George W Grayston, Linton

7 High Street, The House Next Door, Linton

History of 7 High Street, Linton

This seems to have been the site of the brewery started around 1850 by James Grayston. Family history documents record that there was a Pothouse here where beer could be drunk and a cooperage where barrels were made. When James died in 1876 his son George William took over the business. When George died in 1909 his wife Mary Ann took over. There may have been a partnership with James Cowling (1829-1886), a publican and his son, William Mott (1866-1911) who became manager of the brewery. In 1911 William Mott committed suicide in the brewery.

James Cowling’s daughter Louisa b.1864 took over the Green Hill public house when he died in 1886 with her husband Henry Edlin.

Grayston and related families are researched in detail here:

GraystonFamilyHistory

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1861 possible location

James Grayston, 33, cooper and brewer, b Linton

Eliza, 43, b Essex

George William, 9, b Linton

Fred James, 7, b Linton

John Perry, 5, b Linton

Elizabeth, 4, b Linton

Annie Julia, 2, b Linton

Rebecca Maris, aunty, 73, b Linton

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1881

In 1881 there were 12 households listed between the White Hart and the Crown Inn. These were numbered 7 to 17 consecutively.

(7) Eliza Hall

(8) Thomas Simlin

(8) Martha Hazelwood

(9) Frederic Grayston

(10) Charles Butcher

(11) Eliza Nussen

(12) Robert Morley

(13) Thomas Pearson

(14) William Richardson

(15) Susannah Whiffen

(16)

Eliza Grayston, 63, brewer, b Essex

Annie Julia, 22, dressmaker, b Linton

Lilla, 15, b Linton

By 1891 Ann Julia has moved to lived with her uncle in Norfolk. But according to family history she married in 1891 a James Parlett who ran an inn in Wisbech.

(17) Thomas Suckling

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1891

In 1891 there were 7 households listed between the White Hart and the Crown Inn. Unlike in 1881, these are now in 1891 all unnumbered.

Charles Butcher

Thomas Simkin

John Lambert

Joseph Seeley

Frederick Burling

Richard Morley

James Norton

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Back: Nellie, George W, Mary Ann, Haddon

Front: Albert, Ernest G, Walter

In 1901 there were five households listed between the White Hart, at the south-west end of the High Street, and the Crown Hotel, just to the north.

1901

White Hart

High Street: Herbert Powell,

High Street: William Hymus,

High Street: George Cottage,

High Street: Mary E Richardson,

High Street:

George W Grayston, 49, brewer builder reg. of marriages, b Linton

Mary A, 51, b Essex

Nellie, 24, confectioner, b Cambridge

Haddon, 23, butcher, b Cambridge

Walter C, 20, joiner, b Cambridge

Ernest G, 14, carpenter, b Linton

Crown Hotel

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NG noted in 2026:

It would appear that Ernest Gilbert had a serious row with his brother Haddon; then afterwards Ernest Gilbert went to the village Post Office, where his sister Nellie worked for the Grandfather of her future husband Kerlogue Wiffin, bought the post card and stamp, filled out the card; and Nellie then franked the card and thrn gave the card to the Postman to deliver it.

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1911 High Street, Linton

Mrs Mary Ann Grayston, 62, widow, b Essex

Nellie Grayston, 34, music teacher, b Cambridge

Haddon James Grayston, 33, butcher, b Cambridge

Ernest Gilbert Grayston, 23, chauffeur, b Linton

In 1939 Ernest G Grayston was living in Chatham, Kent.

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In 1911 Nellie married Kerlogue Whiffin. He had served in the Royal Navy for 12 years and then joined the coastguard. At the outbreak of WWI he rejoined the Navy.

In 1914 Ernest G Grayston joined the Army Service Corps and was a Battlefield Ambulance Driver in the British Expeditionary Force. In 1916 he was sent back to Flanders and in 1917 he was part of the force sent to Italy to open a second front in the South Tyrol.

In 1915 Ernest married Susannah Brumham from Surrey at St Mary’s Church Saffron Walden. Susannah was working by 1911 as a house maid to the manager of Little Chesterford Park and living at Rectory Farm.

Haddon was a volunteer in the Red Cross in WWI; he looked after wounded service men in the Linton ‘Manor’ Convalescent Home, [actually the former Priory.]

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For a history of the Edlin family see:

Mary Ann Edlin; Susan Bye