14 Ainsworth Street, Cambridge

14 Ainsworth Street

Number 14 is one of a terrace of seven houses on the east side of Ainsworth Street.

1881 census

Harry E Langford, head, 26, fitter’s assistant on GER, b. Cambridge
Alice Langford, wife, 25, dressmaker, b. Cambridge
Alice M Langford, daughter, 5, b. Cambridge

By 1888 the house had new residents, the Polled family: carriage painter Henry Frederick Polled and his wife Ada Annie, aged 20. The reason we know this is because the papers reported on Ada’s sad death in 1888 (Cambridge Chronicle and Journal, 21 Sep 1888). The couple had only been married for ten months and had an 8-week-old son.

They went out one evening to visit his father on East Road, but Ada decided not to go in, but to walk home. A witness says he saw her on the bank of the Cam and her sister reported that Ada had often ‘talked of the water’.

The police found her the following evening and the jury returned a verdict of ‘suicide while temporarily insane’.

1891 census

Christopher Pollard, head, 36, baker, b. Croydon, Surrey
Louisa Pollard, wife, 34, b. Cambridge
Joseph Pollard, son, 12, scholar, b. Cambridge
Christopher Pollard, son, 5, scholar, b. Redhill, Surrey
Louisa Pollard, daughter, 4, scholar, b. Cambridge
Mary M Pollard, daughter, 1, scholar, b. Cambridge

By 1895 the Pollard family had moved to 116 Norfolk Street. In 1902 Joseph Pollard married Mary Elizabeth Newman, who grew up on York Street. He was a plumber by trade and they moved to Enfield.

Christopher and Louisa Pollard are buried in Mill Road Cemetery.

1901 census

Pattie Cowell, head, married, 25, b. Cambridge
Alfred Cowell, son, 11 months, b. Cambridge

1911 census

Harry Walter Maltby, head, 25, oil and colourman’s assistant, b. Cambridge
Martha Mary Maltby, wife, 24, b. Newmarket, Cambridgeshire

Harry Maltby and his wife Martha (née Diver) had been married less than a year. A daughter was born in October 1911. By 1918 they had moved to 3 Ainsworth Street.

1921 census

George Everest, head, 45, gas worker (stoker), b. Maidstone, Kent
Florence Emily Everest, wife, 33, b. Cambridge
Hilda Mary Everest, daughter,  9, b. Cambridge
Hilda Elizabeth Cooker, niece, 12, b. Maidstone, Kent

George Everest was a gas stoker employed by the Cambridge University Town Gas Light Company, based on Newmarket Road.

Sources: UK census records (1881 to 1921), Mill Road Cemetery, Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 21 September 1888, Cambridgeshire, England, Electoral Registers, Burgess Rolls and Poll Books, 1722–1966