William Douglas Marsden … another story from Tony Goulding

Stories originate in disparate ways, my last for this Blog had sat on a “pending” list for several years, this one on the other hand is derived from a very recent post of Andrew Simpson (I8th January 2025). 

The historic envelope, 1940

His piece concerned a letter posted in 1941 from the vicarage in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, to an address in Manchester. The letter was returned to the sender as the Manchester property (viz. 11, St. Mary’s Gate) had been damaged during the Blitz of city of Christmas, 1940.

The addressee on the envelope was Mr. W. D. Marsden and Andrew’s post also revealed that 11, St. Mary’s Gate was at the time of the 1911 census a branch of the Union Bank of Manchester. As I enjoy puzzles, I decided to try to find the connection between a Manchester Bank manager and a Buckinghamshire vicar; hoping it was not just the mundane one involving simply a bank account.

Returned address with the name "Wilfred" on the reverse, 1940

Firstly, I needed to confirm the identity of Mr. Marsden. Fortunately, he appears in Kelly's 1933 Directory of Lancashire, Manchester, Salford & Suburbs. The entry records William Douglas Marsden as the manager of the bank at 11, St. Mary’s Gate also showing his home address as “Baroda”, Riddings Road, Hale, Cheshire. This led me to find him in the 1939 Register and in turn the census of 1921 and other records enabling me to build a picture of his life.

William Douglas was born in Valparaiso, Chile on 17th December 1888. His parents were William Baines Marsden, an architect and surveyor, and his wife Sarah (née Bailey), a colliery proprietor’s daughter. Sometime in his childhood he returned to England as the 1901 census records him, aged 11, living with two maiden aunts Hariett and Sarah Heslam at 59, The Promenade, Southport, Lancashire: the boarding house first opened by William Douglas’s grandfather Thomas Marsden.

The 1911 census shows him, by then a bank clerk still at the same address, as he was when three years later at the outbreak of the First World War he enlisted in the armed services. Initially he joined the army on 31st August 1914 serving as a private in the City Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment, In March 1915 he transferred to Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (R.N.V.R.) in which he served for the next four years; being demobbed finally on 20th April 1919. (1) His ultimate posting was as an assistant paymaster at H.M.S. Tarlair. This was The Hawkcraig Experimental Station at Aberdour, Fife, Scotland a unit set up to develop measures (particularly the use of Hydrophones) to combat Germany’s submarine warfare. 

Building site St Mary's Gate, possible site of Union Bank, undated

It was while at Aberdour that William Douglas married, indeed his first child, Peter Trevitt was born there. In digging up his marriage details I thought I had “hit pay dirt” regarding the sought after connection with the High Wycombe vicarage, however it turned out to be a false trail. 

William Douglas’s spouse, Hilda Cicely Doris (née Woodward) was the daughter of a clergyman Rev. John Edmund Woodward, he was one clergy performing at her wedding on 16th December 1916 at St. Paul’s Church in Birkenhead, The Wirral, Cheshire.

  Unfortunately, further research has found no substantive connection between Rev. Woodward and High Wycombe. There was, however, a family link to H.M.S. Tarlair. One of the bride’s siblings, Atlhelstane Isherwood Woodward, also transferred from the army (in his case The Royal Engineers) to the R.N.V.R. at Aberdour. An additional quirk was that the brothers-in-law shared the same birthday, 17th December albeit Athelstone Isherwood was younger by eight years.

Thwarted in this first angle of enquiry, I approached the problem from the High Wycombe end. Through newspaper excerpts I discovered that the vicar of High Wycombe in 1941 was Rev. Wilfred Laurence Palk Float.

Aberdour Harbour, Fife, Scotland, undated

Rev. Float was born on 11th April 1885 in West Derby, Liverpool, Lancashire. At the young age of three his father died and for a time he lived with his widowed maternal grandmother, Anglesey-born Sarah M. Hughes and her family at 23, Kremlin Road, Bootle, Lancashire as recorded in the census of 1891. By the following census Wilfred Laurence Palk having been reunited with his mother was residing at 20, Upper Northgate Street, Chester, Cheshire. After gaining both an M.A. in Theology and law degree L.L.B from Cambridge University he was ordained in 1909 beginning his ministry at Christ Church in the Gipsy Hill area of South London. Later he was a vicar in North Stainley, North Yorkshire also serving as the Chaplain to the Bishop of Ripon. A brief interlude from parish duties, which saw him lecturing at Ridley Hall, Cambridge and the Exeter Diocesan Training College, was followed by and appointment as the vicar of Holy Trinity, Chesterfield, Derbyshire in December 1922. Just 2 years later he took over the living of All Saints, High Wycombe where he remained for 25 years. Rev. Float remained single until finally marrying, at the age of 77, Nancy Taeretta Taylor in Brighton, Sussex during the September quarter of 1962. He died in Rottingdean, Brighton on 16th October 1983.

Not finding the desired friend or family connection the link being a bank account appears to be the most likely. There are however, two possible alternatives. Rev. Wilfred Laurence Palk Float was both a Rotarian (2) and a brother of The Manchester Unity of Oddfellows Friendly Society. It is quite possible that, being both a prominent citizen and a bank manager William Douglas Marsden was also associated with one or other of these institutions. Maybe someone will be able to provide an answer!

Pictures, St. Mary’s Gate building site (possible site of Union Bank of Manchester) courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass the envelope,  from the collection of David Harrop,  and Aberdour harbour, Fife by Ian Fraser. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.

Notes: -

1) William Douglas’s military documents records show his home address still on the Southport Promenade, however by the 1921 census he had been promoted to bank manager and was living at “Humlia”, 29, School Lane, Bidston, Birkenhead, The Wirral, Cheshire.

2) Rev. Float was indeed a Rotarian and travelled often to the United States as a member of Rotary International.