37 Abbey Walk

A miller, a chauffeur, and a laboratory assistant

37 Abbey Walk is one of a terrace of six houses built in the 1890s and referred to as Rosa Terrace in some early census records.

1901 census for 2 Rosa Terrace, Abbey Walk

George M Malyon, head, 41, miller, b. Little Bury, Essex
Amelia Malyon, wife, 41, b. Cambridge
Clifford G Malyon, son, 4 months, b. Cambridge

1911 census for 37 Abbey Walk

Leonard C Sparks [or Sparkes], head, 26, coachman domestic, b. Cambridge
Emma Sparks, wife, 26, b. Chesterton, Cambridgeshire
Married under 1 year

Two months after the census, the Sparkes’ daughter was born, and they named her Queenie Mary Elizabeth Sparkes.

Leonard Charles Sparkes worked as a chauffeur (Cambridge Chronicle, 12 June 1916), and was an active member of the Beaconsfield Club, a working men’s club on the corner of Upper Gwydir Street and Milford Street. In 1916 he joined the Army Service Corps to serve in France. Within a few months he was wounded in the head by a shell while transporting ammunition, and died of his injuries at Netley Hospital in Hampshire. He is buried in Mill Road Cemetery:

Leonard Charles Sparkes

1921 census for 37 Abbey Walk

Thomas William Hall, head, 62, railway engine driver, G E R, b. Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire
Sarah Rebecca Hall, wife, 63, home duties, b. Chesterton
George Frederick Hall, son, 30, cabinet maker, W Eaden Lilley & Co, General Stores, b. Cambridge
Arthur Charles Hall, son, 24, no occupation, b. Cambridge
Hilda May Hall, daughter, 18, home duties, b. Cambridge

1939 England and Wales register

Sarah R Hall, 20 Sep 1857, widowed, unpaid house duties
George F Hall, 5 Sep 1890, single, cabinet maker
Arthur C Hall, 23 Jun 1897, single, laboratory assistant (eng.)
Hilda M Hall, 6 Feb 1903, single, unpaid house duties

Siblings Arthur and Hilda Hall continued living there – Arthur until his death in 1971 and Hilda until at least 1975. She died in 1981.

Sources

UK census records (1841 to 1921), General Register Office birth, marriage and death indexes (1837 onwards), the 1939 England and Wales Register, electoral registers, trade directories, local newspapers available via www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk, and Friends of Mill Road Cemetery.