Marlow in World War Two 1944-45

This is the last in a series of posts about Marlow during WW2.

Part One dealt with preparations for, and the early months of, the war here

Part Two covered 1940-41 here.

Part Three Covered 1942-3 here.

February 1944

Mr Ball of Westfield Medmenham is calling for local farmers to donate animals to a charity auction at Reading in aid of the Red Cross.

April 1944 

In the last 12 months, 43 Marlow families have experienced their family members being held as prisoners of war.

The Marlow Red Cross commanded by Julia Wethered of the High Street, plans to open a medical supply depot in the coming weeks.

The Ministry of Fuel reduces the amount of coal and coke that households can order, acknowledging that for some the new limits will not be enough for their needs.

Expectant mothers can now order an additional rational book for their unborn child so that they can access extra eggs, milk and meat (when available) during their pregnancy.

May 1944

A series of fundraising events take place in the town as part of the national Salute The Soldier Week fundraising drive. The aim is to encourage both cash donations and (in particular) investment in war bonds and savings bonds. To sell such savings products the savings committee hut in Marlow Bottom will open every day. The village has set its own target of £300 raised. Dwight D Eisenhower sends a letter to the town as a whole wishing Marlow luck with their efforts. His letter is itself auctioned off as part of the fundraising and is sold for £3 9 shillings. Novelist Rebecca West takes part in a charity quizz event at Court Garden as part of the week. A town parade to mark the week is joined in by 1300 people. The villagers of Marlow Bottom raise more than double their £300 target, while Marlow as a whole raises an astonishing £290,000. Later in the year the government gives Marlow a plaque to commemorate this success but where this was put we do not know (somewhere in town centre was the planned place).

June 1944 

Marlow Bottom's Red Cross volunteers arranged a fete to raise money for interned British residents of the Channel Islands.

July 1944 

Marlow Urban District Council has a target of collecting 10,000 books from the town for paper recycling. Children from the Girls, Boys, Roman Catholic and private Dial Close schools are all dispatched to do door to door collections. Books of educational or antiquarian interest are not desired. Before the end of the month this target is exceeded by 2,000.

The volunteers at the British Restaurant in Marlow have been so overworked in recent months that there has been a fear that some will breakdown. The restaurant has had to stop serving suppers as a result, and is making a loss but at first refuses to follow official guidance as to raising their prices as some Marlow people cannot afford to pay more. In November losses are so great they are forced to increase prices against their wishes.

August 1944

Harry Belcher of West Street is fined for missing 5 Home Guard drill sessions (he was compulsorily enlisted into the Guards). His wife has been ill and in need of attendance plus as a private hire car driver his business is dependant on him being available in the evenings when drill practice is held. Harry feels he will lose his business if he keeps being called to practice when he needs to work and points out that he is hardly a war shirker - he joined up to fight in the last war when underage and suffered captivity as a prisoner of war then. Him and his wife have already lost their son in the current war and clearly with his grief and financial worries he has had enough. He tells those trying him that he has done enough for his country. 

October 1944

Leading Aircraft woman Betty Sweetman of Oak Tree Avenue has been working at RAF Fighter Command as an operations room "plotter" but has now been posted to similar operations in France. 

November 1944

Mrs Allen of Holland Road writes to the Bucks Free Press complaining about the terrible food in the British Restaurant at Marlow. Her veg was undercooked and her treacle tart dry and hard. Wycombe and Maidenhead she says have fine restaurants but not Marlow.

December 1944

Helga Stene, an escapee from Norway, gives a talk on life under the Nazis to a large audience at Court Garden.

 

Quarry Laundry organizes a Christmas Quizz to raise funds to buy every Marlow P.O.W 200 cigarettes. Any leftover funds are to go to their employees away serving in the war.

January 1945

The British Restaurant closes for good. Later this year it reopens as a canteen for schoolchildren.

The Marlow Bottom.W.I resolve to knit warm clothes for children in liberated countries.

February 1945

Marlow Urban District Council are on the urgent hunt for the blankets they gave out to the evacuees who came to the town, most of whom have now gone home, some probably with their blankets. The Ministry of Health has told the council that they will be charged for any blankets not collected and returned to the Ministry.

Car headlights can now be unmasked in a lifting of blackout regulations .

May 1945

May 7th - Germany unconditionally surrenders with the surrender coming into effect on the 8th, known as V.E Day. The official announcement comes over the radio. However everyone knows about the Allied victory already, and before the King's public address the town is festooned with flags and bunting and the churches have already hosted thanksgiving prayers.

The official announcement is broadcast in the cinema in Station Road and to the dancers at Court Garden at a quickly organized celebration event. A collection is made at the dance for POWs. Impromptu street parties spring up around the town before the surrender announcement, followed on V.E Day by more organized ones. One of the latter is in Glade Road and involves not only a tea in the street but sports and games in a nearby field for the children, a magic show, singing and dancing. Another tea is organized for  children jointly by the mothers of lower Newtown Road and Dedmere Road. Mr and Mrs Hodges of Victoria Road organize a party to which those of Station Road are also invited. Poor Mrs Hodges, falls over in one of the associated running races and fractures her arm.

A hundred children from upper Newtown Road and Little Marlow Road attend a celebration tea in the church hall followed by games in the park.

At Whitsun a victory fete is held at the Red Cross hut at Marlow Bottom. 

Prisoners of war returning home to recuperate after their release from medical treatment will temporarily get double rations every week to help them rebuild their strength.

Salvation Army band member Arthur Furmston returns home after over 5 years as a POW and is given a welcome home tea and social by other church members.

A special church service at All Saints gives thanks to the civilian volunteers that have helped during the war, as they are about to be dismissed. These and various youth groups gather and parade to the church beforehand.

Land girl Miss J Duncalffe gets a scarlet armband in honour of her four years continuous service at Seymour Court Farm.

July 1945

The parents of some of the last few child evacuees in Marlow have proved untraceable so they will need to stay for now.

August 1945

Victory over Japan is announced by the Prime Minister on the radio. The next two days are declared holidays but some Marlow people haven't heard the news and turn up for work anyway on the first day. Flags and bunting are again brought out across the town and people dance on the lawns of Court Garden. Thanksgiving services are held in the parish church and the Baptist church. Residents of South Place and Platts Row in Mill Road have a joint V.J Day street party complete with fireworks and a bonfire. The town's children are treated to a tea, sports competitions along with more informal games like pillow fighting and more fireworks. There are similar treats for children at Little Marlow.

Wethered's brewery have their own celebrations for their employees and families.

William Perry of Berwick Road dies after celebrating in the pub with his friends, drinking and dancing. When he gets home a little worse for wear he vomits and chokes as a result.

At Medmenham there is a garden party at the Vicarage, a dance in the village hall and a tea for the village children for V.J Day celebrations.

September 1945

Councillor Kibblewhite, hopes the Ministry of Agriculture will be able to give back Gossmore Recreation Ground as the town sorely needs space for football etc. At the moment a crop of clover is growing in it.

Mr Whalley of the Lawn is told by the council he must postpone plans to extend his home as due to the war labourers have been in very short supply and are more needed elsewhere in the town. In particular they are going to be building some long planned council houses in Seymour Park Road, which have had to be put off repeatedly because of labour and material supply problems.

October 1945

Marlow residents visit High Wycombe Guildhall to view a display of crucial war items secretly made in Wycombe during the war. These include tank and bomber plane parts.

November 1945

Memorial services are held as usual for the dead of the previous war. The Vicar in his address acknowledges that the recent war has robbed many of their last faith in God and they have turned from the church.

Late in 1945 

Marlow building company Y.J Lovell is building "prefab" accommodation in Reading. These are an emergency response to war-derived housing shortages.

Some Sources=

Bucks Free Press 25th August 1944, 25th May 1945, 16th November 1945. Bucks Free Press Archives.

Personal Interview.

Bucks Herald 18th February 1944, British Library Archives, Via the BNA.

British Journal of Commerce, Post War Trading Edition, 1945. London.

Mysterious Disappearances And Suffragettes- Early Residents Of Victoria Road Marlow

Written and researched by Charlotte Day.

A couple of cottages named Victoria Cottages erected in 1872 were likely the first homes built in Victoria Road. They still exist today.

The first resident of Victoria Road Marlow who can be definitely named is a Mr E Savage who in May 1880 wrote a letter to the maker of a "Pectoral Syrup" extolling it's virtues as a cure for asthma, whooping cough and similar conditions. The writer was also impressed by soothing powders for children sold by the same maker. As a stated father of 8 children you could see how he might appreciate such powders! We can only hope all those children were not squeezed into his Victoria Road cottage as it would have been a small one. Perhaps some had, thanks to all that soothing medical attention, grown to adolescence or adulthood and moved out by the time their parents moved to Victoria Road!

On the subject of moving into or out of the street, the South Bucks Standard of 8th July 1892 contained an advert for a house contents sale at number 1 Victoria Road*, the resident William Ashby having "moved away" from the area. Behind this simple advert there was an alarming truth- William, a three weeks married insurance agent, had vanished into thin air shortly before the sale. He said goodbye to his wife one morning having told her that he was going to meet his Prudential Assurance Company boss in High Wycombe but was never seen again by neither her nor anyone else in the area. He did not turn up to the work meeting. No one could fathom why he would wish to leave his home, job and bride, nor did they think that he had any personal worries. The fact that she put the furniture up for sale almost immediately suggests that the new Mrs Ashby (Florence Ann nee Faulkner) gave up on her husband quickly. Financial distress may have been involved, though William was said to have been highly successful at selling insurance in the past two or three years. The items for sale suggest a comfortable income: a velvet covered drawing room set, tapestry carpets and a marble topped wash stand etc.

As a teenager in his native Northamptonshire William had worked as an under gardener so becoming an insurance agent was a step up for him. Prior to his marriage he lodged with the Everest family in nearby Glade Road, Marlow.

So where did William disappear to? The answer intriguingly was apparently Ireland. He married, despite already being married, a Bridget Kelly in Dublin in 1899 before returning to England with her to raise a family. The couple lived first in Yorkshire and then in Westmoreland and Lancashire with William reverting to his original occupation as a gardener. Florence herself as "Florence Ann Ashby or Faulkner" remarried in 1900 a shoemaker John Gibbard. This was back in Northamptonshire. Did she believe William dead? Perhaps the first marriage was annulled. William could be declared legally dead after 7 years of being missing. I only hope poor Florence found happiness after her distressing and humiliating desertion. The quick sale of the furniture may hint that Florence did in fact receive some communication from her husband saying he intended never to return even if she did not wish to make it public at the time.

Victoria Road is a few minutes walk from the River Thames. Today you would be surprised to hear that it had flooded but in 1903 overspilling river water reached the residents there. Mr T Coster an engineer who rented a Victoria Road cottage in the early 1900s specialised in building for customers in Marlow and elsewhere their own docks and boathouses to help them enjoy the river. He also serviced ornamental waterworks. 

Coster's business would not have caused much nuisance in Victoria Road itself but the residents did have some other commercial occupiers to put up with, most notably the steam powered chair making premises of the Buckinghamshire Chair Factory. A full post about that business by Kathryn is available here. Their premises included a saw mill. The working conditions were pretty awful, with improper sanitation, no ventilation for those working with the wood and flimsy buildings. Kathryn's post will tell you more. The company went out of business in 1912 but a sawmill company took over from them and annoyed the residents of nearby Dedmere Road with the amount of sawdust which blew into their homes and gardens. The Mathew Couchman who in 1903 was a timber merchant and engineer with a saw mill in Victoria Road had a side line in milling barley or any other meal required by customers. 

Disturbance could come from other sources too- the artist's studio in Duchess Place in Victoria Road (near the corner with Dedmere Road, no longer used as a separate address) was used by the Women's Freedom League for a Suffragettes' meeting in 1912. Mrs Mary Sargant Florence chaired the event. 

Her studio was used in another radical way too- as the base for a Girls' Club. Not much radical in that you may think. But you could count on your hand the number of such organisations for girls as opposed to boys at that time. That young females should spend leisure time outside of their own home (as their brothers routinely did) and away from their families was hardly ever considered important. The club was aimed at working class girls and acted as an educational as well as social venue. The education of working class girls was one of the lowest priorities for society as a whole in that era. A more detailed post about the Girls Club will be published by Kathryn on this blog in the future.

*House numbers have been altered since. This number one is not the number one seen today.

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.

Sources:

Bucks Herald. 9th May 1885. South Bucks Standard 8th July 1892. British Library Archives via the BNA. 

Berkshire Chronicle 1st August 1903. As above.

"England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2DZ3-RL9 : 13 December 2014), William Lerson Ashby, 1892; from "England & Wales Marriages, 1837-2005," database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing 1892, quarter 2, vol. 3B, p. 166, Northampton, Northamptonshire, England, General Register Office, Southport, England. 

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

Kenton House Marlow

 Kenton House is given historically usually in Victoria Road but also sometimes in Glade Road suggesting it had entrances in both roads. It was close to Kenton Villas in Glade Road, two pairs of two houses built,nlike Kenton House, for Frederick Joseph Wright. It was a detached house with a garden, paddock (later an orchard), stable and stable yard. 

In 1883 Mrs Rolls was the resident. During the 1890s the house was often sub let for the summer season. This was a common thing to do for Glade Road area residents. IThe road was near the railway station and within walking distance of the Thames. Just the ticket for those who wanted to enjoy a fashionable riverside holiday!

Whoever had been the recent tenant in 1905 had perhaps just died as the house contents was put up for auction then.

By 1907 Major Francis Fowler, his mother Gertrude and siblings lived at Kenton House. Mrs Fowler was the widow of Major General Charles Fowler who had died the previous year. In 1908 her youngest daughter May who was known by her middle name Irene drowned while punting on the Thames at Bisham. Punting was a very popular Edwardian past time on the river. Irene was an acknowledged expert on the art of managing a punt but the river on that stretch claimed casualties every single year. Irene had hired her punt from Shaws boat house in Marlow in windy but not not inadvisable weather conditions. She overbalanced while trying to free her punting pole from a tangle of weeds. Two small boy raised the alarm that a woman was in the water and trying to swim but the men who rushed to her aid could not find Irene. Her body was later recovered.

She was a musical woman as well as an active one training the choir of St Peter's Catholic church in Marlow and participating in charity concerts.

The same year Irene died Kenton House was put up for sale following the death of Eleanor Wright, widow of Frederick. The property was then worth £60 a year rent. Whoever bought the house, Major Francis Fowler's tenancy was unaffected. He seems to have been away from home in 1911 as on the census that year the Eddowes family occupied Kenton House.

He was back in residence in 1913 however when the house was again put up for sale. By then his yearly rent had soared to £85 which was pretty pricey. According to The Peerage website Gertrude Fowler died in Florence Italy in 1913.

To find more content on the historic residents of Victoria Road or Glade Road see this index.

All mentions of someone on this blog can be found under the Person Index.

Sources Included:

Kellys Post Office Directory for Bucks 1908. Kelly's Directories Limited.

GRO death registrations.

South Bucks Standard 14th July 1905, 4th September 1908 and 9th October 1908. British Library Archives, via the BNA.

https://thepeerage.com/p38900.htm#i388995

The Smiths and Gammons Of Duchess Place

Duchess Place in Marlow consisted of a shop on the corner of Victoria Road and Dedmere Road plus 9 cottages and (in 1896 a "studio") adjoining that could be accessed from both streets. The buildings exist still but Duchess Place is no longer a separate street address.

George Gammon was a carter for a flour mill. As such in 1905 he was fined for driving his cart after sunset without having a light. He grew up in Hambledon. Before coming to Marlow he had been a baker. His wife Sarah had a laundry business at home of which George was also involved in the management of. They lived in Duchess Place from 1897 until circa 1901 when they moved to nearby Station Rise. By 1907 George was again calling himself a baker and but must have still considered himself a partner in his wife's laundry business as in that year George accused his employee Elizabeth Smith of stealing a child's dress which he had put in a parcel and asked her to send to Shepherds Bush from the post office. This will have been clean laundry returned to a customer. Good laundresses were seen as gold dust and households were happy to send important laundry miles to have it carefully done.

Elizabeth sold or gifted, it was unclear, the dress to Amelia White to whom she also sold some lace and a petticoat. In the same court Elizabeth stood accused of stealing a pig's head from a High Street shop. She pleaded in her defence a sincere desire to act honorably but admitted that she could not stop herself taking things. 

This wasn't the first time that the Gammons had accused an employee of stealing from them. Two years previously Sarah's charge against Hetty Bitmead for allegedly taking an apron from them was dismissed from lack of evidence. They certainly were robbed of a shirt front and collar on another occasion at Duchess Place.

Elizabeth Smith was sentenced to a month's hard labour which is a pretty light sentence given that she had 4 previous convictions for theft. Elizabeth was 31 years old and had lived with her father William at number six Duchess Place for at least 16 years. Relations were clearly sometimes strained between the two as in 1899 William took out an ad in the South Bucks Standard warning shopkeepers and others that he would no longer honour any debts which she contracted. It was probably already just the two of them left at home. Elizabeth's mother Ann AKA Annie had died at Duchess Place in 1894 aged only 51 and her brothers had certainly left home by the time of the 1901 census.

It was four weeks after that their next door neighbour at number seven, Mrs Gammon, advertised for a good laundress to live in with them. I had wondered if that ad just might have what provoked the financially pressed Elizabeth Smith to begin her employment with the Gammons but no, Elizabeth was a needlewoman not a laundress and still living with her widowed father in 1901. William was then a rag beater at the paper mills down by river but earlier was described as an engineer at the mills . By 1911 he and his daughter had moved to South Place in Marlow. There was a 2 year old boy William in the household listed as William's grandson. There is a fair chance that this is an illegitimate child for Elizabeth though he could also be the son of one of her brothers, William or Augustus. William her brother served as a soldier.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day. 

To see what else we have on Duchess Place or surrounding addresses in old Marlow see this index.

To find all mentions of someone on this blog see the A-Z Person Index.

See:

South Bucks Standard 2nd June 1899 and 25th October 1907.

Census 1891 and 1901. 

G.R.O death registrations.

Marlow's Chair Makers - Buckinghamshire Chair Co. *UPDATED Nov 2024*

 High Wycombe near Marlow is justly famous for it's chair making. But Marlow also had a chair making factory for 40 years and the employment it offered provided the reason for many families move to Marlow so it deserves a post of its own. 

Marlow's business was called the Buckinghamshire Chair Co Ltd, and many Marlow people were involved in it in one way or another - as workers, managers, shareholders and directors. Initially based in the riverside building usually referred to as the Tithe Barn by the bridge, then in St. Peters Street, it finished up off Victoria Rd with an entrance in Dedmere Rd (after 1907).

But back to the beginning. The year 1872 was a difficult year in the chair industry in nearby Wycombe. There was a bitter dispute about wages and employment conditions ongoing with strikes and lockouts featuring. A trade union was formed and it negotiated the pay settlement. In this environment, a group of investors in Marlow decided to set up a chair making concern here. This was not an uncontentious decision to all. Many thought the Marlow company was exploiting the labour dispute to gain contracts and skilled workers "idle" in Wycombe. Others thought a rival employer would encourage competitive wages, although considering the number of furniture factories already existing in Wycombe, this seems optimistic. The Marlow manufactory was opened in 1872 and it specialised in Windsor backed and rush seated chairs, although it did make many others as well as other furniture. The advertisements for workers follows convention and asks at first for men to complete particular tasks such as turning the legs or finishing the seats. In the early years some of these men may have been outworkers, completing their work at home from materials supplied to them, but later it is clear the chairs were both made and assembled in the workshops of the Chair Co. The works were steam powered by then, which needed more room. The Victoria Rd site was also advertised as a steam saw mill, a role it would still fulfill under different owners after the demise of the Chair Co.

Chair seat caning is associated with a role that women workers often filled elsewhere, at least earlier on. However the frequent adverts for workers to complete this task in Marlow always say it is suitable for "steady" men.  Perhaps because the ads often also say that they wanted the workers to ideally perform other roles at the works. These "extra" duties may have been regarded as more suitable for male staff at the time. I do have reports of some women working in the workshop however. And in 1912 the chair co was fined under the Factory Act for employing youths under 18 for longer than permitted hours. They plead a misunderstanding of the rules. 

Troubled Beginnings

The start of the company was a little shaky. Many local people bought shares and many expressed hope the company would bring prosperity from a new direction into Marlow. But some also expressed doubts the company would thrive in such competitive conditions, and some also said Marlow did not "want" chair makers. Their reasons are not usually elaborated on but chair making men were sometimes blamed for all kinds of bad behaviour or disorder - perhaps because they were often politically active - for example the Marlow election riots of 1880 were said to be largely the work of Wycombe chair makers at the time. 

Rumours about the financial health of the company dogged it's first few months. After less than a year 4 of the directors resigned without warning or explanation - James Morgan, Reuben Nereus Smith, Lawrence Smith and James Roberts. Some sections of the press seem to take this personally and heap insults on the four for committing an act of cowardice, and endangering the companies future without good reason. ("Cave in at the slightest approach of danger...feint of heart...deserted their post...ill-considered in the extreme" etc etc.) They said such men were not wanted in business. However at the meeting objections to the resignations were only voiced by one shareholder who said that the directors had, by attaching their respectable names to the business, induced people to buy shares in a company they had no real confidence in. It was suggested the other shareholders were philosophical as they had had a chance to examine the books and were satisfied enough with the balance sheet. Later the directors would be elected and retire by rotation. It should also be said that the resigning directors did not sell their shares either and the Smiths continued to be closely involved, acting as managing directors again later.   

The first manager, Mr Hughes came from North's chair manufactory in West Wycombe where he had been 20 years. 

At the Tithe Barn

The very first workshop for the chair co was adapted in September 1872 from what was almost always referred to at the time as the Tithe Barn, on the bank of the Thames, immediately next to the suspension bridge. An ancient building, it was nevertheless considered ideal for conversion into a workshop, polishing shop and stove room. To admit light, the old bricked up windows were opened up. Fifteen men were reported to be working on fitting the equipment and benches there in that September. It was intended as a temporary solution, until more spacious facilities were adapted and fitted out in St Peters Street. (The former Gibbons Brewery site, purchased 1873, possibly also including the barn behind the Two Brewers.) However it looks as though the company continued to use the barn in some capacity until close to it's sad demolition in 1877.  

Chairs for the railways

But despite their inauspicious beginning, the company thrived. In 1874, they were described as making solid progress. In the previous 12 months they had sold £4000 worth of goods and were receiving orders exceeding their capacity to supply them. By 1875 they employed 60 men. In that year these workers, accompanied by their "wives and sweethearts" had a days summer holiday.* A number of horse drawn vehicles pulled up outside the St Peters Street workshops and conveyed the crowd to number of attractions including the ever popular Burnham Beeches and the town of Windsor. The shareholders received comfortable dividends. In 1879 the fact they could get a dividend despite a general commercial depression was credited to careful management and a desire not to over reach themselves ambition wise. The Chair Co was "helping to sustain in some way the prosperity of the town" said the Bucks Herald. 

The chairs were available to buy all over the South East for example at Perrin's in Hastings. The Bucks Chair Co employed travelling salesman to drum up trade orders, from furniture retailers and commercial organizations. Some of these salesman started out as chair makers themselves and were promoted during their employment at the company, for example William Tanner. One of their biggest contracts was to supply chairs for all stations and offices over the First Great Western network, from 1892. They were already supplying chairs to the London and North Western and London and South Western railways. The timber was local, and a number of Marlow landowners sold wood to the factory. 

The Chair Co maintained a cricket team that mostly played against other chair makers such as Glenister's of Wycombe and Cottons of Lane End, or other large works teams such as one from the Brewery in Marlow. But the first match of the season was always the married v single match involving employees all from the Buckinghamshire Chair Co. 

In the 1890s and early 1900s things still looked rosy at least from the outside. The South Bucks Standard tourist guide to Marlow of 1891 even recommended the factory as a worthy local sight if you had half hour to spare - although how welcoming the poor workers would have been had too many visitors taking up this suggestion remains to be seen! The company invested in new steam powered machinery for the Victoria Road site although not all of it was especially popular with the neighbours. In the summer of 1910 the residents of the Glade Road area complained about the loudness and frequency of the steam whistle. The company promised to try and use it a little less.

Filthy Conditions

 A large outlay on machinery did not leave the company perhaps with much funds  for routine maintenance. Even so, the factory was increasingly poorly looked after as time went on. In 1898 reports came to the attention of the local sanitary and building inspectors that the works buildings were in an extremely poor condition. The Inspector of Factories had visited and was shocked by the dilapidated state of some of them. A visit by the council team including the Medical Officer Dr Dickson confirmed this. They concluded that the men working in framing shop no 2 were working in a building that was in a very dangerous condition. Furthermore some of the other buildings were cobbled together and "rudely constructed" with windows that could not be opened for ventilation - although the large number of broken panes probably helped things! The privvy (toilet) was in a "ruinous" and filthy state. The premises as a whole were crowded with rubbish and all the workshops needed whitewashing inside to bring them up to a basically clean and sanitary condition. The factory had no water supply at all which has a serious effect on the ability to keep it clean. Orders were made for repairs, cleaning and whitewashing to be carried out. Perhaps most happily for the men, the toilets were to be rebuilt. 

Ominous signs

In February 1912 the company issued a circular informing their "friends in the trade" that the they were suffering from an increase in costs in every direction, and a higher price for materials in particular. So they would be compelled to increase all prices by 5% from March 1st. Some people praised this action, and hoped some consent would be reached with Wycombe chair makers to raise their prices by a similar amount. It was thought that undercutting each other was endangering commercial viability and preventing any rise in wages for the workers. 

But it was not to be. By September 1912 the company was in liquidation. The freehold of the site including the "modern machinery", all fittings and stock in trade was offered up for sale. There were no takers for the whole concern so in October the freehold was offered separately and in late November the stock including half finished chairs, tables and music stands were auctioned off on the premises. 

Fire! 

 The cleared out site suffered a significant fire a fortnight later. The fact the buildings suffered huge damage at a time they were still insured by the company aroused gossip but no cause for the blaze could be established. The fire started in the deserted site in the early hours of the morning. It began in a series of workshops, mostly made of wood, that ran in a block from the Victoria Road entrance to the engine and boiler house. It took hold quickly and the fire could be seen from a considerable distance. A crowd gathered despite the early hour. The Fire Brigade under Capt H J Smith arrived to find flames already leaping the gap between the the burning block and the next outbuilding. More worrying still, cottages in Duchess Place and Victoria Road were considered to be in danger and the householders began removing furniture from their homes. But the location of hydrants both in Victoria and Dedmere Roads meant a plentiful supply of water and thankfully the high wind of the night before dropped. So the significant damage was limited to the buildings in which the fire had started. Speculation that a spark from an engine at the nearby rail station was the source of ignition was  immediately ruled out because of the distance the spark had to travel. Fireman Sidney Chalk was the only man injured, by a fall of burning timber. It seems his injuries were thankfully not serious.  This was not the first fire at the factory - in 1883 a spark believed to be from a nearby pub chimney caused a fire in the St Peters Street site that endangered nearby homes as well but thanks to dedication of staff and fire crew the damage was mitigated and the factory was able to continue.

Notes. 

Some of the known shareholders in 1872 include Charles Carter, J H Bridges, Charles Miller Footitt, "Mr Sellman" and Alfred Ilsley. And in 1895 - George Meakes, A Davis and A Lawrence. It had two trustees when it formed - Col. Thomas Peers Williams and Thomas Owen Wethered MP. 

* Working at the factory was not always a happy time, even when sanitary repairs had been made. A fight broke out between two men in the  storehouse in 1875, and it seems cordial workplace relations could not always be counted upon in general! In above case Isaac Avery was given a reduced fine for what was considered an "aggravated" assault on fellow chair maker Charles Bird who had called him names during a petty row. 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day. 

Related posts:

Lane End chair makers here

Royal furniture makers the Mealings here

Biography of director Reuben Nereus Smith here

And of Marlow Bucks Chair Co foreman Joseph Benning - here

To find every mention of an individual on the blog use the A-Z Person Index in the top drop down menu, and for other posts about Marlow crafts and trades see both the General History option here and the Specific Shops Streets etc menu. 

©Marlow Ancestors. 2022

NB Mike Dewey uses information from this article in the Bucks Free Press with permission. 

Sources include: 

Furniture Gazette 1892

Timber & Plywood Vol 6 1888 (Middlesex Publishing Co)

Kelly's Berks, Bucks and Oxon directory 1883, 1911 (Kellys Directories Ltd) 

Kelly's Directory of Merchants, Manufacturers, and Suppliers 1907 (Kellys Directories Ltd) 

The Directory of Marlow, and Tourist Guide to Marlow & the Thames 1891, South Bucks Standard.  

Berkshire Chronicle 07 Feb 1888

Newspapers from the British Library Archive and accessed via the BNA: South Bucks Standard 4 November 1891,  Bucks Advertiser 30 November 1912, Bexhill on Sea Observer 18 May 1901, Maidenhead Advertiser September 4th 1872, Bucks Herald 1st Feb 1873 4 December 1912

Report by the Inspector of Factories 1898 (HMSO)

Article by Cyril Chalk,  unknown original publication, 1977. 

South Bucks Free Press 2nd February 1912, Wycombe Library. 

Great Marlow in the First World War - 1914

 

AUGUST

3rd - The streets of Marlow are busy as crowds gather to watch the arrival of the advance party of what will be no less than 3,700 men of Berks, Bucks, Oxford and Gloucestershire battalions of the South Western Infantry Brigade (territorials). They will be attending their annual training camp at Bovingdon Green. The arrival of the territorials had been delayed and uncertain, to the consternation of local traders who looked forward to a significant boost to trade whenever soldiers encamped in the area. The Marlow men march straight to camp, others will arrive by train. A band plays music to welcome the arrivals at the station. The site has previously been used for military purposes. For example, in Autumn 1913, the Grenadier Guards had held their annual training camp at Bovingdon Green and Marlow Common. 

 4TH - War on Germany declared. The men encamped at Bovingdon received immediate orders to up sticks and return to their barrack to await further instructions. They leave quickly early the next morning, before most residents are awake.

- Work to commandeer local horses for military service begins, to the annoyance of some. 

- 39 extra special constables are sworn in at a special sitting of the Marlow Petty Sessions. 

- the Marlow War Relief Commitee has first meeting, in the Institute (now the Library) John Langley is elected its head. It has a Recruiting sub committee too. Its purpose is to coordinate with the district and national war relief fund to raise money to deal with cases for relief and other emergencies caused by war. 

- A Belgian flag is flown from the flagpole in the Enclosure (the Causeway)

SEPTEMBER - 

- Armed forces recruitment ad appears in local newspapers and in posters pasted up around the town. 100,000 men are needed, age 19-35, or up to age 45 if an ex soldier or to age 50 if former NCO. Any man wishing to sign up could head to the post office to find details of nearest active recruiting officer or they could head to any military barracks and volunteer in person (The recruiting officer was Col. Sergt. H. Frith of Maisonette, Newtown, Marlow). Anyone under 5ft 6" in height or who didn't meet the minimum chest measurement would have their services declined for now. Frith sends a large contingent of men to Oxford to join the new army almost immediately. Most pass their medical exam. 

- Open air recruitment meeting is held in the Market Square. A very large attendance is reported. Patriotic music is played before and after rousing speeches by among others, Sir George Higginson. He urges women to exhort their menfolk to enlist. (Marlow had had a branch of the National Service League from at least 1910. They campaigned for compulsory military service during peacetime for males, in the Territorials. Woman could also join this league to promote it).

- The sight of a new Army Farman Biplane flying over the town causes "considerable excitement". Even more so when the plane descends and lands in a meadow near the station, in order to complete some minor repairs. During its stay of about an hour, an eager crowd gathers. Dr Dickson hosts the two pilots - Lieutenant Gould and Sergeant Barr from Hendon - to tea before they continue on their way to Brooklands. Before they leave, they make several passes over the town. A few days later, many residents rush outside to see another bi-plane pass over town. 

- Marlow football club suspends playing of matches, some of the team already having enlisted. The other minor Marlow football clubs such as Marlow Wednesday and Marlow United follow suit.

- The parish church announces that until further notice the first verse of the national anthem will be sung immediately before the blessing. 

- The Marlow Urban district council display a "roll of honour" in their offices at 59, High Street. This lists Marlow men on active service, including those who were already serving when war broke out. On September 26, the roll lists 250 names, of whom 100 had enlisted since the war began. The list includes 7 members of the Bowles family.

- The War Relief Committee have a depot in Victoria Road where needlework tasks can be assigned to the woman of Marlow who have already lost their employment as a result of the war - and who are not in reciept of any other aid. The materials produced are to provide hospitals and similar institutions with the items they need. Much of the work will be to make clothing which will be distributed by the Red Cross. They also aim to offer first aid and nursing training.

Applications to Mrs Dickson, The Gables. [Wife of Dr John Dunbar Dickson]

- A Marlow private in the Royal Berks writes home and describes his experience at the Battle of Mons as "too awful to describe". He is injured in the leg. 

- A German Army reservist is reported detained at Marlow. They are subsequently sent to a Military Aliens camp at Newquay. 

OCTOBER

- The bullet extracted from the shoulder of Private H Tubb at the Battle of Aisne is on display in the window of the shop of Walter Davis in the High Street. He is recovering in hospital at Wandsworth.

NOVEMBER

- A Marlow committee organised to support and house Belgian refugees has now recieved 25 Belgian nationals aged from 3 weeks old to a grandmother. They are placed in a house in Glade Road, given over solely to their use as well as in the homes of volunteers. 

- Three members of Marlow fire brigade have passed their Red Cross Ambulance training and fitness assessments and are now serving on the front (Toovey, Faulkner and Clisby).

DECEMBER

- It's confirmed that the first 25 wounded soldiers, all Belgians, have arrived at Bisham Abbey which has been turned into a Red Cross hospital.

- Special prayers said at Christmas services in parish churches. 

Written and researched by Kathryn Day.

For other posts on Marlow in the First World War, see here: 1915 1916 1917 1918

First world war memorial tablet at the Brewery Here

To find an ancestor look at the Person Index option on the drop down menu for all mentions of them on the blog.

To read other posts relating to Marlow's military history or everyday life here in the past, see the post listing here

SOURCES / FOR FURTHER RESEARCH :

Bucks Herald August 15, September 5, 22 & 26 1914, copies held at the British Library Archive accessed online via the BNA November 2020.

Reading Mercury February 14, September 5th and 12th 1914, as above.  

Bucks Herald Oct 10th & November 7 1914 as above.

War Weekly, November 1914

South Bucks Standard - April 15 1910, as above.

© Marlow Ancestors. You are welcome to quote from this research providing you link back here to retain credit to this blog and the the original sources used for research.