(Roseneath)
William Doe, 38, skin buyer, born Bury St Edmunds [in 1891 William was working with his brother in Bishop Stortford as a skin buyer]
Sarah, 40, born Ipswich
William, born Sawston
Frederick, born Cambridge
Frank, born Cambridge
Ada, born Ipswich
Ellen, born Cambridge
Louisa, born Cambridge
In 1891 the Doe family were living at 57 Ainsworth Street
(Roseneath)
[William Doe was visiting Watson Dyson, a tripe dresser, in Manchester, at the time of the census. He died in 1931.]
Sarah Doe, 50 [died 1912]
Ada Eliza, 26,
William Henry, 23, hide & skin buyer
Frederick Thomas, 20, hide and skin buyer
Ellen Sarah, 15,
Louisa, 14,
Frank, 10
In 1901 this was the home of William Henry Doe; in the 1911 census Sarah Doe is listed as householder and in the 1913 street directory, William Doe.
William Doe and sons were hide, skin and wool merchants. They traded in hides and skins, trimming and grading them before selling them for tanning. Their business must have depended on the existence of the cattle market.
Their business works lay at the back of the Swiss Laundry site, where British Glues and Chemicals used to be based. The latter company operated throughout the country processing bones and fat bought from butchers. These are sorted in the Cambridge depot and then sent to soap manufacturers and other businesses.
On 26th December 1917, William Doe, by then a widower, married Catherine Mary Holland, a widow, in the parish church in Hornsey.
Marie Burrows, William Doe’s granddaughter, recalls his life and work in this interview (2016):
William’s sons were not initially conscripted in the First World War but as the shortage of manpower came desperate, the family were forced to let their sons go. Marie recalls the circumstances around her father joining the Royal Flying Corps:
Sources: interview
William Henry Doe, b 1888, was a hide buyer living with his parents in 1911. In 1917 he had been refused exemption from military service because of business hardship. He later joined the Royal Flying Corps.
Frederick Thomas Doe b 1891 similarly applied for exemption in 1916 but was refused. The unit he joined is unknown.
(Source local newspapers)
Family notes:
Ada Eliza Doe married Frank Jacob. They lived in Leytonstone.
Frank Doe did not marry. He died in 1966 and is buried in Cherry Hinton
Frederick Thomas Doe did not marry. He sold the business to British Glues and Chem, and is buried in Cherry Hinton.
William Henry Doe married Hilda Irene Gwendoline Coxall. They married in 1928 in Haslingfield and lived in Cavendish Avenue.
Louisa Doe did not marry and died 1979.
Ellen Sarah Doe did not married and died 1974. She is buried in Cherry Hinton.
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