The Marrisons

Walter Waller Marrison was baptized at All Saint's Church, Harworth, Nottinghamshire on 25 December 1864. He was the fourth of six children born to John Marrison and his wife Ann Highfield. His father was born in 1833 in Sheffield and his mother was born in 1835 in Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, the daughter of Sarah and George Highfield, a labourer. John and Ann had been married at St. Mary's Parish Church, Sheffield, on 25 May 1857. Walter's middle name came from his paternal grandmother, Thirza Waller (1808-1890) who had married George Marrison (1800-1858) around 1830. Walter became a bricklayer by trade like his older brother George and their father and grandfather before them.

Kate Bingham was born in Sheffield on 8 August 1865 and baptised at Sheffield Cathedral on 17 September later the same year. She was the younger of two daughters born to John Bingham, a commercial traveller from Tickhill, Yorkshire and his wife Mary Ann Thickett from Carlton, Nottinghamshire. Kate's parents had been married at St. George's Church, Sheffield on 6 August 1863 but were to die young at their home at 1 Hillsborough Villas, Hillsborough, Mary Ann on 30 November 1872, aged 32, and John on 31 August 1873 aged 36.

Kate Bingham went to live with her paternal grandparents in East Drayton where she was recorded as being an unemployed nursery governess in the 1881 census. Her sister, Annie, went to live with her aunt and uncle, Emma and John Stevenson, and became a junior drapers assistant by the time of the 1881 census.

Walter Waller Marrison (1864-1908) and his wife Kate, nee Bingham (1865-1959)

It was at the Church of St. Peter, East Drayton, that Kate Bingham married Walter Waller Marrison on 20 August 1889. The couple made their home at Low Road, Scrooby, where their first child, John Waller Marrison (known as Jack) was born on 14 June 1890. In the census taken the following year both of Jack's parents were working; his father was a bricklayer's labourer and his mother was a dressmaker. Living with them was Elizabeth Bingham, Kate's maiden aunt, who had been a housekeeper for various farming families in the East Drayton area before coming to support the Marrisons. A second child, Charles Wilfred Marrison (known as Wilfred), was born on 16 November 1892 in Bawtry, Nottinghamshire.

The Marrisons must have moved to Totley Rise a few years later because Jack and Wilfred were both admitted to All Saints School on 26 April 1897; Jack had been previously attended a school in the Retford area but Wilfred had no previously schooling. A third son, Walter Lewis Marrison (known as Lewis) was born in Totley on 10 June 1898.

Inspection Cover, 21-23 Lemont Road

Perhaps the Marrison family moved to our area to take advantage of the opportunities that would have arisen from the surge in house building around the turn of the century through the development of the Totley Brook Estate, the adjacent Bushywood area (briefly known as Totley Bottom) and also at Green Oak. In the 1901 Census, Walter Waller gives his occupation as house builder, and he is known from newspaper advertisements to have built houses on Chatsworth Road and Vernon Road in the early 1900s. The lower part of Lemont Road was built around this time too and an inspection cover survives which bears the inscription "W. W. Marrison, Builder, Totley".

By 1903 Walter Waller's health was deteriorating and evidently he decided to sell the tools and materials of his trade and move away from Totley, as this sales notice testifies.

Builder' Plant Sale Notice, June 1903

Why he changed his mind we do not know but the following year Walter Waller moved into a second, less physically demanding trade. When Leonard Thompson's application for a beer house license for the top shop on Totley Rise (number 71) was refused he moved on to take a pub in Heeley, and the tenancy of the building which was owned by Mappins Masbro' Old Brewery Limited was taken over by Walter Waller Marrison in March 1904.

We are very grateful to the Marrison family for allowing us access to a number of documents that survive from this time including the notice reproduced below announcing the change of proprietorship and a fascinating inventory and valuation of the stock in trade at the time of the change which you are welcome to download and study. A button which allows the inventory to be downloaded as a pdf file can be found at the foot of this page.

An inventory and valuation of the stock transferred can be found at the end of this page.

Walter Waller Marrison's shop, 71 Baslow Road, circa 1906. The Marrisons three sons are pictured: Jack in the doorway, Wilfred sitting on boxes in front of the white awning and Lewis in the sailor suit.

Walter Waller Marrison made an application to the Eckington Petty Sessional Division for a publican's licence on 13 February 1905 but just like his predecessor he was unsuccessful. The Chairman, Mr. J. F. Swallow said that there were already too many licences in Totley and that to have any hope of success an applicant must be prepared to offer the surrender of other licences.

On 12 March 1907 Walter Waller Marrison was selected to fill one of seven vacancies on the Totley Parish Council.

W.W. Marrison here has two trades, shop-keeper and builder, with separate entrances.

The front entrance of number 71 was to the grocery and provisions shop whilst the side entrance, at the top of Back Lane, led to an office where Walter Waller ran his builders business.

However, Walter Waller was not a well man and after a long and painful illness, through which he was attended by Dr. Thorne, he died on 15 August 1908 and was buried at Dore Christ Church four days later. Rev. J. A. Kerfoot, Vicar of St. John's Abbeydale, conducted the service. On 16 September 1908 furniture and effects belonging to Walter Waller were offered for sale together with his horse Charlie and dray. The following April, the tools and materials from Walter Waller's business trade were offered for sale as the family became fully focussed on running the grocery business. As sole executor of her husband's will, Kate Marrison took over the licence to trade in alcoholic drinks and tobacco.

Walter Waller Marrison Dealer's Licence 6 Jul 1908 endorsed by his widow

The picture postcard below, circa 1914, shows the grocery shop after its refurbishment by Mappins Brewery.

Kate Marrison, agent for Mappin's Beers, Spirits and Cigars

Kate Marrison Wines & Spirits Price List 1 Jul 1916 page 1

Kate Marrison Wines & Spirits Price List 1 Jul 1916 page 2

Jack Marrison continued to run the Totley Rise grocers shop until 1934 when it was sold to James Taylor, who earlier had a grocery shop at Green Oak. 

Billy Mather who worked for John Waller (Jack) Marrison in the 1920s.

In her later years Kate Marrison lived in a house on Chatsworth Road. She died on 27 July 1959 at the age of 93 and was buried at Dore Christ Church alongside her late husband.

Marrison Family gravestone, Dore Christ Church