154 Blinco Grove, (1)

History of 154 Blinco Grove

1891

(1 Blinco Grove)

George Mann

Ellen Catherine Marsh, 24

Bertram George Mann, lodger’s, 5, born Fulbourn

Beatrix Ellen Mann Marsh [?], lodger’s, 2, born Cherry Hinton

Ida C Mann Marsh, lodger’s, 3 mos, born Cherry Hinton

1901

(no.1 Blinco Grove), born Cherry Hinton

George Mann, 57, stonemason at home, born Norfolk

Ellen C Marsh, 34, housekeeper

Beatrix E.M. Mann, 12, born Fulbourn

Ida C.M. 10, born Cambridge

Harvey C.M., 8, born Cambridge

Lily Q.M., 6, born Cambridge

Gladys R.M. 3, born Cambridge

Gertrude M. 1, born Cambridge

Sidney M. 3mos, born Cambridge

1911

Herbert Turner, 44, brewers drayman, born Newmarket

Sarah Turner, 43, born Newmarket

Violet Turner, 17, born Cambridge

1939

Walter K Chown, b 1880, gardener

Alice M Chown, b 1883,

George W Chown, b 1910, motor mechanic

Stanley Chown, b 1911, college cook

In 1911 the Chown family were at Fernleigh, Cherry Hinton.

Michael Bentinck in Forgotten Heroes, includes a letter from Mrs D E Chown, writing about her husband Stanley. he hand been a chef in Changi cooking for the RAMC and for the men of the Cambridgeshire Regiment. If men were sick he would try to find them a job in the kitchen where he could look after them until they recovered. He saved many by making up dishes from cats, rats, snakes as well as all sorts of rice dishes.

1976 Mr Stanley Chown has created hundreds of masterpieces over the last 50 years, only to see them destroyed in minutes. But he takes it as a compliment, because he is chef manager at Pembroke College, and has cooked his way to the top of his career. Last night, a special reception was held at the college to mark his retirement. Mr Chown started as an apprentice chef with the college in February 1926. “In those days you did seven years’ apprenticeship and then two more years before you were recognised as trained. I got five shillings a week when I began, and 15 shillings a week after five years,” he said.

Cambridgeshire Voices, 1999 included this interview with Stanley (p108):

At the start of the Second World War, I volunteered for hospital cooking and was eventually sent to the Far East. We went on a ship, heading for Singapore, to drop behind Japanese lines. But when we reached Singapore, our side was disorganised, our guns were round the wrong way, and everything degenerated into chaos. ….. But the extraordinary thing was that the Japanese, brutal as they were to their captives and their own people, couldn’t kill a chicken – they asked me to do it for them! … I became famous for my snake and rat stew.