7 Milford Street

A compositor, a brewer, a railway worker, and a printer's warehouse worker

7 Milford Street is in a terrace of 11 houses on the south side of the street, with a plaque reading Clara Terrace 1869. The terrace was built by property developer and coach builder John Burford, and he named it after his daughter.

1871 census

Charles A Morley, head, 23, printer & compositor, b. Cambridge
Eliza Morley, wife, 22, b. Cambridge
Charles P Morley, son, 5 months, b. Cambridge

Charles Ansell Morley continued working in the printing trade, but left Cambridge for London and later Watford. He and Eliza were to have three children in total.

1881 census

George Miller, head, 36, brewer’s labourer, b. Babraham, Cambridgeshire
Alice Miller, wife, 31, b. Horseheath, Cambridgeshire
Walter N Miller, son, 4, scholar, b. Cambridge
Charles Howard, lodger, unmarried, 20, clerk, b. Duxford, Cambridgeshire
Edward C Taylor, lodger, unmarried, 17, clerk, b. East Indies, British subject

In 1879 George Miller signed a petition asking for sewers to be built in Milford Street.

By 1891 George Miller was a brewer, living at 12 St John’s Street in the town centre, next to a pub called the Merry Boys. In 1911 he and Alice were running a lodging house at the same address.  They had three children.

1891 census

James Moss, head, 49, engine man, b. Kentford, Suffolk
Sarah A Moss, wife, 49, b. Moulton, Suffolk
Frances E Moss, daughter, 30, foreman dressmaker, b. Cambridge
Arthur H Moss, son, 14, printer’s apprentice, b. Kentford, Suffolk
Francis R Moss, son, 11, scholar, b. Cambridge

James and Sarah Moss had moved into Cambridge by 1880 for work on the railways. They had seven children, the youngest born in Cambridge.

1901 census

James Moss, head, 60, railway engine man, b. Moulton, Suffolk
Sarah A Moss, wife, 61, b. Moulton, Suffolk
Arthur Moss, son, 24, waiter at inn, b. Kentford, Suffolk
Francis Moss, son, 21, painter, b. Cambridge

By 1911 James was a widower living with his son Arthur and family at 59 Ainsworth Street.

1911 census

William Renelds Fuller, head, 33, printer’s warehouseman, b. Cambridge
Jane Elizabeth Fuller, wife, 33, b. Cambridge
Married 6 years

Some documents (birth record, probate record) give William’s middle name as Reynolds, but he spelled it as Renelds on census forms and the electoral register.

Soon after the 1911 census Jane gave birth to their son William David Fuller.

1921 census

William Renelds Fuller, head, 43, printer’s warehouseman, J B Peace, University Press, b. Cambridge
Jane Elizabeth Fuller, wife, 42, b. Cambridge
William David Fuller, son, 9, b. Cambridge

In October 1918 Jane’s 17-year-old nephew James Cyril Morley died at the house ‘after a very short illness’ (Press and News, 1 November 1918, page 5). He was a Salvation Army bandsman and a member of the Voluntary Aid Detachment. Given the timing, a possible cause is Spanish flu.

1939 England and Wales register

William R Fuller, 23 May 1877, printer’s overseer
Jane E Fuller, 21 September 1877, housewife

The Fuller family were still living at 7 Milford Street at the time of William Renelds Fuller’s death in 1951.

Sources

UK census records (1841 to 1921), General Register Office birth, marriage and death indexes (1837 onwards), the 1939 England and Wales Register, electoral registers, and local newspapers available via www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.