Tower and Town, August 2022 (view the full edition)ChangesThe Marlborough of my childhood was a very different place from today and not just because the war dominated my early years. We children were allowed a lot of freedom and from the second year at St Mary's primary school (then in Herd Street) it was reckoned that boys made their own way to school across town. We lived in George Lane and used to play along the length of what was then more of a "lane," with only an odd couple of houses on the north side. The George Inn (where the Catholic church is now) was derelict and forbidden territory. In the bitter winter of 1946 it was being demolished by Italian POWs and they had built a beautiful snowman which they had placed in the middle of George Lane. The POWs shouted to us not to damage it and this was far from our minds as we were overcome with its beauty. There was very little traffic apart from military convoys (mostly American) and we used to play football on the road. If a rare car came by we stood aside, while an even rarer police car meant we dived behind a hedge. The shops and businesses in the town were mostly locally owned such as: Mundys for shoes; Philips & Dales for ironmongery; F J Chandler for saddlery; Ducks for cycle repairs; Stratton Sons & Mead for grinding and blending coffee and Turners the gunsmiths. Many had workshops behind them. This lack of attached workshops to retail shops is the biggest change in the retail trade from those days. It was not felt that there was much to hold young people in Marlborough when they left school so no change there! The commuting to work that people find normal today would have seemed extraordinary then. The farthest people would consider travelling would have been to Swindon. It is sad that the town has lost community centres like the British Legion Club, the Conservative Club and a couple of the churches. Although Marlborough has never had the sense of community that say Pewsey, Aldbourne, Devizes and Calne had and have, there is a lot going on with music & choral groups, U3A for senior citizens, the History Society, Church groups and a Literary Festival to keep anyone interested and busy.
David Chandler |
Chandler's saddlery (pictured here in what is now the White Horse building in about 1880) was established by Thomas Chandler in about 1860. The 1861 census lists him here with a workshop and three apprentices. Thomas was then in partnership with two of his sons, Albert and Frederick. Albert carried on the business until he retired in 1924.
After Thomas's death in 1885, the two brothers carried on in a partnership until 1887 when Frederick James, the younger brother, set up on his own in the London Road. This photo is from before 1910 and on the left is Frederick Henry Chandler (David's grandfather) with one of his sisters and younger brothers.