UPDATED BY CHARLOTTE February 2026
The Compleat Angler has gone by many slight name variations and has a historically fluid address. If you are searching for it in records, you may well find it more commonly listed as The Anglers - sometimes with "Inn" or "Hotel" added to end of that but not always. "Correcting" the spelling of Compleat to Complete is also common, and several sources list it as The Jolly Anglers for a brief period. In older records, the location is usually given as Marlow Bridge or Bridge End, or Marlow in general, although it's actually located on the other side of the River Thames from Marlow, in Bisham. Originally ran out of a pair of ramshackle converted cottages whose interiors were destroyed by fire in the 1830s, it's now rebuilt and much enlarged. Said to have existed in the 1650s as an inn of a different name in which Izaak Walton wrote his book The Compleat Angler, thus encouraging a change of name for the inn. Whether that is true I cannot say.
1766 - Mrs Stevens address given as "Marlow Bridge foot".
1798 - "Compleat Angler Marlow" Mr Watkins
1810 "The Angler" Mr Cresswell [William]. Wife Ann does much of day to day running of business. Detailed post about them here including events at Angler during these years! Search the A-Z persons index in the top drop down menu to find more Cre(s)swell related posts including about son William, a colourful miser
1815 - William Creswell
1823 - "The Angler" William Creswell.
1824 - location described as "Bridge End" and "Thameside"
1831 - William Cresswell
1839 - William Cresswell (For other Creswell family premises see The Six Bells, George and Dragon, The Fountain Head and The Swan etc)
1844 - William Creswell "Compleat Anglers Inn"
1847 - As the Jolly Anglers - William Cresswell
1850- Hezekiah Parslow.
1853 - Hezekiah Parslow (Name given as "The Complete Anglers") Previously timber dealer of the High Street. His second wife Mary Ann was the niece of William Creswell above.
1854 - As The Anglers Inn - Hezekiah Parslow (Mr)
1858 - Compleat Anglers Inn.
1863 - Anglers Inn - Mary Ann Parslow (wife of Hezekiah, née Creswell). Biography of her on the blog here.
1871 - Mary Ann Parslow dies age 67. "The Anglers"
1872 - Miss Compere. This was Frances. In any case daughter of Mary Ann Parslow above by her first marriage to Robert Compere.
1875 - Miss Compere (in one source spelled Compeer).
1883- Charles Miller Foottit. Biography of him in this post here.
1884 - Charles M Footttit. His wife Ann was the daughter of Mary Ann Parslow above by her first marriage to Robert Compere and the sister of Miss Compere above. She was also the great niece of William Creswell above.
1886 - Charles M Foottit.
1888 - Charles Miller Footitt qv, then Henry Percy Kilbey. /Kilby.
1889 - Mr Kilby (spelt Kilbey in second source) Came from Cannon Street Hotel. Born Watford 1864.
1890 - H.E Kilbey. Adds an extension at a cost of nearly £2000. This extension housed a luxury billiard room downstairs plus a bar while upstairs were 12 bedrooms with the luxury of each having their own toilet! These rooms had a separate entrance from the other hotel rooms.
1891 - "Anglers Hotel"
1893 - Robert Kilby.
1895 - Anglers Hotel - Mr Kilby, the existing licencee, purchased the hotel from Colonel Wethered. He plans major work to expand accomodation and deal with flooding. Mrs Kilby actively involved in running the hotel.
1900 - Mr R B Kilby
1901 - Robert Kilby b1862 Watford. Wife Laura.
1910 - Robert and Laura Kilby.
1927 - Laura Kilby. Electric lighting and customer garages advertised. Has upwards of 50 bedrooms. Private sitting rooms available.
1934- Mr A.C Burrows.
1963- manager Michael Pitts.
Compiled by Charlotte Day and Kathryn Day.
Related Posts:
A history of the Compleat Angler in the 1900's can be found here
Other posts you may be interested in:
Picnics and punts - summertime in Victorian Marlow here
History of bargeman in Marlow here
Information for other Marlow hotels/inns/pubs can be found under the Pub Related menu here. To find every mention of your ancestor see the A-Z person index in the top drop down menu. More than 4,000 individuals connected to Marlow are listed there as of April 2022. New posts added daily.
Posts related to Bisham: here
Marlow floods a plenty here
Researched and written by Kathryn Day and Charlotte Day.
These landlord posts list only the licence holder. It's clear from original sources that much of the day to day running of an establishment was done by a licence holders wife. When we see evidence of this, we try and add the spouses name. It makes sense when you consider the range of technically secondary occupations the male licencees had. For example, a man working as a carrier whose job takes him away from home 4 days a week can't be serving at a bar at the same time. Where other staff are known they are also included in the listing. These listings focus on pre WW1 info but we sometimes add later information if it ties in with research we are helping with. All spellings are as in original sources, uncorrected.
SOURCES INCLUDE:
1853 Mussons and Cravens Commercial Directory (Compiled 1852)
Pigots Directory 1823, 1831,1844
Fishing, Fish Culture and Aquaria Journal May 1886, Harvard University Archive, digitized by Google and accessed April 2021
Taunt, Henry - A New Map of The Thames from Oxford to London (Taunt, 1872)
Cresswell and Parslow genealogical research by Charlotte Day.
Numerous licence hearing reports, property transaction information and advertising.
Bucks Herald, July 1895, from British Library Archive and accessed via the BNA.
Oxford Journal, 17 May 1766, as above.
Maidenhead Advertiser October 1 1884, August 15 1900, as above
©MarlowAncestors. You are welcome to quote from or use this research for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog and link back here.
