Lane End Schoolmaster Henry Harman

Henry Harman was the schoolmaster of the school in Lane End, then part of Great Marlow, for over 30 years.

He was born in West Wycombe according to the census (or Lane End or Great Marlow according to his obituary) in 1825. 

His obituary [South Bucks Standard 18th May 1906] states that Henry was a genial, generous man who would willingly give flowers from his beautiful garden to anyone who wanted them if they only asked. It also said that Henry played the cello during church services at Holy Trinity Church, Lane End when younger as well as being in their church choir. The obituary stated that in his church cello playing he was accompanied by his wife playing the harmonium but which wife was meant I am unsure as Henry married 3 times.

The first marriage was to Mary (nee Meakes) who was the Infants schoolmistress at the Lane End school. When the couple retired from there Henry switched to being a dealer in petroleum and benzoline. 

Sadly Mary died in 1874 as the result of a horrific accident in relation to some stored benzoline at their home. Mary found herself engulfed in flames when some of the stored benzoline exploded when she was right by it. What caused the ignition was not discovered. Though neighbours gave the screaming Mary immediate medical assistance she died of her injuries the next day. She left behind a son Henry (also known by his middle name John) aged 14 and daughter Ellen aged 8. 

The next year Henry married at Lane End Jane Rhoda. She was the widow of William Hiatt of Wycombe Marsh.

As some point between 1875 and the 1881 census Henry became an iron founder but continued to deal in flammable oils for many years afterwards. He owned his own property in Lane End by 1891.

Jane Rhoda died in 1896 and Henry married a Harriet. Perhaps their joint love of gardens drew them together as Harriet was herself a prize winning fruit and flower grower at local shows.

He died in 1906. His obituary stated that prior to his death he had been bed bound for 8 months and in poor health for 2 years. I see that he had an allotment however well into old age.

Henry's daughter Ellen (by marriage Butler) grew up to be a schoolteacher herself at Church Stretton.

Written and researched by Charlotte Day. 

See:

Kelly's Post Office Directory 1869.

©Marlow Ancestors. 

South Place, Great Marlow

South Place seems to have been first developed in the 1850s. It was formerly the rick yard for Platt's Farm whose farm house you would have found off Mill Rd a little further towards the river and on the other side of the road. It was purchased by George Cannon in 1839. 

South Place is one of those Marlow Streets that if you lived there your address was likely to be described in a bewildering variety of ways in its early days. If you believe your ancestor lived in South Place watch for them being stated as being in Mill Road/Lane (which is the road that South Place leads off), Strong Beer Acre (a vanished area of Marlow previously adjoining the location of South Place), Mill Lane, Platts Road (alternative early name for parts of Mill Road) or Marlow Fields. Census records usually give South Place correctly but other records are very wayward. By the 1890s you should be alright with little variance of address to confuse things.

The earliest residents of South Place lived on the edge of the then built up area of town. Once the nearby railway station arrived in the early 1870s development of the surrounding area picked up pace. The people of South Place however remained easily able to walk out onto open fields and down to the River Thames. 

Being close to the river could have disadvantages of course - the little street was badly flooded in 1894, 1896,1903,1908 and again in the 1940s.

The Prince Of Wales pub on the corner of South Place and Mill Road was often used by barge men for lodgings. The pub started as a beer house. It was there by 1861, getting a full licence in 1864. For a list of the historic landlords of the Prince Of Wales see this post.

As well as the pub lodgers other residents worked on the Thames. One such example was George Picton who lived in South Place with his wife Ann by 1881. In 1893 George was labouring for the Thames Conservancy when the punt he was using overturned near Oxford, drowning him. It was some time before his body was recovered. Ann's first husband James Rockell also drowned in the river. To help manage financially after the death of her husband she took in lodgers at her South Place home but emotional recovery from her double widowhood proved impossible for Ann. Six years after George's death she slit her throat with a razor that had belonged to him. Her married daughter Jane Cox who also lived in South Place and the local surgeon Francis Culhane tried unsuccessfully to save her life after Jane discovered her dying mother. 

For another sad case of a South Place resident drowning in the Thames see Kathryn's post here. 

Ann was not the only suicide in South Place history- twenty two years earlier resident John Ford, a gardener, hung himself in his bedroom. His wife had left him taking his 4 young children and many of their possessions with her. He had gone to Coventry for a while in an unsuccessful attempt to find them. He was described as very depressed upon his return. He had also been physically ill and was living off money raised by selling what remained of his furniture. His body was discovered by his sister Sarah Sparks who had been keeping an eye on him and trying to lift his spirits.

The cottages in the street were generally very small- two rooms up and two down was the standard. In 1897 two such cottages with each their own wash house, outside toilet and garden were rented out to two different families at a collective rent of 17 shillings a year. Bargain!

Small houses didn't deter larger families from settling there. Francis and Prudence Corby present on the 1861 census had six children aged from one year old Harriet up to 18 year old journeyman plasterer Henry at home. Francis was a journeyman bricklayer. Journeymen were skilled labourers who had finished training in their trade but worked for others rather than on their own account. The family still lived in South Place a decade later.

Thomas and Annie Croxon meanwhile squeezed 8 children into their home at the time of the 1881 census. Thomas then was a servant. Later he is censused as a general labourer and an army pensioner.

The couple were still in South Place in the 1910s.

A new and better well and pump were provided for the residents to share in 1866. Other mod cons like street lighting and a proper paved street took longer to arrive in South Place. The road was labelled unsanitary in 1896 so more improvements were still needed then.

Additional notes:

Francis Corby was the born 1817 son of Ambrose and Sarah Corby. He and Prudence Martin married in West Wycombe in 1838. Before they lived at South Place the couple lived at Dean Street [under its original name Well End, not to be confused with Well End Little Marlow] with Prudence's parents.

Thomas Croxon and Anne "Annie" Edwards married in 1866. Their daughter Alice had an illegitimate baby girl who died soon after her birth in South Place.

More information: 

See the "Specific Shops, Streets Etc" menu here  to look for other Marlow addresses and check the Person Index in the top drop down menu to look for all mentions of any individual here. 

Thousands of people are listed!

Posts about everyday life for your ancestor in old Great Marlow: here

©Marlow Ancestors. .

Photo snapped September 2020 by Kathryn Day. Researched and written by Charlotte Day.

Sources:

Censuses, my transcription from microfilm. Census content always remains Crown Copyright.

Property records 

Pub and beer house research of Kathryn Day.

Maidenhead Advertiser 8th Feb 1893 and South Bucks Standard 6th January 1899, British Library Archives.

"Particulars and Conditions of Sale of a very valuable and highly productive freehold estate called Platts Farm" 1839. 

Will Summary Moses Medwin And Family Notes

 Moses Medwin of Great Marlow. Yeonan. Will proved 1762, written 1760.

Says he in good health, sound mind and memory.

To be decently buried at discretion of his executor.

Nephew Aaron Medwin of Little Marlow sole executor and main legatee.

Inherits all freehold messuages, cottages, land, tenements, woods and woodgrounds with appurtenances in Great Marlow. Also all copyhold messuages, cottages, wood ground and their appurtenances in West Wycombe, Bucks. From these properties he must pay an annuity of  £25 to testator's widow "my loving wife" Mary. Payments to be due quarterly. If any payment is over 40 days late she can enter into the properties until her annuity installment is paid.

Aaron also gets all bonds, debts, securities, mortgages, goods and chattels except those household goods that testator's wife brought into the marriage, which are given to her. To pay funeral expenses and all other legacies.

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Legacies to following nephews and nieces:

Nephew Luke Medwin draper of Marlow £150 and Luke's brother Thomas, broker of Little Marlow £150.

Offspring of brother Thomas Medwin= Elizabeth wife of Henry Lawe of Wooburn, bargeman £100.

Offspring of brother Richard Medwin=  Matthew Medwin of Chepping Wycombe [High Wycombe] carrier £80, Richard Medwin £30, Elizabeth née Medwin wife of William Fields £20.

Offspring of dead sister Ann Childs: William Childs labourer of West Wycombe £20.

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Legacies to people whose relationship to testator is not specified: To Moses and Mary ..?er children of James ..?er £10 each.

******

Witnessed by William Hoare, Henry Newell, William Deeley.

Notes : William Deeley was an attorney.

Possible marriage for Moses and his wife Mary = Moses Midwyn to Mary Fryer both of Hitchenden at Hughenden (not Hitchenden) Bucks in 1726 https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBPRS%2FBUCKINGHAMSHIRE%2FMAR%2F000244079%2F1

More on Aaron and Luke Medwin the nephews of Moses here

Aaron, Thomas and Luke Medwin were sons of Andrew Medwin of Little Marlow. His will is available on the blog here. Andrew was the brother of Moses, and they the sons of Mathias and Mary Medwin of Marlow. The brother of Mathias Medwin was another Moses Medwin of Little Marlow who left his nephews Moses and Andrew Medwin property in his 1701 will. Andrew was also the executor of that will.

To find all mentions of someone on the blog see the A-Z Person Index. Thousands of people are mentioned.

More posts like this are under Will Transcriptions on the menu.

©Marlow Ancestors. Use this transcription summary for family or local history purposes with credit to this blog.