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.
