CFHS code : PL51
Parish : St Paul
Inscription : In Loving Memory of ERNEST EDWARD the dearest ——— son of EDWARD & AGNES BAKER b May 30 1883 d Nov 11 1888 also EDWARD BAKER Ex Inspector Borough Police Force father of the above b Jan 23 1860 d Sep 13 1935
Monument : Headstone/Kerb stones
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Monument
Fluted Gothic window-shaped headstone, decorated with a rosette on either side, and with plain kerb stones, situated in the St Paul’s parish area between the south path and the south boundary wall.
Inscription
‘In loving memory of Ernest Edward
the dearest [illegible] son of Edward & Agnes Baker
born Nov 30 1883 died Nov 11 1888′
‘Also Edward Baker
Ex-Inspector Borough Police Force
father of the above
born Jan 23 1860 died Sept 13 1935′
Ernest Edward Baker (30 November 1883 – 11 November 1888)
Ernest was the son of Edward and Agnes Baker. He died just before his fifth birthday.
Edward Milton Baker (23 Jan 1860–13 Sept 1935) – Policeman – see also Life Story page
Edward was born in Babraham, a village due south of Cambridge and was the illegitmate child of Harriet Baker. His father was Joseph Milton, who was a gamekeeper from Whittlesford. In March 1861 Harriet took Joseph to court for upkeep of his child, the court ordered him to pay 1s, 6d per week as effective child maintenance. In 1871 he was living with his grandmother Catherine Baker at the Alms Houses in Babraham. Catherine was documented as a pauper and at the age of 10 years Edward was already working as an agricultural labourer.
He married Agnes Mary Spalding (1862-1938) in 1883 – Agnes had been working as a domestic servant just prior to marriage. The couple had two children: Ernest Edward (1883-1888) and Lilian Elizabeth (1886-1943). Edward joined the police and the family lived at 44 Covent Garden, which was a police tied cottage house. In 1891 he was a police constable, by at least 1901 he was promoted to sergeant and by 1902 was a police inspector. He was treasurer and secretary of the Cambridge Borough Police Athletic Society for many years and organised the tickets for their annual athletic festival which was generally held at the Leys school grounds every August.
By 1935 he had retired from the police and was living at 152 Tenison Road, he died there aged 75 years old.
Agnes Baker moved to live with her daughter Lillian and son in law Harry Brooks Hutcherson (1885-1951) in Colchester. She died there in July 1938 and is thought to be buried in Colchester.
Lillian Elizabeth Sanders (7 September 1886 – 4 December 1943)
Lilian was the only daughter of Edward and Agnes. Between at least 1911 and 1915, the daughter Lillian was a ‘Teacher of Music (Piano)’, working ‘At Home’, so 44 Covent Garden must have had a piano at that time. She married Harry Brooks Hutcherson who was a railway manager in 1918 and went to live in Colchester. She died in Colchester aged 57 years and is buried there.
Sources:
census reports 1891, 1901, 1911
Spalding’s Cambridge directories
General Records Office marriage index
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
By Ian Bent with thanks to Judy Lester, additional information by Claire Martinsen