78 Mill Road. Image courtesy of Chris Harris.

78 Mill Road, Cambridge

B A Harris, Fishmonger in business at 78 Mill Road for more than 65 years.

The business was started by Captain Baptist Albert Harris when he retired from the sea in 1895. As a Master Mariner in the final days of ocean going sail, Captain Harris had plied the seas between Britain and South America in the three-masted barque ‘Eliza’, before settling in Mill Road for a shore-based career as a fishmonger, poulterer, dealer in game, egg and ice merchant.

Harris and his family lived firstly above the fishmonger’s shop and then at ‘Alexandra House’, 19 Mill Road, where he died in 1935.

Captain Harris was a stalwart member of the Plymouth Brethren meeting hall in Mawson Street, just around the corner from Mill Road. After his retirement, the ‘B A Harris, Fishmonger’ business was continued by his son Walter Harris until about 1960, when the shop was sold to the Co-op.

The Co-Op also bought No. 80 and combined the two in 1963. Later it traded as part of the Mace chain until 2015 when the site was purchased by Sainsbury’s.

Information supplied by Chris Harris.

Street Directory Information

1884, 1887 (24 Mill Road)
Haslop, Thomas, butcher

1891 (48 Mill Road)
Langford, Harry E., fishmonger

1898-1928
Harris, B. A.

1929-1935
Harris, W. H.

1936-1954
Harris, B. A. fishmonger

1955-1957
Harris, Walter

1960-1964
Harris, B. A.

1965/1966
Cambridge & District Co-Op

Census Information

1891

William R Bright, 38, railway station master, b Cambridge

Ellen E, 38, b Essex

Arthur M, 10, b Norfolk

Sidney W, 8, b Norfolk

Mary E, 6, b Cambridge

Victor J, 3, b Cambridge

Maria Riches, mother in law, widow, 78, living on own means, b Norfolk

Eliza Chapman, visitor, 53, living on own means, b Suffolk

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1901

Baptist A Harris, fish and poultry dealer

Eliza,

Albert, 13, b Lincoln

Ethel M, 11, b Devon

Lois,

Wynnie,

Walter H,

Martha Bradford,

Rennie,

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1911

Baptist Albert Harris, 50, fishmonger and poulterer, b Devon

Eliza Harris née Hingston, 48, assisting in business, b Lincs

Alfred Hingston, 23, clerk college, b Lincs

Lois Elizabeth, 19, school teacher, b Lincs

Wynnie, 17, dressmaker, b Lincs

Rennie, 15, clerk, b Cambridge

Walter Henry, 13, b Cambridge

William Graham, boarder, 32, employment agency Collins, b Essex