12 Stone Street, Cambridge

The Easton Family

Number 12 was one of a terrace of seven houses on the south side of Stone Street and was built in 1881.  The terrace was demolished, so this property no longer exists.

1891 – 1966

The 1891 Census shows that Alfred James Easton is head of household at 12 Stone Street.  Alfred is a 23-year-old whitesmith, he grew up at 87 Ainsworth Street, the son of a bricklayer.  Alfred married Hannah Sindell in 1889.  Hannah was born in Ely.

They have one child, 4-month-old Charles William.

By the time of the 1901 Census the couple have three more children.  Ruth is 7, Gertrude Hannah is 3 and Elsie is 11-months-old.

Alfred has changed profession by the time of the 1911 Census, he is now a plumber and painter. Ruth, now 17, and Gertrude, now 13, are both day girls, which means they were domestic servants.  There are three more young children.  Elsie Ann, 10, Alfred James, 8, and Percy John Edward, 5.  They are all school children.

Charles has left home and is boarding in Finchley and working as a fishmonger.

Ruth married Frederick Tyler in 1911. By 1939 she is living at 92A York Street with Frederick and at least three grown up children.

Alfred senior died in 1923.  The Birmingham Daily Gazette reported that “Alfred James Easton, engineer at The Leys School, Cambridge, who was knocked down by a bicycle on Sunday, died in hospital yesterday without recovering consciousness.”

Elsie married Robert Grange, a police constable, in 1925. The 1939 register records the couple living on Saxon Road.  Robert has retired from the police force, but re-joins the 1st Police War Reserve in the second world war.

Alfred junior married Maud Cage in 1925 and Elizabeth McNab in 1935.  By 1939 he is living at Ditton Fields and working as a storeman.  A note in the margin records that he works as an A.R.P on a first aid post and also volunteers with St John’s Ambulance.

Percy married Ida Ryder in 1928.  In 1939 he is working as a milling machinist and living on Maple Close.

Hannah died in 1939.

Gertrude never married and the Electoral Registers show her living at 12 Stone Street until at least 1966.

Sources: 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911 UK Census, Cambridgeshire Electoral Registers, Burgess Rolls and Poll Books (1722-1966), Birmingham Daily Gazette 28 August 1923, Civil Registration Marriage Index (1916-2005),