52 Ainsworth Street

52 Ainsworth Street

Number 52 is one of a terrace of six houses, called Orleans Terrace, on the east side of Ainsworth Street, built in 1877.

1881 census

Harriet Dare, wife, 49, b. Fulbourne, Cambridgeshire
Naomi Dare, daughter, 14, milliner, b. Cambridge

The Dare family lived at no. 52 between 1881 and 1901.  Husband George was away from home on the night of the 1881 census.

1891 census

George Dare, head, 56, bootmaker, b. Elmdon, Essex
Harriett Dare, wife, 57, b. Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire

1901 census

Harriet Dare, wife, 67, b. Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire

George Dare was visiting a household in Elsworth on census night.

The Dares’ daughter Naomi had married poulterer Wiliam Edward Munns in 1888, and they moved to West Kensington.  In April 1929, the West London Observer reports that Naomi, now aged 62, ‘slipped on a piece of fruit skin when about to step on the kerb‘.  She later died from her injuries.

1911 census

Herbert Hills, head, 34, cement miller at cement works, b. Barton
Ellen Hills, wife, 30, b. Balsham
Percy William Hills, son, 9, b. Cambridge
Sidney Arthur Eade, boarder, single, 29, milkman in dairy, b. Melton [Suffolk]

Herbert and Ellen Hills had been married for ten years and had one child.

1921 census

H W Pleasants, head, 40, under training for house painter, b. Long Melford, Suffolk
Esther Pleasants, wife, 43, home duties, b. Thurlow, Suffolk
Evelyn Pleasants, daughter, 14, b. Cambridge
Leslie Pleasants, son, 11, full-time scholar, b. Cambridge
Owen Pleasants, son, 6, full-time scholar, b. Cambridge

Horace William Pleasants, trainee house painter, was working for Mr F Bailey, decorator, of 11 Victoria Park, New Chesterton.

In 1911 the Pleasants family had lived across the street at 55 Ainsworth Street, and Horace was then a baker’s van man. The Electoral Register also tells us that they lived at 51 Ainsworth Street from 1912, before moving to no. 52. The Electoral Register records the family living at no. 52 until 1931.

Sources: 1881–1921 Census, England & Wales Marriages 1837-2005, West London Observer 5 April 1929,