By Dormskirk – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org

139 Cherry Hinton Road, 6 Victoria Terrace, Cambridge

History of 139 Cherry Hinton Road

1891

Harriet Hart, widow, 34, living on own means, born Suffolk

May, daughter, 6, born London

John Barber, boarder, 40, draper, born Yorks

1901

Charles Mudge, 59, wood working machinist

Ellen, wife, 59, born Middlesex

Frank W., 28, unemployed, born Middlesex

Alice M M., 21, draper’s assistant, born Middlesex

Ada L., 18, bootmaker’s assistant, born Cambridge

Jude E.K., 16, upholsterer’s apprentice, born Cambridge

1911

Charles Mudge, 69, widower, (married 41 years, 11 children, 4 died), wood cutting machinist, born Devon

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George Bowyer, b 1879, was living with his mother in 1911, his occupation whitesmith. He had served in South Africa during the Boer War with the 3rd Cambs. Volunteer Battalion and joined the Territorial Army in 1908. He took a machine gun course in 1911. He re-enlisted in 1913 and was promoted to sergeant in the 1st Bttn Cambridge Regiment. In June 1916 he was discharged from the Territorials to re-enlist in the Machine Gun Corps.

1915

“Ollard and Sergt. Bowyer with their machine guns in trench S.9 had materially helped to stop the enemy advance, and had taken on and knocked out an enemy machine-gun.” (The Cambridgeshires 1914-1919 pub. 1934)

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In 1901 and 1911 this house was lived in by Charles Mudge, but by 1913 it was the home of the plumber George Bowyer. In 1964 Erica Dimock interviewed George for the Cambridge News, then aged 84.

He was an Honorary  Freeman of Cambridge, having gone to the South African War with the 3rd Cambs. Volunteer Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment in 1900. He could also recall the development of Rock Estate which started in 1885.

“Cherry Hinton Road was just a cart track between high hedges and deep ditches,” he recalls. “I lived just outside the boundary of Cambridge so I had to walk all the way to Cherry Hinton in order to get to school.”

Sources: Cambridge News (Cambridgeshire Collection)