13 Ainsworth Street

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Number 13 is one of a terrace of four houses on the west side of Ainsworth Street.

1881 census

Gunn Chaplin, head, 37, carpenter, b. Belchamp St Paul, Essex
Hester Chaplin, wife, 32, b. Wood Ditton, Cambridgeshire
Thomas G Chaplin, son, 8, b. Sudbury, Suffolk

Gunn Chaplin and Hester Gent were married in Wood Ditton on 11 Oct 1871.

The Chaplins probably lived here from 1878. The properties were unnumbered at that time, so although the Electoral Registers show Gunn Chaplin at no. 14 only from 1880 to 1882, the entries for 1878–1879 are probably also for no. 14.

Gunn Chaplin died in Sussex in 1889 and Hester moved back to her parents’ home in Wood Ditton, where her father was a farmer.

1891 census

Josiah Turner, head, 43, tailor, b. Cambridge
Louisa Turner, wife, 43, b. Cambridge
Alice Turner, daughter, 23, domestic servant, b. Cambridge
Harry Turner, son, 17, machine boy, b. Cambridge
Frank Turner, son, 15, tailor’s apprentice, b. Cambridge
Rose Turner, daughter, 9, scholar, b. Cambridge

The Electoral Registers show that Josiah Samuel Turner and his family had been living here since 1888. They previously lived on Custom Street, which is now Vicarage Terrace.

The Cambridge Chronicle and Journal reported the sad death of George E Turner, aged 10 months, on 13 March 1891. The Census was taken on the 5th April, which is why he doesn’t appear.

News reports tells that new residents – the Huntlea family – moved in at the beginning of 1893 (Cambridge Independent Press, 10 Feb 1893):

Martha Huntlea, 33, a married woman of 13 Ainsworth Street, was charged with stealing a wool mattress, of the value of 8s., the property of David Endersby, general store dealer of Sleaford Street, on February 7th.

The report goes on to say that Mr Endersby had seen the accused twice in his shop the day before buying sweets, and had later realised that the mattress was missing from outside his shop.

An intelligent little girl of the age of ten years, named Florence Goody, living at 9 Ainsworth Street, said she saw the prisoner take the mattress from the shop door and take it to her home in Ainsworth Street.

The local policeman saw the mattress in the house, as did Mr Endersby.

Martha pleaded not guilty, claiming she tripped over it in the street, so picked it up and took it home. She said she had only been living in Cambridge a fortnight and had six children. The Bench gave her fourteen days’ imprisonment with hard labour and complimented the little girl on the way she gave evidence.

David Endersby was a grocer at 9 Sleaford Street, the current no. 24.

1901 census

Elijah Cockerton, head, 36, butcher, b. Cambridge
Clara Cockerton, wife, 35, b. Sturmere, Essex
Edith Cockerton, daughter, 11, b. Cambridge
George Cockerton, son, 9, b. Cambridge
Willie Cockerton, son, 7, b. Cambridge
May Cockerton, daughter, 6, b. Cambridge
Ernest Cockerton, son, 4, b. Cambridge
Gerty Cockerton, daughter, 1, b. Cambridge

Elijah Cockerton married Clara (or Clarissa) Pask in 1888 in Risbridge district, on the borders of Suffolk and Essex. Elijah’s father was a greengrocer on Gwydir Street.

The Electoral Register shows Elijah living at 42 Ainsworth Street in 1892, and there are entries from 1893–1898 that say ‘Ainsworth Street’ and don’t give a number until he turns up at no. 13 in 1899.

The records of East Road Girls’ School show that Edith Cockerton was a pupil there in 1900, having transferred from St Matthew’s Infants’ School.

1911 census

Elijah Cockerton, head, 42, butcher, b. Cambridge
Clara Cockerton, wife, 49, b. Cambridge
Edith Cockerton, daughter, 19, jam factory hand, b. Cambridge
George Cockerton, son, 18, butcher, b. Cambridge
William Cockerton, son, 17, plumber, b. Cambridge
Mary Cockerton, daughter, 15, domestic servant, b. Cambridge
Ernest Cockerton, son, 13, b. Cambridge
Gertrude Cockerton, daughter, 11, b. Cambridge
Walter Cockerton, son, 7, b. Cambridge

The Census states that Elijah and Clara had been married for 24 years and had nine children, of which two had died. In 1911, and similarly in 1901, we can assume the younger children were at school, but Elijah hasn’t recorded this information.

George Cockerton married Ada Baker in 1914. They lived at 40 York Street for a while and by 1939 at 17 Sleaford Street with their children. (He is not to be confused with the George Arthur Cockerton who was living at 14 Ainsworth Street!)

William Cockerton is on a list of ‘Second Army Enlistments’ in June 1915, his address given as 13 Ainsworth Street.

Ernest Cockerton joined the Norfolk Regiment in October 1914. His medical records note a few decayed teeth and knock knees. He gave his profession as a mill hand. He transferred to the 9th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles in February 1917. He was discharged as physically unfit on 6 February 1919 after spending 22 days in the 1st Eastern General Hospital, Cambridge, with dyspepsia.

1921 census

Elijah Cockerton, head, 64, butcher, b. Cambridge
Clara Cockerton, wife, 62, home duties, b. Haverhill
May Cockerton, daughter, 25, shop assistant, b. Cambridge
Ernest Cockerton, son, 23, miller, b. Cambridge
Gertrude Lily Cockerton, daughter, 21, jam bottling, b. Cambridge
Walter Cockerton, son, 19, errand boy, b. Cambridge

Elijah Cockerton was working at butchers Doe, Hide & Sons on Cherry Hinton Road, but wrote on the census form that he was ‘out of work’. His daughter May worked as a shop assistant for Mr Elliot’s Grocers Shop at 9 Hooper Street. Ernest worked as miller for Foster Brothers Flour Merchant, Station Road. Gertrude worked as a jam bottler for Chivers & Sons in Histon. Walter worked as an errand boy for Barrett & Co on Peas Hill.

Edith Cockerton, the eldest daughter, had left home, and married baker Percy Oswald Lipscombe in 1922.

William Cockerton spent a few years living with his brother George at 40 Ainsworth Street and married Winifred Mansfield in 1924. He became a painter and house decorator.

May Cockerton married William Collings in 1926. From 1932 until at least 1966, May and William lived at 15 Ainsworth Street.

Ernest Cockerton continued living at no. 13 until he married Edith Aldhouse in 1926. He became a flour packer and the couple lived at 96 Sturton Street.

Gertrude Cockerton married Frederick Thwaites, painter, in 1927.

Between 1929 and 1937 the Electoral Register shows Walter Cockerton living at no. 13 with ‘Clarisse’ Cockerton. i.e. his mother Clara. She died in 1937 aged 74, her name registered as ‘Clarice’.

1939 register

Walter Cockerton, b. 19 May 1903, salesman

Walter lived at no. 13 until 1963.

Sources: UK census records (1881 to 1921), Essex, England, Select Church of England Parish Registers, 1518-1960, England, Select Marriages, 1538–1973, England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915, Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 20 March 1891, Cambridge Independent Press 10 February 1893, National School Admission Registers & Log-Books 1870-1914, Cambridge Independent Press 11 June 1915, 1939 Register, From the Front to the Backs,

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