Hugh Aubrey Cockerton

Gothic Street, Cambridge

History of Gothic Street

For notes on the early development of this area see New Town.

Women of Gothic Street: Work, Family and Survival in New Town

The census records of Gothic Street provide a fascinating insight into the lives of women in New Town during the nineteenth century. While the street was home to labourers, college servants, shoemakers and tailors, the records reveal that women played a vital role in supporting households, earning incomes and sustaining the local community. Their lives illustrate both the opportunities and constraints faced by working women in Victorian Cambridge.

One of the earliest women recorded in the street is Mary Harradine, who appears in 1841 at a property later numbered in Gothic Street. Aged 50 and heading a household containing younger family members, she represents the many women whose labour and family responsibilities underpinned working-class life.

By 1851, women were contributing to household economies in a wide variety of ways. At what later became 2 Gothic Street, Jemima Pinner, a 61-year-old widow and former laundress, was living with her carpenter son. Her life demonstrates the importance of laundry work as a source of female employment and the reliance upon family networks in old age.

At 3 Gothic Street, Jane Ann Hutt worked as a laundress while her husband was employed as a shoemaker. Laundry work was physically demanding but provided an important source of income for many Cambridge women. The colleges, middle-class households and businesses of the town created a constant demand for washing services, making laundresses a familiar feature of urban life.

Women frequently faced economic uncertainty. At another Gothic Street household, Rebecca Mann was listed as a miller’s wife, yet no husband was present in the census. Living with her young son George, she illustrates the precarious circumstances of women who found themselves effectively managing households alone.

The records also reveal the importance of female employment within institutions. At 11 Gothic Street, Sarah Bilton, Lucy Bilton and Ellen Bilton were all employed as college servants. Their household demonstrates how Cambridge’s colleges created employment opportunities for women as well as men. College service offered relatively secure work and linked local families directly to one of the city’s most important institutions.

Several women combined paid work with family responsibilities. Caroline Hardy, living with her husband Jeremiah Hardy, was employed as a laundress while raising children. Her experience was typical of many working-class women whose earnings supplemented family income and helped protect households against poverty.

Gothic Street also contains evidence of domestic service. Susan Randell, aged 16, was employed as a house servant, having left her family home in Grantchester to work in Cambridge. Her experience reflects a common path for young women seeking employment and independence in the growing town.

Taken together, these women reveal a street sustained by female labour. Laundresses, college servants, domestic servants, widows and household managers all contributed to the economic and social life of New Town. Their stories show that Victorian Cambridge depended not only on the work of university scholars and railway workers, but also on the efforts of women whose labour was often overlooked in official histories.

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1841

(Property with no number given): Mary Harradine, 50

Henry, 20

John, 14

Elizabeth, 8

Francis Atkins, 34, stoker

 

1851

NB no house numbers are given for this census.  26 households are identified – the same number as in 1861

Where a household can be found living in the same street in other censuses this is noted.

 

John Tiplady, 50, beer seller, b Yorkshire

Mary, 43, b Yorkshire

John, 17, shoemaker, b Cambridge

Mary, 11, scholar, b Cambridge

Elizabeth, 6, scholar, b Cambridge

William, 4, scholar, b Cambridge

Elisha Matthews, 44, widower, lodger, labourer, b Bottisham

 

Jemima Pinner, 61, widow, late laundress, b Walden, Essex

John, 29, carpenter, b Cambridge

NB members of this family were at 2 Gothic Street in 1841

 

Edward Hutt, 25, shoemaker, b Cambridge

Jane Ann, 35, laundress, b Middlesex

NB this family were at 3 Gothic Street in 1861 and 1871

 

Rebecca Mann, 29, millers wife, b Great Gransden

George, 5, scholar, b Cambridge

NB although Rebecca is described as a wife, there is no husband listed

 

Charles Sheldrick, 39, labourer, b Cambridge

Rebecca, 28, b Ickleton

Edward, 3, scholar, b Cambridge

Charles, 8 months, b Cambridge

NB members of this family were at 23 Gothic Street in 1861 and 1871

 

Henry Clay, 52, stonemason, b Derbyshire

Mary, 42, b Cambridge

NB members of this family were at 6 Gothic Street in 1841

 

John Ludman, 38, college servant, b Impington

Sarah, 27, b Fenstanton

NB members of this family were at 7 Gothic Street in 1861 and 1871

 

James Dring, 66, tailor, b Cambridge

Ann, 65, b Cambridge

Michael, 26, tailor, b Cambridge

NB members of this family were at 8 Gothic Street in 1841, 1861 and 1871

 

Charles Lambert, 21, tailor, b Great Shelford

Ann, 21, b Cambridge

 

Mary Ann Farmer, 33, printers wife, b Haddenham

George, 7, b Cambridge

Caroline, 2, b Cambridge

NB although Mary Ann is described as a wife no husband is listed

 

Thomas Bilton, 52, college servant, b Cambridge

Sarah, 62, college servant, b Cambridge

Lucy, 27, college servant, b Cambridge

Ellen, 21, college servant, b Cambridge

Emma, 3, niece, b Cambridge

Emma S Allgood, 28, servant, b Kingston, Cambridgeshire

NB members of this family were at 11 Gothic Street in 1841, 1861 and 1871

 

Frederick Squires, 36, French polisher and upholsterer, b Bedfordshire

Martha, 25, b Suffolk

Henry C, 11 months, b Cambridge

Sarah Secker, 22, niece, carpenters daughter, b Suffolk

 

Susan Thorpe, 42, widow, laundress, b Cambridge

Thomas Holdsworth, 24, son, tailor, b Ipswich

Sarah Holdsworth, 20, daughter, b Cambridge

William Holdsworth, 10 months, grandson, b Cambridge

Jeremiah Hardy, 47, college servant, b Steeple Bumpstead, Essex

Caroline, 44, laundress, b Sussex

David, 14, scholar, b Cambridge

Henry W, 5, scholar, b Cambridge

 

John Sheldrick, 31, labourer, b Cambridge

Sarah, 35, b Coton

William, 9, b Cambridge

Sarah Ann, 7, b Cambridge

John, 5, b Cambridge

Louisa, 2, b Cambridge

Thomas, 6 months, b Cambridge

Susan Randell, 16, house servant, b Granchester

NB this family were at 17 Gothic Street in 1841 and 1861

 

Ezra Radford, 35, tailor, b Oakington

Elizabeth, 36, b Suffolk

Alfred, 6, b Cambridge

James, 2, b Cambridge

Daniel, 31, brother, carpenter, b Oakington

 

George Robinson, 37, butcher, b Cambridge

Jane, 33, b Shelford

Mary, 14, b Cambridge

Jane, 10, b Cambridge

George, 7, b Cambridge

Elizabeth, 4, b Cambridge

Sarah, 1, b Cambridge

 

James Cooper, 36, gardener, b Shelford

Ann, 35, b Kent

John, 15, b Kent

Mary, 13, b Kent

Edward, 10, b Shelford

Frederick, 8, b Shelford

Charles, 6, b Shelford

Charlotte, 4, b Granchester

George, 1, b Granchester

NB this family were at 24 Gothic Street in 1861 and 1871

 

John Rumbelow, 46, cabinet maker, b Ely

Mary, 48, b Lincolnshire

William, 18, painter and grainer, b Cambridge

Mary Ann, 16, b Cambridge

NB this family were at 4 Gothic Street I 1841

 

James Barron, 31, grocer, b Cambridge

Sophia A, 24, Bury St Edmunds

Sarah E, 7 months, b Cambridge

William B Cross, 16, servant, grocers apprentice, b Huntingdonshire

 

Edward Kittridge, 28, dispenser medicine, b Cambridge

Elizabeth, 30, b Stapleford

Edward, 3, b Cambridge

Elizabeth, 1, b Cambridge

John Palmer, 25, lodger, tailor, b Yorkshire

 

Thomas Clare, 41, picture frame maker, b Southwark, London

Lydia, 39, b Cambridge

Thomas, 11, b Cambridge

John, 6, b Cambridge

Sarah, 4, b Cambridge

Rachel, 4, b Cambridge

Charles, 1, b Cambridge

NB this family were at 22 Gothic Street in 1841

 

John Hasler, 35, cabinet maker, b Saffron Walden

Frances, 34, b Great Shelford

Maria, 6, b Cambridge

William, 3, b Cambridge

George, 1, b Cambridge

John Smith, 23, lodger, woodcarver, b Whitechapel, London

NB this family were at 21 Gothic Street in 1861 and 1871

 

Charles Foster, 36, labourer, b Cambridge

Thurza, 40, dressmaker, b Essex

Fredercik, 15, apprentice, b Cambridge

 

John Miller, 22, French polisher, b Cambridge

Mary Warren, 60, widow, aunt, b Warwickshire

 

Edward Shrubbs, 46, college servant, b Sussex

Charlotte, 35, b Cambridge

Emily C, 10, b Cambridge

Harriet E, 8, b Cambridge

Albert C, 3, b Cambridge

Martha M, 7 months, b Cambridge