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Bessie Thurbon with gas lamp, Sturton Street

49 Sturton Street

The History of the Laurie's and the Thurbon's

1881 – 1902

Head of household between 1881 and 1902 is Hannah Lawrie (or Laurie).  In 1881 she is 56 years old and works as a laundress.  She was born in Cambridge and is the sister of William Lawrie who lives next door at number 47.

Hannah is living with her niece, Hannah Isabella Lawrie, in 1881.  The younger Hannah is 25 and working with her aunt as a laundry maid.  She was born in Oundle, Northamptonshire.

By 1891 Hannah has been joined by her sister, Jane Bennett.  Jane is 70 and a widow.  Her daughter, Elizabeth, is with her.  Elizabeth is 43 and a domestic housekeeper.  She was born in Sheffield.

Jane died on the 5th of April 1892.

The two Hannah’s are still living here in 1901.  The older Hannah is now 76 years old and has retired from working as a laundress.  The younger Hannah, now 45,  continues to work as a laundress.

Hannah died in 1901 and is buried in Mill Road Cemetery with her mother Sarah and niece Hannah.  The younger Hannah died in 1918.

Cambridge Independent Press 17 April 1903 – “Nos 47 and 49 Sturton Street, with gardens and laundry” are being sold “by the instructions of the executors of the late Miss Laurie”

1908 – 1991

Between 1908 and 1910, an Elizabeth Jakes is registered at this property. In 1911 she is still here and living with her daughter Rose Annie and her family.

The 1911 Census shows William Thomas Houghton Thurbon as head of household.  He is 34 years old and an undertaker’s foreman from Horsleydown in London.  Rose Annie is 31 and was born in Cambridge. The couple have two children, William Thomas Thurbon (7) and Elizabeth Lilian Rose Thurbon (5).

As well as Elizabeth, William’s brother is living with the family.  Frederick  John Harlock Thurbon is 32 and a cab driver.  He was also born in Horsleydown.

“Accident in Emmanuel Street – Frederick Thurbon, a cab driver of 49 Sturton Street, was summoned for not keeping his carriage on the proper side of the road in Emmanuel Street. He pleaded guilty.”  He knocked over a boy pushing a hand-cart who ended up in Addenbrooke’s Hospital as a result of the accident. “A fine of 10s, including costs, was imposed.”

Elizabeth died in January 1922. “She was held in great respect by all who knew her.”

On the 1939 Register, William (coffin maker and finisher) and Rose are living here with just their daughter Elizabeth.

The Thurbon family appear on the Cambridge Electoral Registers for 49 Sturton Street until the records end in 1966, and Elizabeth lived here until her death in 1991.

c1930

Bill Thurbon was Assistant Scout Master and Assistant Rover Scout Leader. He was awarded the Silver Wolf.  He later lived at 47 Cromwell Road.

Sources: 1861, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911 UK Census, Cambridge Scouting records, England & Wales Deaths (1837-2007), Saffron Walden Weekly News (08 April 1892), Cambridge Independent Press (17 April 1903), Cambridge Independent Press (21 December 1906), Saffron Walden Weekly News (27 January 1922), National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations) (1858-1995)

In 1984, Down Your Street, p.82 published an account of a visit to Bessie Thurbon’s house: … one old lady is still living without electricity, a bathroom or hot running water in Sturton Street. Nobody has forced change on her, preferring to leave he in surroundings and conditions which many would find quaint and Dickensian but which have been familiar to her for a lifetime. For Bessie Thurbon, home in Sturton Street is an extension of herself. It is where she was born in 1906 and for years it was the family home. And by the light of the flickering gas lamp – mantles are 80p each and  may last her a year if she is careful -she tells her story. Afterwards we go into the kitchen by torchlight and Miss Thurbon lights another candle. There is only gaslight in her sitting and living room and in one bedroom upstairs. The other rooms and the landing and cellar are unlit. The house, she says, and the adjacent house were built by a Miss Hannah Lawrie as a laundry. Miss Thurbon’s house was the actual laundry and had a 10-gallon copper in the kitchen. “There used to be a big room which ran over my kitchen and the kitchen of the house next door. That was the ironing room. The wide passage between the two houses was the place where the handcart was kept. It was in this cart that the baskets of clothes were brought to the laundry. the women who worked in the laundry used to earn 1s 6d for a day’s work, however, long that might be, together with a glass of beer and a piece of bread and cheese.” The casks of beer were kept in the cellar – which looked very deep by the light of the torch. Miss Lawrie’s brother, William, described in the 1881 street directory as an army pensioner, lived with his sister next door. he had been blinded in combat – which could have been in the Crimean War.

The Thurbon family had moved here from Rivar Place. William Thurbon was a coffin maker who worked for Merry, the undertaker in Abbey Walk. William had been apprenticed to a coffin maker in London at the age of nine; even after he married he continued to work in London, coming to Cambridge on Sundays to visit his wife and family. But after he was taken ill one day on the way to the station, he got a job with Merry in Cambridge.

Bessie Thurbon recalled how she had contracted scarlet fever from the man who used to drive the local fever cart. He worked with her father and used to hang his coat on top of her father’s.. She was kept isolated in her room for 8 weeks and away from school for 4 months.  Her father was a popular local figure; two little evacuee girls once told, “if ever the war is over and we go back to London, we shall want you to make our coffins.” Bessie Thurbon was also famous for her love for cats; she had a cats’ graveyard at the back of her house.

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