150 Sturton Street, Cambridge

The Nightingale Family

During house renovations, the present owners found this thimble in a hole in the wall at the bottom of the stairs. (click to enlarge)

1881

Charles Bewley, 45, Great Eastern Railway signalman, b. Chelmsford, Essex

Tabitha Bewley, 40, b. Burwell

Edward C Bewley, 9, Scholar, b. Cambridge

Harry G Bewley, 7, Scholar, b. Cambridge

Carrie L Bewley, 4, Scholar, b. Cambridge

Sidney F S Bewley, 1, b. Cambridge

1891 – 1939

The Nightingale family lived at 150 Sturton Street from 1891 to 1939.

Head of Household on the 1891 Census is Martha Nightingale, a 55-year-old widow who was born in Swaffham.  Prior to living on Sturton Street, the family can be found living at 2 Norfolk Street.  Martha is shown as a widow from 1871.  She married Edward Nightingale towards the end of 1864.

Martha’s two children are Edward Walter, who was born on November 4th 1865 and Jane, who was born in 1868.  Both children were born in Lambeth, which was then in Surrey.  In 1891 Martha is working as a laundress, Edward is a commission agent and Jane is a dressmaker.  The family has a visitor who is also listed on the Census, 28-year-old Albert Greengrass.  Albert is a watchmaker from Ipswich.

Martha died in 1900, and the 1901 census shows her two children continuing to live at number 150.  Edward is now an insurance agent.

The 1911 Census shows that Edward has now been married for eight years to Susanna Manser, they have no children.  Susanna was born on 11th August 1865 in Moulton, Norfolk.  It is uncertain what happened to Jane as she cannot be located on the 1911 census.  There is an entry in a Lunacy Patient’s Admission Register for a Jane Nightingale in January 1904, but she is discharged as “not improved” in May 1904.  A Jane Nightingale married in the summer of 1904 in Chesterton, but she can’t be found on the 1911 census either.

Edward and Susanna are on the 1939 Register, still living at 150 Sturton Street.  Susanna died in 1943 and Edward in 1944.

Sources – 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911 UK Census, 1939 register, Lunacy Patients Admission Registers (1846-1912), England & Wales Marriages (1837-2005),