Capturing Cambridge
  • search
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

14 Kingston Street, Cambridge

A Boarding House Keeper

1881

Eliza Robinson lives here with her daughter who is also called Eliza.  The elder Eliza is 56 and widowed.  She works as a laundress; her daughter is 16 and a dressmaker.  They have a lodger, Frederick Headdy, who is brewer from Chesterton.

1891

In 1891, Eliza Robinson is running 14 Kingston Street partly as a boarding house.  We know this because the census lists her as a “Boarding House Keeper”. However, also present is her widowed daughter Mary Bidwell and Mary’s son Harry Bidwell who works as a Librarian’s Assistant.

There are two boarders at Number 14: Herbert Flack, a 28 year old Insurance Agent from Middlesex, and Herbert Peters, a 21 year old Railway Clerk from Cambridgeshire.

1901

By 1901, 14 Kingston Street is the home of the Wilderspin family. Emily Wilderspin, aged 29, is married to 28 year old Herbert Papworth Wilderspin, working as a Carpenter. They have two young children, three year old Eveline May, and newborn Cyril Lesby.

1911

By 1911, Number 14 is home to Alice Sewell, a 24 year old from Norwich, who is married to Arthur Sewell, a 25 year old working as a Litho Printer. They have one son, 2 year old Harold.

Sources: 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911 UK Census

Contribute

Do you have any information about the people or places in this article? If so, then please let us know using the Contact page or by emailing capturingcambridge@museumofcambridge.org.uk.

Licence

This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Dear Visitor,

Thank you for exploring historical Cambridgeshire! We hope you enjoy your visit and, if you do,  would consider making a donation today.

Capturing Cambridge makes accessible thousands of photos and memories of Cambridge and its surrounding villages and towns. It is run by the Museum of Cambridge which, though 90 years old, is one of the most poorly publicly funded local history museums in the UK. It receives no core funding from local or central government nor from the University of Cambridge.

As a result, we are facing a crisis; we have no financial cushion – unlike many other museums in Cambridge – and are facing the need to drastically cut back our operations which could affect our ability to continue to run and develop this groundbreaking local history website.

If Capturing Cambridge matters to you, then the survival of the Museum of the Cambridge should matter as well. If you won’t support the preservation of your heritage, no-one else will! Your support is critical.

If you love Capturing Cambridge, and you are able to, we’d appreciate your support.

Every donation makes a world of difference.

Thank you,
Roger Lilley, Chair of Trustees
Museum of Cambridge