Capturing Cambridge
  • search
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
The Empress

72 & 74 Thoday Street, The Empress

History of The Empress Tavern

1937 – 1946

Archibald and Constance Drew, managers

Their daughter was Constance who married Frederick Charles Ockenden. PM sent this note in 2025:

OCKENDEN Frederick Charles: 25 years old. Born 12 May 1915 in Yiewsley, West Drayton, Middlesex. Husband of Dorothy Florence Ockenden (nee Drew), they married in April 1941 in Cambridge shortly before he was lost.  Son of James Ockenden and Beatrice Maud Ockenden (nee Davis) of London. James, originally from Epsom was a very highly regarded and consistent professional golfer, winner of the 1923 French Open, and a veteran of the first world war. Beatrice passed away in 1930. James remarried Annie Aburrow in 1933, and died in 1949. Older Brother James George Ockenden was also a Professional Golfer who emigrated to South Africa. Sgt Ockenden died in May 1941 while serving in a Wellington bomber. See

https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/221068/

Frederick Charles Ockenden and Dorothy Florence nee Drew (The Empress, Thoday Street)

In the 1939 England & Wales Register Frederick is living in Great College Street, St Pancras, London, with the Drew family and his future wife, and is working as a Barman in a Public House. Dorothy’s parents, Archibald and Constance are listed as Manager and Manageress of a Public House. Before (from 1937) and after the war, until 1946, they are on the electoral roll at ‘The Empress’, 72 Thoday Street, Cambridge

1962

The Empress Tavern

Share this article

Share on Bluesky

Contribute

Do you have any information about the people or places in this article? If so, then please let us know using the Contact page or by emailing capturingcambridge@museumofcambridge.org.uk.

Licence

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Dear Visitor,

Thank you for exploring historical Cambridgeshire! We hope you enjoy your visit and, if you do,  would consider making a donation today.

Capturing Cambridge makes accessible thousands of photos and memories of Cambridge and its surrounding villages and towns. It is run by the Museum of Cambridge which, though 90 years old, is one of the most poorly publicly funded local history museums in the UK. It receives no core funding from local or central government nor from the University of Cambridge.

As a result, we are facing a crisis; we have no financial cushion – unlike many other museums in Cambridge – and are facing the need to drastically cut back our operations which could affect our ability to continue to run and develop this groundbreaking local history website.

If Capturing Cambridge matters to you, then the survival of the Museum of the Cambridge should matter as well. If you won’t support the preservation of your heritage, no-one else will! Your support is critical.

If you love Capturing Cambridge, and you are able to, we’d appreciate your support.

Every donation makes a world of difference.

Thank you,
Roger Lilley, Chair of Trustees
Museum of Cambridge