19 Hooper Street

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A mangler, a leather dresser and a boot maker

18 Hooper Street is in Leeds Terrace, which was built in the 1870s.

1881 census

Ursula Bareford, widow, 25, mangling, b. Feltwell, Norfolk
Ethel M. Bareford, daughter, 3, b. Cambridge
Frederic G. Bareford, son, 2, b. Cambridge
Lilian Bareford, daughter, 1, b. Cambridge
Rosezilah [Rosella] Bareford, sister, 16, b. Feltwell, Norfolk
William Leah, lodger, 26, blacksmith’s striker, b. March, Cambridgeshire

Ursula Richardson came from Feltwell, Norfolk, where her father Walter was a tailor. She had come to Cambridge in her teens to work as a servant, and in 1877 she married George Bareford, a railway employee. George died in 1880, leaving her with three small children.

Ursula later married Robert Howell, a railway guard, and the family moved to Doncaster for railway work. Rosella married labourer John Lambert and stayed in the Mill Road area of Cambridge. William Leah married and raised a family in Bishop’s Stortford.

1891 census

Richard Farr, 72, retired leather dresser, b. Worcester City
Sarah Farr, 52, b. Cambridge
John Clark, lodger, 23, carpenter, b. Soham, Cambridgeshire

Ten years later John Clark was living at no. 16 with his wife and family.

1901 census

William Smith, 29, boot maker, b. Hemingford, Huntingdonshire
Hepzibah Smith, aunt, 62, b. Hemingford, Huntingdonshire
Cecil Smith, brother, 26, stone mason, b. Hemingford, Huntingdonshire

William and Cecil Smith were born in Hemingford Grey in the 1870s and were orphaned at a young age, spending their childhood with their grandparents and a succession of aunts and uncles – most recently their uncle George Smith at 83 Ainsworth Street in 1891. Their aunt Hephzibah had spent her working life in service, but had become housekeeper to her nephews by 1901.

1911 census

Hephzibah Smith, single, 71, b. Hemingford Abbotts, Huntingdonshire
William Smith, nephew, single, 38, boot-maker, b. Hemingford Grey, Huntingdonshire
Charles Smith, boarder, single, 20, jobbing gardener, b. Fen Ditton

By 1911 Cecil had married and was raising a family nearby in Devonshire Road.

1921 census

Hepzibah Smith, head, 80, home duties, b. Hemingford Abbotts, Huntingdonshire
William Smith, nephew, 49, boot and shoe maker, b. Hemingford Grey, Huntingdonshire

William remained a bachelor until Hephzibah died in 1922, at which point he immediately married Mabel Merry, a local woman who worked in service. William was 50 and Mabel was 35. Mabel outlived William by some years, and was still living at 19 Hooper Street in 1970.

Sources

UK census records (1841 to 1921), General Register Office birth, marriage and death indexes (1837 onwards), the 1939 England and Wales Register, electoral registers and trade directories.

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