Born: 18 July 1786, died 23 December 1849 aged 63.
Son of: William Marsh (1755-1846) the banker and his first wife Amelia Marsh (nee Cuthbert) (1765?- 5 July 1793), daughter of Arthur Cuthbert of Woodcote Hall, Surrey 
Brother of:
1. Amelia Marsh (1786-1860).
2. George Marsh (1795 - 30 July 1868) of Mossel Bay, Cape of Good Hope.
3. Ann Marsh (1792-?)
4. Sarah Marsh (1793-1793).
Half brother of:
5. Francis Mary Marsh (14 August 1797 - 2 May 1818).
6. William Marsh (1795-10 September 1824).
7. Mary Marsh (1799-1839).  Died 6 March and buried 14 March at St Mary Magdalene, Gillingham, Kent.
8. Georgiana Nelson Marsh (1801- 24 March 1861).
Arthur married: Anne Caldwell (1791-1874) (later Ann Marsh-Caldwell), daughter of James Caldwell (1759-1838) and Elizabeth Caldwell (nee Stamford) (1755-1831).
They had issue:
1. Eliza Louisa Marsh-Caldwell (1818-1913).
2. Frances Mary Crofton (nee Marsh, 1819-1906) who married Maj Gen Richard Henry Crofton RA (1818-1897).
3. Georgina Amelia Marsh-Caldwell (1820-1900).
4. Rosamond Jane Marsh-Caldwell (1823-1911).
5. Arthur Marsh, who died an infant, August 1824.
6. Martin William James Marsh (1825-1846).
7. Lady Mary Emma Heath  (nee Marsh, 1826-1902) who married Admiral Sir Leopold George Heath (1817-1907).
8. Hannah-Adelaide Loring (nee Marsh, 1828-1859) who married Edward Henry Loring (1823?-1879).

Arthur Marsh: An Overview

We know a little of Arthur from the following sources:
1. Diary of Anne Marsh-Caldwell.  This gives a lot of information about Ann's parents, aunts and grandparents and also life at Linley Wood.  It only makes one very small reference to her husband Arthur.
2. The Biography of Harriet Martineau has a small reference to Anne and Arthur.
3. A collection of individual family letters.
4. A collection of legal documents held in the Staffordshire Record Office (4229/1/4) including a full inventory of Eastbury after Arthur's death in 1849.
5. An entry in the list of Cambridge Graduates book "Graduati Cantabrigienses" confirming that Arthur graduated from Cambridge in 1808.
6. Memorial in the graveyard of St Martin's, Talke, Staffordshire.
7. Memorial inside St Mary Magdalene, Gillingham, Kent.
8. We have a copy of his book plate.

Book Plate  of Arthur Cuthbert Marsh

Arthur appears to have started out with everything going for him.  He had rich parents and no doubt a very comfortable lifestyle.  He attended Cambridge University at the same time as James Stamford Caldwell and it would appear that they became acquainted.  They both graduated in 1808.  After University Arthur seems to have worked for his father William Marsh in the family banking firm of Marsh Stacey and Graham.

Some time after leaving Cambridge, Arthur happened to have a chance meeting with James Stamford Caldwell in London and shortly afterwards he took up an invitation to visit the Caldwell family home of Linley Wood, in Staffordshire.  There he met all three of James's unmarried sisters and within a very short time proposed to Anne.

Arthur married Anne Caldwell in 1817 and they had eight children six of whom were daughters.  It would appear that after their marriage they lived at Scotland Yard in London and also had an estate near Hendon . 

In 1824 their lives were shattered when the family bank went bust, 10 September, due to a fraud supposedly carried out by Henry Fauntleroy who was a junior partner.  £350,000 was missing which was at the time a colossal amount of money.  Henry Fauntleroy was arrested.  On the same day Arthur's younger half brother William died, aged about 29, however his death was of natural causes and appears to have been completely unrelated to the fall of the bank.  A few months later Henry Fauntleroy was found guilty of fraud and was executed.  Although Arthur was not a partner in family bank, he still lost most of his money, due to an agreement he had made in 1816 to guarantee a loan of £25,000 from a James Wheeler to Arthur's father William Marsh. 

Arthur had owned an estate at Hendon and this may have been the estate left to him and his father by John Baynard who died 9 July 1792.  Arthur's grandfather George Marsh notes in his diary that:
He [John Baynard] left me, my son and grandsons a freehold estate in land at Collin deep at the Hyde in the parish of Hendon Middlesex, of about 130 acres which cost him in the year 1756 about £4,000, now occupied by a Mr Edward Nicoll at £100 per annum, also a house, barn and a piece of ground at the Hyde which is copyhold, where Mr Nicoll lives, who has a lease (page 174) for 14 years of the whole, from Michaelmas 1700, and for which he also pay £10 more per annum, so that the gross rent is £190 per annum, about land tax of £20.0.4 there remains neat per annum £169.19.0 or £84.19.10 per half year, which I received of him to Michaelmas last.

Arthur lost his Hendon estate and the repercussions of the bank crash continued for the next 10 years.  By the late 1830s Arthur and his wife Anne had moved to Boulogne to keep their living costs to a minimum.  Anne began publishing books to make money but Arthur found it difficult to find useful work.  Arthur did eventually come into an inheritance from Sophia Harding nee Smyth who had died in 1827.  Sophia had been a friend of Arthur's mothers and had married late in life to a John Harding of York Place.  John Harding already had a family before he married Sophia.  After she had died John had attempted to take Sophia's money but in the end the court decided that it was to go to the Marsh family.  In 1838 Anne's father James Caldwell died leaving the bulk of his estate to his son James Stamford Caldwell but also leaving a considerable amount of money to Anne.

In late 1841 Arthur and Anne returned to England and purchased an estate "Eastbury Park" near Watford in Herts.  Life was finally looking up for them.

In 1846 they were devastated when their only surviving son Martin William James Marsh died aged 20.  This must have been a great strain on both Arthur and Anne.  Arthur died three years later in 1849 aged 63 leaving his wife a widow and also leaving his six unmarried daughters.  His estate after payment of debts was valued at approximately £9,000.  Eight years later, in 1857, Eastbury was sold and Anne moved to Deacons in Surrey with her daughters.

If you have any information to add to what is listed please contact me on jj@jjhc.info
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