Capturing Cambridge
  • search
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

5 (2) (1) Fitzwilliam Road, Cottage Home for Little Orphan Girls

History of Cottage Home

A C P Coote and H J Watney  of St John’s College Cambridge first suggested the establishment of a home for destitute girls and in December 1870 a committee advertised the proposal to the town by distributing handbills. A site in Fitzwilliam Road was purchased in April 1871 for £240 and the Cottage Home was built for £475.

Fundraising events in 1871 included a bazaar at the Guildhall 24/25 October, and a concert also at the Guildhall 7th Novmber.

The first four girls were admitted on 1 January 1872. Spalding’s and Kelly’s Cambridge Street Directories describe it as the Cottage Home until 1948, when until 1951 it is attributed to the Church of England Children’s Society, thereafter as Dr Barnado’s Cottage Home. Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely County Council purchased it for a boys’ hostel in 1972)

1901 map of Cottage orphanage

http://www.childrenshomes.org.uk/CambridgeCottageDB/

1872 Bazaar in aid of the Building Fund for the Cottage Home for Little Orphan Girls (MoCPB190.83)

The Bazaar took place at the Guildhall.


1881 The Cottage Orphan Home

Mary Conneely, 36, matron and teacher, b Ireland

Annie Maria Cole, 18, inmate and assistant, b Cambridge

Kate Frances Cole, 17, inmate, b Cambridge

[Annie, 9, and Kate, 6, were daughters of Daniel Cole, widower, innkeeper of The Little Rose, 37 Trumpington Street in 1871. Their mother, Susan Burch, died in 1869 aged 53. Daniel died in 1872 aged 56. Annie married George Young in Surrey in 1897. Kate married James William Heathorn in Surrey in 1895. ]

Annie L Frisby, 15, b Cambridge

Sophia E Frisby, 13, b Cambridge

[Daughters of James John Frisby and Mary A Ranby. In 1871 they are living at 44 Newnham. John is 43, Greenwich pensioner (Royal Navy), and Mary  is 42, college servant. In 1891 Annie is a parlour maid for Bloomfield sisters; in 1901 a nurse in Hammersmith; in 1911 a nurse in Kensington. In 1891 Sophia is parlour maid for the rector of Holmbury in Surrey.]

Ellen Jane Gregory, 15, b Bermondsey Surrey

[In 1871 Ellen is living with her parents in Bermondsey, Henry Gregory, 42, railway policemen, and Sarah, 37]

Bertha Stewer, 14, b Essex

Alice Stonebridge, 11, b Cambridge

[Alice was, in 1871, at 15 Shelly Row, the daughter of Elizabeth Stonebridge, 33, with William Bright, grandfather, widower, 78, labourer. There were also her sisters Elizabeth Stonebridge, 9, and Amelia, 6. Alice seems to have died in 1886 in Cambridge].

Maud Neve, 10, b Cambridge

[In 1871, Maud is 1 year old and living with her parents Alfred and Mary Ann, the youngest of eight siblings at 22 Earl Street. Her mother died in 1873, her father in 1876. She married Edward William Ryder in Chesterton in 1899 and died in 1942. In 1881 of her siblings, Arthur, 22, is a coal merchant’s clerk at 10 Bentinck St; Kate, 21, is a servant in Beddington Edwin died 1876 aged 14; Jane, 17, is a visitor in Berling, Kent; Ellen whereabouts in 1881 not known, but in 1891 she is 25, described as an orphan and  housekeeper at 76 Chesterton Rd; Oliver, 14, is living with his uncle, James Hammond, an accountant at 3 Parker Street, Cambridge; Ada, aged 13 is at the Wolverhampton Orphan Asylum, in 1891 a children’s maid in Sussex and died in 1893.]

Rose Ann Custance, 10, b Kingston Cambs

[In 1871 Rose (4 mos old) was living at ‘Near The Green’ Kingston with her parents, Joseph, 28, ag.lab., mother Lucy, 29, brother Obediah, 4, and sister, Lilley, 1. Her mother died in 1878, her father in 1879. In 1891 she is a kitchen maid at Kneesworth House, Kneesworth, Cambs. In 1891 she is a cook at 13 Park Terrace, Cambridge. She married Walter F Maltby in 1910, a GER Railway Engine Fireman, and in 1911 is living at 44 Thoday Street. In 1881 Obediah is living with his grandfather in Kingston. Lilley’s whereabouts in 1881 are not known but in 1891 she is a servant in Westminster.]

Ada Custance, 9, b Kingston Cambs

[Ada has not been linked by on-line researchers with the family above but she is according to her baptism 7/7/1872, the youngest sibling of Rose Ann. In 1891 she is still at the Cottage Home but her death is registered in Cambridge in July 1891.]

Florence Sarah Maltby, 9, b Cambridge

[In 1891 Sarah is a general servant at 2 Fitzwilliam Terrace.]

Bessie [Elizabeth] Revell, 7, b Chesterton


1891 Cottage Home

Annie M Cole, 27, matron of home for orphan girls, b Cambridge

Kate Cole, visitor, 26, servant, b Cambridge

Ada Custance, inmate, 19, b Kingston Cambs [see above]

Elizabeth Revell, 17, b Chesterton [see above]

Emma Ayres, 15, b Cambridge

Catherine Pemberton, 15,  b Cambridge

[Catherine b 1874, her father, Robert M Pemberton died in 1876. In 1881 she is living at 6 St Anthony Street with her mother, Margaret, 35, occupation ‘mangling’, siblings David J, 9, Sarah, 8, and Margarita, 3. In 1884 her mother died. In 1901 Catherine is a parlourmaid in Gloucestershire. In 1911 she is 35 and a servant in Great Malvern. In 1939 she is a retired domestic in Northampton.She died in Brixworth, Northants, in 1955.]

Emily Kirk, 14, b Teversham

[In 1881 Emily is living on the High Street, Teversham with her family: John Woard Kirk, 39, ag.lab., Elizabeth, wife, 39, three siblings and a lodger. The father, John Ward Kirk died in 1882. The mother died in 1884.]

Amelia Tolworthy, 14, b Freckenham Cambs

May Ingrey, 13, b Cambridge

Jane Lowing, 13, b Cambridge

Annie Warren, 13, b Cambridge

Helen Fabb, 13, N K

Janet Barker, 11, b Cherry Hinton

Susan Ingrey, 11, b Cambridge

Nellie Barker, 7, b Cherry Hinton


1892 30.9.1892

St Barnabas Harvest Festival collection given to the Cottage Orphans Home


1895 8.2.1895

Cambridge Chronicle: Cottage Home for Little Orphan Girls

There are two vacancies in this home for Girls under Twelve. Form papers for application can be had at once of Mrs Steel, 4 Scro[o]pe Terrace.


1901

Caroline Reynolds, widow, 43, matron of orphans home, London

Helen Barker, inmate, 17, b Cambridge

Mary Ann Lloyd, 16,  b Trumpington

[In 1891 Mary A Lloyd was living on the London Road, Trumpington with her widower fatherChristopher, 46, ag.lab., and three older brothers. In 1911 she is a general servant at ‘Clonogan’, Cherry Hinton Road, Great Shelford.]

Mabel Rose May, 15, b Cambridge

Harriet May, 13, b Cambridge

[In 1891 the May family were living at 7 Tenison Road. William, 44, railway agent, was a widower. There was a housekeeper and six children of which Mabel and Harriet were the youngest. In 1939 Mabel was living in London and she died there in 1970.]

Margaret Randall, 15, b Cambridgeshire

[In 1891 Margaret Caroline Randall was living in Searle Street Chesterton, the niece of William S Randall, 31, smith’s labourer. In 1911 she is a servant at 1 Downs Avenue, Epsom.]

Daisy Hall, 14, b Cambridge

[In 1891 she is living at Greens Road off Victoria Road with her family, William Hall, widower, 62, carpenter and six siblings.]

Alice Mickle, 15, b Cambridge

[In 1911 Alice is a servant aged 24 at the Andrews home in Station Road, Great Shelford. She is described as a boarder with a ten month old daughter, Ruby Mickle. Her marriage was registered in 2nd quarter 1911 in Chesterton.]

Ethel Mickle, 10, b Cambridge

[In 1911 Ethel is an inmate at an institution for girls in Eastbourne. In 1919 she marries Herbert Wilson in Cambridge]

Gladys Price, 12, b Longstowe

Alice F Price, 9, b Longstowe [see below]

Olive Reynolds, 11, b Cambridge

[1891: Olive was living at 18 Catharine Street with her family. George, 28, was a cook;  Francis, 36 and Bertie 3. She died in November 1946, a private in the Auxiliary Territorial Service.]

Pallie Newman, 10, b Cambridge


1911

Emily Martha Phoebe Rickett, 31, matron, b Cambridge

Francis Alice Price, orphan, 19, b Longstowe

Winifred May Boje, orphan, 16, b Cambridge

Winifred Barker, orphan, 15, b Cambridge

Elsie May Smith, orphan, 13, b Cambridge

[In 1901 Elsie was living at 68 Searle Street, Cambridge, with her family: Joseph Henry Smith, 55, club custodian, Annie Martha, 38, and four siblings. Her mother died in 1906, Her father in 1907. her brother Basil died 12/10/1916 in France serving with the Essex Regiment. Elsie married in  1922 and lived in Surrey until her death in 1947.]

Ada Brown, orphan, 13, b Cambridge

[In 1901 Ada was living with her family at 22 Albert Street. William, 34, bricklayer, Ellen, 40, laundress, three sisters, grandfather and uncle.]

Dorothy Mary Smith, orphan, 11, b Cambridge

[She is very likely to be the same person as Dorothy May Smith, the sister of Elsie May Smith above. She died in New Zealand in 1994.]

Florence May Anderson, orphan, 11, b Cambridge

Violet Anderson, orphan, 10, b Cambridge

[In 1901 Florence (Flossie) and Violet were living at 1 Salmon Terrace, Greens Road, Chesterton with their father, Stephen, 59, general carter, and mother, Daisey, 36. They had a brother and a nurse.]

Ivy Bernice Fenn, orphan, 10, b Cambridge

[In 1901, Ivy was living at 1 Cross Street with her father, Edward Joseph Fenn, 53, Queen’s College servant, mother Adelaide, 43, and six siblings. She married in 1926 in Wandsworth.]

Violet Ethel Smith, orphan, 9, b Cambridge

[Violet’s birth was registered in Chesterton in October 1901. She married in Chesterton in 1934.]


1913

Cottage Home for Little Orphan Girls

Miss Rickett, matron


1962 (1)

Dr Barnardo’s Cottage Home


1970 (1)

Dr Barnardo’s Cottage Home


For more information see:

http://www.childrenshomes.org.uk/CambridgeCottageDB/?LMCL=EqKm8q

Contribute

Do you have any information about the people or places in this article? If so, then please let us know using the Contact page or by emailing capturingcambridge@museumofcambridge.org.uk.

Dear Visitor,

 

Thank you for exploring historical Cambridgeshire! We hope you enjoy your visit.

 

Did you know that we are a small, independent Museum and that we rely on donations from people like you to survive?

 

If you love Capturing Cambridge, and you are able to, we’d appreciate your support today.

 

Every donation makes a world of difference.

 

Thank you,

The Museum of Cambridge