1700s Spittal Street People

It is very difficult to find home or business addresses for anyone in the 1700s so all references are precious! Look too at my post on 1700s Chapel Street people here as the two roads are a continuation of one another and our Marlow ancestors made no effort to properly distinguish between them. They sometimes used "Chapel Street" or "Chapel End" to refer to the entirety of Spittal Street and Chapel Street and vice versa.

John Carter  - tenant of a cottage 1721-31. A man of this name was sentenced to death for highway robbery in 1730 but a public appeal lead to a reprieve. More on this here.

Anne Garnett - widow tenant of house 1700. This came with a plot of land and barn but she may not have had access to them as the barn at least previously had been separately occupied from the house.

John Gibbons - tenant of a cottage 1721. Gone by 1731.

William Gunnell - owner and occupier of cottage 1710. He also owned the cottage next door occupied by Peter Silver. Wife Mary. I don't seem to have recorded his baptism when I looked at the original parish records but Find My Past has a Bishops Transcript record of a "William Gonnell" baptised 1674 to a William and Elizabeth which MAY be the baptism of this William  him https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBPRS%2FBUCKINGHAMSHIRE%2FBAP%2F000823538. A William Gu(n)nell senior died at Marlow in 1727 and a William junior in 1760. Probable marriage of William of Chapel Street is to Mary Wye 1705 Great Marlow .

Robert Malday - tenant of a house 1761.

John Phillips - tenant of a property 1721.

J Phillips - could be same as above. Paid £4 a year rent in 1731 for his cottage in Spittal Street. Next door to the property John Phillips above was in earlier. A John Phillips lived in a "Chapel Street" property owned by Abel Bird in his 1733 will. This may be the same property due to the perpetual confusion between Spittal Street and Chapel Street in the past. A John Phillips was an innholder in Marlow 1742 but Phillips was a common last name so the two Johns may not be the same man or even closely related.

1710 Peter Silver, gauger. A tenant of a cottage 1710. Next door neighbour of the Gunnells. Probably died this year.

William Weedon tenant of a property 1717. 

Compiled by Charlotte Day. 

To find posts about the 1700s residents of other Marlow streets, a recreated 1700-99 trade directory and other 1700s Marlow material see this index.

Edwardian residents of Spittal Street, household by household Part One and Part Two

All mentions of any person on this blog can be found on the Person Index pages on the left hand menu.

Compiled by Charlotte Day. ©Marlow Ancestors. 

Arthur Barnard And The Photograph Problem

 

If you were a bike-less Edwardian lady resident of Marlow you may have stared at the confident young woman gliding around town on their bicycles with a touch of envy. While attitudes to cycling, and lady cyclists in particular, were not always supportive, it was also recognised by many as a healthy form of exercise. There were no shortage of cycle agents in Marlow and you could buy a model actually built within workshops in the town. Learning to ride the "machine" was a little more difficult for ladies however, as they were hampered by skirts. You might hope that a relative could assist you to perfect your technique on some quiet road away from the prying eyes of laughing boys. But what if you had no one to guide you? You might consider finding a tutor to give you a formal lesson or two. Of course these lessons might sometimes be a "hands on" experience until your balance was perfect. So any tutor would have to be unquestionably professional and respectable. Fortunately, there was a upright businessman in Marlow who were offer just such tuition. Step forward the young and - apparently - impeccably respectable Mr Arthur Barnard of Spittal Street's Barnard's Stores. Arthur was a church (or rather chapel) going man and the bandmaster for the local Christian youth group the Boys Life Brigade.  Unfortunately Arthur's reputation would eventually come down with something of a crash but more of that later! 

King of the road

Arthur was naturally a keen cyclist and as such he belonged to the Marlow Cycle Club, eventually acting as it's president or "Captain" from the late 1890s. This comes across as a sometimes eccentric group who could work a bicycle or tricycle into almost any event if they tried! (You can read about it in more detail here ) But their Bicycle Gymkhanas were big attractions at the time and the members, in club colours were part of all kinds of processions and parades. Arthur's group decorated their cycles with flowers, flags and ribbons for these events. Arthur and wife Harriett (married 1888) had a tandem bicycle, usually the only one in parade, and so were often singled out for particular notice. The pair won several prizes for the best decorated bike and a silver medal in 1899 for the best illuminated bike in a regatta related lantern parade. 

During this time Arthur also extensively advertises his "Cycle Stores and Ladies [cycle] Riding School" in Chapel Street. He stated that he had taught a number of fashionable ladies and leading inhabitants to ride their bicycles and so he could be trusted to offer a professional and discreet service. "Personal tuition in every case." He would travel to you if you wished your first wobbly efforts to happen within your private garden. He only offered tuition to children and ladies, which is not unusual as men were often supposed to be able to learn the hard way "on the go". He continued to sell both new and used bicycles into the 20th century. 

I can get you anything...

Arthur was born in Essex in the 1860s, but as a teenager he was living with his parents and siblings in High Wycombe. His father was an ironmonger of Totteridge Rd and the young Arthur worked as an errand boy. In the late 1880s Arthur moved to Marlow to set up as a grocer in Chapel Street with wife Harriett.

Mr Barnard comes across as one of the most energetic and enterprising of Marlow's late Victorian and Edwardian businessman. His cycling tuition service was only one of the many strands in his commercial bow. His main business was his Cash Stores in Chapel Street - a high class provision store according to Arthur -  and later one in Spittal Street which offered a greater range of hardware. In fact Arthur maintained a shop on both sides of Chapel Street for many years, before securing the large Spittal Street premises. But Arthur's motto was that he could supply you with anything and everything at the lowest price compatible with good quality.  You have the feeling if someone wanted a kangaroo from Australia he'd probably have found a way to supply it! The "cash" part of the business name, not always used in advertising, reflected the fact Arthur did not offer credit. You could not put your shopping "on account" or "on the books". This means he would not have been a regular shopping stop for the poorer of Marlow residents who relied on credit to get by, at least until they had run out of those willing to offer it.  (Some so called cash stores did in fact offer credit to wealthier customers!) It seems Arthur may also have been part of a co-operative group/buying society for a time. He also earned money by performing as a musician and offering tuition in this. 

You could purchase a gramophone at all his stores. (I've noted that almost every cycle seller in Marlow had a sideline in gramophones or the like. Timberlake's in the High Street specialised in both for example.) 

 There were plenty of rival grocers in town but Arthur had his specialities including Wiltshire and home cured hams and "marvellous" tea. But it was the more "under the counter" items that Arthur offered that would most interest the authorities. 

Plain clothes sting!

In 1906, Arthur was arrested after a plain clothes police operation at one of Barnard's stores. His offence? Selling indecent photographs and prints. (Postcards would appear to be included). Arthur plead guilty but given that he had sold them directly to a policeman it's hard to see how he could do otherwise! He admitted buying a few of the cards from a passing traveller, with the intention only of showing them to his friends. He claimed these friends had encouraged him to buy more and "weak willed" he had agreed to do so. But the police must have had some tip off that such images were generally available to purchase. Much was made at trial of Arthur's position of trust within the boys brigade and also within the PSA (Pleasant Sunday Afternoon, a chapel social club which operated from several Marlow places of worship). He was fined £50 and the images were destroyed. It's difficult for us to read between the lines of carefully worded reports. The images might not have struck us as indecent by our standards but this is not the case with all such Victorian images by any means. They were not all as prudish as we sometimes imagine! 

Arthur had traded partially on his unimpeachable good character. He had involved himself in many Christian and charitable endeavours (such as donating food to the Marlow Cottage Hospital and a box of cigarettes to every volunteer returning from the South African wars in 1901). No doubt many would have been astonished that he had found himself in court for anything, let alone his particular offence. 

The events must have lost Arthur some business and caused much embarrassment to his family. 

Arthur's Chapel Street premises above. The "cash stores". He also had a premises on the other side of Chapel Street at the same time which look to have been the focus of the cycle trade - that building was the Dean Street end. 

Above, 1891 Barnard's advert. Courtesy of Michael Eagleton.  Tea siftings available at a bargain price of 1s 4d a lb would be one of the relatively few cheaper items available from Arthur. 

On a lighter note..

The instrument that Arthur is usually recorded as playing was the flute. He did so at the Primitive Methodist Chapel for fundraising events and teas. The Primitive Methodists were fortunate to have many skilled musicians amongst their congregation and supporters and so Arthur performed alongside those playing violas, violins, cellos and the chapel's harmonium (often played by Charlie Plumridge).  

He was one of those that set up the Marlow Drum and Fife Band (there has been more than one - some comprising members of the Rifle Volunteers or church groups for example). Arthur was Band Leader and quite literally lead  them through the streets of Marlow on many town occasions, wearing a smart uniform. On some occasions the band performed in the streets on Christmas Day itself, in friendly rivalry with the Marlow Salvation Army Band, and others. In December 1892 we are told that the members were "blowing their whistles and banging their drums with irrepressible energy". Buying and maintaining the instruments and uniforms had a cost, and it seems the band was frequently short of cash  and sometimes members. Reports of their AGMs show Arthur tried to stay optimistic nevertheless. In fact if you saw a Drum and Fife Band performing anywhere locally, there is a high chance Arthur would be there. He had the monopoly of local band leaderships, also acting as the head or instructor of the Medmenham, Frieth and Little Marlow Drum and Fife bands in the 1890s. But still he advertised his willingness to take on yet more roles in this field "distance no object". 

Then in 1903 the Boys Life Brigade* was formed in Marlow. A lot of it's activities were focused around life saving in a literal sense - first aid, stretcher bearing exercises etc. But it is probably mostly remembered for having a Trumpet and Fife band under bandmaster ..you guessed it ..Arthur Barnard. The BLB was a uniform wearing non denominational youth group that was intended as an alternative for the Church of England's Church Lads Brigade which was not open to Christian boys who did not attend the parish church and Sunday school. As there was a good number of non conformist and Catholic families in Marlow, the new brigade was instantly popular. Arthur's own son was a member, and he played a drum. The Brigade band marched through the town on one or two Sundays a month and then "fell out" to allow the children to attend their respective Sunday Schools. You might think that a rush of young men to join a religious group would please Victorian parents. Well it did please some, but the Vicar of All Saints was not one of those. Arthur and he engaged in an angry exchange of letters in the local press. Those connected with the Parish Church were upset that some boys from their church had chosen to join the new Brigade rather than their own group. Also when the BLB Sunday parades broke up, some C of E boys were joining their chapel going friends at rival Sunday Schools. The vicar accused Arthur and other adults of failing to prevent them doing so. Arthur protested that while the Vicar had forced some of his own young parishioners to give up belonging to the non denominational BLB band, Arthur himself welcomed all boys as members to their group. He said it was natural that the children would sometimes wish to stay together and join their friends at a different Sunday school to do so. Arthur's group was serious in their non denominational focus. The band performed at a 1909 fete held at Gyldernscroft in aid of the chancel improvement fund of the parish church for example. They held their annual grand concert in the Music Room in St Peters Street. 

Arthur's involvement with the Brigade ended around the time of his conviction. He had put a lot of his own money into the group, and this is presumably the origin of the "Barnard Debt Fund" that the Brigade were paying back for several years afterwards. 

Harriet died in 1918, and Arthur in 1924. He was only 59 years old. You can see their grave at Marlow here. 

*The BLB met in the former Salvation Army drill hall in Oxford Rd from 1907/8. Wednesday afternoons were band practice days. Other activities included running football and cricket teams, athletics meetings, a weekly gymnastics class in winter, a small members library and all round "healthy amusement and recreation". In 1908 there were 50 members, including the band. Club nights were twice a week. They also had a swimming hut near the Complete Angler. A list of known members and officials will follow as requested as soon as time allows! The Brigades  band was renamed the Marlow Town Band in 1911 and made available to hire by general public. Note however the "town band" has had a lot of incarnations. 

To find all mentions of an individual or family here, see the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. It contains over 4,000 individuals and counting.

General Marlow history - here

Other Spittal Street and Chapel Street shops and shopkeepers  - here including Edwardian property occupiers no. by no. here

Sources include:

Marlow Guide 1903 & 1905. 

1891 census transcript from microfilm by Jane Pullinger. 

South Bucks Standard May & December 1892, August 1894, April 1897, June 1901, March, May & June 1903, November 1909. 

Kelly's Directory of Buckinghamshire 1920. (Kelly's Directories 1920) 

Reports on the Boys Life Brigade in England, 1907. (Courtesy of Andrew Grahame)  

Buckinghamshire Examiner 06 Apr  1906. This copy via the BNA partnership with the British Library Archive. 

Marlow Directory and Tourist Guide, South Bucks Standard. 1891. 

Marlow Directory and Almanack 1907 & 1915. (Marlow printing co/Welbourne and Simpson) 

Arthur's Spittal Street store. The place to go for gramophones, the latest records, sewing machines, brooms, tinware, pots and pans, China, and more. This building replaced a few small cottages set further back from the road, one of which was a long time cordwainers premises. Arthur opened it in 1915 - see advert below. 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day. 

© MarlowAncestors. 

Biggs / Bristow Family Bakers

 Joseph Biggs, originally of Dinton Bucks, moved to Spittal Street Great Marlow in the very late 1850s or 1860.

He was a middle aged widower with a much younger "servant" Sarah Bristow in tow, by whom he had had 3 children - Ellen, Joseph and Alfred. The children were referred to as both Bristows and Biggs at different times. Sarah had worked for him since at least 1851.

Joseph was a corn dealer and baker with a shop in Spittal Street. After his death in age 71 Sarah, sometimes as Sarah Biggs and calling herself a widow, other times as Sarah Bristow, ran the business herself. In 1868 she was fined for having deficient scales used for weighing out bread and also, interestingly, meat. Such prosecutions occur frequently with shopkeepers whose scales needed to be recalibrated every so often to keep them true but who often forgot to organize this. In 1890 Sarah was again fined this time it was 10 shillings for selling bread without weighing it first, another very common offence. Such prosecutions arose from random test visits by the authorities.

By then Sarah's children were no longer at home. On the 1891 census she had a ten year old servant Nellie Edwards living with her to assist her. She may also have had daily shop staff that didn't live in with her.

Sarah's premises on the left hand side. 

Sarah's son Joseph junior with two of his friends had been hailed as "romantic" and "gallant" heroes for diving into the Thames to rescue an exhausted and capsized rower following a competitive race at Marlow in 1874.

One of those friends, John Langley junior, went on to marry Joseph junior's sister Ellen in 1877. Both Joseph junior and his brother Alfred were successful young rowers at Marlow themselves. Women did row competitively at this time but I have found no evidence of Ellen Biggs also competing. You can see the grave of Ellen Biggs/Langley at Holy Trinity church, Marlow here. 

I think Sarah Biggs may perhaps have died in 1909. She had left these premises by 1907 and they became a cafe.

****

Thousands of people are mentioned on the blog in relation to Marlow and some of its nearby places. Use the Person Index on the top drop down menu to search for individuals.

More posts about specific Marlow families indexed here.

More Spittal Street content indexed here. Other nearby streets also have indexed content on the same index.

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

Some Sources:

"England and Wales Census, 1871", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KXS5-G47 : 26 June 2022), Ellen Biggs in entry for Sarah Biggs, 1871.

"England and Wales Census, 1891," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:4GGB-V6Z : 22 February 2021), Sarah Biggs, Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom; from "1891 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 12, Buckinghamshire county, subdistrict, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.

1881 census Great Marlow, my transcription from microfilm. 

Bucks Herald 15th August 1874. British Library Archives.

Reading Mercury 26th July 1890. British Library Archives.

Great Marlow Parish Registers, original.

Harman's Chemist

Bernal Harman was a chemist with a shop in Market Square / Spittal Street Marlow in later Victorian and early Edwardian times.

He was born in High Wycombe in 1846. His full name was Bernal Osbourne Ralph Harman. His unusual first name comes from his godfather Wycombe M.P Ralph Bernal Osbourne, who in turn had it in the family as he was paternally of Jewish ancestry. Bernal Harman's father Charles, a solicitor and Mayor of High Wycombe was a political ally of the Liberal M.P.

Our Bernal had a privileged but tragic childhood, losing his mother Ellen (née Tatem) in his third year and his father in his ninth. He appears on the 1851 census living in Easton Street High Wycombe with his widowed father Charles and siblings plus two servants. Bernal still lived in Easton Street in 1861 this time with his older brother John but by 1868 he was married and operated his own "family chemist" in Magdalen Street Glastonbury, Somerset. From there he mixed up his own tooth powder guaranteed to give you a winning smile for life.

Then, by 1870, he moved his shop to Park Street, East Cowes on the Isle of Wight. His advertisements in local papers bear the legend that he was the chemist for the royal household at Osborne at this time. But he must have struggled as he appears in court reports as a debtor and he went into liquidation there in 1871. Finally, in 1881 Bernal and his wife Ellen (née Duckett, married Somerset 1867) and their children moved to Marlow so that Bernal could take over Banbury's Chemist and Druggist in Spittal Street.

As well as being a chemist his shop acted as a parcel agents and Bernal was one of the principle movers and shakers behind the establishment of a Literary and Scientific Institute in the town.

In 1891 Bernal faced serious trouble when the landlady of the nearby Wheelwrights Arms in Spittal Street, Mrs Lucy Jeffs, died after taking an opiate based sleeping draft which he supplied to her. The doctor and surgeon who attended her before her death suspected that the draught contained more opium than Bernal claimed and had poisoned her. A post mortem revealed that taking opium had brought on her death but that she was about to die anyway. She was a consumptive of long standing and very close to death from that. She asked for the draught because she was in too much pain to sleep. The expert opinion was that as her condition had deteriorated significantly the normally safe dose Bernal insisted that he gave her was not a dose she could withstand in her condition and made her exhibit symptoms of overdose. It is likely that he did not realise how much nearer to death she had become in the hours before he handed the sleeping draught to her young son in his shop. The inquest jury recorded a verdict of homicide through misadventure. Bernal seems to have escaped further scrutiny as far as our research can so far find. The verdict meant that Bernal had while acting lawfully and without intent to do harm nevertheless caused death. 

Above 1905 ad. Sole proprietor of the  "Carrington Bouquet" refers to a locally created perfume with a contentious history - see here for more. 

Bernal died in 1906 following a long illness. His wife Ellen survived him and lived later at 15 Claremont Road. She died there in 1921 age 72. Their son Henry "Harry" Harman fully qualified as a chemist and druggist in 1896-7 and had already taken over the day to day running of Bernal's business before Bernal's death though even afterwards for a while afterwards the name above the door still said "Bernal Harman".

Harry supplied bandages and disinfectant to the local council. He continued to act as a parcel agent like his father had done, as well as being a chemist. He was a successful rower for Marlow Rowing Club in his spare time. He married May Flint from West Street. Sadly, he died aged just 45 in 1920.

Written and researched  by Charlotte Day. 

Related posts:

For other posts about specific shops/businesses and other content related to Spittal Street see the index here

Information on other chemists and pharmacists in Great Marlow plus apothecaries, surgeons and other medical related posts see the index here

Index of biographies of other individuals connected to Marlow here

For every mention of an individual or family here see the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. There's more than 4,000 people listed there. 

Some sources:

Kelly's Directory of Buckinghamshire etc 1883 and 1907. Kelly's Directory of Hampshire 1880. Kelly's Directories Limited.

The Post Office Directory of Chemists and Druggists: Containing Lists of the Chemists and Druggists Throughout England, Manufacturing Chemists, Wholesale Druggists, Patent Medicine Vendors and Manufacturers, and Every Trade in Connection Therewith. (1870). United Kingdom: Kelly. 1885 edition also.

1851 census High Wycombe and 1881 East Cowes via Rootspoint.

The Pharmaceutical Journal Volume 51 printed by J Churchill. 1921.

The Chemist And Druggist. February 10th 1906. 

South Bucks Standard 12th Feb 1897 and 6th March 1891. Bucks Gazette 4th April 1846. British Library Archives via the BNA.

The Weekly Notes. United Kingdom, Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales, 1877. Via Google Books.

"England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2DK3-W4K : 13 December 2014), Bernal Osborne R Harman, 1867; from "England & Wales Marriages, 1837-2005," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing 1867, quarter 1, vol. 5C, p. 814, Wells, Somerset, England, General Register Office, Southport, England. 

Bucks Free Press 27 June 1921. 

Emma Carter The Butcher

Emma Carter and her husband Thomas arrived in Marlow in the early 1870s to take over the butcher's shop in Spittal Street previously ran by James Creswell. Previously the couple and their children had lived in Fawley at Dobson's Farm. Thomas was farming 170 acres in 1871 and employing 4 men and 3 boys. He also operated as a butcher, or given how busy he would have been on his farm more likely Emma was behind the counter. Née Goss, she was the daughter of a butcher come farmer, Joseph Goss, of Waddesdon.

When Thomas died in 1876 Emma took over the shop in her own name. She was assisted when they were grown by her sons Thomas, Joseph and Frederick.

The first year few years after her husband died must have been a struggle. In 1878 the local sanitary inspector visited her shop and the slaughterhouse behind it. A rancid carcass of a diseased sheep which she had bought cheap was found dressed for sale. It was clear part of the animal had already been cut off and sold. The offense was so serious she faced three months in jail and a £20 fine but as it was a first offence Emma got a £5 fine plus costs and a heavy warning not to come before the bench again. 

Emma was in the right hand side of the above. 

She must have got on top of things sufficiently well as 1878 is the only time I find Emma in court charged with sanitary offences. Such charges I must say were not uncommon for Marlow butchers in the 1800s.

Emma raised her own sheep and fowls for her business. She lost one of her sheep, most likely to thieves, at Marlow Market in 1907 and another from a field where it was grazing at Handy Cross in 1904. She offered rewards for the return of both and described her animals as being marked with a red C to identify them. Whether Emma got her animals back is unknown. 

For the first few decades of her business Emma was renting her shop from the wealthy Williams family but in 1905 the premises came up for sale and she scooped them and the small cottage next door up for £615 in a local auction.

By 1920 it was her son Thomas who was running the shop and he remained there many years. Emma died in 1925.

Emma also appears In this post about the sad death of one of her neighbours.

Find more Spittal Street or general historic shops content on this index.

Find more Victorian women in business or other interesting historic Marlow residents on the Biographies of Individuals index here

Written and researched by Charlotte Day. 

Related posts:

For other posts about specific shops/businesses and other content related to Spittal Street see the index here

Information on daily life in Emma's Great Marlow here

Index of biographies of other individuals connected to Marlow here

For every mention of an individual or family here see the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. There's more than 4,000 people listed there. 

©Marlow Ancestors. Reproduction of research for family or local history purposes welcome if with credit to this blog and a link here.

Thanks to Jane Pullinger for seeking out the 1871 census and Waddesdon marriage records. Census information always remains Crown Copyright.

More Sources:

Kellys Directory of Buckinghamshire etc, 1883, 1899, 1907 and 1920. Kellys Directories Limited. University of Leicester Archives.

1881 census Great Marlow, my transcription from microfilm.

South Bucks Standard 8th June 1900, 14th July 1905. Via the BNA / British Library Archives.

Bucks Herald 23rd March 1878. As above.

Marlow area Local Directory 1902.

Colonial Meat Stores, Spittal Street

 Colonial Meat Stores opened in Spittal Street premises by 1891. They may well have been the first tenants of the premises which were built in 1883. Proprietors Frank and Caroline Baker lived at 4 Queen Square High Wycombe where they had another branch of their business. Colonial meat was usually cheaper than British meat though the public generally had to be convinced it was of equal quality. There was also a colonial meat store ran by Albert Fleet in West Street. See those premises and read more about Albert here.

Frank and Caroline took out a flurry of ads in the early days of their business advertising their bargain beef, mutton and lamb.

A few days before Christmas 1892 a poor woman of nearby Dean Street bought two pennyworth of meat from them but had nothing to serve with it to her husband and eleven children because of the family's great poverty. Her husband's trade of shoemaking was in the doldrums. He went into the fields near Holy Trinity church to see if the owner Emmanuel Plumridge* would give him some turnips. He did not see Plumridge but took the turnips anyway believing he would not have been refused them if he had been able to ask for them. A constable caught him however and sent the matter to court. Emmanuel said too many turnips were being taken from his field but he did not want the man dealt with with any harshness. The magistrate fined the accused a token shilling, which was paid by a compassionate person in the court. 

Centre, the former Colonial Meat Stores, occupying the left and central portion. 

Frank Baker died young in 1896 but his wife continued to run both branches of the stores until at least 1899. Subsequently it was run under the same name by the Wise family then Grace & Co. 

Above, advert 1907. 

*Emmanuel was a grocer and farmer who lived in Spittal Square.

Find more shop histories or Spittal Street specific posts on this index

Thousands of Marlow people are listed on this blog. Look for anyone you are interested in on the Person Index on the top drop down menu. 

Sources included:

1891 census England and Wales, my transcription. 

The London Gazette. (1896). United Kingdom: T. Neuman.

Bucks Herald 24th December 1892.

Marlow Almanack and Directory 1907. 

©Marlow Ancestors. Reproduction welcome with credit to this blog for family or local history purposes.

Meakes and Eddowes Ironmongers

Joseph Meakes started an ironmonger business in Spittal Street circa the late 1860s. He went into business with his son George so the business was called "J Meakes and Son". Previously Joseph had worked as a whitesmith. The Meakes family were very heavily involved in the smithing trade, including his father Thomas who faced bankruptcy in 1830. More on that here. In the past ironmongers manufactured themselves much of what they sold in their shops.

In 1874 Joseph and George advertised for an additional assistant for their shop. The successful applicant had to be able to help with their bell hanging and gas fitting sidelines. 

As local agents for the Silber lighting system (oil fuelled) they also fitted out the new Marlow Station building and platforms with lighting in 1873*. 

Joseph died at Windsor in 1880, two years after the sudden death of his wife Elizabeth. George carried on the business. His customers included Wethereds Brewery in the High Street for in 1890 it was reported that his employee William Night or Hight fell off a ladder when descending from the brewery office roof and broke his leg.

George was a busy man- he founded the Meakes and Redknapp Marlow boat building business in the 1886 too. Tickets for the occasional river excursions put on by Meakes and Redknapp were sold at the Spittal Street shop. He was also a founder member of the Thames Boat Builders Association.

George's son Joseph George became a marine engineer and boat builder. 

John Eddowes managed the ironmongers for several years in late Victorian times because of George's declining health and the fact he had two businesses to run. 

George died in 1903 at the age of 68 with his funeral being held at Cookham Dean. He had been living at Grove House there for some years.

John Eddowes took over the shop entirely in March 1904 and traded under his own name thereafter. 

John and his wife Lillian came originally from Staffordshire. Soon after taking over John was already winning work from the local council. He supplied them with equipment to water the dusty roads and repaired street lamps for them for instance.

John's adverts pushed the use of gas for heating the home as a cheaper and less bothersome method than a coal or coke fire. Interested customers were invited to view his gas fires in operation. John hired a barn in nearby Crown Lane for extra stock storage.

Before taking over the business the Eddowes lived in Chapel Street. They later lived off premises again, at Kenton House, Victoria Road.

Above, advert from 1907. Ironmongers, engineers, bell hangers, gas fitters, builders merchants etc. They say they have the largest showroom for mantle pieces, tiled stoves, hearths, ranges etc in the district. 

Note: there were a lot of Meakes about in Marlow including multiple Josephs. The Joseph who founded the ironmongery business is not to be confused with the Joseph a blacksmith and publican of Fingest / Lane End for whom see here or Joseph Meakes, blacksmith of Little Marlow. Joseph of Fingest / Lane End was the nephew of Joseph of Little Marlow however.

Related posts:

Joseph the ironmonger's brother Henry Thomas Meakes ran the Cross Keys pub, see here.

For more Spittal Street related posts including other shopkeepers see this index.

History of the gas works and supply in Marlow here

**More about the building of Marlow Station can be found here

Researched and written by Charlotte Day.

Above 1905 advert for Eddowes. Reused in 1907!

Sources include:

Reading Mercury 31st January 1874. British Library Archives via the BNA.

Censuses transcribed from microfilm by Charlotte 

Marlow Guide 1903, 1907. 

Marlow Almanack and Directory 1907. 

Marlow Almanack and Guide 1915

Bucks Free Press 10th October 1873. 

Kelly's Directory 1913

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.

Consumption Cures and Ball Tickets- George Cannon.

 One of the most amusing things about looking into the past is seeing just how many occupations one person could have at once.

When looking at Great Marlow history I developed a soft spot for George Cannon thanks to him managing to be a bookseller, owner of a circulating library, tea seller, stamp seller, printer and stationer in his early days before adding landlord, property speculator, chemist and druggist to his CV later. 

Not to mention the roles he had of churchwarden, husband and father.

As you can see from my photo of his grave below, George was born in Maidenhead but he was in Marlow by 1833.

He married Mary Ann Dyson in London in 1839. Despite the London marriage both parties were "of Marlow".

Mary Ann wasn't content to have the dual occupations of wife and mother either - she was a multi times prize winning poultry breeder! Sadly she died in the 1850s leaving George to a long period as a widower. Their son James Dyson Cannon grew up to assist George in the business.

The business was located at Market Place until 1853 when George relocated to the High Street. In 1833 his premises consisted of a house, printing offices, yard and garden and had an annual value of £22.

George's High Street premises. Formerly the home of Miss Sneath. 
 

To these premises you would have taken yourself to pick up Piso's"cure" for consumption (hmmm) or other such necessities. Whilst there you could also get yourself an auction catalogue on most occasions that there was a significant property sale in Marlow, not to mention in 1865 tickets for the town ball. George may have printed some of those auction sales catalogues. He certainly printed the ball programmes plus the library catalogue and membership rules for the Marlow Literary and Scientific Institute when it opened in it's first incarnation. (George was one of those on the founding committee). He also sold prints- of Marlow racecourse for instance or of the new suspension bridge (lithographic print 17 inches by 12 inches 1830 showing what the bridge would look like when finished cost 5 shillings). To go "shopping" at George's delightful shop, see this post here that lists some of the curios available within. 

George always had at least one live in servant on every census. His wealth is further evidenced by the list of property he owned at his death in 1881- Linden Villa in Wycombe Road [exists though knocked into the house next door and not labelled], a draper's shop in Spittal Street, 6 cottages opposite South Place [known as Cannon's Row, now Platts Row, see the post here], and a bakery in West Street all rented out or let out to others. Earlier in his life he had owned the Hope beerhouse in the High Street too.

George is buried with his granddaughter Emily Mabel Calcutt b. Sept 28 1875, d. January 6 1880.  And Willie Dyson Cannon B.Mar 6 1883, d. Jul 26 1883

George was also a keen singer who could be easily called upon to offer a song at a local meeting. For example he entertained the guests at the dinner in 1847 which honoured the failed Liberal election candidate Sir William Clayton. Several other shopkeepers and tradesmen also contributed a song each. George was a vocal and long term supporter of the Liberal candidates. Elections in Marlow were rarely peaceful and the full sorry story of that one is available here

Related Posts

George sold the land which the Catholic church was built on - read more here

 

To find all mentions of George and anyone else you are interested in, use the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu - there's over 3,150 people there. 

Some information sources:

My transcription of censuses, using census page microfilm images.

Original parochial assessment notebooks 1833 held by my family and transcribed by me.

Robson's Directory, Buckinghamshire 1839 copy provided by the University of Leicester.

Newspaper copies at the British Library accessed via the BNA September 2020:

Bucks Gazette 14th December 1839, South Bucks Free Press 7th January 1865 and 12th May 1882. Reading Mercury 7th May 1830.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day. 1847 Election research by Kathryn. 

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

Yet More Where in Marlow Was? Part 4

A list of difficult or vanished addresses for modern researchers. If you can't find the address you are looking for, check parts 1-3 available here, here, and here and part five is here

  Check out the Specific Shops, Streets etc option on the top drop down menu for more detailed posts about premises or streets. Note location is as given in contemporary sources with notes on modern interpretation of these where possible. Addresses given in historic sources as Glade Road, Cromwell Garden(s) estate (from 1898), or New Town are also very possibly in adjacent roads in our eyes. Thames Bank can refer to Mill Road as a street address, not necessarily to the house of that name. Many houses change name several times and there can be more than one house bearing the same moniker - including at the same time! Many larger Marlow houses were let as apartments or for the summer or "river season". 

Addington Cottage -  

Cambridge Road.

Albert House= Chapel Street. May have been on site of the earlier Prince Albert beer house.

Anchor Brewery=Spittal Street. The Methodist school room was built on this site.

Apiary, The - house, Station Road

Beaumont Villa= house Beaumont Rise

Bovingdon - Claremont Gardens, not in Bovingdon Green. 

Branksome - The Pathway, off Station Road. 

Cecelia House= High Street.

Christina Cottages= Berwick Road. Still there and labelled. Named after the little daughter of Marlow builder George Smith, as was the adjacent Revina Cottages. 

Claremont Gardens Estate - properties built on the gardens and meadow formerly belonging to Cromwell House. The House ceased to be a private residence and had converted to use as post office. Cromwell Road was the first road laid down (1898 by Lovell's the builders. 23 building plots over the estate in general were offered at auction a couple of months later), followed by Claremont Rd. However for some years those living in properties in this area often gave their address as Claremont Garden Estate rather than a specific street name, and some also added Glade Rd or just used that. Glade Rd was a well established address so perhaps they felt it safer to use that than the names of roads that took time to be officially adopted into use. 

Cobham Cottage - New Town

Courtview - Small group of houses within Claremont Gardens. New Court is the Court referred to, probably optimistically. 

Elsinore= house in Station Rise

Fletcher's Buildings= Spittal Street. Boots side. 

Gouter's Tenements= West Street.

Handforth - New Town, believe to be misspelling of below -  New Town includes Holland Road. 

Handpath - Holland Road

Haven, The - Claremont Rd

Hayes Cottages= Not the same as Hayes Place or The Hayes, though close. In Quoiting Square on census. Cottages each very small. Old cottages next to Platts Garage, near Congregational church, now demolished. 

Kenilworth - New Town Road

Kenmore - Little Marlow Road

Lilliebrook - Station Road. 

London House - High Street, premises of chemist Footitt/Baxter/Snow.

Maisemore - Institute Road

Merlindale - Beaumont Rise, still carries original name. 

Mowcap - Claremont Gardens

Moyleen - West Street house.

Mozart Villas - New Town Road

Munday Bottom -  seen in the 1700s for Munday Dean AKA Munday Dean Bottom.

Nadia - Oak Tree Road house

Norfolk Cottages - Station Road. Apparently at least 4 cottages.

Park Villas - 1. Portland Gardens (pair of cottages). Note on many occasions Park and Portland Villas names were (incorrectly) used interchangeably in historic sources, they were adjacent.  2. Wycombe Rd (several cottages) 

Platt's Villas - aka Platt's Row, or Cannons Row, part of Mill Rd/Lane. Named for Platt's Farm, owned at one point by George Cannon who built the cottages.  

Recreation Road - Gossmore Lane.. Mostly used 1920s. 

Revina Cottages Berwick Road. Still there with original name attached. Named after Revina Smith (born 1893) daughter of Marlow builder George Smith. Adjacent Christina Cottage remembers another of his little girls b 1904. 

Roslie - Station Road 

Sawmill Cottage - Station Road (Was sawmill near junction Victoria Road, Duchess Place. )

Seeburn House - Station Road Alt: Seaburn.  The premises of Horace Lacey, haulage contractor

Shanklin Cottage - Dedmere Road

Strathray- New Town, house.

Temple View - house, Station Road. 

Trinity Street - alternative name for Trinity Rd, previously known as Gun Lane, used occasionally and mostly in the 1880s/early 1890s. 

Upper Station Rise - a name with somewhat confusing history. Originally what we call Station Rise and Beaufort Gardens were usually referred to as Upper  and Lower Station Rise. However at times Junction Road and Institute Rise were thrown into the mix (but Junction Rd was also provisionally used for other roads in Marlow!) In 1934 the  Marlow council said they had been approached by certain residents who wished the names to be changed. It was proposed to give the two the official names  of Institute Rise and Claremont Rise. This did not happen however as just two months later all of the residents there wrote to the council and said they did not in fact wish there to be any change after all.. In 1953 Upper Station Rise was formerly adopted as a name but in 1967 that title was officially changed to that which it still holds - Beaufort Gardens. In reality many people used Station Rise for both roads throughout, with no upper or lower attached. 

Wroxton Lodge - Institute Road

Landlords of The Cross Keys, Spittal Square/Spittal Street

The pubs location is Spittal Square /  Spittal Street previously known as the Common Slough. Now known as The Oarsman. (Sometimes listed as located in Chapel Street, which is a continuation of Spittal Street) This is a replacement for the earlier building that jutted out more into the Street. 

These earliest two mentions refer to an earlier incarnation, not on the same site. It is uncertain where this first pub was located.

1757 - Sylvester Law (had moved from the Upper Crown)

1766 - Sylvester Law (Will of Sylvester Law 1766  here )

*****

Spittal Square site - note this pub was almost certainly originally one of two pubs in Marlow called the White Hart. See our post on that for landlord listings for that pub and the other White Hart which was nearby in Chapel Street. It is available here

1839 - Henry Thomas Meakes. A blacksmith also on the same premises. Previously worked for his father Thomas Meakes as a journeyman blacksmith. Thomas went bankrupt in 1830 despite a loan of over £200 from Henry. This loan was secured on all of Thomas's stock in trade, book debts and furniture, something which caused serious censure at the bankruptcy hearings as it illegally deprived other creditors of a chance to have Thomas's goods seized and sold to settle the debts owed to them. There is no suggestion Henry meant to do anything illegal. In fact the judge in the case called him an an excellent and hard working young man. [Bucks Gazette. 17th January 1830. British Newspaper Archive]. Henry was born 1805. His brother later ran an ironmongers further up Spittal Street. See here

1841- Henry Meakes. Also blacksmith as above.

1844 - Henry Meakes as above.

1846 - Henry Thomas Meakes. Fined 40 shillings for allowing card games on his premises. Also executor that year of the will of stationer William Collins of Flackwell Health.

1847 - H.T Meakes (Mr Ridgely also listed as landlord this year.)

1852 - J Meakes

1853 - Mary Ann Meakes (also  listed as a whitesmith)

1854 - Mary Ann Meakes  (listed also as blacksmith). Likely widow of Henry Thomas Meakes who was definitely a Mary Ann.

1859 - John Wellicome. Hannah his wife had died in 1844.

1861 - John Wellicome (also plumber and smith, employing 9 men). Though not given on census as such John was also a painter, decorator and glazier!

1863 - John Wellicome. Cautioned to conduct his premises better or his licence will not be renewed..

1864 - John Wellicome (also listed as blacksmith). Died February that year. 

1869 - Henry Creswell.

1877 - Henry Creswell.

1879   Henry Cresswell transferred premises to Robert Lunnon  "The Cross Keys Inn"

1881 - Robert Lunnon.

1883 - Robert Lunnon.

1888 - 1. R.Lunnon 2. Alfred Williams.

1891 - Alfred Williams (also a joiner).

1892 - Alfred Williams transfers premises to William Redsdale /Ridsdale.

1893 - Thomas Ridsdale  (qv)  transfers premises to Edwin Richards who passes it on to John Wilson. (NB in 1894 a Mrs Richards, described as formerly keeping the Cross Keys in Marlow, is a coffee shop proprietor in London.)

1894 - John Wilson transfers to H F T Hitchins/ H F Thomas Hitchens.

1895 - Thomas Hitchens qv 2. Joseph Dyer/Dwyer.

1898 -1 Joseph Dyer. 2 Thomas Pym (incorrectly given as Joseph Pym in the Bucks Free Press of that year) .

1899 - Thomas Pym - he is called up as a member of reserve forces to "go to the Cape" - that is war in South Africa. He is reported injured for the second time in March 1900. (2nd Devon's)  Mr Barksfield takes over. 

1903 - Joseph Barksfield.

1920- Joseph Barksfield.

1924 - Mrs Annie Barksfield.

1925 - Annie Barksfield gives up licence and Spencer Charles Fisher takes over.

1939 - Robert William Spencer.  Robert moved in this year to Seymour Court Road where he opened a grocery shop known simply as The Stores. This was at the very top of the road opposite the park and no longer exists. Robert died in 1943. He was a special constable during the war.

1948 - G Cawdon Wooster. Cross Keys Inn. Offers accommodation, luncheons and a snack bar.

        Spittal Square, above. 

This post is updated as new information emerges. 

More Spittal Street related posts indexed here

Use the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu, rather than the tag search, to check all other posts for mentions of your ancestors. Many Marlow landlords changed premises and there can be other family members running other establishments. Some places changed how they described themselves - or how they were viewed- and so licensed premises listings here take in not just beer houses, pubs and inns but common lodging houses and hotels too. We mainly focus on pre WW1 listings but sometimes list later names if it ties in with research we are helping with. For other posts about pubs, see the Pub Related index here 

Additional research by Charlotte Day.

SOURCES 

1833 Parish Assessment. Original handwritten notebooks held in my family. Transcribed by Charlotte Day.

Kelly's Post Office Directory 1859, 1864,1869,1877,1889,1903, 1907

1853 Mussons and Cravens Commercial directory. From the University of Leicester Archive.

Many licence hearings reports including :

Bucks Herald 27 December 1879, copy held at British Library Archive and accessed via the BNA January 2021.

South Bucks Standard September 14 1894, as above.

Robson's Directory 1839,1844.

Census 1861,1871,1881,1891 transcribed from microfilm by Jane Pullinger and Charlotte Day.

©Marlow Ancestors. 

The Eagles Have Landed- in Spittal Street!

 Joseph Eagle or sometimes "Eagles" ran a grocery shop in Spittal Street Marlow. This was close to the old Greyhound Inn. Sadly neither building still exists. Joseph was on the premises by 1833.

He and his wife were worshippers at the Salem Chapel now known as Christ Church (United Reformed) in Quoiting Square. Their daughters Charlotte and Elizabeth were baptised there in 1811 and 1812 respectively (but born 1809 and 1811). There was also a known daughter Harriet born circa 1818. I didn't see her baptism in the microfilm images I was studying but I may have missed it, ditto the son William and daughter Ann who appear on the censuses or other known daughter Keziah. They were probably just on another reel of film.

The register gives Elizabeth and Charlotte's mother as an Elizabeth which is puzzling as their father appears as married to an Ann on the census and a Joseph and Ann Courtney married in 1809, before the births of Charlotte or Elizabeth. 

Daughters Harriet and Elizabeth did not marry and acted as assistants in their father's shop during his lifetime. In 1840 a bad shilling was passed in payment to Harriet but the Marlow constables were already on the trail of the culprit and caught him while he was still in Eagle's shop.

Three years later a boy called Thomas Plumridge was sentenced to three days in jail for stealing a piece of pork from the shop.

Joseph died in 1871. Elizabeth and Harriet took charge of the business in his place. In 1879 Benjamin Green* appeared in court charged with stealing a bottle of sweets and a bottle of sherbet from them while Harriet was on duty behind the counter. He had moments earlier in the same courtroom been jailed for 3 months for poaching so the second charge was not pressed.

Elizabeth died in 1880 after which Harriet carried on with the assistance of her young niece Ann Cheer (daughter of her sister Ann AKA Annie). Harriet died in 1893. 

Her sister Charlotte married James Sawyer the baker at the age of 17. She ran the Sawyer's bakery in West Street for many years as a widow. See an image of the site of those premises and read more about Charlotte  here

Keziah Eagle's husband Jason Povey got into trouble for accepting a bribe to vote a certain way during one of Marlow's many notoriously corrupt elections. More on that and Jason in future.

For other shopkeeping Marlow families see the Biographies Of Families option on the top drop menu. And for other post related to shops see the Specific shops, schools etc option on the same menu.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day. 

*Benjamin Green went on something of a one man crime wave in 1879. Early in the year he was acquitted of a charge of stealing a substantial amount of money from his employer Harriett Anthony of the High Street. At the same session he was also acquitted of stealing a pair of boots from Battings. However both the boots and the money were found later, secreted in the stables where Benjamin had worked.  He had claimed to have seen a man run out of the garden at the time of the robbery but it was a lack of footprints on bare soil to support his story that caused the police to be suspicious in the first place. 

Sources:

Bucks Herald 14th March 1840 and Bucks Gazette 11th March 1843. Reading Mercury 1st February 1879. Copies held in the British Library archives and accessed via the BNA March 2021.

My transcription of images of Salem Chapel baptisms on microfilm #007765132. Provided by the LDS church, Intellectual Reserve Inc.

1883 Kelly's Post Office Directory  published by Kelly's Directories Limited

1839 Robson's Commercial Directory. University of Leicester Archives.

1853 Mussons and Cravens Directory. University of Leicester Archives.

1844 Pigotts Commercial Directory.

Census 1841-91

1833 parochial assessment. Original handwritten notebooks held by my family and transcribed by me.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use my research for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog and a link here so that the sources listed above don't lose credit for contributing.

Eliza and Marmaduke Hitchcox Grave

 Grave of Eliza Mary Hitchcox who died 18?2 aged 30 and her husband Marmaduke who died aged 47 in 1845. He was a saddle harness maker. Their name is also rendered Hitchcocks in records.

In 1833 Marmaduke occupied a house, yard and garden worth an estimated £10 a year in Spittal Street Marlow*

Marriage 1825 West Wycombe to Eliza Mary Heines https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N279-BXN

Photographed April 2021 in All Saints churchyard.

Post by Charlotte Day.

*property records held by my family.

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

The Wheelwrights Arms list of landlords *updated May 2026*

UPDATED by  Kathryn June 2025

THE WHEELWRIGHTS ARMS AKA THE WHEELERS (Usual address Spittal Street)

Wheelwrights Arms, above as the building is today. Central chimney gone, upper windows shrunk and lower half obviously changed significantly. The pub name was at one time painted on the upper centre of the building, with Fullers brewery name below. 

1833 - Stephen East.

1839 - St. East.

1840 - Stephen East.

1844 - Robert Rockell (possibly the same Robert as at the nearby Prince Albert in 1841)

1852 "Crown Lane" suggesting at this point an entrance, perhaps even the main entrance, was on the side there.

1853 - Robert Rockell (also offers cartage and lodgings).

1861 - Robert Rockell (also a carter).

1864 - Robert Rockell.

1866 - Robert Rockall summoned for having his beerhouse open at an ilegal hour. He was serving customers at 4.30 am instead of the permitted 5am. This might seems ridiculously early but agricultural labourers were often required to be at work by 5am, or even earlier in the summer. He was fined 10 shillings.

1871- Robert Rockell (also carrier).

1872 - Robert Rockall.

1875 - Robert Rockell died, and son James took over. James defined himself as a carriage maker in 1871 when he was living at the Wheelers with his dad. 

1878 - James Rockell transferred business to James Tilbury (moved from George and Dragon).

1880 - Proposed transfer to William Lloyd refused. James Tilbury transferred licence instead to Charles Freegard.

1881 - James Freegard (born Wiltshire) .

1885 - James Freegard transferred business to James Arlett / Harlett.

1890 - Henry Ecklin passed the premises to John Henry Drewe / Dewe [probably should say John Henry Jeffs]. The pub got its swing sign board this year - useful for dating photos, although it disappears again in later Edwardian images. 

1891 - John Henry Jeffs passed it to Jesse Parsons. Jeffs was born in 1837 Warwickshire according to the census. His wife Lucy died in 1891 after a long battle with consumption which probably sparked him into wanting to leave the premises. Also in 1891 Jesse was burgled and cigars and cigarettes stolen from him. To read the sad circumstances of Lucy's death, read the post here. 

1892 - Jesse Parsons transferred licence to George Rogers / Rodgers. George was Sergeant in East Surrey Regiment. Jesse went to take over the Sportsman's Arms Inn in North Dean, Hughenden, Bucks.

1893 - George Rogers/Rodgers. 

1894 - "Mr Roger's Widow" [Ann]. George was buried at Holy Trinity Church but we have been unable to locate any surviving gravestone. Some members of his old Surrey regiment attend the funeral. He was only 47. 

 

1895 - Ann Rogers transferred premises to Edward Sims. Possibly a Frank Rogers might have been given a holdover in between times (conflicting evidence).

1896 - James William Rowe. 2. William Richard Rose.

1897 -  W R Rose 2. John Reading.

1898 - John Bradley.

1899 - John Bradley transferred premises to Charles Brown. John wad forced to leave as his licence had been endorsed for second time related to unruly conduct at the Wheelers. On the second occasion, it was for allowing "quarrelsome conduct" in the taproom, specifically a foul mouthed arguement between Mr & Mrs Anson that could be heard from some distance outside. When P C Marks entered the pub he also found two men drunk in there which was another black mark. The worst affected of these two drinkers, Charles Slade of Trinity Rd, was separately fined for his conduct. 

1899 - 1904 Charles Brown. Born circa 1860 in Nuffield Oxon according to the census. Wife Jane.

1907 - C Smith.

1908- structural alterations to the premises allowed.

1909 - Mr Smith. He organised a Christmas Day football match to raise money for the Cottage Hospital.

1910 - Arthur E Smith 2. Richard Lane.

1911 - Richard Lane transferred licence to George Branch.

1913- George Branch transferred licence to Wesley Hodge.

1914 Wesley Hodge transferred licence to Arthur Strange (holdover).

1915 - Arthur Strange 2. Wesley Hodge temporarily back again??

1916 - Arthur Strange transferred licence to William King of Greys, Essex.

1917 - William King to William Roberts.

1917-27 William Roberts. In 1921 he decided to sell the pub's coin-operated automatic piano. Penny a time, and it will pay you one of 10 tunes. Either he couldn't sell it or he replaced it with another model as when the pub closed in 1928 it still had an automatic piano.

1927 - Messrs Nicholson's and sons owned pub. Licenced transferred to Richard J T Marsh a retired timekeeper of Marlow Bottom.

1928 order for closure under scheme to limit the number of licenced premises in a given area. Richard J T Marsh landlord of the time (Richard James Thomas). The representative of the local J.Ps who nominate it for closure said it was a "small, rather dark and the conditions are rather poor." Sells 1&1/2 barrells of beer a week (compared to for example 5&1/2 barrells at the Bank of England in the same year). Richard said that that provides enough income for him as he receives a pension to supplement his earnings.  He had only taken in the premises that year.

To find all pub content, see the Pub Related index here. Non pub Spittal Street content is indexed here. To find all mentions of an individual see the A-Z person option on the menu. Happy hunting! 

SOURCES included

1833 Parochial Assessment working notebooks and correspondence owned by my family.

1853 Mussons and Cravens Commercial Directory

Pigots Directory 1844

Kelly's Post Office Directory -

1869,1877,1883, 1903.

Census - 1861,1871,1881,1891 

 Robson's Directory 1839

 Windsor and Eton Express, Apr 10 1875, held at British Library Archive and accessed via the BNA. 

Bucks Herald 10 Jan 1874, 26 December 1874, 18 June 1887, as above.  

Reading Mercury 19 Sept 1874, as above

South Bucks Standard, 06 January 1893, 08 Nov 1895, 2 July 1897,  19 May & 22 Sept 1899, 2nd October 1902, as above

Bucks Free Press 24th November 1911 and August 14th 1914  Bucks Free Press Archives.

1872 list of pubs and the breweries that owned them, held at Buckinghamshire County Council Archives. 

Numerous ads, licence session reports etc.

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

The Spittal Street Poltergeist??? Allam / Hoare Family

 

Allam grave in All Saints Parish Church. 

Alfred Allam died October 26th 1888 age 51 years

Also Sarah Tilleard Allam

Also Charlotte Hoare,  died  - 17th ? 1890

Also Charles Frederick Allam died Jan 29 1940 age 7(2?) years.

Research notes:

Alfred Allam in true Victorian shopkeeper fashion managed to be a fishmonger, fruiterer, potato merchant, hirer of pony and traps, minor farmer and gravel seller all at once with premises on Spittal Street plus a field at Hillside. Census entries suggest he was born Wooburn or Wooburn Green. Alfred's father Francis had also been a fishmonger. Although the business was left to Alfred's mother, she agreed to give it up to him subject to his paying her an allowance. He fell out with older brother Absalom about this arrangement, and other business dealings. Alfred in 1863 sued his brother for withholding money earned by him for selling fish on Alfred's behalf. Absalom said he'd done so because Alfred was keeping a watch that belonged to him and also had withheld goods due to him under his father's will. 

In 1876 Alfred was prosecuted for renting out a windowless wooden hovel not fit for human habitation to the large Moody family.  This wasn't his only brush with the law. Both he and his son Alfred junior seem very ready to get into fights with others.

At one point some thought the family had got on the wrong side of a far more unusual foe than your standard Marlovian- an "evil spirit". 

The back windows of the family premises were repeatedly broken by "unseen hands". At one point breakages were occurring every few minutes. Constables and neighbours were baffled and the household frightened for several weeks until it all suddenly stopped. This was an age of intense interest in Spiritualism and inevitably some people insisted only a spirit could be responsible for the broken windows. Myself I think someone Alfred had had a dust up with was likely having a little fun at his expense.

To read about an incidence of Alfred getting into a legal dispute with a flesh and blood Marlow family see here.

The Sarah on the grave above was Alfred's wife who ran the fishmonger's shop after his death for some years. She was assisted by her sons Alfred and Charles Frederick the latter of whom is also on the gravestone. Alfred would eventually take over the business from his mother. Sarah was born Sarah Tilleard Hoare in 1840 to Charles and Charlotte Hoare.

Charlotte Hoare on this gravestone was her mother. She was born circa 1815 according to census but we believe that she was baptised in Marlow 1814 nee Tilleard, to parents William and Elizabeth. She ran the Three Horseshoes Gun Lane, The Traveler's Rest Dean Street and The Bear, Chapel Street with husband Charles who predeceased her. He owned gravel pits in Marlow which probably explains Alfred Allam's gravel sideline.

Poor Charlotte's death came from shock after she fell over in her yard and fractured her hip [Reading Mercury 30th August 1890 and Buckinghamshire Examiner 28th August 1890. Copies held at British Library. Accessed via the BNA ]. She lived with her widowed daughter Sarah Tilleard Allam at the time and Sarah gave evidence at the inquest. Reports of this inquest tell us that though she is memorialised in All Saints graveyard she was a worshipper at the Wesleyan Chapel at the time of her death. The alarm that she had fallen was raised by close neighbour Emma Carter the butcher who heard Charlotte scream.

Charlotte's death report in the paper called her a much respected woman of the town. [To read about dramatic events at The Bear just before Charlotte gave it up, see the post Here]

To read a post about Emma Carter the butcher see here.

Written and researched by Charlotte Day.

©Marlow Ancestors. You may freely reproduce the grave images for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog.