CFHS code : BE121
Parish : St Bene’t
Inscription : HENRY ANNESLEY WOODHAM LLB Sometime fellow of Jesus College Cambridge born Newbury Aug 4 1813 died at Cambridge March 16 1875 CATHERINE WOODHAM FISHER wife of WILLIAM WEBSTER FISHER MD Downing Professor of Medicine sister of HENRY ANNESLEY WOODHAM LLB Sometime fellow of Jesus College Cambridge born at Newbury in Berkshire on St Andrews Day 1829 died at Cambridge on Good Friday the 6th of April 1860
Monument : Cruciform Coped stone
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Lat Lon : 52.202685, 0.13618711 – click here for location
Monument
This coped stone, in the parish area of St Bene’t, is located west of the west path, against the wall by Anglia Ruskin University.
Inscription
HENRY ANNESLEY WOODHAM LLB
Sometime fellow of Jesus College Cambridge
born Newbury Aug 4 1813 died at Cambridge March 16 1875
CATHERINE WOODHAM FISHER
wife of WILLIAM WEBSTER FISHER MD
Downing Professor of Medicine
sister of HENRY ANNESLEY WOODHAM LLB
Sometime fellow of Jesus College Cambridge
born at Newbury in Berkshire on St Andrews Day 1829
died at Cambridge on Good Friday the 6th of April 1860
Henry Annesley Woodham (4 August 1813 – 16 March 1875)
Henry was baptised on 1 September 1813 in the parish church of Newbury, Berkshire. His parents were Henry Edward Hymore Woodham (1781-1847) and Elizabeth Spooner (née Lamb) (1788-1857). His father was a lawyer and he went to Winchester School. He went up to Trinity College in October 1834, but migrated to Jesus College in February 1835 as a foundation scholar. He was awarded his B.A. (5th wrangler Classics) in 1839, his M.A in 1842 and his LL.D in 1849. He was a Fellow from 1841 to 1848 and an honoury Fellow from 1862 to 1875.
He married Elizabeth Humphry on 28 November 1848 at North Runcton in Norfolk and they lived at 6 Maids Causeway. On his marriage Henry had to give up his Fellowship of the University. Elizabeth died in 1851 and it is not believed that the couple had any children. Later that year he was recorded as living at Maid’s Causeway with his widowed mother and 21 years old sister Catherine. He then moved to live at 66 Hills Road (at least 1861) onward and died there aged 61 years old. The Cambridge Independent Press reported ‘the deceased had been for the last few years in failing health and during the last month or six weeks alarming symptoms set in, which terminated fatally’. It also reported that ‘his reputation as a Latin scholar stood high and was fully confirmed by the publication of an edition of Tertullian. He had a most extensive acquaintance with modern history, especially of that of India, and was possessed of a sound knowledge of oriental languages. He was a laborious and brilliant contributor to periodical literature. By the resident members and especially the older members of the University he was held in high esteem for his sound, practical, scholarly acquirements, his brilliant conversation and his varied attainments. By his college his merit was recognised by election to an Honoury Fellowship and he was, the Times believes the first member of that college since Archbiship Cranmer who could describe himself as iterum socius.’
His house contents were subsequently sold at auction. The house sale in April 1875 included ‘a valuable library of books, worthy of attention, especially in the department of History…a rare and choice collection of 800ozs of plate..antique china, including specimens of Chelsea, Lowestoft, Herend, Nankin and oriental manufacture, a small cellar of wine of about 13 dozen…engravings…alabaster statuettes…and two fire proof safes’. He left an estate valued at under £12,000 (c.£1m at 2018 values).
Catherine Montagu Fisher (née Woodham) (30 November 1829 – 6 April 1860)
Catherine was also born in Newbury and married Dr. William Webster Fisher (1798-1874) on 25 September 1874 at St. Paul’s Church. William was a Cambridge graduate, he lectured in Medicine, worked at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and also had a large medical practice. Cambridge Independent Press reported ‘he was highly esteemed in the University for his professional attainments and his conversational powers’. He was the Downing Professor of Medicine.
William and Catherine had three daughters: Mary Elizabeth (1856-1932), Katharine Alice (1857-1929) and Antonia Henrietta (1858-1941). Catherine died aged 30 years old at East Lodge, Downing College.
Sixty year old William Fisher was left to raise three daughters under 5 years old. In 1861 he was living with the girls, a governess, a nurse, housekeeper and housemaid at the College. He died at Downing College on 4 October 1874 and was buried at Mill Road Cemetery on 8 October 1874. He was buried within the St. Benet’s area of the Cemetery, but it is not known if he was buried in the same grave as his wife.
Mary Fisher married her second cousin William Fisher McMichael, her sister Antonia married William’s brother Edmund Montague McMichael.
Sources:
Ancestry
A Cambridge Alumni Database
Newspaper archives
by Claire Martinsen
[If you have any further information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]