The People of Linden Villa, Marlow

 Linden Villa alias Linden House was the left hand portion of the left side brick property in this photograph. Now knocked into the home next door. Situated Wycombe Road. It was an 8 room residence. Note: there was also a Linden Villa in Station Road in the late 1800s.

The first certain residents of the house were Harry and Rosa Calcutt and their children who lived there in 1880. Rosa's father was George Cannon the Marlow bookseller/stationer/chemist. Amongst his large property holdings was Linden Villa. He may well have built it. Following his death in 1882 all of his property was sold off. Harry and Rosa had just moved back to Little Marlow village anyway, where Harry farmed at Westhorpe Farm. Rosa however continued to run her father's shop in the High Street as a printers, stationers, circulating library and music sellers [Calcutt and Elgie]. On these premises Rosa had grown up.

Memories of Linden Villa would have had a touch of sadness for them, as it was there that their 4 year old daughter Mabel died in 1880.

Rosa herself had serious health problems for some years and died in 1891 following a bout of influenza and an operation.

By the late 1880s elderly widow Jemima Price, sometimes known by her middle name Susannah was the resident at Linden Villa. She was née Griffiths. Her census entries indicate she was born Sheerness, Kent though as a young woman she lived in Lambeth with her parents and she married her husband John Price (originally of Marlow) in Plumstead Kent in 1842. He is described as a foreman at a "works" on the census and in other sources as a contractor at the Woolwich docks. Yet another source says he ran a barge between London and Marlow. He retired to Marlow to run a pub. Unfortunately I do not yet know which one.

Jemima was without family in Marlow but reports of her death indicate plenty of friends. Suffering from some type of lung or breathing condition which occasioned mustard poultices for her shoulders, she was found unconscious on the floor of Linden Villa by one of those friends Mary White in 1891. Sadly she died without regaining consciousness. Mary White also lived in Wycombe Road.

In the 1910s the house was ran as a boarding house by Emma Smith. Her husband George was a market gardener.

The grave of Rosa Calcutt is shown above. Says died 1891 age 50. Also dedicated to her little girl Mabel Emily. It can be found in All Saints parish churchyard, lying back to back with Rosa's dad's grave. See separate post here for more about George and his business. 

You can find other posts about the history of specific houses, or streets etc in the index here

And to find every mention of an individual or family here see the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu where you will find over 4,300 names. 

©Marlow Ancestors. You may reuse this blog post and / or the image of Linden Villa for family and local history purposes if you credit this blog and link to it so all my sources remain credited for the information they provided. 

Sources:

Great Marlow Parish Registers

GRO death certificate Jemima Price

GRO death Index, online accessed from them November 2020.

Bucks Herald 10th January 1880, copy of paper held by the British Library, accessed online by me November 2020 via the BNA. [Death notice Mabel Calcutt]

Ordnance Survey map Great Marlow 1899.

My transcription of England and Wales census 1841-81 censuses.

To read more about Rosa Cannon's death and her illnesses before it see:

South Bucks Standard 26TH June 1891. British Newspaper Archive in collaboration with the British Library.

The People Of Westhorpe House, Little Marlow

Westhorpe House is a Georgian mansion by Little Marlow. It previously sat in around 100 acres of parkland and was often sold and occupied in conjunction with nearby Westhorpe Farm and Little Marlow Manor. In this post I aim to shine a light on some of the people who made the house their home above or below stairs.

The house was built in the late 1600s by the Chase family.

Field Marshal Sir George Nugent and his wife Maria were perhaps the most prominent residents of the house. George had been a commander in the American Revolutionary War and for five years governor of Jamaica. American-born Maria kept a journal of her time in Jamaica which was published posthumously. This is considered a key text in Jamaican history and is an interesting read. Her attitude to the slaves she encountered was bafflingly contradictory. She was willing to dance with a slave and continually asserted that slaves had souls just like anyone else and so were worth saving in the religious sense. Also while she criticized the slave population for laziness and immorality she thought that the fault for that lay not with them but with the bad example set by their lazy and immoral masters. At the same time she thought most slaves well treated, being willfully oblivious to the fact someone declared a slave [e.g a non person] is by definition being appallingly treated even if no additional suffering is heaped upon them by violence etc. It also stretches credibility when Maria tells us that a boatload of newly arrived slaves which she examined to see if they looked sad and in need of spiritual succour surprised her by actually looking happy and being more interested in her carriage than taking in their new surroundings.

Maria and George left Jamaica in 1806 and were at Westhorpe by 1819. Four years later they threw a party at the house to celebrate the 21st birthday of their son George junior.

Maria was the driving force behind the couple gifting 100 blankets as well as items of warm clothing to the poor of Little Marlow every year. England had seemed particularly cold to her she said after her time abroad in Jamaica, India and the USA.  

Maria became suddenly ill while taking the air in her carriage in 1834 and died shortly afterwards.

At the time of the 1841 census the widowed George lived at Westhorpe with his married daughter Maria [sometimes given as Mary] and her husband Rice Richard Clayton AKA Richard Clayton for company, not to mention a whole pack of servants.

George died in 1849 aged 91 and was buried at Little Marlow. Following his death the contents of the house were sold including a large library of quality books and a cellar full of expensive wines. 

Maria's sudden demise was not the only unexpected death at Westhorpe. In 1859 occupier Sir Arthur Buller's butler William Forward committed suicide by shooting himself in the face in the cellar of the house. He had been complaining of ill health and acting in a subdued manner. The jury at the inquest [which took place at the house!] thought that his long time separation from his wife Sarah was a key factor in his low spirits. It seems that this marriage was not known of by his fellow workers. Only when going through his personal papers did they discover evidence of it. 

Arthur Buller was born in India in 1808 and worked for the British state there, in Sri Lanka and in Canada before moving back to England, his family's ancestral home.

It is not certain how long Arthur had been at Westhorpe when his butler died. Certainly not quite as far back as the time of the 1851 census when Lt Edward and Eliza Simeon lived there, but probably soon afterwards. Edward and Eliza had moved in in 1849 after George Nugent's death. With them in 1851 were 10 servants including two footmen MJ Rogers and Phillip Eaton. One of the female servants F Hinzel had come all the way from Switzerland. 

Both Edward and Eliza were the  survivor's of their previous marriages. Her parents resided at Leeds Castle, Kent. His was a Berkshire and Oxfordshire family.

A few months after the census Edward died and was buried in Reading. It is likely that Arthur Buller moved into Westhorpe soon afterwards.

He moved to London eventually and the house was sold in 1859 to George Jackson Esquire. George put the house up to let in 1862 for a minimum period of 7 years but perhaps there were no takers as he apparently continued to live at Westhorpe until his death in 1896. He had previously resided at Little Marlow Manor. 

The 1863 property to let adverts say that the house and gardens had both recently been overhauled. The house interior, prospective tenants were reassured, was decorated with "taste and simple elegance". Outside were the luxuries of hot houses, melon pits and  an expanse of ornamental water not to mention a trendy rock garden [The gardener from at least 1869 to at least 1890 was George Davis].

During George Jackson's time at Westhorpe there was another sudden death in the house- an unnamed nursery maid aged just 22 whose heart gave out as she changed her clothes after coming back from a walk with her charges.

The 1861 census shows George a widower with 11 children from just a year old up to 19 years old. 

One of those children Felix, away working at a brewery in Burton Upon Trent when in his 20s, fell into some machinery and was killed instantly.

Keeping the Jackson family going in 1861 was a group of 10 live in servants. 

By 1871 with the number of children at home reduced, only 7 servants were kept.

The 1871 cook Ann Chaplin had had an impressive rise from being the 16 year old sole servant in a London household on the 1861 census, to the cook in the large household at Westhorpe in 1871. She was the daughter of James and Elizabeth Chaplin and was born circa 1840 in Easthampstead Berkshire. I was not able to find her in 1881. The cook at Westhorpe then was Fanny Gilbert, and Eliza Humphrey in 1891.

1871 footman Enoch Watts, born circa 1827 had risen to butler by 1881. Enoch was a married man whose wife Theresa and family did not live with him at Westhorpe though, they were staying in the village of Little Marlow.  This was quite an unusual situation for a butler who tended to be unmarried or married to the cook/ housekeeper of the same household. He continued to live in Little Marlow after his retirement with his married daughter Sarah Piggott. Theresa died 1881. She worked as a laundress, as did Sarah before marriage. (To see the grave of Enoch and Theresa see here)

Westhorpe House was sold in 1896 following George Jackson's death. He left an estate worth over £100,000.  A Mr Gordon was the resident in 1899.

The estate was again sold in 1917.

The 1917 sale guide said that the house had 19 bed and dressing rooms, 2 bathrooms, a billiards room and library amongst other things. In a sign of changing times some of the stabling had given way to motor garages.

Our blog primarily deals with Marlow people pre 1920s so with that I will bid farewell to this handsome house.

For more on Marlow's links to both slavery and its abolition see here . More Little Marlow content can be found listed under Other Places on the menu. All mentions of an individual on the blog can be found on the Person Index.

To find posts about everyday life in old Marlow, see the listing here

Sources:

Reading Mercury 31st December 1849 [suicide], 18th April 1863 [nursery maid death] and 19th August 1882 [Felix Jackson death]. Bucks Herald 17th May 1862 [property description] Copies at the British Library accessed via the BNA October 2020.

Little Marlow Parish Registers.

1841, 61, 71 and 91 censuses transcribed from microfilm by Jane Pullinger. 1851 and 1881 census my own transcription from microfilm.

Wikipedia articles on Sir George Nugent, Sir Arthur Buller and Sir John Simeon [father of Edward] all accessed October 13th-15th 2020.

Lady Nugent's Journal, reprinted 1907 by the Institute of Jamaica. Can be purchased on Amazon if you want to read it.

Auction sale guide, 1917. Loose. Poor condition. Partial.

GRO Death Index online. Accessed February 2021.

Researched and written by Charlotte Day.

©Marlow Ancestors. If reusing this research (which you are very welcome to do for family or local history purposes) please give credit to this blog and link here.

Harry and Mary Calcutt of Westhorpe

 Henry or "Harry" Calcutt was originally of North Leigh in Oxfordshire but had moved to Little Marlow by the year 1833 when he married Mary Bailiss, daughter of James Bailiss the baker. James was formerly of Hailey Oxfordshire but by then of Witney. The marriage took place in Witney. Harry may well have been already at Westhorpe Farm Little Marlow then. He was certainly the farmer there by 1838 when he was 37 years old.

The focus was on dairy at Westhorpe but commercial crops of oat and barley straw and turnips were also grown by Harry and chickens kept for eggs. Probably their were other arable crops too as in 1844 the Reading Mercury reported a ploughing match and concluded that Harry's ploughman was the best of what was a very superior bunch of competitors.

In 1851 the land Harry farmed consisted of 386 acres on which 21 labourers were employed. Westhorpe Farm was only 341 acres so he was also in possession of a bit of land in addition to the main farm. In 1861 Harry was farming 367 acres and employed 15 men and 6 boys. The rent for Westhorpe was £500 a year in 1860.

Traditionally poultry on farms were the work and business of female members of the family. When employee William Smith was jailed for embezzlement by not handing over money a Mrs Mudie had paid for eggs and milk from Westhorpe it was Mary Calcutt that was called to give evidence that she had not received the money rather than her husband which shows you that she was actively involved in the business of the farm. 

Theft from all farms was a major problem in Victorian England. Little Marlow was more affected than Great Marlow in this respect. William Munday received a year in jail for stealing 4 fowls from Westhorpe in 1851, it not being his first offence. Other fowls, wood and turnip greens disappeared from the farm at other times. Harry was clearly a kind man and avoided making a prosecution when he could, refusing to appear in court when Susan Moore stole wood from him in 1847 and saying his employee Benjamin Anthony must have been mistaken when he took more straw than he was meant to and delivered it to someone who had not paid Harry for it. The implication being he was selling Harry's straw himself. Note that with constables on routine patrol daily and them being keen to interrogate any poor looking person carrying anything that might have been stolen a lot of cases went to the court because the constable had discovered a theft had taken place before the victim even knew it happened. So without actually making a complaint of theft Harry could find himself asked to give evidence in a case he would rather not pursue at all or would rather settle himself.

His role of Overseer of the poor in Little Marlow perhaps gave him more perspective on how desperate some people could be when they turned to theft.

Harry himself found himself on the wrong side of the law in 1876 when he was accused of selling adulterated i.e watered down milk (21 per cent water!) following routine testing by the police. The bench dismissed the charge on a technicality as Harry was the one charged with selling the milk but it was taken from the cows, transported and sold by Harry's milkman not by Harry himself. It does not seem that the police resubmitted the case with the milkman in the dock instead.

Harry and Mary's son Harry junior played cricket for Little Marlow teams many times. This interest in the sport may have come from dad as Harry allowed a meadow he rented in Spade Oak to be used for matches several times. 

Harry died at the farm in 1878, Mary in 1881.  

After Mary's death Harry's property in Witney (which I guess Mary was receiving the rental income from in her lifetime) was sold off. It consisted of a house come shop with a 3 storey warehouse attached in Corn Street, the 5 bedroom house come shop next door also with a three storey warehouse, 5 cottages on the other side of Corn Street meadow in Witney, 3 cottages in Meeting House Lane in Witney, a small house, meadow, field and cottage in Hailey Oxfordshire and 3 acres of land in North Leigh. One of the Corn Street premises was the former bakery premises of Mary's father James Bailiss who died in 1844. Another was a butcher's shop. The piece of land in North Leigh was probably the land left to Harry in the 1844 will of his father Robert, a farmer. Some of the other property in the sale also seems to have hereditary Calcutt property. As this is "Marlow Ancestors" specifically I haven't delved deeper into this.

Westhorpe Farm was taken over by son Harry. He and his wife Rosa will feature more fully on the blog in future. The eldest son in the family James Bailiss Calcutt died young in 1849.

A photo of Harry and Mary's gravestone is on the blog.

To find other biographies of couples and families try the Biographies of Families option on the menu. There is also a Person Index for every mention of an individual on this blog. See the Other Places menu option for more Little Marlow content.

Sources Include:

The Solicitors Journal and Reporter July 1860.

Banbury Guardian 20th March 1851. Reading Mercury 14th August 1869. Both British Library Archives.

Little Marlow censuses transcribed by me. Census information always remains Crown copyright.

Gravestone, Little Marlow.

Property records including at Oxfordshire History Centre which also had Robert Calcutt's will. I did not keep a transcription of this will however Oxfordshire Family History Society has a transcription on their website if this is your family and you want to read it. 

Calcutt Grave, Little Marlow

 This grave is at St John the Baptist, Little Marlow. 

Harry Calcutt Died March 5th 1878 age 81. 

And wife Mary

Born September 6 1810

Died at Westhorpe Farm, April 8th 1881 age 70 years. 

Note: Harry's full name was Henry. 

*I am preparing a biographical post on Harry and Mary which will come online in the next few weeks*

For more grave photos from Little Marlow, Great Marlow and Hurley see the Graves option on the menu. For every mention of a person on this blog use the Person Index. General Little Marlow content can be found listed under Other Places on the menu.

©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use this content for family and local history purposes if you credit this blog.