CFHS code : HT243
Parish : Holy Trinity
Inscription : In Loving Memory of FANNY MARY BENNETT d July 20 1919 aged 71 also FREDERICK EDWARD BENNETT d Dec 23 1924 aged 86
Monument : Headstone
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Monument
This headstone, in the parish area of Holy Trinity, is close to the south wall. As it is behind a bush it cannot be seen from the path. The headstone is well preserved and the inscription clear.
Inscription
‘In Loving Memory of FANNY MARY BENNETT who died July 20. 1919.
Aged 71 years.
Also FREDERICK EDWARD BENNETT who died Dec. 23. 1924.
Aged 86 years.’
R.I.P.
Fanny Mary Bennett (née Parker) (1847 – 20 July 1919)
Fanny was born in Leckhampton, a village to the south of Cheltenham and was baptised there on 12 December 1847. She was the youngest daughter of agricultural labourer Thomas Parker (1810-1893) and his wife Ann (née Leafe) (1812-1872). She married widower Frederick Bennett at the Congregational Church, Cheltenham on 9 November 1878 when she was c.31 years old. Frederick was a a domestic house decorator, painter and grainer (specialist painter who painted wood effect) and had four children from his first marraige.
In 1881 the family were living at Queen Street in Woodbridge, and in 1891 at Willow Walk in Cambridge. They then moved to 188 East Road (1901) and 72 Eden Street (1911). Fanny died aged 71 years old and was buried at Mill Road Cemetery on 23 July.
Frederick Edward Bennett (1838 – 23 December 1924)
Frederick was born in Cheltenham and was the son of builder Thomas Hopkins and his wife Lucy. He was baptised at St. Mary’s Church, Cheltenham on 2 January 1839. He married his first wife Fanny Maria Hopkins (1839-1878) on 9 June 1861 at St Philip’s Church. The couple initially lived in Cheltenham where their five children were born: Ernest Frederick (1862-1917), Ellen Louisa (1865-1960), Fanny Emily (1868-1949), Edith Gertrude (1871-1960) and Albert Edward (1873-1875). Fanny Maria died in January 1878 of pulmonary tuberculosis and was buried at St. Mary’s Church, Cheltenham. Frederick married Fanny Mary Parker later that year.
After he was widowed he lived with his daughter Edith and her family at 25 Catherine Street, where he died aged 86 years old. His funeral was held on 27 December and newspapers reported he was ‘a well known house decorator’.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
by Claire Martinsen
We are very grateful to Maureen, great great granddaughter of Frederick Bennett for the additional information regarding this family.
[If you have any further information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]