CFHS code : AS5
Parish : All Saints
Inscription : Sacred to the Memory of HARRIET HARRIS d Feb 24 1863 aged 68 also of MARGARET the beloved wife of THOMAS CHAMBERS of Hills Road Cambridge d Nov 8 1865 aged 68
Monument : Headstone
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Lat Lon : 52.203492, 0.13777716 – click here for location
Monument
This headstone stands on the northern border of the parish of All Saints I row west of the central path. The carved inscription has suffered some erosion. The headstone was broken by a falling branch in 2017.
Inscription
Sacred to the Memory of HARRIET HARRIS who died Feb 24 1863 aged 68
Also of MARGARET the beloved wife of THOMAS CHAMBERS of Hills Road Cambridge who died Nov 8 1865 aged 68
Relationship: Sisters
Harriet Harris (c.1795 – 21 February 1863)
Harriet was the daughter of James and Mary (née Ind or Sparrow) Harris. Mary Sparrow married James Harris from Bottisham at St Andrew’s church Chesterton on December 3rd 1889 an Edward Ind was a witness. Harriet was born in Bottisham or Bottisham Lode but no baptism has been found. Little is known of her life. In 1851 she was lodging at 4 Union St and in 1861 she was living at 1 Seymour Passage in Cambridge. She worked as a seamstress (dressmaker) and the census notes her as being deaf. The address may have been an almshouse or similar.
She died at a house in Adam’s Yard of Jesus Lane. Her death was the subject of an inquest held at the Crown Inn on Jesus Lane. It was noted that Harriet had been found dead in bed. It was reported that ‘from the evidence it appeared that the deceased had been gradually declining for some time and had suffered from diarrhoea. She had eaten her breakfast as usual in the morning and was found soon after by a visitor quite dead. The Jury found that the deceased died from natural causes’.
Margaret Chambers (née Harris) (c.1798 – 8 November 1865)
Margaret was the younger sister of Harriet and was also born in Bottisham. She married William Poole (1797 – 1845) at St Clements Church on 19 April 1829. In 1841 the couple were living at Rose Crescent, and William was a wine and spirit merchant. William died in 1845. Margaret married for a second time to Thomas Chambers (1802-) at St Paul’s Church on 22 September 1846. Thomas was a surgeon, and the couple lived at 9 Hills Road (1851) and then at 11 Hills Road (1861). She died at 11 Hills Road after what newspapers described as ‘several weeks great suffering’.
Thomas Chambers married again on 10 July 1869 to Mary Preston. He lived in London (1871) and then at 45 Whitstable Road, Canterbury (1881). It is not known when he died.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
by Claire Martinsen
[If you have any further information about this family please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]