The Spindlo Family Bakers *Updated Nov 2024*

Richard Spindlo and Mary Ann Richardson married in the Henley Registration District in 1870. He was a baker just like his father Thomas and had been born according to his census entries at Knowl Hill Berkshire though he was baptised at Wargrave and spent some of his childhood there. Mary Ann grew up at Grey's Hill outside Henley in Oxfordshire and worked as a servant in Henley before her marriage. Her father William was a sawyer.

Shortly after their marriage Richard and Mary Ann had moved to Marlow and opened a bakery come grocers in Chapel Street. The building they occupied was a then newly built one which sadly no longer exists. The bakehouse was a separate structure out the back complete with a large seven bushel bread oven and a flour storage loft above. The Spindlos were likely the first occupants to use the premises as a bakery as prior to that the property on the site was in residential use only. The family often baked the giant loaves that decorated the tables at the parish Harvest Thanksgiving teas. 

Either Richard found it hard to please himself when it came to horses, ponies, carts and carriages or he had a sideline selling them as he frequently advertised them for sale. He also seems to have occasionally acted as a house agent.

The Spindlo's neighbours were a mix of working class and middle class householders, some shops and several pubs. 

In 1875 Mary Ann looking out of her bedroom window saw her newish neighbour James Harris who had not long since come out of the army in the garden of another neighbour, Eliza Creswell. He was smearing something on her tulips. He then poked about in the radish bed. Mary Ann didn't know whether he was doing something for the Creswells or not and said nothing. But when Mrs Creswell complained that her tulips were dying Mary Ann recalled the incident and told her about it. Mrs Creswell saw red at what she thought was sabotage. She let out a torrent of abuse at James Harris over a two day period. He went to the police saying that he needed protection from her as she had threatened to harm him and had made his little girl cry. The magistrates were not much convinced that he had not been in Mrs Creswell garden but found that she had threatened him. They didn't think he ought to be that afraid however. Both Mary Ann Spindlo and her husband gave evidence in court.

Later that same year Richard advertised for a young man to help out in the bakery part of the business. He must already know how to make dough. A comfortable home and good wages was promised to the successful applicant.

The couple had two children in the 1870s, Charlotte Ellen and Richard John. By the time of the 1881 census they had a live in servant to help in the home, teenager Martha North.

In 1886 Richard was fined along with many of the other Marlow bakers for selling bread to the public without weighing it precisely. His loaf was found by an inspector to be slightly short weighted. This offence was so common it would be a rare baker that did not clock up at least one conviction for such. It is very unlikely there was any intent to defraud customers. It is not easy to make any loaf to an absolute exact ounce in weight. Nor would most customers have wanted to stand waiting while their loaf was weighed and then had bits lopped off or odd slices added until the scales showed an exact weight.

He died aged just 46 following a painful illness the next year. Mary Ann took over the business, assisted by her son. In 1896 she was paying £30 a year rent for the premises (residence and bakers shop) plus £12 extra to rent the outbuildings which included the large bakehouse with flour store mentioned above.

In 1894 her employee William Soley was found to be seriously ill with what looks to our modern eyes as testicular cancer. Mary Ann drove him in her baker's cart to the hospital in Cambridge Road for an emergency operation. Sadly he reacted badly to the chloroform given to him and died. (Read more here)

In 1908 her own son Richard John (b 1878, also a baker, and known as John to distinguish him from his father) died following an unsuccessful operation at St Thomas Hospital London for "an internal complaint". He was just thirty years old. He left a widow Eliza Ellen AKA Ellen or Nellie (nee Harris) just three years married to him. Richard was a frequent singer in local amateur concerts including for the Choral Society and was also a member of the Congregational Chapel choir. Ellen also performed in this way though less often. Richard played in various different positions for Marlow F.C (and before that the Marlow Antelopes and Marlow Rangers), very successfully giving "splendid support" to the team over several seasons. His funeral was a largely attended affair. After a service at the Congregational chapel which was filled to capacity, a procession went to Holy Trinity where the young man was buried. Representatives of Marlow Football club, the chapel choir and the National Deposit Friendly Society of which Richard was also a member, all attended. 

Mary Ann continued to live on the bakery premises but her daughter Charlotte took over the running of the business. She described herself as a baker and confectioner. The grocery side of the concern had been left behind. In the 1910s she was usually given as being in Spittal Street. This was a continuation of Chapel Street. Whether she was actually in different premises however is open to question as Marlow people were extremely sloppy and / or confused when it came to rendering Chapel Street and Spittal Street addresses.

In 1922 she married a Mr Nash.

By 1939 the former Spindlo bakery had been taken over by Maurice Hunt.

Post written and researched by Charlotte. 

Related Posts:

To find other posts about Chapel Street or Spittal Street people see this index.

All mentions of anyone on this blog can be found by consulting the A-Z Person Index on the top drop down menu

Everyday life in old Marlow post index here

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

Sources included:

Kellys Directory 1911 and 1915. Kellys Directories Limited.

GRO marriage registration index.

South Bucks Standard 18th December 1908. Reading Mercury 11th December 1875. Bucks Herald 8th May 1875. British Library Archives via the BNA.

Census 1881, 91,1901 my transcription from microfilm.

Patients Treated At The First Marlow Cottage Hospital

  We have completed several posts about the original Marlow Cottage Hospital in Cambridge Road (1889 -1915), which you can find linked to below.  This one focuses on some of the patients treated there. The hospital was intended to serve Great Marlow, Little Marlow and Bisham but on average a third of patients came from places such as Lane End and Wooburn. Over half were children. The number of inpatients is hugely dwarfed by the outpatients who attended the hospital for more minor care, and also those in ill health that the nurses visited in their homes. 

Operations were performed at the hospital which had it's own operating theatre. The visiting surgeons (Dr John Dunbar Dickson and Dr Robert Culhane) were responsible for these but the day to day care was down to the Matrons - Nurse Mary Ann Cassidy in the first year, and Mary Anne Cole thereafter, sometimes assisted by a second paid nurse, probationer or servant. The most common operations were relatively simple - the removal of tonsils and adenoids in children for example. But some were more complicated. I've chosen to feature the unsuccessful 1894 operation on William Soley because the inquest gave really interesting details of the attempts made to revive him. Most operations did not end so badly however! 

William was a journeyman baker working for Mrs Spindlo in Chapel Street. He had a tumour in his groin and it was decided it must be removed quickly. He was reluctant to be operated on but was persuaded by the doctors that it was really necessary. As a working man he naturally had to consider carefully before committing to anything that would result in an unpaid period of time off work. Mrs Spindlo provided her cart to carry him to the hospital. He had previously undergone several examinations and it was determined that his heart and lungs were healthy enough to endure the operation. This was due to take place the following day. It would be performed by Dr Culhane, assisted by Dr Dickson, and attended by Matron Mary Cole. Chloroform was the anaesthetic available to them. Unfortunately within two minutes of it being administered and before any cuts were made, William stopped breathing and suffered a cardiac arrest. To revive him they tried not only artificial respiration, but also hitting William with wet towels, putting mustard on his chest, applying ammonia to his nostrils and cold water to his face. Sadly nothing worked. William died on the operating table. It was decided he had suffered an unpredictable reaction to the chloroform, which caused or accelerated a heart problem. The coroner's jury donated their fees to poor widow Eliza. 

Most of the adult male patients seem to have suffered work based injuries.  I will give two examples. 

Ellis Harvey, aged 56, was working on Dial Cottage in 1890. He was a bricklayer and was engaged on doing some exterior repairs. He fell from 18-20ft high scaffolding and suffered serious spinal injuries. A cart was requisitioned to take him straight to the Cottage Hospital. His injuries were beyond the repair of the doctors, and Nurse Cole could only do her best to make him more comfortable in the last days of his life. He died less than two weeks later. As before, the jury at the inquest into his death gave up their fees, this time donating them to the Hospital itself. It was believed he had suffered from a giddy spell, as the scaffolding was examined and was considered safe. (He was working for Mr Pierce of High Wycombe)

The second case is that of Amos Newell age 25. In 1893 he was working for his uncle Emmanuel Plumridge, who leased part of Star Meadow (off Wycombe Rd) from Mrs Atkinson of The Rookery. What Emmanuel was interested in was the large walnut trees there. They were the sort of crop that has bought a surprisingly large number of Marlow men and women to grief. More valuable relatively than now, a large number of people had convictions for stealing walnuts from Marlow trees, and those in Star Meadow were a hot target. (Trees at Little Marlow were also plagued by nut rustlers!) Emmanuel had been given the right to also collect the nuts when he hired the field. So his nephew Amos and another man were sent to harvest the crop. Amos did not work exclusively for his uncle whose main job was as a  highways and cartage contractor.  Amos is described as a farm labourer at his death. In the effort to reach more nuts, Amos clambered up the tree as he always did. He would stand on a bough and shake the branches with the other man remaining below. Unfortunately Amos misjudged his foothold and the bough he stood on broke off, and he plummeted to the ground. He was taken immediately to the hospital but died shortly afterwards. Another case involving a walnut tree was that of William Beaver, hawker, of Primrose Lea. If it was hazardous to knock the nuts down sober it was much worse to attempt it while "in drink" and unfortunately that's what William did in 1899. He fell 40ft from the tree, at Frieth. At first it seemed a miraculous escape from serious injury. His fall had been broken by lower branches to some degree and he had no broken bones but he did have 2 cuts on his head. He was taken by cart back to Marlow to have his wounds seen to at the Cottage Hospital. On the way there his wife Martha*, from who he was seperated, was informed of the accident and saw him briefly. She said she remarked it was not wise to pick walnuts when the worse for drink and sent the cart on it's way, not thinking him seriously injured. Dr John Dunbar Dickson saw to his head and sent William home. But the "friends" that he lived with would not recieve him and so he was returned to the hospital and admitted. He complained of a headache after 2 days, but his condition took a sudden dramatic turn for the worse on the forth day. He had became agitated and violent towards the nurse the night before, and the doctor said he was forced to put William in a straightjacket to protect the staff. Dr Dickson said William had begun to suffer from severe delirum tremens which had been aggrivated by his fall, and sadly William died "raving mad" a few hours later. 

 

Alcohol also played a part in the horrifying accident suffered by Lower Assendon bricklayer Phillip Joseph Joiner, who was working at Bourne End. Phillip was "worse for wear" and waiting to cross at the level crossing near Bourne End station. But a goods train was pulled up there and rather than wait for it pass, Phillip decided to crawl under the train through to the other side. Another man waiting at the crossing warned him to wait, but Phillip was determined. Sadly the train moved while he was on his way underneath and his legs were severely injured. He was taken to the Cottage Hospital quickly and both legs were amputated. He did not survive. He was 29.  

These cases might be depressing, so I'll end with an example of one that seemed very serious but had a happy ending. A "Master White" aged between 10-12 years old, fell out of a moving train between Bourne End and Marlow in 1892. He was travelling back to Marlow alone. It seems he had been leaning out of the window, when his cap fell off. In trying to make a snatch for it, he over reached and fell from the train. This is partial guess work from those at the the time as no one travelling on the train saw exactly what happened. Very luckily for the boy, someone in the fields adjacent to the rail line did see him fall. They ran to the spot and initially feared the worst as the boy was unresponsive and covered in blood due to some nasty head wounds. But he came round, and was carried to the Hospital. He was found to have a lot of cuts, and was naturally badly shaken. But under Nurse Cole's expert care, he was expected to make a full recovery. 

The times the staff could not save their patients always makes more of a ripple than those occasions where the sick make a quick recovery. The staff there saved hundreds of lives and lots of Marlow people would not be alive today if their ancestors had not spent time at the Marlow Cottage Hospital. 

*Martha Beaver had successfully applied for a seperation order from her husband in 1898 after he had assaulted her with a penknife while drunk. He was sentenced to 2 months in prison with hard labour and on release was made to pay a weekly sum for the maintenance of his wife and the three youngest of their six children then living at home. 

For more about the hospital see the following posts:

Matron Mary Ann Cole here

Matron Mary Ann Cassidy and the setting up of the forerunners to the Hospital here

Apothecaries and patent medicine sellers here

List of medical related posts here

The Romantic troubles of Dr Culhane here

Death by fire here

More on the Spindlo's here

Others are on the General History option in the top drop down menu. 

To find every mention of your ancestor here use the A-Z Person Index in the top drop down menu. 

See:

South Bucks Standard 16 September 1892, 03 August 1894. 

©Marlow Ancestors