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24 Fore Hill, Royal Standard, Ely

History of the Royal Standard

Listed Building

A late C18 or early C19 brick house, now painted.

Frederick T Cross senior turned the premises into a successful tea room. His son, Frederick V Cross took the business on and included a small museum on the premises to show off local finds and fossils, including those retrieved from the Roswell Pits. This collection would later form part of the initial collection of The Ely Museum.

F T Cross’s reminiscences can also be found in Ely Memories, 1998. He talks about  Babylon and Potters lane amongst other locations.

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1891

Frederick Cross, 36, baker, b Ely

Elizabeth née Waddelow, 30, b Downham

Daisy, 7, b Ely

Obed, father, 64, gardener, b Ely

Edwin Cross, brother, 23, baker, b Haddenham

Young Waddelow, visitor, 18, joiner, b Downham

In 1881 & 1871 Obed, hackney carter, and his family were living on Waterside Ely. In 1851 he is living in Ely at North Side, Newnham. In 1841 he is living at Turbutsey.

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1901

Frederick Thompson Cross, 45, baker, b Ely

Elizabeth, 42, b Downham

Daisy, 16, b Ely

Frederick Vernon, 6, b Ely

In 1901 Obediah Cross, aged 76, is living in Market Street. He died in 1908.  His reminiscences are recorded in Ely Memories.

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1908 Fred Thompson Cross

In 1908 Frederick returned home after his first tour as a ventriloquist. He worked in the bakery but also spent his Sundays looking for fossils in the Roswell Pits. In the summer he also took an ice-cream barrow round the town. His daily routine and life are described in detail in Cross Words – An Autobiography by Vernon Cross.

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1909

Large room created for catering functions.

From 1908 to 1910 Vernon did engagements at children’s parites etc. as a ventriloquist, or performed monologues or shadowgraph.

From 1910 to 1914 the firm made muffins and crumpets which were sold by men and boys on a commission basis. They also had a home-brewed ginger beer business. Father and son also travelled around the Fens adding to their collection of bygones,

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1911

Frederick Thompson Cross, 56, maker of bread,

Elizabeth, 50, assisting in business,

Frederick Vernon, 16, working in bake house,

In 1911 Frederick T arranged for his son to train in confectionery under G P Hawkins in Cambridge . Vernon was to work at the bakery in Parsonage Street; he would stay with the family of Edwin Dean in Sedgwick Street, off Mill Road. However Frederick T died before the end of 1911.

It was about this time that Vernon met Miss Crate who was working as parlourmaid at the house of Canon Goudge, ‘The College.’

Canon Goudge had a daughter himself who would become known as Elizabeth Goudge, the novelist.

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1915

Vernon got a 6 month deferment from active service. Later in the year he was granted another 6 months deferment.

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1916

Vernon was called up and joined the Royal Army Service Corps. he was sent to Boulogne No. 1 camp to work with horses. He was later assigned to the infantry the King’s Royal Rifle Brigade.

It wasn’t until late 1917 that Vernon skills as a baker were discovered .

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1918

Vernon suffered shell shock and was sent back to England. He was visited at Colchester military hospital by his mother and future wife, Eleanor Crate.In July he was visited by a writer who turned out to be Noel Coward, recovering from neurasthenia. Vernon was discharged and returned home in September.

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1920

Marriage of Frederick Vernon Cross and Eleanor Mary Crate in Wells Somerset.

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1921

Frederick Vernon Cross, 27, pastry cook, b Ely

Eleanor Mary née Crate 30, chef in charge, b Somerset

John Waddelow, servant, 39, baker, b Little Downham

Gladys Solvert, servant, 20, b Wisbech

Reginald Waddelow, visitor, 23, lecturer, b London

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1927

Vernon opened a branch of the business in Cambridge, in a building in Trumpington Street, no 75 facing Pembroke College. It was called ‘The Pem.’

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1939

Frederick V Cross, b 1894, proprietor bakery

Eleanor Cross, b 1883

?

?

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1964

The premises of Vernon Cross were sold and incorporated into the adjoining Royal Standard pub.

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1997

Deborah Steel, 37, former landlady at the Royal Standard, disappeared the night of the 28th December and has never been found.

There are several accounts of the case:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-41848957

https://truecrimediva.com/deborah-steel/

 

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