48 Bateman Street

48 Bateman Street, Cavendish House

History of 48 Bateman Street

1870

Trinity Hall lease to George Carpenter

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1881 Cavendish House

Isabel Thurlbourn, 40, schoolmistress, b Cambridge

Catherine, sister, 36, schoolmistress, b Cambridge

Sarah Sharpe, boarder, 25, governess, b Beds

Kate Morton, boarder, 20, governess, b Suffolk

Annie Walker, boarder, 17, scholar, b Wickham Market Suffolk

Eugenie Eymad, boarder, 18, governess, b Holland

Anna Ambrose, 17, scholar, b Landbeach

Edith Walker, boarder, 14, b Yorks

Alice Granne, boarder, 15, b Lincs

Gertrude Walker, boarder, 10, b Yorks

Julia King, boarder, 14, b Bottisham

Harriet King, boarder, 12, b Bottisham

Jessie Sinclair, boarder, 12, b Ely

Alice Sinclair, boarder, 11, b Ely

Mary Ambrose, boarder, 14, b Swaffham

Millicent Nix, boarder, 10, b Somersham

Elizabeth Fisher, boarder, 16, b Norfolk

Emily Batterson, boarder, 14, b Impington

Jane Batterson, boarder, 15, b Impington

Sophia Jones, boarder, 14, b Ramsey

Jessie Westley, boarder, 13, b Newmarket

Camilla von Balasy, boarder, 16, b Hungary

Mary Speeding, boarder, 15, b Sunderland

Minnie Darlow, boarder, 17, b Ramsey

Mary Heath, servant, 36, cook, b Weston Colville

Elizabeth Pywell, servant, 27, housemaid, b Whittlesey

George H Marcer, servant, 18, page, b Chatteris

Annie Walker is the subject of an article in the Antiquarian Astronomer, June 2029: Annie Walker (1863-1940): Britain’s second woman professional observing astronomer by Roger Hutchins and Mark Hurn. They note that Annie was the daughter of Ephraim Walker, a miller at Campsey Ashe in Suffolk. Annie was sent aged 10 to the school at Bateman Street. Able t mathematics Annie set herself the goal of the Local Senior mathematics exam. But unable to take this until 1882, in 1879, aged 15, she gained part-time employment  at the Cambridge Observatory. In 1901 Annie was living at the Observatory.

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1901

Helen Campton, 32, headmistress, b Sawston

Florence, sister, 26, teacher, b Sawston

Jane A, cousin, 33, teacher, b Lincs

Hilda M Whitely, boarder, 22, teacher, b Yorks

Elizabeth S Meyer, 18, schoolgirl, b Germany

Mary L Holiday, 16, schoolgirl, b Duxford

Else M A Jones, 14, boarder, schoolgirl, b Cambridge

Marcel F Parker, 15, boarder, schoolgirl, b Yorks

Mandolina Dewhurst, 13, boarder, schoolgirl, b Cambridge

Mabel Jackson, 13, boarder, schoolgirl, b Newmarket

Marguerite C Smith, 10, boarder, schoolgirl, b Cambs

Grace A Howell, 29, cook, b Cambs

Florence D Hall, 23, housemaid, b Cambs

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1911

Winsome Williams, boarder, 14, b London

Marguerite Holmes, boarder, 7, b Ilford

Agnes Janet Martha Learmonth, teacher, 25, b Scotland

Jessie Mary West, teacher, 25, b Essex

Jane Anne Crampton, teacher, 43, b Lincs

Helen Priscilla Crampton, 42, head mistress, b Sawston

Grace Howell, servant, 33, b Sawston

Emma Bareford, servant, 19, b Cambs

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1913 Ladies School

Miss Helen Crampton

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1920 Cambridge Daily News 1.6.20 contains report on infant mortality in the city. This contains mention of the proposed home in Bateman Street. “They hoped very soon to see a home opened in Bateman Street where unmarried mothers might live with their children until they were able to make suitable arrangement.” On 31.5.20 there had been a request for furniture etc. to equip the new home.

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1937 Planning application and plans for 48 Bateman Street

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1938 press cutting referring to Bateman Street Maternity Home

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1946

Amelia Josephine Bloye (Josephine Amelia)

Josephine was born 24.12.1923 and died 25.11.2001. Her mother was Elizabeth Bloye who in 1955  was living at La Hogue Cottages in Chippenham. In 1939 Elizabeth, b 1902 Hackney, was living with her parents at Ten Mile Bank, near Downham Market.

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1956 (Electoral Roll)

Alma Beeton

Jane Kayley

Margaret Poulton

Mary Stubbs

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1957

CS sent this commentary in 2025 based on his mother’s experiences:

[My mother] (born in 1940), and she was from Feltwell in Norfolk, where she lived in a tied cottage … with her parents. My grandfather was an agricultural labourer working for a large landowner. She spoke of the harsh regime at Bateman Street and remembers having to scrub the steps while pregnant with me. In my periodic visits to Cambridge I often walk past the building and see that indeed there are a fair number of steps leading up to the front door. As an unmarried teen mother-to-be in 1957, my guess is that she was dispatched to Cambridge when she became pregnant either on the instruction of my grandmother or by some public authority.

I think also that many girls of this era from the villages surrounding the US air bases at Lakenheath and Mildenhall also fell pregnant from US servicemen who then abandoned them. There must have been many such teenagers from the Fen and Breckland villages who were forced to go to Bateman Street and similar institutions.

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1958 (Electoral Roll)

Marjorie Charles

Pauline Rowney

Barbara Shailes

Mary Stubbs

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1958

Leased to Ely Diocesan Board

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1959 (Electoral Roll)

Barbara Shailes

Mary Stubbs

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1962

Ely Diocesan House (Miss M Stubbs matron)

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1966 (Electoral Roll)

Mary Dawson

Ruth Pegler

Mary Stubbs

Audrey Walker

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1970

Ely Diocesan Home (Miss M Stubbs SRN, SCM matron)

Cambridge Daily New 31/10/70 “City home for unmarried mothers closes”. The report says the home is closing as there is no longer any need for it. It opened after WWI and 2,000 mothers have stayed at the home.