Four servants and a priest lost their places along with the nuns.

Before the Dissolution Henry 8th happily allowed the persecution of the growing number of Protestants in the country who were challenging Catholic beliefs. Marlow did not escape these persecutions. At some point between 1518 and 1521 John Gardiner of Marlow reported his own sister Agnes, by marriage Agnes Ward, also of Marlow for blasphemous (as in Protestant) beliefs. He also pointed the finger at a slew of other Marlovians at the same time, including Reynold Shirwood we heard of earlier in this post. There were clearly other snitches and spies about- poor John "Simonnds" and his wife (probably the same woman as Mrs John "Simon" above) were on a separate occasion charged with having a book of the Gospels written in English. This was a great crime as it implied you were exploring your faith yourself rather than relying on the interpretation from Latin of your approved local priest. Another time John and Isabel Gardiner of Marlow -the same John?- had to be forced to swear to the fact that they had heard Thomas Rave (perhaps Reeve) of Marlow say that pilgrimages were worthless and chapels dedicated to the saints pointless. Rave was already in trouble having been ordered to go to the Bishop of Lincoln to do penance for an unknown religious offence. Whilst in Lincoln he disrupted mass and was clearly unrepentant. The Bishop got rid of him to finish his penance in High Wycombe, unsuccessfully. The fate of the other accused Marlovians is not known to me.

Both Margaret and Reynold Shirwood, and other 1500s residents asked to be buried in the churchyard of Marlow. Burial inside the church itself required deep pockets. The Shirwoods could have afforded it but some people thought expensive memorials an example of sinful pride so would not ask for them regardless. Outside graves were not typically permanently marked in this era. 

Written and researched by Charlotte Day.

©Marlow Ancestors.

Selected Sources=

The Urban Experience: A Sourcebook : English, Scottish, and Welsh Towns, 1450-1700. Kiribati, Manchester University Press, 1983.

Copy of returns of vintners, innkeepers and alehousekeepers 1577 Bucks Archives ref=

D-X423/1 bucks archives

The Cottage Homes of England by Helen Allingham and Stewart D-ck 1909 published by Edward Arnold, London (population increase).

The Holinshed Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland Volume 1, compiled by Raphael Hollinshed for the Stationers Company, 1577, London.

History and Topography of Buckinghamshire by James Joseph Sheahan, published by Longman, Green, Longman and Roberts, 1862.

Many wills including those of Thomas Bevington, Reynold Shirwood, Margaret Shirwood, David Shirwood, Robert Sands. All are at the National Archives.

The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe by John Foxe, revised edition published by Seeley's of London 1856.

Home Counties Magazine article by Miss E.M Walford  (quoting bridge land property records from 1617) https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Home_Counties_Magazine.html?id=_HIaAQAAIAAJ#v=onepage&q=Marlow%20%22high%20street%22&f=false 1899 published by F.E Robinson. Volume one.

Records of Buckinghamshire Volume 5 compiled by James Pickburn 1878 for Buckinghamshire Architectural and Archaeological Society, Aylesbury. Via Google Books. 

Peter Russell of Marlow apprenticeship https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5522927

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_of_Lincoln

Account of the Nunnery of Little Marlow by Walter De Gray Birch, published in Records Of Buckinghamshire Volume 4, 1871. Via the Archaeology Data Service https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/details.xhtml?recordId=3254649&recordType=Journal

Reading and Writing during the Dissolution: Monks, Friars and Nuns  1530-58 by Mary C. Earlier. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Memorials of the Danvers Family (of Dauntsey and Culworth) by Francis Nottidge Macnamara published by Hardy and Page 1895, London. Via Google Books.

Historic England record for Little Marlow Priory https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archsearch/record?titleId=1036080

Lovelace vs unknown Six Clerks Office National Archives ref=

C 1/1306/53

Wymers Farm Marlow

Updated October 2024

Description: half way between Wycombe and Marlow. 1850= 59 acres. 1876= 59 acres arable pasture and woodland with two worker cottages included. 1881= 61 acres.

Historic occupiers (who in the past were not often the owners of their farms) and history timeline:

1831- 1851 Henry Webb. Also an agricultural land surveyor from 1849 and church warden. He went bankrupt in 1851 and the household furniture had to be sold off. Henry and his wife Caroline (nee Hyatt, married London 1837) eventually moved away to Croydon, Surrey where they both died in old age. Farm had been up for sale in 1850. (59 acres arable land and 11 acres woodland) At that point as well as the farm house a separate house or "gentlemanly residence" known as "Wymers" was part of the estate. This in other records is consistently described as having an impressive and lovely garden. Henry lived in this larger house at the time of the 1833 parochial assessment with only a cottage as the rest of the residential buildings on the estate. This cottage was either the later farm house in it's infancy or the first of the two worker's cottages later mentioned as being part of the estate with no farm house yet built. In 1844 a dozen turkeys are stolen from Henry in one of Marlow's traditional December poultry thieving raids. Henry also leased as a sub tenant High Rews Farm in Marlow. He may also have been the Henry Webb at Triphooks alias Old House Farm near Ragman's Castle outside Marlow in 1840 as a yearly tenant.

1854- 1882 Aaron Simmonds. Sometimes given as Simmons. Wife Mary. Before becoming a farmer in his own right he was a corn dealer but also helped his uncle William on his farm in Little Marlow. Aaron lived with him then. Aaron was summoned in 1866 for using a steam threshing machine at Wymers too close to the public highway. Aaron said he was unaware of restrictions on their use in that way and anyway the road concerned was rarely used. He received a minimal fine of 1 shilling plus costs [Reading Mercury 22nd Feb 1866, British Library]. In 1872 the farm house was used for the inquest into the death of 3 year Mary Ann Burt, daughter of Thomas and Harriet of nearby Ragman's Castle (a small farm / homestead) who had accidentally burned to death. Such deaths were sadly not uncommon in Marlow's past, nor anywhere else. Four years later Aaron hosted another coroner's inquest into a a sad case, seventy plus year old Mr Gardener, who lived in a nearby cottage finding himself unable to work due to age cut his throat rather than go into the workhouse. His wife found him lying injured in bed but he could not be saved. The jury decided that he had been suffering from temporary insanity (Reading Mercury 22nd January 1876, British Library Archives). Read more here

Aaron died at the farm in 1882 age 76. His widow Mary died at Little Marlow in 1892.

1882- The owner put the farm up for sale. Marketed largely as a shooting estate rather than a farm.

1890-1895 Mr Sauvee occupier. Employed a game keeper and kept chickens. In November 1893 snow was so severe that the farm was cut off behind drifts that were over 10 feet deep. Seemingly tenant of Mr Phillips.

[1893-1913 at least Wymers farm house as opposed to the farm lands was occupied by Thomas Arnold Herbert a prominent figure in local Liberal politics and who was elected South Bucks M.P. in 1906. He also maintained a home at Kensington Park Gardens London. Sadly though "radical" and "Liberal" for his times he was a dedicated blood sports participant who often hosted local hunts. Wife Elizabeth. Both she and her husband loudly opposed women being given the right to vote. This was thought to be a contributing factor to his failure to be re-elected in 1910. Mr Herbert seems accident prone breaking his arm in a riding accident in London and then while still recovering from that managing to overturn his carriage in Marlow hurting himself afresh. Elizabeth was a passenger in that carriage but was unharmed. A photo of Thomas can be seen on Wikipedia].

1897- farm stock for sale. New tenant if the farm lands / yard coming in.

1901-1902 Henry Seymour. Wife Mary. 

1939 Thomas Herbert retired Q.C. Does not seem to actively farm.

Farm occupancies compiled from the cross referencing of adverts, censuses, property records, farming journals, court cases, wills I have transcribed and more. Ongoing research, I hope to fill in the gaps as I sift through further notes.

For other farm occupier listings see the Specific Shops, Streets Etc option on the top drop menu here  if you want a Marlow Farm. If you want a Little Marlow or other nearby farm try the Other Places option here 

To look for all mentions of any individual choose the Person Index option on the top drop down menu. 

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

Monkton Farm Little Marlow

Description 1860= 240 acres 1875= mixed farm including fruit orchards. One reference I found of the farm, in the 1600s, called it "Monken" Farm. The farm house is in part very old. The farm is thought to represent the site of the medieval Monkton Manor.

Historic Occupiers:

Note that these are rarely the same as the owners of a property in the past.

1561 - John Borlace / Borlase  (even Burlas)

1698 - "Moncken farm" Thomas Harding. 

1781 - John Simons who had come from Great Missenden.

1784- William Curtis. Came from Oxfordshire to farm here.

1846 - William Simmonds senior, assisted by Aaron/Aron Simmonds. Charles Frith sentenced to 7 years transportation for stealing a sheep from the farm, his second such offence. A full biography of Charles will follow soon. 

1851 - William Simmonds. Born circa 1785. Wife Mary. 

1860- Mary Simmonds. Widow of William above.

1861 - Young farmer William Simmonds age 28 on census. Child of William and Mary above. His cousin Aaron Simmonds had Wymers Farm. For more on Aaron and Wymers see here.

1875 - Sale of stock and machinery (including animals and crops of wheat, barley, vetches, oats and peas over 130 acres) following death of tenant Mr Rickett.

1880 - 1882 John Pennington. Insolvent 1882.

1883 - 1887 William Collins. Summoned twice for not paying his poor rates.

1899 - 1901 William Stallwood born circa 1867. As was traditional on farms his wife Ella kept and managed the poultry side of the business.

1920 - John Seymour

1929 J Seymour

1939 - E J Miller. Escart Miller? Mixed farm . He was assisted by his sister's Minnie and Gladys once war broke out if not before. Also at this point if not before the farm had a worker's cottage as well as the farm house.

For more farm occupier posts for Little Marlow and Great Marlow see the Specific Shops, Streets Etc option on the menu. You will also see an A-Z Person Index option on the menu to help you find every mention of a person on this blog. For more Little Marlow content in general see here

Researched and compiled by Charlotte Day.

Farm occupancies calculated from wills, adverts, trade journals, censuses, property records, court cases etc.  I hope to fill in the gaps in dates as I wade through my Everest sized mountain of research notes. 

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

Early History of York Road, Marlow *updated*

 Updated by Charlotte October 2024.

York Road was officially adopted as a name for this new road in December 1884. There were a few houses already there which went by the name of  York Villas so the new name made sense. York Road was one of the earliest streets in the town laid out with all properties having running water available.

Despite this foresight the street was not favoured with universally high standards of building. Serious concerns about the structural integrity of some of the houses (which ones not specified) soon occurred. Their owners  on pain of the houses being condemned to demolition otherwise were forced by local authorities to carry out remedial work. Jerry building was very common in late Victorian times in the rush to build enough new homes. Properties in nearby Eton Place and Queens Road built around the same time were also problematic with some being pulled down scarcely a generation after being put up due to low quality workmanship. The remedial builders in York Road thankfully did an excellent job and we still have this attractive street in the town today.

Most of the early development seems to have been on the Dean Street side. The land in both sides had previously been in agricultural use. Though mostly residential there was also space in York Road for some businesses. Thomas Lomax ran a flour, coal and petrol dealership there in the late 1880s and there were two marine store dealers too. These had nothing to do with marine occupations despite the name. They were second hand sellers which dealt with goods primarily of interest to trade and business buyers- old pipes, nails, rope, agricultural implements, hand tools, barrels, timber etc. Some marine store dealers had shops but many like the York Road ones traded simply out of sheds and open yards. Daniel Clark's premises seem to have been at the Queen's Road end on the Oxford Road side. Though marine store keepers had to be licensed it was seen as a low class and slightly suspicious occupation. Many operated close to the edges of the law or beyond them. Daniel Clark, in York Road by 1891 and for many years later, was certainly a ne'er do well, pulling dodgy deals and, much worse, ill using both his horse and his wife Annie. She successfully applied for a separation order from him in 1908 after years of cruelty, seemingly fueled by alcohol. She later returned to him.

His proper name was Cooper Daniel Clark.

In 1917 Daniel and Annie, given as residing at number 19 York Road, received news that their two sons, previously listed as missing after "the fight for Kut" in January were now regarded as both presumed killed in action. These were Private S and Private Harold Clark, 4th Hampshire Regiment [Sidney born 1892 and Harold 1895]*

The couple's daughter Lydia was a cook but also helped her father out in his business, sometimes driving his "van" (horse drawn) though not without some brushes with the law as a result. 

In 1920 Daniel's marine stores were said to be at no 21 and his home at no 19. By 1927 the business is listed as A Clark. It has by then something of a flavour of a rag and bone business too by then. See the ad below.

The other late Victorian marine store dealer of York Road was the apparently respectable Mr Simmonds. He dealt hay and straw from the address too but while he had his sheds in the road he himself lived in nearby Dean Street.

What about other occupations?

In the male residents there was a noticeable number of gardeners mentioned in various records, mostly domestic but there were commercial market gardens off nearby Queen's Road that also would have potentially employed some of them.

Charles Sellman was an Edwardian and 1920s painter and decorator resident at no 20. 

Also in the 1920s I find adverts for the dairy of F.E Phillips who was based at no 52 York Road. The below ad dates from 1927.

As for the women, Gertrude Sherwin was a dressmaker there in 1915. The same occupation  was followed by Florence Sellman, daughter of Charles above. To read more about midwife Sarah Ann Price of number 7 York Road in the early 1900s see this post dedicated to her.

As you can see most of the first residents of York Road were working class but there were a few with more money to burn. When resident of Merton Cottage York Road Mary Plaistowe died in 1892 the contents of her home were auctioned off giving us via a report of this in the South Bucks Standard of 19th February 1892 [via the BNA / British Library Collaboration] a glimpse into her comfortable home. Mary could boast a marble topped wash stand, multiple pieces of mahogany furniture, a good pianoforte and a harmonium. She must have enjoyed games as she had a loo table (for the card game loo) and a bagatelle board too. She was probably the only York Road resident with buffalo horns on the wall but there were possibly others displaying that staple of Victorian interior design - a case of stuffed birds.  

Mary was the widow of Richard and had moved to the town from Great Missenden.

Post researched and written by Charlotte Day with photos by Kathryn Day.

To find posts dedicated to other specific streets or houses in Marlow see on the menu under "Specific Shops, Streets...Etc". All mentions of an individual on the blog can be found listed on the Person Index.

*posts on Marlow in World War One

1914

1915

1916

1917

1918-19

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

Other Sources included:

Census, Charlotte's transcription from microfilm.

Marlow Almanack and Directory 1907 by Marlow Printing Company.

Kellys Directories of Bucks etc  published by Kelly's Directories Limited 1911, 1915.

Maidenhead Advertiser 24th December 1884, held at the British Library and accessed via the BNA, October 2020. 

Thanks to Jane Pullinger for access to private family material.

Munday Dean Great Marlow History -UPDATED November 2025

 First some photos taken March 2021:

Denelands Farm, above

Munday Dean Farm, above

Munday Dean farm barn, above

Monday Dean Farm, above 

Munday Dean Lane, above, was widened in December 1905. 

Some History:

Richard Corby, yeoman had Munday Dean Farm in 1721. In his will proved the next year he left the farm house with pasture, arable and wooded lands to his son Robert. Possibly the lease only.

In a will written 1788 and proved the next year widow Elizabeth Plumridge widow of William left her messuage (house), cottages, garden, yard and land at Munday Dean, apparently the farm, to trustees for the benefit of Richard Corby of Red Pits near Marlow her "poor kinsman" until Richard's son Thomas was 21 then to Thomas himself. At that time the property was being rented by James Hollworthy. She also Richard and Thomas a cottage with barn, small meadow and garden at Hambledon which a Thomas Stallwood then occupied. Thomas Corby was to pay his brother Ambrose a guinea from the estate. Elizabeth's will was very long and detailed even specifying that the soil in the ground on her land belonged to Richard then Thomas! She didn't bequeath the worms in the earth to them but she probably just forgot about that... 

Elizabeth Corby had married William Plumridge at Hughenden 1757.

A Thomas Corby Senior, probably the same man as in Elizabeth Plumridge's will, still occupied some 67 acres of land at Munday Dean in 1833.

William Webb was a husbandmen also working part of Munday Dean Farm by 1773 until his death in the late 1790s.

Thomas Jonathan Oxlade left in his 1822 will his one third part of Munday Dean Farm with several cottages and woodland amounting to 20 acres. It was then in the tenure of Robert Oxlade and Richard Russell.

In 1829 the farm was in the occupation of Elizabeth Sawyer and Thomas Wyatt.

In 1861 Munday Dean Farm was in the tenure of John Simmonds and amounted to 87 acres. John lived there with his wife Catherine children and 2 young employees- 11 year old shepherd Matthew Bird and 15 year old George Wells who was working as a carter.

In 1883 labourer Henry Beaver was convicted of stealing 14 pieces of wool from the farm, which was then the property of General Owen Williams. The estimated value of the wool was £14 12 shillings 6 pence.

The farm bailiff in 1885 was James Langford.

In 1905 the farm was up for sale and consisted of a 5 bedroom farmhouse, cowhiuse, granary, carthouse, piggery, stable, orchard and 4 cottages. It was then reckoned to be 104 acres.

It was the home of Lady Joan Hartwell in 1930 when she was summoned for driving her motor car without a licence in High Wycombe.

*****

In 1895 further down Munday Dean Lane, nearer to Marlow, Frank Collins was found to be gambling in the highway with a game of chance and summoned to court to be fined. Slightly out of the way country lanes or little frequented town alleys were favourite places for young men to gather together to play illicit games of dice and marbles for money.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day. Photos and additional research by Kathryn Day.

Sources:

Will Richard Corby, PCC. Transcribed by Charlotte. Copies can be obtained from the National Archives.

Bucks Herald, Dec 1883. Copy held at the British Library Archives and accessed via the British Newspaper Archive.

South Bucks Standard July 1895, 2 March 1906. As above.

Will from the National Archives Kew transcribed by Charlotte: Elizabeth Meadows 1857, Elizabeth Plumridge 1789.

Kelly's Directory of Buckinghamshire 1883. Published by Kelly's Directories Limited.

Property records held by my family.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use these research or images for family or local history purposed with credit to this blog and a link here so that the sources listed above do not lose credit for the information which they provided.

 

Marlow's Lesser Known War Memorial

Below is a plaque of recognition for soldiers who fought and died in the 1899-1902 South African War, also known as the second Boer war. It was unveiled on the then headquarters of the Bucks Battalion of the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry, next to what is now the library in Institute Rd, in August 1909. Made of black Aberdeen granite, a few details on the "war tablet" are a little hard to read now but we've done our best ..

"This tablet was erected by public subscription to record the names of members of the Auxillary forces connected with Great Marlow who served in the 1899 war in South Africa 1902

Imperial Yeomanry: 

Trooper BF Burton

Trooper W G Drinkwater 

Trooper A J Gale

Trooper G. R Greaves, 

Trooper F Langley, (Frank, brother to Jack, see below)

Trooper J Langley, (Jack, sadly died in WW1. Read more about his family here )

Trooper H B Rowe,  

Trooper C Webb, 

Trooper W White, 

First Bucks VRC :

Sergeant G Hide (Geoffrey)

Private C Green,  

Private G H Green, 

Private CT Martin, 

Private A Silvey, 

Private G Simmonds 

Private J Wheatley

Bugler L Shaw, 

Private W Batley,

Sergt. H J Smith

And : Trooper G A Rogers, killed at Bolshop May 19 1902)" 

 The unveiling was left to General Higginson. Raising funds for the plaque had taken time and it's reveal was regarded as a big occasion in the town. A guard of honour was formed in Institute Rd for the General, consisting of members of the Marlow company of the Territorials and other groups such as Marlow Fire Brigade and the Church Lads Brigade. Once the ceremony was complete, those gathered marched to the Enclosure - the no longer enclosed patch of grass on the Causeway. The purpose was to perform the inaugural hoisting of flags on the flagpole. The Overseas League provided the flagpole, and invited Marlow council to give a home to it. They agreed, and funds had also been raised to buy the flags. Various groups in town provided national or territorial flags, and that of Cape Colony in South Africa was among them, purchased with funds raised by the pupils of Borlase school. A flagpole is still to be seen on the Causeway and few probably know why one was first erected there. The Overseas League aimed to encourage a sense of brotherhood amongst individuals living within the Empire and so it displayed not only the Union Jack but the flags of Western Australia and New Zealand for example. This was the first such flagpole erected by the League and that fact was reported across the Empire. 

More information about Marlow and the Boer wars will follow shortly. 

See  here for the Brewery First World War memorial tablet

And the tragic early history of The Armoury (Bucks Volunteer HQ) - some distressing content - is covered here

For all mentions of your ancestors here, use the A-Z person to index in the top drop down menu. There are more than 3,000 individuals listed there. 

SOURCES

National Library of Australia Trove Collection:

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/53186750/5137435, accessed September 2020

South Bucks Standard August 27th 1909, held at the British Library and accessed via the BNA November 2020

©MarlowAncestors. Post written by Kathryn Day. 

A Strange Death and Ancient Ruins- Abbey Farm Little Marlow

Occupiers and history timeline (1800s+)

Built on the site of a Medieval nunnery. Farm house thought to have been partially made from reclaimed materials from the abbey ruins.

Description: 1879= Mostly pasture but some arable, included a trout stream. 1892= Dairy farm of 25 acres.

Occupiers=

1826- Mr R Lunnon. Gave up farming that year. Maybe the owner no longer looking to farm himself , it was certainly owned by the Lunnons later- see below. 

1829-32 Mr Richard Bye. Left 1832/33 and went to run, briefly, the Two Brewers pub in Great Marlow. He had a deeply troubled marriage which is discussed in this post.

1836- E Collins?

1844- John Harris.

1851-67 James Salter. He died 1867. His meadow was used for a cricket match between Little Marlow and Well End 1855.  One of the parish Overseers for Little Marlow 1860 with fellow farmer Harry Calcutt.

1868-73 David Andrews. Wives Jane first then Elizabeth who survived him. David had several run ins with subsequently sacked employee Frederick Oldsworth. He accused Frederick of not attending to his dairy work. Frederick disagreed, an altercation ensued and Frederick found himself summoned for assaulting his master. The charge was dropped on condition Fred apologised and left his farm cottage the same day as the magistrates hearing.  Dairy and beef farm. David was also a butcher with a shop in Bisham in 1852 and then later in West Street Great Marlow where he took over from Rachel Hall. (He was formerly her assistant there) He lived at the West Street premises in 1861. Later lived at the Ferns Little Marlow. Died there 1900 age 83. He was described as a hale and hearty fellow to the end and one who had been walking and driving about "like a young athlete" at a furious pace around the lanes of Little Marlow.  

1877-78 Philip Henry Jones of Hurley. Also a coal merchant. Wife Emma. Fowls stolen from her at the farm that year 1877.

1878- 81 William Thomas Bird. Bankrupt 1878 but managed to continue at the farm somehow. Had moved from Blounts Farm Marlow.

1879 - Robert Lunnon recently deceased was the owner although he did not occupy it. The freehold farm is therefore put up for sale. It then consists of just over 24 acres, the farm house and outbuildings and a trout stream. It is purchased by a "Mr Bowell" for £2480.  Also for sale from Robert's estate are parcels of land around Wooburn and Little Marlow plus a few cottages, a watercress bed and an orchard. 

1883- 91 John Okey (Oakey) Simmonds. Possibly there 1882. He died 1891 at the farm after falling from his bedroom window. He had been largely confined to his room for months due to a weak heart and perhaps it seems some mental illness but would open the window to give instructions to his workers in the yard and to view his cattle in the fields. A fit of "giddiness" saw him topple out. He died the following day. Formerly of Munday Dean Farm. 

1891- Catherine Simmonds, widow of the above. Both she and her daughter, also called Catherine, gave evidence at the inquest into her husband's death. Due to an accident in communication poor Catherine did not know the inquest was going to take place until the Coroner and jury arrived on her doorstep and said they were going to hold it at her house.

1894- Had orchard as part of the property but it was separately let. Remains of the lost abbey of the village were discovered in that orchard in the early 1900s.

1901-11 at least Vaughan Williams. 

Farm listings compiled from cross referencing adverts, wills, censuses, property records, court cases, letters, trade journals etc.

Other farm related content on the blog can be found listed under the Specific Shops, Streets Etc option on the menu. 

To find people on this blog use the Person Index option- hundreds of people have been mentioned

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

Clay Lane Farm

UPDATED January 2024

Written and researched by Charlotte Day.

Historic Occupiers (who are not necessarily the owners)=

Description- Half way between Marlow and High Wycombe. 1798= 100 acres with 80 acres of woodland used for timber which seems to have been separately let. 1861=127 acres. 1900=162 acres, mostly growing corn but also had pasture land. 1902 = 162 acres. 1944= 170 acres dairy farm.

1798-1810. Henry Crook. In will written 1800 left Clay Lane and Limmer farms Marlow to his son John and his children. If no child of John survived then Henry's nephews Joseph, William, Charles and James were to share the property. At the time of the will John did have a living son Henry who was under 21. Henry the testator did not die until 1810.

1810-1834 John Crook, son of Henry above. He died that year. His son Henry Junior was involved in the farm by 1831 when he died. Both buried at Little Marlow, see pic of grave below:

John Crook of Clay Lane Farm. Died August 5th 1834 age 53. 

And:

Wife of the above, Martha. Died July 24 1853 age 73

And:

Henry eldest son of the above. Died January 3rd 1831 age 25 [Henry died following a fall from his horse].

And: Martha Elizabeth, youngest daughter of the above. Died --Ju-- 1865. 

The Crooks fell victim more than once to  Webb's gang of marauders. Find out more here

1839-1840 James Crook. I have not yet looked at what relation he was to the previous Clay Lane Farm Crooks. The farm was used to host a ploughing match in 1840. In 1839 Marlow butcher Charles East was sentenced to 14 years transportation for receiving a sheep stolen from James by two Handy Cross (or Booker Common) men. Appeals sent by Marlow citizens, including James Crook, for mercy for Charles on the grounds that he was from a good family and suffered lameness failed. His gaoler reported his character to be bad! The funny thing is he had been the victim of theft from his shop a few years earlier with the thief John Neighbour receiving a sentence of 7 years transportation himself -see here. Note by Kathryn - Charles was transported to Van Diemens Land on the ship Lady Raffles. This departed England on November 30th 1840 and arrived in Van Diemens Land on March 17th 1841. He had the company of other Great Marlow/Bisham men onboard- for details on them see the post here

1841-8 Mr Wane. In 1844 a Mr J Simmonds was also occupying some farm land at Clay Lane- his main crop was corn. Could be a sub tenant.

1848-53 Alfred Keene, farmer [owned by Joseph White]. Alfred farming 127 acres with 5 labourers at Clay Lane Farm on the 1851 census and when he sells up and leaves neighborhood 1853.  Joseph Blackwell also said to be at Clay Lane from 1851 so he must have been farming some of the land, the remaining 60 odd acres, while Alfred Keene was farming the rest and residing at the farm house. Joseph took possession of the whole when Alfred left in 1853. Alfred was at Woolley Farm in 1861. 

1851 (part of), 1853 (the whole) - 1880 Joseph Blackwell. Went bankrupt 1880. Wife Elizabeth. Robert Morcott his employee sentenced to 3 weeks in jail for upping and leaving Joseph's service without notice in 1860. Joseph moved to Hill Farm, Marlow by 1881. See here. For all or part of this time the farm was OWNED by Joseph White.

1881 - Clay Lane Estate up for sale, freehold. Consists of the farm, two model cottages and beech woodlands, in all just over 224 acres. 

1897- farm stock all up for sale. Farm owned by Thomas Phillips?

1899- farm itself up for sale. Charles Stone occupier, probably as bailiff for Wethered family. 1898- 1903 William Hatt lived and worked at the farm as a Carter / labourer. Lived in the farm house with his wife Mary Ann and children.

1903- Thomas Owen Wethered owner, Mr Slocock farm manager. William Hatt, carter as above killed at Marlow Bottom when his horse spooks and runs over him with the cart. Postman Joseph Preston Shipton who was on his round came to his aid but was unable to save him. 

1908- Thomas Owen Wethered selling off stock from the farm.

1909- 1921 Marshall Croxford. Sold up stock and left 1921.

1934- at least 1958 Richard Morris Kimber. Dairy farm but oats also grown. Land Army girls worked on this farm. Mr Kimber was prominent in local farming affairs and often a judge at cattle shows. 

Post written and researched by Charlotte Day with photos by Kathryn Day.

Farm occupancy compiled from adverts, censuses, property records, farming journals, court cases, wills I have transcribed and more. Ongoing research, I hope to fill in the gaps as I sift through further notes.

For other farm occupier listings soon the Specific Shops, Streets Etc option here if you want a Marlow Farm. If you want a Little Marlow or other nearby farm this menu here

For all mentions of any individual the Person Index option on the top drop down menu - new posts and people added daily. 

©Marlow Ancestors.