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The Geldart, 1 Ainsworth Street

The Geldart Public House

The Geldart name has survived to this day, still on the corner of Sleaford Street and Ainsworth Street.

The pub gets its name from the original landowner of the land it was built upon, James William Geldart. Geldart, an academic at the University, died in 1878, after the pub is first recorded. However, it is likely that he sold off much of this land during the later stages of his life, or passed it down to his son who would have then sold before moving back to his ancestral Yorkshire home. We have evidence he sold it to Joseph Sturton, who laid out the streets and sold off building plots in the Sturton Town area and built some of the houses.

1881 census

William H Cawthorn, head, 37, innkeeper ‘The Geldart’, b. Cambridge
Sarah Cawthorn, wife, 25, b. Cambridge

In the 1879 Post Office Directory of Cambridgeshire, William Henry Cawthorn is listed as innkeeper at the Geldart, as he is in the 1880 Barnwell Polling Directory and on the 1881 Census. He lived at the Geldart with his wife Sarah Emma (née Livermore), whom he married in 1874.

William was the son of a brewer, also called William Cawthorn. His family lived at 40 Gold Street in 1861. The Sovereign Brewery is at no. 39 on the Census. This was sited where the Grafton Centre is today.

Before becoming a brewer and publican, William was a tailor and also spent four years serving in the Royal Artillery as a Gunner. He was discharged in November 1871 after he broke his left leg in an accident. The Medical Officer wrote that William has ‘paralysis of the left foot … likely to be permanent … doubtful if he will be able to contribute to his own support’.

Sarah died in 1898, aged 44. William died on 11 October 1904, aged 60. He was a brewer living at 8 James Street. They are buried in Mill Road Cemetery.

1891 census

James Squires Jennings, head, 39, publican, b. Walworth, London
Selina Ann Jennings, wife, 40, b. Sawston, Cambridgeshire
Lilley Jennings, daughter, 11

Prior to running the Geldart, James Jennings was publican at the White Lion Inn, Sawston.

His daughter Lily married Frederick Maltby, a commercial traveller in the drapery business, on Boxing Day 1901. She had ‘formerly been a teacher at the St, Phillips and British day schools’ (Cambridge Independent Press, 3 Jan 1902).

James and his family moved to 32 Cockburn Street, where he became a shopkeeper and grocer. James and Selina remained there until they died – James  in January 1927 and Selina in April 1935.

1901 census

Azariah Vine, head, 60, publican, b. Veryan, Cornwall
Jane Vine, wife, 52, b. Devonport, Devon
Elizabeth A Vine, daughter, 32, b. Aldershot, Hampshire
Lucy Vine, daughter, 20, b. Ely, Cambridgeshire
Edward J Vine, son, 17, b. Ely, Cambridgeshire

Azariah Vine joined the Royal Cornwall Rangers Regiment of Militia as a boy of 17 and then transferred to  the 1st Battalion 12th Suffolk Regiment of Foot. He served for nearly 21 years, including 7 in the Australian Colonies and New Zealand, where he received the New Zealand War Medal, before transferring to the Permanent Staff of the Cambridge Militia.

Jane and Azariah had at least nine children, of which three were living with them at the Geldart in 1891, including Elizabeth (baptised Ellen Emily) and Edward (baptised Edwin).

Edwin Vine and Daisy Halford married at St Andrew the Less on 5 September 1905.

On the 1910 land tax register, the pub is listed as owned by Star Brewery of Newmarket Road.

1911 census

Daisy Esther Vine, wife, 28, publican’s wife, b. Cambridge
Eddie Vine, son, 4
Kathleen Vine, daughter, 2
Azariah Vine, father-in-law, widower, 70, army pensioner, b. Tregony, Cornwall
Married 5 years, 2 children

By 1911, the Vine family still run the Geldart, only now it’s run by  Daisy Vine. Her husband Edwin is boarding in Fulham, working as a plumber for an exhibition. Azariah still lives with them at the Geldart.

Azariah died in 1912 at 25 Hermitage Road, Finsbury Park. Probate to Edwin James Vine, cinematograph attendant.

1921 census

William Henry Beedom, head, 32, publican, b. Worcestershire
Ethel M Beedom, wife, 26, publican’s assistant, b. Peckham, London
Felix Beedom, brother, 30, draper, b. Worcestershire
Flossie Beedom, sister, 22, typist, b. Willesden, London
Joy Brett, servant, 17, general domestic servant, b. Stratford, London

William Beedom and Ethel Horwood had married in the autumn of 1920. William’s brother Felix worked as a draper for H G Trott Travelling Draper, 4 Tenison Road, and his sister Flossie was a typist for F E Chapman & Co Ltd, Broad Street, Ely.

Sources: 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911 & 1921 Census , 1910 land tax records, 1879 Post Office Directory of Cambridgeshire, 1880 Barnwell Polling Directory, England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915, British Army Service Records, London Gazette 29 Nov 1904, Cambridge Independent Press, 14 Oct 1904, Mill Road Cemetery, England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995, 1939 Register, Cambridge Daily News 06 June 1889, Cambridge Independent Press 03 January 1902

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