Station Road, Cambridge, Thomas Francis Wade

21 Station Road, 5 Salisbury Villas

History of 21 Station Road

1881

(5 Salisbury Villas)

John W Strutt, 38, Baron Rayleigh, Professor of Physics at Cambridge, born Essex

Evelyn G M Rayleigh, 34, baroness to Peeress, born London

Robert J Strutt, 5, born Essex

Arthur C Strutt, 2, born Essex

Julian B Strutt, 7 mos, born Cambridge

Arthur J Balfour, brother in law, 32, M Parliament author of philosophy, born Scotland

Alice B Balfour, sister in law, 30, interest of money, born Scotland

Hannah Goddard, servant, 33, nurse, born Suffolk

Catharine Fairhall, servant, 23, nurse, born London

Julia B Wakefield, servant, 21, nursery maid, born Essex

Catherine A Price, servant, 36, parlourmaid, born Monmouth

Caroline Chapman, servant, 56, cook housekeeper, bornEssex

Clara Dennington, 25, servant, housemaid, born London

Thirza Joive, servant, 21, kitchen maid, born Essex

Helen Lauriton, servant, 30, ladies maid, born Scotland

John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Ralyleigh (1842-1919) was a physicist who, with William Ramsay, discovered argon, for which achievement they were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1904. He also discovered the phenomenon now called Rayleigh scattering which explains why the sky in blue, and predicted the existance of the surface waves now known as Rayleigh waves.

Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour (1848-1930) was a Conservative politician who was Prime Minister from 1902 until 1905 and then Foreign Secretary. As a writer he formulated the basis for the evolutionary argument against naturalism. He was president of the Society for Psychical Research from 1892 to 1894 and wrote ‘Theism and Humanism’ in 1915. During WWI he succeeded Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1915 and then became Foerign Secretary under Lloyd George. He is remembered for the Balfour Declaration of 1917 which promised jews a ‘national home’ in Palestine.

Alice Blanche Balfour (1850-1936) was a Victorian naturalist and one of the earliest pioneers in the science of genetics. She lived for much of her life with her brother, Arthur James. In 1895 she published ‘Twelve Hundred miles in a Waggon’ describing a journey she made with several others.

1891

(5 Salisbury Villas)

Thomas F Wade, 72, retired minister diplomatic service, born London

Amelia, 50, born Kent

Alexander P C H, 20, born Peking China

Edward B H, 18, born Peking China

William Pankhurst, servant, 46, butler, born Surrey

Catherine MacFarlane, servant, 63, cook, born Argyleshire

Elizabeth Cox, 27, housemaid, born Salop

Louise Kelly, servant, 18, kitchenmaid, born Bucks

Sir Thomas Francis Wade (1818 Lodon -1895 Cambridge) was a British diplomat and sinologist who produced the first Chinese textbook in English in 1867 that was later amended, extended and converted into the Wade-Giles romanization for Mandarin Chinese. He was eductaed at Trinity College London and served with the 42nd Highlanders, then the 98th Foot during the First Opium War in 1842. He served the British government in a number of positions in China and was appointed British Minister to China in 1871 until 1883. In 1886 he donated 4,304 volumes of Chinese literature to Cambridge University.

Amelia (1841-1926), Thomas’s wife, was the daughter of John Herschel, the astronomer.

1901

Sarah Langham,34, cook, born Suffolk

Ellen Cook, 25, ladysmaid, born Beds.

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1911

Alexander Pearce Higgins, 45, law lecturer & barrister, born Worcester

Mina, 42, born Glasgow

Alexander George Maclennan Pearce, 10, born Glasgow

John Dennis Pearce, 5, born Cambridge

Toska Fischer, 35, governess, born Germany

Mary Morrison, servant, 38, born Aberdeen

Ada Ethel Cooper, servant, 19, born Suffolk

1913

Alexander Pearce Higgins MA LLD, Law Lecturer Clare College and on International Law London School of Economics

Professor Alexander Pearce Higgins, KC, CBE, FBA, MA, LLD. Obituary.  Born 1865, died 1935, Higgins was an international lawyer and expert in maritime law. During WWI he gave invaluable advice on international and prize law to the Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor. He was also a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague in the 1930s.