If your ancestor left a Victorian will in Marlow between 1828 and 1871 there is a fair chance that Ralph Spicer drew it up or witnessed it. He was a solicitor and attorney who lived and worked on the site of the above property in West Street. The current building is a 1900s replacement. Ralph's home looked much less impressive, reasonably sized but plain.
He was in practice in Marlow by 1826 and in this building by 1833.
In 1828 he was acting for some of those involved in the great hoo ha that was the building of a new bridge in the town. To read about that difficult time see a post on the history of Marlow Bridge here
The year 1828 was also the year that Ralph and his wife Emily had their apparently only child Ralph North Spicer baptised at Marlow. This child when filling in censuses as an adult usually gave his place of birth as Henley which may well be true as place of birth and place of baptism needn't match. Ralph Junior grew up to be a solicitor too.
The year 1828 was also the year that Ralph became a Master Extraordinary in Chancery for Buckinghamshire. What this means is that if anyone involved in a Chancery case who lived in Bucks needed to swear an affidavit then they saw Ralph to get it done. He was only 26 at the time.
He had served his apprenticeship as an articled clerk in the offices of Sweet Stoke and Carr of Basinghall Street, London. He officially became a solicitor in 1824. According to an obituary in the Law Times he had married the daughter of the Stoke in the above law firm. Emily is censused as having been born in Wales so I am not sure about this, I could not find their marriage at my first attempt. In 1831 Emily advertised for a good plain cook for the family.
In 1833 the West Street property consisted of a house, stable, offices, chaise house, yard and garden and was valued at £30 a year.
Six years later Ralph bought a cottage in Cadmore End which was rented out. I do not think he owned his West Street home though I cannot be certain. He later moved premises to the High Street.
Ralph pops up as the defence or prosecution in cases across Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. He was often in London dealing with local bankruptcy or similar troubles. He had a second Buckinghamshire office at Amersham though it seems this was largely staffed by others under his name and supervision.
In 1848 Ralph took a Mr Hayward of Maidenhead to court to retrieve 6 shillings in unpaid legal fees. In 1866 he was chasing £10 from Henry Stroud formerly of the nearby Coach and Horses pub in West Street, who had gone bankrupt [for a bit more about Henry and to see a photo of his premises as they look today see here]. His son Ralph North Spicer was acting for the debtor!
Ralph and Emily seem to have maintained a second home in London with their adult son later in life. This must be why Ralph appears on the 1871 census twice - once in Marlow and once in London. Someone in one of the households made an error! Ralph Junior acted as Ralph Senior's agent in London. Before that Junior lived in Oxford Road Marlow. Like his father he was also an insurance agent.
Ralph Senior died in 1874. A tribute was paid to him during the sitting of the Windsor County Court a few days later. He had endeared himself to all by his gentlemanly and honest conduct it was said. Furthermore he was "well informed upon almost every subject you could converse with him". The Buckinghamshire Advertiser's obituary said Marlow has lost a "genial and kind hearted friend".
The year following Ralph North Spicer took his clerk to court over the alleged theft money from himself and his deceased father.
Ralph Spicer was by descent of the Spicer family of High Wycombe and Glory Mills, Wooburn. Different obituaries give different father names for him- either Ralph or Freeman!
Emily died in 1876.
NB: The property above, home to Ralph has been considerably altered since his day, and now presents a grander appearance than it did then!
Related Posts:
Ralph was a strong liberal supporter and this post details just what the professional and social risk this could be in Marlow at the time: 1847 election riots here
More on occupiers of other West Street properties can be found by looking at the West Street sub section on the menu under the " Specific Shops, Streets...Etc" option.
All mentions of a person on this blog can be found on the Person Index on the top drop down menu.
Sources:
The Law Times Volume 58 published by the Office Of The Law Times 1875. Digitized by Google. Accessed March 2021.
1841 and 1851 censuses my transcription from microfilm, other censuses transcribed by Jane Pullinger.
Slaters Royal National and Commercial Directory 1852. Published by Isaac Slater.
National Archives Discovery Catalogue.
1833 Parochial Assessment. Original paper record held by my family and transcribed by me.
Bucks Advertiser and Aylesbury News 19th Dec 1874. Copy held at the British Library Archive and accessed by me March 2021 via the BNA.
Maidenhead Advertiser 29 December 1874. As above.
Windsor and Eton Express 5th Aug 1845. As above.
Reading Mercury 11th July 1831, as above.
Bucks Herald 1st December 1860, 8th November 1866 and 4th December 1875. As above.
Post researched and written by Charlotte Day.
I have worked out historic occupancy of many buildings in Marlow, sometimes back into the 1700s by cross referencing property transactions, wills, censuses, photographs, historic newspapers and many more sources.
Photographed November 2020.
©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to reuse this image or research for the purpose of family or local history research with credit to this blog. Thanks.
