25 Hooper Street

A widow on parish relief, a postman and a milkman

25 Hooper Street is one of a terrace of five houses on the south side of Hooper Street.

1881 census

Mary Strand, widow, 66, no occupation, parish relief, b. Balsham, Cambridgeshire
Caroline Strand, daughter, 26, mantle maker, b. Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire
Clara Strand, granddaughter, 9, scholar, b. Cottenham, Cambridgeshire

Clara was Caroline’s daughter. Caroline had married William Topping in 1869 in Cottenham, and was living there with him and baby Clara at the time of the 1871 census.

In 1888  Mary Strand applied for help from the Cambridge Charity Organisation Society (Cambridgeshire Archives K1350/1/1703). Her daughter Caroline was unable to continue supporting her because of illness, confimed to be tuberculosis. Her granddaughter Clara (named Clara Cross in the documents and said to be an orphan) was still living with her, but was doing only a little dressmaking, unable to support two other adults. Character witnesses – including Mrs Smith, baker, of 80 Kingston Street – stated that the family were quiet and respectable, and deserving of help. The Charity referred the family for Poor Law relief.

By 1911 Mary Strand was an inmate of Cambridge Workhouse on Mill Road, and she died later that year.

1891 census

Phillip G Mudd, 36, town postman, b. Cambridge
Martha E Mudd, 33, b. Holt, Norfolk

This couple have moved to 77 Sturton Street by 1901.

1901 census

Joseph Kester, 29, street cleaner, b. Swavesey, Cambridgeshire
Ellen Ann Kester, 37, b. Cherry Hinton, Cambridgeshire

1911 census

Joseph Kester, 39, general labourer, b. Swavesey
Ellen Kester, 47, b. Cherry Hinton

1921 census

Joseph Kester, head, 50, builder’s labourer, W Saint & Son, b. Swavesey, Cambridgeshire
Ellen Ann Kester, wife, 58, home duties, b. Cherry Hinton, Cambridgeshire

Ellen Kester died in 1923. In 1925 Joseph married a second wife, Jane, who was to outlive him. In 1939, at the beginning of the Second World War, Jane took on duties as an air raid warden.

Sources

UK census records (1841 to 1921), General Register Office birth, marriage and death indexes (1837 onwards), the 1939 England and Wales Register, and electoral registers.