The Walter family
Four Stephen Walters are listed in the Book of Reference, and by the 1841 Census there were six living in the village, although two were children.
Stephen Walter Esq. was a significant landowner in Marden. As might be expected, he was very active in village affairs. He served as chairman of the vestry meetings, and in 1839 he was involved in setting up a voluntary rate for assisting large families, who were unable to receive support under the new Poor Law of 1834.
Stephen Walter was the son of Stephen Walter Esq's brother. In the 1841 census he is living next door to the Parsonage with his widowed mother and three sisters. He was one of the beneficiaries of Stephen Walter's will, inheriting £500 and a couple of farms.
Stephen Walter senior and Stephen Walter junior were bricklayers. They built a number of houses in the village at this time. One Stephen Walter, together with Daniel French, a local carpenter brought the old village workhouse into repair in 1838. It was then used as a tenement for the village poor who were not sufficiently destitute to go into the Maidstone Union workhouse.
