29 York Street, Cambridge

The History of the Bowers Family

1880 – 1912

Samson George Bowers married Eliza Clark in 1878. On the 1881 and 1891 Census returns he just goes by the name “George Bowers”. In 1881 he is 32, a brewers’ labourer from Horseheath. Eliza is 36 and from Cambridge.

Eliza has four children from her first marriage. Louisa is 15 and employed as a servant, she was born in Ampthill, Bedfordshire and baptised as “Mary Louisa”. Emily Jane is 10, Alice Eliza, is 9 and Julia Ann is 5. The younger girls were all born in Cambridge. Their father, Robert Clark, died in 1876 aged 32.

By 1891 George is working as locomotive labourer for the Great Eastern Railway. Eliza is a sick nurse and Julia is a dressmaker. George and Eliza now have a son called Arthur Edward, who is four years old.

Mary Louisa married Walter Griggs in 1896, they lived in Islington.

Alice Eliza married tailor Henry Gilby in 1897. They are living at Catherine Street on the 1901 Census.

Julia Ann married cashier Richard Sherwood in 1900, they also lived in Islington. She died in 1903.

George goes  by his full name of Samson George Bowers on the 1901 Census. He is now a railway engine fitter’s assistant. Arthur is now 14.

Eliza died on 10 November 1905. She was 61.

Arthur married Maud Mary Easter in 1909. They can be found on the 1911 Census living in Lincolnshire where Arthur is employed as a Chauffeur.

By 1911 Samson George Bowers is 62and living alone at 29 York Street. He is still employed as a fitter’s assistant. George recorded that he was married for 32 years and had two children, one of whom (Arthur) is still alive.

George died in 1912 aged 63. He is buried with Eliza in Mill Road Cemetery.

Sources: 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911 UK Census, Horseheath.info (archived copy), Civil Registration Marriage Index (837-1915), Cambridgeshire, Electoral Registers, Burgess Rolls and Poll Books (1722-1966), MillRoadCemetery.org.uk,