91 Ainsworth Street

Annie Osborne's laundry

Number 91 is a mid-terrace property on the west side of Ainsworth Street.

The 1871 census records 21 inhabited houses in Ainsworth Street, plus another 9 under construction. However, they are not numbered, and at present it is not possible to identify all of them.

1881 census

Thomas G Brown, head, 43, coal agent, b. Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Sarah E Brown, wife, 43, b. London
Emily S Brown, daughter, 20,  music teacher, b. Cambridge
Jessie Brown, daughter, 17, music teacher, b. Cambridge
Ada S Brown, daughter, 15, scholar, b. Cambridge
Edward B Brown, son, 13, factory lad, b. Cambridge
Henry G Brown, son, 11, scholar, b. Cambridge
Frank R Brown, son, 9, scholar, b. Cambridge
Eva I Brown, daughter, 7, scholar, b. Cambridge
Flora H Brown, daughter, 5, scholar, b. Cambridge
Percy J Brown, son, 2, b. Cambridge
Infant Brown, son, 1 week, b. Cambridge
Sarah I Brooker, mother-in-law, widow, 70, annuity, b. Cambridge

Thomas Brown would have worked for one of the many coal merchants in the area. His job would have been to manage the transfer of coal between merchant and owner, so he would have either delivered or overseen delivery of coal to houses in the local neighbourhoods.

1891 census

Henry Osborne, head, 48, railway ticket collector, b. Epping, Essex
Annie Osborne, wife, 45, laundress, b. Trumpington, Cambridgeshire
Maud Ella Osborne, daughter, 23, dressmaker & milliner, b. Trumpington, Cambridgeshire
Florence M Osborne, daughter, 8, scholar, b. Cambridge
Ralph V Osborne, son, 3, b. Cambridge
Robert Charles Osborne, son, 19, engineer’s labourer, b. Trumpington, Cambridgeshire
Jane Turner, servant, 21, general servant, b. Cambridge

The Osborne family lived at 17 Ainsworth Street in 1881.

Henry Osborne, as a ticket collector, had a fairly well-paid clerical job, and his wife Annie had her own laundry business. The house had been extended to fit in two coppers downstairs and a drying room upstairs. The family was also able to afford a domestic servant.

1901 census

Henry Osborne, head, 58, railway ticket collector, b. Epping, Essex
Annie Osborne, wife, 55, laundress, b. Trumpington, Cambridgeshire
Elizabeth Osborne, daughter, 35, domestic lady’s maid, b. Trumpington, Cambridgeshire
Maud Jacob, daughter, 34, b. Trumpington, Cambridgeshire
Florence M Osborne, daughter, 19, domestic nurse, b. Cambridge
Ralph V Osborne, son, 13, b. Cambridge
Elsie Jacob, granddaughter, 2, b. Chesterton, Cambridgeshire
William Harper, boarder, 17, errand boy, b. Dry Drayton, Cambridgeshire
Eliza Beyler, boarder, 15, domestic servant, b. Milton, Cambridgeshire

The Osbornes’ daughter Maud has married and had a daughter, and is still living in the family home. On census night her husband, Edward Albert Jacob, was travelling, perhaps for reasons connected to his work as a hairdresser. He was staying with a family in Leominster, Herefordshire, headed by Louis Bause, a hairdresser born in Göttingen, Germany.

1911 census

Annie Osborne, head, widow, 65, laundress, employer, at home, b. Newnham, Cambridgeshire
Elizabeth Annie Osborne, daughter, at home, 45, b. Trumpington, Cambridgeshire
Maud Eleanor Jacob, daughter, 44, b. Trumpington, Cambridgeshire
Edward Albert Jacob, son-in-law, 40, hairdresser, b. Cambridge
Elsie Osborne Jacob, grandaughter, 12, at school, b. Chesterton, Cambridgeshire
George Minns, servant, single, 27, general servant (domestic), b. Chesterton, Cambridgeshire

The Osbornes had had seven children, of which one had died.

Henry Osborne died in 1902, but in 1911 Annie was still working as a laundress out of the family home. Maud was still resident, now with her husband as well as her daughter.

1921 census

Ellen Garner, head, widow, 37, household duties, b. Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire
Leonard Garner, son, 11, b. Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire
Phoebe Garner, daughter, 10, b. Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire
Robert Garner, son, 9, b. Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire
Helen Garner, daughter, 6, b. Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire
Joan Garner, daughter, 3, b. Cambridge
Harriett Bloom, boarder, single, 87, b. Cambridge

Sources: 1881–1921 England Census, England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index 1837–1915