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Number 46 is one of a terrace of four houses standing on the east side of Ainsworth Street.
Walter J Thompson, 31, Carpenter, b. Kingston, Cambridgeshire
Mary Thompson, 33, b. Burwell, Cambridgeshire
Lily G Thompson, 3, b. Cambridge
William John Tiplady, a 31-year-old bootmaker from Cambridge is living here with his wife Alice (nee Greenwood). They married in 1886. Between 1901 and 1911 they are living at 86 Ainsworth Street.
1897: Ebenezer Impson, baker, of 46 Ainsworth Street, is in court as a witness to a crime committed on Newmarket Road. Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 24 September 1897
William Shepherd, 27, a coal porter on the Great Eastern Railway, is living here with his wife Julia (26) by 1901. They have two small daughters, Lizzie (baptised Julia Elizabeth) (3) and Elsie Maud (16 months).
By 1911 Lizzie is now 13 (and going by her full name of Elizabeth) and Elsie is 11. There are three more children in the family, William Albert (8), May Victoria (5) and Frederick Samuel (1). The Census records that William and Julia had eight children, five of whom are still living.
On the 1921 Census, William is working as Fire Lighter for the G.E.R. His son, William is now 18 and a painter’s labourer for Mr Beasley, Painter and House Decorator. He does record, however, that he is currently out of work.
May is 15 and does tailoring for the Cooperative Society. Fred is 11 and at school. Three more Shepherd children have been born since the last census. Arthur Sidney is 9, Ida Florence is 5 and Harry George is 2. William and Julia also have a granddaughter (who was born in London) living with them.
Elsie has married Redg Withinshaw (that’s the correct spelling!) and lives in Hackney.
May marries Edward Alexander Redvers Pilsworth from 17 Ainsworth Street in 1926.
“SHEPHERD – On Friday, April 28th 1939, Frederick Samuel Shepherd, aged 29 years, of 46 Ainsworth Street, Cambridge. Internment at Borough Cemetery, 2:30 Wednesday May 3rd.” Cambridge Daily News 01 May 1939
Harry served as a Private with the 5th Suffolks (5th Battalion) in World War 2. He was captured in Singapore on the 15th February 1942. His POW index cards records his occupation as Cook. Harry was held in Thailand, and was released on 2nd September 1945.
William is still living at number 46 in 1939. He is now a Widowed Pensioner living with his son William Albert. The younger William is a painter’s labourer.
Sources – 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911 & 1921 Census, 1939 Register, Cambridgeshire Baptisms, Cambridgeshire Marriages, Prisoners Of War 1715-1945, World War 2 Allies Collection,
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