There are several members of the Smith family buried at Mill Road Cemetery -their graves have not yet been discovered.
Parishes: Holy Trinity/St Andrew the Less
Relationship: Mother, father, daughter, son, step granddaughter
Oswald George Smith (16 February 1837 – 14 October 1912)
Oswald was born in Clapham, the illegitimate son of Harriet Smith. He was baptised on 23 April 1837 and married Harriet Hart on 2 October 1857 in Whitechapel. Harriet already had a daughter: Emma Elizabeth (1855-1895) and the couple had a further 15 children together: Harriet Clara (1858-1938), Oswald George (1861-1934), Mary Ann (1863-1905), Minnie Jane (1865-1954), Robert Horace (1867-), Fanny Laura (1869-1956), Maude Mant (1872-1892), Arthur Owen (1874-1875), Alice May (1876-), Arthur William (1879-), Percy Charles Owen (1881-1953), Harry Mant (1884-1913) and three more children who died as infants.
Oswald worked as a messenger (postman) from 2 December 1860 and the family lived in Witham from at least 1858-1872) where he was a post messenger and then a station messenger (1864-1874), before moving to Great Yarmouth where he was travelling mail messanger from September 1874- July 1878. In 1878 he was appointed town postman in Cambridge and the family moved to 39 Perowne Street. He later worked as acting station mail porter from 1897 onwards and retired on 13 September 1901 after more than 40 years service with the Post Office. Records show that from January to September 1901 he had been ill for 109 days.
He died ‘suddenly’ at home of pneumonia aged 75 years old and was buried in the St. Andrew the Less area of the Cemetery on 18 October 1912.
Harriett Smith (née Hart) (1839 – January 1919)
Harriett was born in Witham, the daughter of William and Elizabeth. She was baptised at St. Nicholas Church on 21 July 1839 and married Oswald Smith when she was 18 years old, by which time she already had a daughter named Emma Elizabeth.
She was very involved with the Cambridge Women’s Liberal Association, and served on the Executive Committee from at least 1887-1892). She died at 39 Perowne Street aged 79 years old and was buried in the Holy Trinity area of Mill Road Cemetery on 7 January 1919.
Two of Oswald and Harriet’s children are also buried within the Cemetery
Maude Mant Smith (1872 – 9 January 1892)
Maud was born in Witham, and baptised there on 19 May 1872. She died at Perowne Street aged 19 years old and was buried in the St. Andrew the Less area of the Cemetery on 14 January.
Harry Mant Smith (1884 – 5 August 1913)
Harry was the youngest son of Oswald and Harriet and was baptised on 4 May 1884 at St. Barnabas Church. He worked as a telegraph messenger (1901) and later as an electrician for William Saint, who was a local buider and contractor, based at the Railway Building Works, Hooper Street.
He married Henrietta Susan Parr on 1 July 1905 at St. Matthew’s Church. Henrietta already had a daughter: Rose Mary (1904-1919) and they had a further four children together: Alice May (1906-1975), Hettie Mant (1909-1965), Harry Percival (1910-1939) and Winifred Maud (1912-2005). They lived at 15 Perowne Street (1911) and then 62 Sturton Street.
Harry was a private in the 1st Batallion Cambridge Regiment, and served from at least 1898 onwards with the regiment, where he played the clarinet. He was also a member of the Good Samaritan Lodge of Oddfellows and the Cambridge Men’s Brotherhood. He died after the complications of an operation for appendicitus, from which he did not recover. He died at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and was buried in a Military funeral at the Holy Trinity area of Mill Road Cemetery on 11 August. Large crowds gathered at the graveside, and three volleys were fired over the grave before the Last Post was played.
His widow Henrietta (1880-1959) married Albert Howard in 1917 and they had one daughter together. She died in Ipswich in 1959.
Rose (Rosie) Mary Smith-Parr (11 September 1904 – August 1919)
Rose was Harry Mant Smith’s step daughter. She was baptised on 3 March 1907 at St. Barnbabas Church and died at 62 Sturton Street, a few weeks before her 15th birthday. She was buried inthe Holy Trinity area of Mill Road Cemetery on 25 August.
Henrietta’s parents Charles (1836-1923) and Deborah (née Vale) (1846-1922) are also buried in the Holy Trinity area of the Cemetery. Their grave has also not yet been discovered.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
Parish burial records transcribed by CFHS
by Claire Martinsen
[If you have any information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]