87 Ainsworth Street

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The Easton family

Number 87 is one of a pair of terraced houses on the west side of Ainsworth Street.

The 1871 census records 21 inhabited houses in Ainsworth Street, plus another 9 under construction. However, they are not numbered, and at present it is not possible to identify all of them.

From the 1881 to the 1911 census we have evidence that there was a family called Easton residing at this property. The head of the household, James Easton, was a bricklayer for all of his working life. What do we know about James Easton before he moved to Ainsworth Street?

James Easton was born in 1834, and is first listed in the 1841 census, aged 7 and living with his family in St Ives. In 1851 he is living with what appears to be his aunt’s family, along with his brother, in Merry Hill, St Ives. Louisa Mason was also born in 1834, in Godmanchester, Huntingdonshire. We first find her on the 1841 census, aged 7, living with her parents, five brothers, a sister and a lodger or visitor. In 1851, she is working as a house servant with the Prior family, who are chemists. Some time after this she meets James Easton, and in 1856 they marry in St Ives, before moving to Hemingford Grey, with four children, by 1861. Their four children are Matilda, aged 5, Sarah, aged 3, Joseph, aged 2, and Mary Jane, aged 8 months. James Easton is working as a bricklayer, and Louisa is listed as a bricklayer’s wife. Matilda and Sarah are both listed as scholars, so the Eastons have sent their children to school. In the 1871 census, we can see they have moved to Cambridge, living on Cambridge Road in Cherry Hinton, and have had another four children: Ruth, aged 8, Alfred, aged 4, Charlie, aged 2, and Emily, aged 6 months. Matilda, who by now is 15, is working as domestic servant for the Sarjant family in St Ives, who run a grocery. Sarah has also got a job as a domestic servant, working for the Johnson family, who are also grocers.

The Electoral Register indicates that they had moved to Ainsworth Street by 1872 (narrowly missing inclusion in the 1871 census). The 1881 census tells us they were living at no. 87, with two more children, Ada and Alice.

1881 census

James Easton, head, 47, bricklayer, b. St Ives, Huntingdonshire
Louisa Easton, wife, 47, b. Godmanchester, Huntingdonshire
Joseph Easton, son, 22, gas fitter, b. St Ives, Huntingdon, Huntingdonshire
Alfred J Easton, son, 13, errand boy, b. St Ives, Huntingdonshire
Charlie Easton, son, 12, scholar, b. St Ives, Huntingdonshire
Emily Easton, daughter, 10, scholar, b. St Ives, Huntingdonshire
Ada Easton, daughter, 8, scholar, b. Cambridge
Alice Easton, daughter, 6, scholar, b. Cambridge

Mary Jane, now 20, has moved out, and is working as a domestic nurse in Panton House, one of five staff members looking after the family of Charles F Foster, who is listed as a ‘magistrate, banker and corn merchant’. Ruth, now 18, has also moved out, and is working as a servant at one of the colleges. Joseph, still at home, is now a gas fitter, fitting things such as gas lamps and lead gas pipes. Alfred is working as an errand boy, and Charlie, Emily, Ada and Alice are all in education.

1891 census

James Easton, head, 57, bricklayer, b. St Ives, Huntingdonshire
Louisa Easton, wife, 57, b. Godmanchester, Huntingdonshire
Charlie Easton, son, 22, sorting clerk, PO, b. Hemingford Grey, Huntingdonshire
Alice L Easton, daughter, 16, mother’s help, b. Cambridge

Now Joseph, Alfred, Emily and Ada have all moved out. Joseph, now 27, is working as a whitesmith, living just round the corner on Sturton Street with his wife Caroline and their two children, Caroline and Horace. Alfred, now 23, is also working as a whitesmith, living on Stone Street with his wife Hannah and son Charles. Emily, now 20, is working as a domestic servant for the Dickson family, who are college tutors, and finally Ada, now 18, is working as a domestic nurse in the home of the Ingle family, Mr Ingle being a GP.

James Easton is still a bricklayer. Charlie Easton is listed as ‘sorting clerk PO’, which suggests he is working locally, at the Post Office sorting office on Mill Road. Alice Easton is listed as mother’s help, ‘dom’, which suggests she was helping her mother in the house, or she may have worked locally for a family with many children who needed and could afford a daily worker.

1901 census

James Easton, head, 67, bricklayer, b. St Ives, Hampshire
Louisa Easton, wife, 67, b. Godmanchester, Hampshire
Alice L Easton, daughter, 26, b. Cambridge

In 1901 James Easton, now 67, is still working as a bricklayer. Alice Easton has no job listed, suggesting she is still helping her mother about the house. Charlie Easton has now moved out; by 1911 he was living on Montague Road in Chesterton with his wife Rose Maud and son Leonard Horace. He had worked his way through the ranks of the Post Office and become the Assistant Superintendent of the Cambridge Post Office. His son was working as clerk at the Gas Office. The fact that Alfred Easton, a bricklayer’s son, has risen to quite a senior administrative role in the Post Office shows the importance of education.

1911 census

Louisa Easton, head, widow, 77, private means, b. Godmanchester
Ruth Easton, daughter, 48, b. St Ives, Huntingdonshire
Alice Louisa Easton, daughter, 36, b. Cambridge
12 Easton children, 3 died

James Easton died in 1909, aged 72. The average life expectancy for someone born in the 1830s was around 40 years, so he had lived a long life, and was still working into his 60s. In 1911, 87 Ainsworth Street was still home to the Easton family. Louisa Easton was living off her own means with two of her daughters: Ruth, having presumably returned from a service job, and Alice, who had remained with her mother throughout her life. Sadly, Louisa passed away in the latter half of 1911. Alice Easton can be found on the 1939 register, taken at the outbreak of the Second World War, living with the Howe family on Highworth Avenue in Chesterton. She was 74, single, and listed as ‘nurse (incapacitated)’. She passed away in 1957. Ruth Easton is also in the 1939 register, a retired housekeeper, living on Devonshire Road.

1921 census

Thomas William Bailey, head, 27, repairs of locomotive & motor lorries, GER, b. Stratford, London
Florence Emily Bailey, wife, 27, home duties, b. Feltham, Middlesex
Harold Thomas Bailey, son, 2, b. Teddington, Middlesex

Sources: 1851–1921 Census, 1939 Register

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