The latest meeting of the Henley Archaeological and Historical Group on 3rd June featured a talk by Heather Adams of the Marlow Museum on the lives of Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Woolstonecraft and their connection with the town of Marlow.
Percy was born in 1792 into a family of the minor nobility. After unhappy schooldays, he went to Oxford University where he became radicalised and was required to leave. When a husband and father, he met and fell in love with Mary Woolstonecraft Godwin, the daughter of the feminist Mary Woolstonecraft. Percy and Mary eloped and travelled across war-torn Europe. They met up with Lord Byron in Switzerland. At this time, Mary became inspired to start writing her famous novel Frankenstein.
Following the suicide of Percy’s wife, he and Mary married and shortly after moved to Marlow. They leased a house, now called Shelley Cottages (pictured), next to Borlase School in West Street. Marlow was where Mary finished her novel and Percy wrote the poem ‘Ozymandias’ on the impermanence of power.
Percy’s health deteriorated and they again left for Europe to seek a better climate. Sadly he drowned during the tour and only Mary returned to England.