The Sad Tale of Maria

Debunking a Windsor Myth

Maria Caley was reputed to be the founder of Caleys department store and the power behind its early success. It was said that she was awarded a Royal Warrant, she guided Caleys for over 20 years and never married but was given the title of ‘Mrs’ Caley as a sign of respect.

The truth is very different.

Maria was baptised Mary (The names were interchangeable then) at St Andrew’s Church, Clewer on 2nd April 1797. She was the daughter of William Caley and Elizabeth née Boulton. Her mother died just six months later on 26th October 1797 and was buried at Clewer on 29th October. Her grave, close to the church, commemorates two of her children William and another Mary, who died when they were infants. She was only 34 years old.

We next hear of Maria in October 1813 when an advertisement appeared in the Windsor Express to say that M. Caley and her sister, Mrs Noke, were moving their business from Thames Street to Castle Hill. Miss Caley continued to advertise in the Windsor Express and in February 1819 she was in need of two apprentices.

On 4th April 1820 her brother John married Mary Ann Goodman at Stamford, Lincolnshire, and on 29th April of the same year an advertisement appeared using the title Mrs Caley and with a Royal Warrant as a supplier to ‘Her late Majesty’. This would be Queen Charlotte who died on 17th November 1818. The Royal Warrant had not appeared before, and I venture to suggest that it was awarded to Mary Ann Goodman before she married John Caley, as there was no Royal Warrant in Maria’s 1819 advertisement.

It was John Caley’s name on the advertisement that announced the move on 5th April 1823 to the site where the shop stood for 183 years.

Was Maria pushed out of the firm? We hear no more of her until her marriage to William Goodman at Windsor parish church on 21st March 1826. William Goodman and John Caley’s wife, Mary Ann Goodman were both born in March in Cambridgeshire and were possibly brother and sister.

After their marriage Maria and William went to Louth where their first daughter, Emma was born, but they came back to this area and set up a business very similar to Caleys in High Street, Uxbridge. William was a silk mercer, and Maria continued with the millinery and dressmaking business.

In 1832 two advertisements appeared in the same column of the Windsor Express. One was from Mrs Caley of Windsor, the other was from Mrs Goodman of Uxbridge, but they both offered the same range of goods. It seems that the two families were working together, but it was Mary Ann who was using the Royal Warrant, not Maria.

A year later the Goodman’s premises were burgled. The offenders were arrested and tried at the Old Bailey. The transcript of the trial on 5th September 1833 is on the web and it makes fascinating reading as it lists the goods that were stolen and how much they would have cost. It is possible to tell from the account of the happenings of that morning what the premises were like. Two of the burglars were sentenced to death.

Maria died on 8th July 1834 about a month after giving birth to her only son, and she was buried at Hillingdon on 15th July. The parish register tells us that she was just 38 years old. She left four children. One would have been Emma and the others, who were baptised at St Margaret’s Uxbridge were Sarah Ann (baptised 28th January 1831), Jane (25th November 1832) and William Bellwood who was not baptised until two years after his mother’s death (1st July 1836). William and Maria also had another daughter, Charlotte Mariann who died when she was only 12 days old and was buried at Hillingdon on 20th April 1829.

William and two of the children, Jane and William Bellwood were still living at the Uxbridge premises when the 1861 census was taken. William Snr was 63 years old, Jane was 28 and William Bellwood was 26. William the son was listed as a silk mercer like his father.

Maria’s story is a sad one, but I suppose the saddest thing is that in writing this article I have destroyed her reputation. It was Mary Ann Goodman who was the power behind John Caley and there is a monument to both of them in Windsor Parish Church.

Pamela Marson

This article together with reproductions of the advertisements in the Windsor Express is in Windlesora 24. Order Windlesora 24