Rev Conybeare, far left, and friends in the garden of Stokeslea (MoC377/75)

10 Union Road, Stokeslea, Lensfield Cottage, Cambridge

History of 10 Union Road

1841 (10)

Ebenezer Foster, 30, solicitor

Fregonwill Collier, 25, servant

Jonah Smith, 30, servant

Eliza Denson, 15, servant

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1851

Thomas Moris, 32, grocer and draper, b Gt Shelford

Mary, 30, b Essex

Dudley Cooke (female), visitor, b 24, dressmaker, b Essex

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1861 Hardware shop

Charles Winterton, 22, hardwareman, b Leics

Sarah Louisa, 22, b Cambridge

Charles George, 11 mos, b Cambridge

Sarah Ann Casbolt, servant, 19, b Cambridge

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1898 J W E Conybeare moves to Stokeslea (former Lensfield Cottage). The house had  access from Union Road with large gardens extending to Lensfield Road  and adjoining the rectory garden of the new catholic church which stood at Hyde Park Corner.

For more biographical information see: https://www.museumofcambridge.org.uk/2021/04/cambridge-cycling-pioneers/

1901

John William Edward Conybeare, clergyman Church of England [Conybeare was an Anglican minister who converted to Catholicism and became a leading member of that congregation. In the 1891 census he is Vicar of Barrington living in the vicarage on Foxton Road.]

Frances Ann

Alison Mary, 22, b Barrington

Dorothy Frances

Marianne Glasscock, parlourmaid

Lydia Challis, cook

Ethel Sutton, 17, housemaid, b Barrington

(10a) William J Fordham, 38, toy and confectionary shopkeeper, b Cambridge

Lillian, 26,

Charles, 21, grocers porter,  b Cambridge

Sidney Cole, boarder, 26, dairyman’s porter, b Staffs

Arthur Turner, boarder, 21, travelling drapers porter, b Hants

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1911

John William Edward Conybeare, 67, author, b Lancs [Vicar of Barrington who wrote A History of Cambridgeshire that was published in 1897]

Frances Anne, 63, private means, b Westmoreland

Dorothea Frances, 30, private means, b Barrington

Marianne Glascock, 58, parlour maid, b Cambridge

Lydia Challis, 60, cook, b Barrington

Margaret Jane Skinner, 21, housemaid, b Wimpole

(10a) Lillian Fordham, 36, widow, shopkeeper sweets toys papers, b Cambridge

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1913

Rev John William Edward Conybeare

(10a) Henry Charles Norris, confectioner and toy dealer

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1921

John William Edward Conybeare, 77, clergyman retired, b Lancs

Frances Anne, 73, b Westmoreland

Dorothea Frances, 30, massage Addenbrookes Hospital, b Barrington

Lydia Maud Challis, 28, house parlour maid, b Barrington

Florence Ellen Saunders, 19, cook, b Cambridge

Maud Ellen Wilson, 15, between maid, b Trumpington

1930 12 27
Edward Conybeare, the former vicar of Barrington, retired in 1898 and was then received into the Roman Catholic Church. He has three sons and two daughters, all of whom have distinguished themselves; James is Archdeacon of Nottingham, Bruce was one of the early settlers in British East Africa, Alfred is a Master at Eton. Alison is now Ely Diocesan Secretary for the Mothers’ Union while Dorothea is actively interested in the Girls’ Friendly Society and assists in the massage department at Addenbrooke’s Hospital where 12,000 treatments are given annually. 30 12 27e

1931 02 20
The Rev J.W.E. Conybeare has passed away at the age of 87. He was one of the first cyclists in Cambridgeshire and wrote guides to rides as well as a history of the county. Born in Liverpool, he was vicar of Barrington until 1898 and some time after his retirement was received into the Roman Catholic Church. The Mayor expressed his deep regret when he heard the news. 31 02 20k (Mike Petty)

1937 07 31
The appeal for pioneer women cyclists heard from Dorothea Conybeare. Her father, Rev Edward Conybeare of Barrington, had bought her sister a bike on 28 July 1893. By 1894 women’s bicycles still rather unusual and fellow Perseans were much impressed when they’d cycled in from Barrington in order to be present at an examination for which the train would have been too late. She does not remember seeing any Cambridge women or girls bicycling before 1893 but saw two during a visit to Leicestershire in 1892 and was agreeably surprised by their grace and dignity 37 07 31a

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1939

Lilian V Shuckburgh, b 1883

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Ethel A Freestone, b 1913, cook

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Doris J Archer, b 1927

Joy J King, b 1931

(10a) General Stores

Alice Sadler, b 1871, shopkeeper

Mary Sadler, b 1872, shop keeper

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1962 –

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Edward Conybeare not only supported Canon Scott in his ministry of the Cambridge Catholic Mission during WWI, but his diaries are an important record f the period in Cambridge. ‘Catholics in Cambridge’ ed Nicholas Rogers, has many excerpts from these diaries. Many soldiers were Catholics, especially those of the Leinster Regiment; on 23rd August 1914 the church had 5 successive masses for over 3,000 soldiers.

1914 August 12th – Our house [Stokeslea] made Red Cross distribution centre so drawing room piled with shirting.

For 19th December 1914 the diary entry records ‘Billeting begun for 17000 troops – first in Cambridge since Civil War.’ The church was set up with recreation rooms for soldiers. Conybeare also seems to have set up pre-arranged bath facilities at his own house, Stokeslea.

For much more detail on Edward Conybeare see ‘Catholics in Cambridge’ ed. Nicholas Rogers chapter 12.