Down Your Street, Sara Payne. II East Cambridge. Index of Chapter 18, Norfolk Street

Below is a brief overview and index to Chapter 18 of Sara Payne's book Down Your Street, to help people decide if it's a book that's of interest to them either for local history research or family history.

This chapter is four pages long and looks at Norfolk Street, the date 26 March 1981 is given in the page title.

The Norfolk Street pages contain some interesting snippets and interviews with residents current at that time, but, personally, it was a little shorter than I'd have liked as I had relatives there.  Martha Ann Maltby was my great-grandmother's sister and I know my own mother visited the Maltbys of Norfolk Street regularly.  They got just one mention, that "the Maltby brothers" lived in a particular house!

Living people named/interviewed: 
Miss Enid Porter; Mr & Mrs Ulla Printz-Pahlson; Mrs Florence Harben; Terrence Whitehead; Frank Whitehead; Goodes; Maltby brothers; Mr & Mrs GB Taylor; Rev S Sims; Mr Haynes; Richard Frost, Peter Frost; Miss Iris Franklin; Roy Townsend; Mrs Ada Warwick; Frank Wilson; Mr RB Speechley; Richard Bridgeman, Walter Bridgeman; Mike Smith (of TV furniture show), Jill Smith; Richard Frost; Gordon Ison.

Historical figures mentioned: 
Miss Porter, Mrs Scott; FT Unwin; Octavius Ruse;

Photos in Chapter 18: 

• Quarter page photo of Florence Harben, one of the oldest residents in Norfolk Street.
• Half page photo of Mr and Mrs GB Taylor, outside their fish and chip shop, 62 Norfolk Street. 
• Half page photo of Colin Walsh, director of Book Production Consultants, who had premises in Norfolk Street. 

Discover other roads published in this book: Index of Streets in Down Your Street

Down Your Street, Sara Payne. II East Cambridge. Index of Chapter 5, Orchard Street

Below is a brief overview and index to chapter 5 of Sara Payne's book Down Your Street, to help people decide if it's a book that's of interest to them either for local history research or family history.

This chapter is five pages long and looks at Orchard Street, the date 23 April to 3 May 1984 is given in the page title.  I didn't feel that this chapter had as much anecdotal content as the Maid's Causeway chapter, but the interviews with the residents were exciting glimpses into their past or the past of their house/road.  Orchard Street is a small street, so there are fewer residents to be able to generate these snippets we seek!

Built in 1825, the row of cottages in Orchard Street, Cambridge are chocolate-box gorgeous.

Living people named/interviewed: 
Mrs Kidd, Mrs Gladys Cable, Percy Wing, Sylvia Wing, Miss Kathleen Humm, Henry Humm, Henry Cable, Margaret Cable, John Fletcher, Marjorie Hopkins, Jodrell Hopkins, Paul Jodrell,

Archivists and other authors who helped with background/research: David Chaffin, Miss Ena Mitchell (author of Notes on the History of Parker's Piece), Martha German (of Emmanuel Road)

Historical figures mentioned: 
Charles Humfrey, Miss Annie Ayres, Ann Howard, Duke of Gloucester, Prince Richard, John Clark,

Photos in Chapter 5: 

• Half page photo of Orchard Street in August 1938, 
• Full page drawing of Charles Humfrey, 
• 1/4 page photo of Mrs Gladys Cable with her porcelain cat, 
• 1/2 page photo of the Golden Rose public house in 1912, with what are probably the publicans and a younger woman standing outside (servant or daughter?)

Discover other roads published in this book: Index of Streets in Down Your Street


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Down Your Street, Sara Payne. II East Cambridge. Index of Chapter 4, Willow Walk

Below is a brief overview and index to Chapter 4 of Sara Payne's book Down Your Street, to help people decide if it's a book that's of interest to them either for local history research or family history.

This chapter is five pages long and looks at Willow Walk, the dates 29 December 1983 to 12 January 1984 are given in the page title.

This chapter listed the residents who lived in Willow Walk during the 1851 Census, but not in any detail, just the family names/occupants. e.g. Mr X, wife and daughters. At the time of publication, this information would've been hard to come by for those interested, although now, 30 years on, this information's freely available so it did feel a bit of a "space filler". A few residents had a brief line or two in interview, but nothing too in-depth.

Living people named/interviewed: 
Dorothy Silberston; Frank King, Dorothy King; Robin Anderson, Jenny Anderson; Nick Humfreys; Kirkbride, Carter and Robins, vets; Frank Bush; Philip Nightingale; Mrs Edna O'Connell (Ned); Sir Henry Lintott, Lady Lintott; Dr John Hodgkin;

Historical figures mentioned: 
Charles Humfrey; James Wyatt, RA Surveyor; William Port; Mr Scales; Ian Fleming (not the author); Mary Bernard; John Morton; William Bradford; Misses Curzon, two sisters;

Residents mentioned from the 1851 Census: 
Charles Dyer, William Lofts, Thomas Cole, Thomas Colston, William Thirkettle, Joseph Mansfield, William Hunt, Susannah Jarrold, Matthew Allis, Fanny Vials, Sarah Cullington, Elizabeth Poole, Mary Youngman, Thomas Cross, Mary Barrett, David Rootham, William Lusher, William Smith.

Photos in Chapter 4: 

• Half page photo of houses in Willow Walk
• Half page photo of the pavement along Willow Walk
• Half page photo of Mr Frank Bush in his garage at Willow Walk
• Quarter page photo of the oldest resident at the Church Army Hostel in Willow Walk, Mr Harold Clarke, who was born in Peterborough in 1901.

Historians in Research: 

• Mr AP Baggs, (Tony Baggs) who used to live at Willow Walk, editor of "Victoria County History";

Discover other roads published in this book: Index of Streets in Down Your Street

Down Your Street, Sara Payne. II East Cambridge. Index of Chapter 3, Maid's Causeway

Below is a brief overview and index to chapter 3 of Sara Payne's book Down Your Street, to help people decide if it's a book that's of interest to them either for local history research or family history.

This chapter is nine pages long and looks at Maid's Causeway and Doll's Close, the date 10-17 May 1984
 is given in the page title.

Being much larger than the previous chapters it contains more interviews with local residents, who also fill in some background about their house, their spouses and their work.  Those listed below as living/interviewed are most likely to yield details of their lives, whereas the historical people mentioned might simply be a name on a list of who owned a piece of land a particular house was built on.  The "historical" names are probably of lesser interest, but sometimes there's a nugget of information for those interested in those characters.

Living people named/interviewed: 

• Richard Levente, Madge Levente, Margaret Laing, Mrs Margaret Reiss, Dr Bernard Butts Reiss, Freddie Webber, Dr Lisa Jardine, Kit Martin, Jane Roth, George Kingsley Roth, Mrs CD Newman, Mr & Mrs Smee, CD Smee, Mrs Kathleen Apthorpe Webb, Dr Hugh Apthorpe Webb, 

Archivists who helped with background/research: Catherine Hall (Gonville & Caius Archivist), Roger Lovatt (Peterborough).

Historical figures mentioned: 

• Stephen Perse, Dr HF Apthorpe Webb, Charles Humfrey, Quinlan Terry, Sir George Downing, Mr Ashman, Misses Deighton, Mr Buller, Henry Thomas Hall, William Eaden Lilley, William Eaden, Mr Barker, Sir William Butts, Sir Henry Butts, Edith Wolfe, Blacklee, Apthorpe, Brett, Papworth, Sherwin, Sir Leslie Martin, Baron von Hugel, Parson Kilvert, Mary Kingsley, Kingsley Roth, Rev Sibson, Canon Edward Church, Dr Gordon Simpson, William Waters, Benjamin Jolley, Robert Donat, Ella Voysey, Tyrone Guthrie, Flora Robson, Frederick Apthorpe Webb, Miss Elizabeth Robinson, Sir Clive Sinclair.

Photos in Chapter 3: 

• Half page photo of Doll's Close, Maid's Causeway.  
• Full page view of the roofline of Doll's Close from an attic window of 18 Maid's Causeway. 
• 1/4 page photo of Richard and Madge Levente with two of their cats. 
• 1/2 page photo of Maid's Causeway. 
• 1/2 page photo of Maid's Causeway. 
• 1/2 page Grafton House. 
• 1/2 page 1920s photo of the Zebra public house. 

Overall, the interview with the residents in this piece gave a lot more information about their individual houses and a lot of specific resident names were attributed to invidividual houses.

Discover other roads published in this book: Index of Streets in Down Your Street



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Down Your Street, Sara Payne. II East Cambridge. Index of Chapter 2, Auckland Road

Auckland Road was originally covered in the Cambridge Weekly News on 15 September 1983.

Auckland Road is tucked away behind Newmarket Road, so it's not a road I've ever needed to visit!  This chapter, therefore, had little to interest me personally, but I was interested to read of the history of the land and how it developed a circus field and a cinema.

This chapter is just three pages long. The first page gives an overview and history of Auckland Road, which had been a circus field at the turn of the century and also the site of a cinema.

The overview looks at the major characters and businesses that were in Auckland Road, including the Star Brewery and the Yasume Club.  There is one ¼-page photo of the street.

Photos in Chapter 2:

• Simon Wood, Midsummer Glassmakers

Living people named/interviewed: 

• Simon Wood, Reginald Markham, Edith Bareford, Don Few (of Elsworth), Marjorie Loakes (of Queen Edith's Way) 

Historical figures mentioned: 

• Charlie Chaplin, Thomas Askham, Herbert Robinson, HW Peak, Dillon Clark, Frederick Bailey, Alfred Barnard, Charles Armstrong, Percy Henry Jarvis, Basil Bareford, Mabel Markham, Basil Markham, Alfred Bavey, David Apthorpe, Amelia Apthorpe. 

Discover all the streets covered in this book: Index to Streets in Down Your Street

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Down Your Street, Sara Payne. II East Cambridge. Index of Chapter 1, Abbey Road

This is a quick index to the book Down Your Street, by Sara Payne. ISBN 0907115195 II East Cambridge which I've recently bought.  There's no index in the book, so I've written one out!

Chapter 1: Abbey Road.  
The chapter covers just over four pages.  There's one whole page on the history of Abbey Road and Abbey House itself, with one full page photograph of Abbey House.
After that there's an interview with local residents.

Photos in Chapter 1:

• Full page photo of Abbey House, Abbey Road, Cambridge
• ¼-page photo of Miss Kathleen Morgan, outside her home, 42 Abbey Road. Behind her the bricked up doorway to her grandfather's boot and shoe workshop. 
• ¼-page photo of Mrs Evelyn Harris, Cresta Quality Cleaning. 

Living people interviewed: 
Miss Kathleen Morgan - her grandfather built the house she lives in, he was Ellis John Rolls, Mrs Evelyn Harris

Living people named: 
Professor Peter Danckwerts, Arthur Gray

Historical figures mentioned: 
Pain Peverel, Dr Thomas Wendy, Jacob Butler, Tommy Panton, Leonard Amey, Mr Askham, Lord Fairhaven, Joseph Sturton, Ellis John Rolls, Ranjee, Miss Royston, Horace Lister, Gordon Lister, Dodds, Mr Mason, Mr Brown, Mr Dent, Charles Kidman, Mrs Eley, Robert Eley,

Books mentioned in this chapter as being used in Sara's research:

• Arthur Gray: Cambridge Revisited
• Florence Ada Keynes: Byways of Cambridge History, 1947, ASIN: B0006ARDT0. 157 pages.
  Anecdotes, reminiscences and Cambridge antiquities

Discover other roads published in this book: Index of Streets in Down Your Street

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Down Your Street, Sara Payne. ISBN 0907115195 II East Cambridge

I've just bought a copy of Down Your Street, Cambridge Past and Present, II East Cambridge. Written by Sara Payne this book came out of the newspaper columns she wrote in the Cambridge Evening News in the 1980s.

The book was published by The Pevensey Press, 6 De Freville Avenue, Cambridge, in 1984.  The book states inside the cover that:

"The major parts of the chapters in this book and most of the accompanying photographs previously appeared in the Cambridge Weekly News, and the author and publishers wish to thank Cambridge Newspapers Ltd for their co-operation"

Inside the book has a chapter for each of 25 roads in Cambridge, in each road there's a little bit of history and some informal interviews carried out with the residents of houses in the road in 1981-1984.  These residents tell stories of the street as they have known it - some of them had lived there decades - adding interesting anecdotes.  There are a generous amount of photos too, not just buildings, but the individual residents either in their homes or at work - photos taken just for the book.

The roads this book covers are:

1. Abbey Road, 
2. Auckland Road, 
3. Maid's Causeway, 
4. Willow Walk, 
5. Orchard Street, 
6. Earl Street, 
7. Parker Street, 
8. Park Terrace, 
9. Regent Terrace, 
10. Mill Road, 
11. Suez Road, 
12. Ross Street, 
13. Catherine Street, 
14. Sturton Street, 
15. Sleaford Street, 
16. York Street, 
17. Gwydir Street, 
18. Norfolk Street, 
19. Willis Road, 
20. East Road, 
21. Grafton Street, 
22. City Road, 
23. Eden Street, 
24. Fitzroy Street and 
25. Burleigh Street. 

These roads are parts of areas known as Barnwell, Priory, St Matthews and The Kite.

I've a few ancestors who lived in those streets, plus, growing up, I was often going to those streets so can really understand the areas they speak of!  I've relatives who lived in Sturton Street in the 60s/70s, I went to college for two years in York Street, my great-aunt lived in Gwydir Street, my mother's great-aunt lived in Norfolk Street and I'd often shop in Mill Road, East Road, Fitzroy Street and Burleigh Street before the Grafton Centre was built!  I used to walk through the Kite area, while it was being demolished, as I walked from Drummer Street to York Street every day for two years!

I'll be writing an index of contents for Down Your Way, but as the writing style of the book is a random walk around and interview with residents it might look a little truncated as I can't give more information away without effectively breaching the copyright.

But I hope my simple index will help some people to decide if there might be a snippet contained in the pages that's of interest to them.  In particular, I'll be listing the photos that are in the book, which is most likely to be of most use!

I've not got the book's predecessor yet, Down Your Street, I:  It's on my wishlist.

Christopher Levett, Christopher Levitt, Cambridge. Died in WW1

When I'm looking at the Roll of Honour and I see that they've no real information on somebody, that makes me feel quite sad.  Some young man had a whole life, a mother/father, siblings, his little belongings in his bedroom - and then he was sent to War.... and died.  Often with no body, or a distant graveyard that his mother would never ever visit.

So when I came across the statement "No further information currently available - Cannot find any record of a Christopher LEVETT on CWGC or SDGW" against the Matthew & Son, Cambridge, Roll of Honour.  This was for the employees of the firm who had gone to war and returned - as well as the short list of those who never returned.  The page that started me on this quest is at http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Cambridgeshire/CambridgeMatthewAndSon.html - this is an interesting page in itself as it lists all their employees that went to war and survived.  Elijah Levett is listed (Levett, E), because he survived, with his bad arm.

I felt sad for the lad - and went to see what I could find. Who was Christopher Levett?  I wanted to check that he'd not been lost/forgotten.  So many were as they were so young many didn't leave a widow, or the widow remarried quite quickly.  An orphan, too, might not have much of a trace left.

Everything I do is unsubstantiated as I've used free family research resources to find what I find - and don't have the cash to confirm anything.  With each certificate costing £10, it can often cost you £50-100/person!  So here's what I believe to be the case.

The answer seems to pop up quite easily.  It was a typo in the Kelly's Directory full page advert they took out in the 1929 Edition.

Christopher Levett was actually Christopher Levett.  He died on 31 July 1917 in France.  He had been employed as a vanman for Matthew & Son, Trinity Street.  The Cambridge Daily News had this information when they announced that his widow had received notice that he'd died.

Another of Christopher's brothers worked for Matthew & Son - Elijah Levitt.  Elijah survived the war, but, at the time of his brother's death he was in Epsom Hospital with a badly injured left arm. Elijah Levitt had worked in the wine department of Matthew & Son for many years.

A third brother of the Levitt family also died in the war.  Roger F Levitt.  Roger had gone out to Australia, just before war was declared, to be a farmer, joining his brother Alexander (Alexander had married Fanny Booth in 1910).  Roger Levitt had joined up on 18 August 1815 as part of the 51st Australian Infantry Battalion.  He died on 15 August 1916.  Roger just disappeared during a battle.  He was a stretcher bearer and on that date many stretcher bearers were taken prisoner, so his Unit believed he'd been taken as a PoW, but they didn't know.  An informant told them in January 1917 that this had probably been his fate.  They also noted that his middle initial was "M" (I've no record of Roger being Roger F Levitt, or Roger M Levitt, as the sources I've checked so far just have him as Roger Levitt).  Roger is buried in France.

As for Alexander in Australia, he'd married Fanny Booth at Chesterton Registry Office (Cambridge, England) in 1910.  They continued to live at Narrogin, Western Australia, raising a family until Fanny Levitt died in 1956 and Alexander died in 1966.

There were no parents to mourn Roger and Christopher Levitt.  Their parents, Elijah Levitt and Emma Levitt, had at least 12 children and they died in 1903 and 1907 respectively.  Elizabeth, the older sister of the lads, had got them living with her in the 1911 Census, at Richmond Road, Cambridge.

• Christopher Levitt had married Fanny Robinson and had one child - probably Grace Levitt, born 4th quarter 1916.
• Roger Levitt was single. 

There are photos of Christopher and Roger in the local newspaper in late September 1917.  The military details of these two brothers who died in WW1 are:

• Private Christopher Levitt, Norfolk Regiment, 7th Battalion, service number 20183. Died aged 35.
• Private Roger Levitt, Australian Imperial Force, 51st Battalion. Service number 2705. Died aged 28.

I'm glad Christopher wasn't "forgotten", he was simply not tied up to being the Christopher Levett at Matthew & Son. He is listed on the rollofhonour website, on the pages for St Luke's Church, Cambridge and the Guildhall, Cambridge.

So, as you can see, there's still a lot you can find out from the Censuses.   In all I got carried away and probably looked into the entire family from 1840 through to 1980!  The father, Elijah Levitt, had been a publican at the British Queen Inn, Landbeach when he'd first married Emma Osborne in 1869.  Having (at least) 12 children means there was a lot of information to look into and research/discover etc!

That was a very exciting day spent on what is a "Real Life Detective" game.

Images of England, Chesterton, Cambridgeshire - Contents

Well, my book arrived!  It looks like it's got a lot of great photos in it.  I'll go through and list them at some point.

This book, ISBN number 0752418610, is a paperback produced by the Chesterton Local History Group, specifically Anne Bromley, Alice Zeitlyn, Christine Gibson, Brian Woods, John Norman, Colin Moule and Derek Stubbings.  It costs just ~£12 to buy, so pennies per image!

First published in 2000 it was published by Tempus Publishing Ltd at Stroud.  Tempus also did the typesetting and origination.

The front cover shows an outing on the boat Otter on the River Cam.  Taken at Jesus Lock in ~1896, these men are on an outing of the Licensed Victuallers' Association.

The Foreword is by Mike Petty, researcher/writer/lecturer on Cambridgeshire and the Fens. There is a photo on that page of "Young members of the Chesterton Chapel string band c 1888)".

The Introduction explains the roots of Chesterton - this page has a photo of "Mr Fieldgate, landlord of the Maltsters Arms, with his young family, c 1904".

Acknowledgements go to Cambridgeshire Collection, Cambridge and County Folk Museum, Cambridge Evening News, Chesterton Challenge, Roy's Leisure, Two Tees Boatyard, Mrs P Marsh, Lesley and Derek Flory, Mrs B Hogg, Mrs S Hogg and FH Stanford.  It says that other photographs were supplied by members of the Local History Group.

The main index is broken down into:

Foreword by Mike Petty
Introduction
Acknowledgements
1. The River Cam
2. The High Street
3. Churches and Schools
4. Housing in the Village
5. Mitcham's Corner
6. Public Houses and Inns
7. Almshouses
8. Pye Radio
9. Village Life

Already there are some chapters that seem more enticing to me.  My ancestors lived on the High Street, Chesterton; my mother and ancestors attended the churches and schools and my mum worked at Pye Radio!  I've got a photo of their staff in my collection I'm digitising.

I'm off to pick through it now!  Scouring those old photos for images of where my ancestors lived, shopped, played and knew!

Click here to check out reviews of this book.

Chesterton Cambs Images of England, by Chesterton Local History Society, ISBN 9780752418612

I'm all excited as I've just bought a book, called Chesterton (Cambs) Images of England, ISBN 9780752418612.   This book was compiled and written in 2000, so fairly new.  It is part of the Images of England series, which uses old photographs and archived images to show the history of various local areas in England, through their streets, shops, pubs, and people.

The book about Old Chesterton and New Chesterton contains over 200 old photographs of Chesterton Cambs spread over 128 pages.  I did double check as there are other villages called Chesterton in England, but it's definitely the right place, the Chesterton in Cambridgeshire.

I wonder if there'll be any of my ancestors in the photos that I'll never realise are them.  If your ancestor's a shopkeeper then you're quite likely to be able to find photos of them standing in their shop doorway.  If your ancestors were regular local dwellers, then they might just be passing, or in a crowd, and you'd just not know.

But, it'll be fascinating to see these photos of the places they'd have known, the streets as they'd seen them.

The book's available from a variety of sources, with the most obvious booksellers being ebay and Amazon - and at just a few pennies per photograph this should be invaluable for me to dip into as new information unfolds.  My ancestors were in Chesterton pre-1800, and some modern day descendants are still there!

I'll get round to writing an index to this book .... once it arrives and I set the time aside to go through the book to do that.

Book Information:

Author: Chesterton Local History Society.  Publisher: The History Press Ltd
Publication Date:  1 March 2000  Format:  Paperback
ISBN-10 0752418610
ISBN-13 9780752418612
Series Title Archive Photographs: Images of England
Weight 318 grams.  Width: 164 mm.  Height: 232 mm.  Spine: 13 mm.

Body Exhumed at Chesterton, Cambridge When Neighbours Started Rumours it was Murder!

I love reading old newspapers and finding strange events.  Just this week I found a body that'd been exhumed at Chesterton, Cambridge, in 1881.... so I had to read on and then do a little "outline research" to find out what happened!

The story begins before 1881, as Joseph and Harriet met and married in 1868, having four children, all born in Chesterton.  But this story of a part of Joseph's life hit the newspapers in late September 1881 when a body had been exhumed from St Andrew's churchyard in Old Chesterton, Cambridge.  What caught my eye was that I had a LOT of family living there at the time, so was intrigued to read on as my great-great grandmother/grandfather would've been of a similar age and so would've known this couple, who lived at High Street, Chesterton.

It was on 14 August 1881 that Joseph Doggett, husband of Harriet Doggett, died at home, aged just 38 years.  He was buried on 17 August 1881 in St Andrew's churchyard.  Harriet Doggett was about three years younger than Joseph and at the time of his death she had four children by him.

However, when Mrs Harriet Doggett attended church just a few weeks later with a 'new man' the tittle tattle and rumours started.  Such an explosive rumour was built up that one local resident even sent anonymous letters to the local Coroner suggesting to him that the late Joseph Doggett had been poisoned!  The rumour was that Harriet had put something in his tea - and one resident even telegraphed distant newspapers to inform them of a "supposed murder near Cambridge".

A Coroner has the power to order an exhumation only where he has received information that the death was not due to natural causes. A reasonable suspicion it wasn't natural causes could be sufficient.  Exhumations are not common, they are an exception.

So, up Joseph came, bless him.

The Coroner, Mr CW Palmer, held an inquest at the Union Workhouse, with a jury of local people from New Chesterton.  He started by telling them that it was important that they only listened to the evidence given in the inquest and to set any rumours aside.  The Coroner also told the people present that he'd received anonymous letters and he hoped they would not bother themselves, or the Coroner, again as any future letters would be ignored.

Giving evidence were Edward Reader, Sexton of St Andrew's Church - he had buried Joseph on 17 August and exhumed him on 17 September 1881. He confirmed that the body he exhumed was the same one he'd buried the previous month.

Dr Anningson of Grantchester and Mr GE Wherry carried out the post-mortem.  Dr Anningson gave his evidence of the examinations they performed and their conclusions.  An ulcer they found was sufficient to have been the cause of death. He said he'd discovered nothing to show that death had been from anything but natural causes. He also noted that Joseph had a weak heart.

Mr Wherry then stood and said he agreed with the findings of Dr Anningson and that a perforating ulcer in the stomach is a well recognised disease and that, from what he saw, Joseph Doggett must have had this problem for some time.

Harriet Doggett was asked for her evidence.  She said that Joseph was a brewer's labourer and had first fallen ill on the Friday before he died (Friday 12 August).  Harriet had been out at work and when she came home at about 7-8pm Joseph was in bed and told her he had diarrhoea.  Harriet sent somebody to Dr Waller's to get some medicine, which she gave to Joseph. Joseph said he'd been shaking, so Harriet made him some hot beer.   On the morning of Saturday 13 August Harriet went to work, leaving Joseph in bed; she was at work all day, returning again in the evening.  Joseph was up and sitting in a chair when she returned - and he said he had left the house in the afternoon. He had taken some of the diarrhoea medicine that morning.  On the Friday evening he said he was feeling better.   Harriet went to the Doctor for more medicine and the Doctor said he'd come to see him if he got much worse.

Harriet and Joseph went to bed about midnight and she was awoken in the night to find Joseph getting undressed - he said he'd been outside in the yard.  She got up and lit a fire to make a Linseed Poultice.  Joseph kept going downstairs another 2-3 times and Harriet found it hard to get him to stay in bed.  Joseph died in Harriet's arms, before she could get him to bed.  She said he'd been wandering and saying he wanted to do his work.  Harriet said she hadn't realised he was so ill and if she'd have known she'd have gone for the Doctor.

Joseph died at about 3am on the morning of Sunday 14 August.

No Doctor had seen Joseph for some time.  Dr Ransom hadn't seen him for 6-8 weeks, yet he issued the death certificate to Mrs Allman when she asked for it.  Mrs Allman helped Harriet to lay out the body.

There was some discussion over how the Death Certificate had been obtained and it appeared that the Doctor shouldn't have just written one out and handed it over.  But, the Coroner was happy that nobody was covering anything up and that the Doctors involved were honourable professionals, so he simply rebuked them over their slackness in writing out a death certificate so readily.

The Coroner didn't call any further witnesses and asked the Jury to consider just two points:

1. What was the cause of the man’s death?
2. Whether any person had done any act about which would render him or her responsible to the law 

He said he'd asked two Doctors to carry out the post-mortem since the Death Certificate had been written without Dr Ransom seeing the patient.  He also noted that it was a matter of extreme regret that Dr Ransom had written out the Death Certificate without seeing the patient before he died, which was unquestionably a want of judgement on his part, but the Coroner was sure it wouldn't happen again.  In the event, what Dr Ransom wrote on the certificate matched what the patient had presented with 6-8 weeks prior to his death.

They found that Joseph Doggett died of natural causes.

Poor Harriet, what a horrible last month she must've had.  So what happened next?

It seems that Harriet, widowed and with four children by Joseph, remarried in 1882, to John Norfield, a man about 13 years older than her.  They then had a couple of children together.  John died in 1911, aged 75, and Harriet died in 1919, aged 70.  Both are buried in St Andrew's Churchyard, Chesterton.

As I said earlier, my great-great-grandparents were also living in High Street, Chesterton, at the time of Joseph's death.  And, with the aid of the Census returns of 1881 I'm off now to find out how many doors away they were!  I wonder what my GG-grandparents made of it, which side of the fence they sat on.

Old English Social Life as told by the Parish Register: Gender in the Parish Registers

Although in modern times we accept that some people change genders during their lifetime, or simply cross-dress, whether for enjoyment or due to their preferred sexual orientation, it's not something we tend to think about too much in the case of our ancestors.  However, people were still people back then, with the same thoughts and desires.  You can sometimes see entries in the Parish Registers of men dressed as women and women dressed as men - and people who lived their entire lives dressing as the other gender openly within their community.

I've recently picked up a copy of "Old English Social Life, as told by the Parish Register" and on page 250 is such an entry referring to the burial of a Mr Russell.  The Parish Register of Streatham, in April 1772, records the following entry:

"Russell. - N.B. this person was always known under the guise or habit of a woman and answered to the name of Elizabeth as registered in this parish Nov. 21st 1669, but at death proved to be a man."

A full account of this character is given under the head of "Streatham Worthies" in Mr Frederick Arnold's "History of Streatham".  It appears from the entries in the parish registers that his father, John Russell, had three daughters and two sons - William, born in 1668, and Thomas in 1672; and it is probably that the above person (commonly known as 'Betsy the Doctress') was one of these. Lysons tells that, in the course of his wanderings, this eccentric individual 'attached himself to itinerant quacks, learned their remedies, practised their calling, and that this knowledge, combined with his great experience, gained for him the reputation of being a most infallible doctress.'  In his disguise he was a very convivial old lady, it being his practice to treat his companions at the village ale-house.

A similar case bearing on our subject is reported to have happened early in the present century.  The person who acted as parish clerk, and was always dressed as a man, and had, moreover, been married to a woman some time before her death, was found at her decease to be a woman. And in the register of St Bodolph, Aldgate, under July 17, 1655, we find this entry:

'William Clark, son of John Clark, a soldier, and Thomasine, his wife, who herself went for a souldier, and was billetted at the Three Hammers, in East Smithfield, about seven months, and after was delivered of this child . . . She had been a souldier by her own confession, about five years, and was some time Drummer to the Company.'

There are more instances within the book, which is a fascinating read to pick up and put down on a whim. Perfect bookcase fodder!