Robert Carpenter c 1895

89 (47) (45) Mill Road, Cambridge

History of 89 Mill Road

In 1882 Sturton Town Hall was built behind numbers 45 and 46. Later the ground floors of 87 and 89 were combined and became the Kinema Café and then City Bargains.

Read more about Sturton Town Hall and the Kinema.

Census

1851 unnumbered

Robert Carpenter, 20, bootmaker

1861 (45)

Robert Carpenter, 29, cricketer

See Mill Road Cemetery entry

1871 (45)

Robert Carpenter, 40, cricketer, b Cambridge

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1881 (45)

Robert Carpenter, 50, professional cricketer, b Cambridge

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1891 (47)

Robert Carpenter, 60, professional cricketer, b Cambridge

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1901

Robert Carpenter, 70, cricket umpire, b Cambridge

[Robert Carpenter died in 1901]

See: Town v Gown; City v Village – A History of Cricket in Cambridge, Tony Watts (2025)

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1911

Robert Pyle, 41, chimney sweep, b Cambridge

Beatrice, 38, b Sawston

Constance Eva, 12, b Sawston

Dorothy B, 11, b Cambridge

Olive A, 10, b Cambridge

Winifred M, 9, b Cambridge

Cedric Robert, 5, b Cambridge

Louis Alfred, 3, b Cambridge

In 1901 the Pyle family were living at 93 Mill Road.

This letter seems to have been sent to 88 Mill Road by error. It is thanking Miss Pyle, probably Constance, for her help during the flu epidemic in 1918.

In 1921 the Pyle family are living at 79 Mill Road.

In 1926 Constance is working as a dressmaker at 73 Mill Road.

In 1928 Olive became Mrs Timberlake

In 1930 Beatrice is a maker of gowns, coats and furs at 79a Mill Road

In 1933 Constance Eva married Claude Tongue and in 1935 were living at 30 Lyndewode Road.

In 1939 Beatrice is living at 28 Richmond Road.

Christopher Tongue’s family history continues [previous part]: In her teens Eva remained at home, helping with the social activities of Emmanuel Congregational Church and sometimes playing the piano to accompany film shows at the Mill Road cinema. As a sideline to her mother’s shop Eva displayed an aptitude for dressmaking which finally blossomed into  firm decision to start her own business in 1916. Thereafter for over forty years the making of clothes became the main pre-occupation of her life, despite wars, rationing of materials, scarcity of workpeople or difficulties over work premises. Starting in a small way she soon acquired a group of loyal clients – wives of clergymen, wives of shopkeepers and maiden ladies with an eye to smart apparel; people with fads and pretensions but often with a genuine appreciation of work well done. There was one customer, Mrs Burnie, who ordered new clothes every week!

This was now the 1920s and a period of youthful optimism. Eva’s success encouraged her independent spirit; her weekly forays to London to purchase dress fabrics and haberdashery became an enjoyable routine. In London the buyers and salesmen treated her with deference – it was fun dining out, rushing after trains, leaving some of the boring aspects of making dresses to junior assistants. Many of the clients of this period, as well as her ‘workgirls’, remained her friends for life. She acquired fitting and workrooms above a shop, 35 St Andrew’s Street, opposite Emmanuel College, where she stayed until 1937, close to the bustling activity of central Cambridge. [next part]

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1913

R Pyle, chimney sweep

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8 May 1920

Appointment. — At a meeting of the County War Pensions Committee, held at Cambridge on Saturday, candidates for the post of cashier and accounts clerk were interviewed. Six applicants appeared before the Committee and ultimately the appointment went to Mr, G, B. Hosegood, of 89 Mill Road, Cambridge, who prior to the war was cashier and ledger clerk at Messrs. Matthew and Sons, Trinity Street. Subsequent of demobilisation he has held the position of finance officer at the local Employment Exchange.

Credit: Mike Petty Archive.