Celebrating British Silent Films from a century ago

The House of Marney (1927)

The House of Marney is a 1927 British silent crime film directed by Cecil Hepworth and starring Alma Taylor, John Longden and James Carew. It is one of the last films ever made by the Hepworth studio before the Great Depression caused it to close.

It was based on a novel by John Goodwin in which an Essex sailor helps a girl save an heir from his crooked uncle.

The Marney family are an ancient Essex family. The surname Marney was first found in Essex where they held a family seat. They were descended from the great and noble Marinni (Mareigni or Mairinni) family of Calvados, in the arrondisement of Bayeux in Normandy where Gwerri de Marinni in 1166 held half a knight's fee at Adam de Port of Mapledurwell. Later on, MARNEY, Sir John (by 1485-1525), of Layer Marney, Essex and London was an MP. There are many successors!

John Goodwin: Author

John Goodwin was the pseudonym of Sydney David Gowing, a local man born around 1878, who lived at several addresses close by including Victory Road. Sidney was a well-known author and wrote under the pseudonyms, John Goodwin, David Goodwin and John Tregilis. Among his writings in the early twentieth century he wrote many tales for the Boys Friend Library, and novels The Spider Woman (1920) and The House of Marney, the latter being the basis for the 1926 British silent crime film of the same name. The House of Marney is an adventure and love story, set on Mersea and in the surrounding area. It must have been written in the 1920s and so Sidney was familiar with Mersea at that time. His books had many publishers and the House of Marney was published by Herbert Jenkins in 1923.

Gowing was clearly a brave man: he served as a Lieutenant in RNVR in both WW1 and WW2 and was awarded the Croix de Guerre in 1919. 

Gowing died at the age of 56 on 07 Mar 1943 after a distinguished naval career as Lieutenant RNVR, Kenya HMS Tana ((shore station for Royal Naval Air Service at Mombasa, Kenya), and is buried in Mombasa (Mbaraki) Cemetery. The circumstances of Sidney's death are not known.

The Film

The film location was in and around the old house in Coast Road, West Mersea, Essex (now New Orleans Apartments). [source: westmersea.org/Mersea-Books-and-Mersea-People]/ It also incorporated Mersea and surrounding area, with barge-yacht WINDFLOWER, barges, and the house at Mersea Holt, Walton Knoll, Isle of Sheppey. 

See the IMDB entry for this film. [Sourced from The British Film Catalogue: Volume 1: Denis Gifford: 3rd Edition]

It is thought that no copies of the film survive. Many of Hepworth's film masters were lost when the studios went bankrupt.

We are researching this obscure title, please get in touch if you have any information, or a transcript of the book. 

Cast

Credits