250 Hills Road, Halesowen

History of 250 Hills Road

1911

Ernest Saville Peck, 44, pharmaceutical chemist, born Cambridge

Rachel Brenda 27, wife, born Nottingham

John Portway Saville, 2, born Trumpington

Rachel Helen Saville, 1 month, born Trumpington

Elizabeth Cavell 27, cook, born Saffron Walden

Constance Grace Gifford, 17, nurse, born Cambridge

Sarah May Hammond, 15, housemaid, born Cambridge

In 1901 Ernest Saville Peck was living at 25 Fitzwilliam Street.

Ernest Saville Peck (1866-1955) was the son of chemist George Peck and attended The Perse School and Fitzwilliam House. He became an apprentic at his father’s pharmacy at 30 Trumpington Street and then studied chemistry at Cambridge University.

The most detailed source of information on his life is in the privately printed ‘E Saville Peck of Cambridge – His Life and Descendants’ a copy of which is held at the Museum of Cambridge.

He was a member of the Territorial Division of the Cambridgeshire Regiment and at the outbreak of war, as a captain, was instrumental in the formation of a 2nd Reserve Battalion to replace casualties in the 1st battalion in France. Promoted to Major in 1915, he became an expert in chemical warfare and established the Anti-Gas school at Halton Camp. In 1918 he travelled to the USA and advised the US Army Gas School on training troops.

(Source Fitzwilliam Museum web site. Follow link above for pictures and more information).

There is also more detail on his involvement with the Cambridgeshire Regiment on the following website:

http://www.cambridgeshireregiment1914-18.co.uk/peck.html

There is also an overview of his contribution to life in Cambridge written by Uta Protz held by the Museum of Cambridge.

A Florence Treadgold of this address volunteered for the Red Cross and worked from 1914-1919 as a ward help at the Cintra Terrace and Wordsworth VAD hospitals.