CFHS code : AG186a
Parish : St Andrew the Great
Inscription : In Loving Memory of our dear mother HANNAH KIRKUP d April 24 1911 aged 67 GEORGE ERNEST WESSON d Oct 15 1945 aged 66
Monument : Kerb stones (broken)
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Lat Lon : 52.202766, 0.13665933 – click here for location
Monument
The set of kerb stones were removed to lie within the grave set of George Drake over 20 years ago. The grave register was used to establish that the grave is one row to the east next to the kerb stones of J Bacon.
Inscription
In Loving Memory of our dear mother HANNAH KIRKUP d April 24 1911 aged 67
Also of my dear husband
GEORGE ERNEST WESSON died Oct 15 1945 aged 66 years
Relationship: Mother in law and son in law
Hannah Kirkup (née Lester) (1842 – 24 April 1911)
Hannah was born in Bell Green, Coventry, the daughter of farmer Thomas Lester (1811-1889) and his wife Sarah (née Duckham). She was baptised at Foleshill on 6 June 1842 and was raised with her six brothers. By 1851 he mother had died and Thomas married for a second time, having another four children with his second wife. Aged 17 (1861) she was living in Birmingham where she was a general servant to the Sable family. She later worked as a cook to the Dimmock family at Fenton Hall, Stoke on Trent (1871).
She married William Thomas Kirkup (1845-1912) on 2 October 1873 at St. Luke’s Church, Birmingham. William was from Cambridge and was working as a shop keeper when they married. They had four children: William Spring (1874-1950), Bert (1876-1947), May (1878-1960) and Esther (1880-1959). The two eldest children were born in Birmingham, but the family had moved to Cambridge, by the time daughter May was born in 1878. They lived at 32 King Street, and William worked as a chimney sweep founding a company later known as Kirkup and Sons. Thomas was said to have been the ‘pioneer of the modern scientific system of chimney sweeping and his business extended to nearly all of the colleges, notably Trinity and St. Johns’.
The marriage appears to have not been harmonious with Hannah accusing him of ‘using threats’ towards her in July 1893. Thomas pleaded innocent, but after hearing the evidence he was bound over and had to keep the peace for six months as well as pay costs. Most notably Hannah’s request for a separation order was declined by the Magistrates. Thereafter they seem to have separate lives, with William moving to Prospect House, Bottisham (at least 1901 onwards) where he lived with a housekeeper and was active in local politics.
Hannah lived at 24 James Street (1901) and then lived with her daughter Esther and son in law George at 9 Sleaford Street, where she died. After her death Thomas married Ellen Mary Summers but died the following summer in June 1912. He is buried at Histon Road Cemetery, Cambridge
George Ernest Wesson (9 November 1878 – 15 October 1945)
George was the son of William Thomas (1842-1891) and Harriet (née Walton) Wesson. He was born in 168 Sturton Street in 1878 and baptised, with his younger brother Purser John, at St Matthew’s Church on November 10th 1880. William Wesson was a brewer in the family business. On his marriage to Esther Kirkup on August 3rd 1903 George gave his age as 24, address 40 Gwydir Street and his occupation as carpenter. After their marriage they moved to 9 Sleaford Street where they had at least two children: Jack (1905-1993) and Hilda Elsie (1906-1995). He signed up for military service in January 1917 and gave his occupation as a fish merchant. He served in the Suffolk Regiment and from miliary records it is known that he was 5 ft 6 3/4 inches tall, and weighed 138 lb [c. 9 stone 12 lbs]. He das dicharged from the army in March 1919, but it is not known where he served.
In 1921 he was working as a carpenter for building company A. Regus and Sons. By the 1939 census George was unable to work through illness. He died in Addenbrookes hospital and his funeral was held on 18 October at St. Matthew’s Church where ‘there were a large number of friends and neighbours present and many floral tributes were received’.
George’s grandparents Thomas and Maria are also buried at Mill Road Cemetery.
Sources:
Find My Past
CFHS transcripts of parish records
Family Search
by Mary Naylor with further information by Claire Martinsen