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12 Milford Street
A solicitor's clerk, a railway carman, a compositor, and a corset maker
12 Milford Street is one of a terrace of four houses on the north side of the street, and built in the 1870s. In trade directories up to 1935 it is referred to as Tacolnestone Terrace.
1881 census
Thomas H J Porter, head, 24, solicitor’s clerk (copyhold & general), b. Lambeth, Surrey
Sarah Porter, wife, 23, b. United States of America
Mary A E Porter, daughter, 5 months, b. Cambridge
Annie E Pratt, servant, 14, general servant domestic, b. Peckham, Surrey
The Porter family later moved to Quy Villa in Trumpington, where another four children were born. According to the 1891 census, Sarah was born in New Orleans.
1891 census
Harold Pateman, head, 22, railway carman, b. Cambridge
Elizabeth Pateman, wife, 24, b. Cambridge
Harold E F Pateman was born in Chesterton in 1868 with the name Harold Edwin Francis. In the 1871 census, aged 2, he was described as a ‘nurse child’ in the care of Alfred and Emma Pateman at 20 Russell Street, Cambridge. It is likely that he was a foundling or orphan. By 1881 Harold had taken his foster parents’ surname. The Patemans, who apparently had no living children of their own, also brought up Alfred’s niece, Emma Hales, and another ‘nurse child’, Tom Brawn. In 1891, now a widower, Alfred Pateman was living at 92 Gwydir Street along with Emma Hales and Tom Brawn.
Harold and Elizabeth Pateman moved to 180 Gwydir Street and had two children. In 1939 Harold was living there with his second wife, Ethel, and his in-laws. In 1965 he was still living there, now with his wife’s sister-in-law Elsie Poole. He died in 1967, aged 98.
1901 census
Harry E Miller, head, 25, printer & compositor, b. Cambridge
Sarah A Miller, wife, 25, b. Cambridge
Harry Miller and his siblings had been brought up in Norfolk Street by their widowed mother Mary, who worked as a college bedmaker.
1911 census
Harry E Miller, head, 35, compositor, b. Cambridge
Sarah Ann Miller, wife, 35, b. Cambridge
Elsie May Miller, daughter, 8, b. Cambridge
Mabel Annie Miller, daughter, 3, b. Cambridge
Florence Miller, sister-in-law, single, 36, corset maker, b. Cambridge
Married 10 years, 2 children
1939 England and Wales register
Harry E Miller, 7 Aug 1875, married, compositor
Sarah A Miller, 21 Nov 1875, married, unpaid domestic duties
Catherine M Curtis, 10 Mar 1870, widowed, unpaid domestic duties
Harry and Sarah Miller were still living at 12 Milford Street in 1950.
Sources
UK census records (1841 to 1911), General Register Office birth, marriage and death indexes (1837 onwards), the 1939 England and Wales Register, and electoral registers.
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