CFHS code : MG44
Parish : St Mary the Great
Inscription : In Ever Loving Memory of my dear husband ARTHUR WILLIAM COE d 27th November 1934 aged 54 also AMELIA MARIA COE wife of the above d 20th February 1944 aged 74 flowerholder To dear Dad
Monument : Headstone (fallen)/Kerb stones/Flowerholder
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Lat Lon : 52.202238, 0.13751207 – click here for location
Monument
Inscription
In Ever Loving Memory of my dear husband ARTHUR WILLIAM COE
d 27th November 1934 aged 54
Also AMELIA MARIA COE wife of the above d 20th February 1944 aged 74 flowerholder To dear Dad
Arthur William Coe ( 1880 – 27 November 1934)
Arthur was born in Cherry Hinton and was baptised there on 7 November 1880. He was the son of Frederick (1856-1930), an engine driver and Mary Ann (née Gawthrop) (1851-1935). He grew up at Cambridge Road, Cherry Hinton and then 72 Argyle Street (1901) and in 1897 also began working on the railway. He married Amelia Hall on 27 December 1909 at St. Philip’s Church – his father gave the bride away and she was dressed in a ‘mole grey costume’ attended by six bridesmaids. The reception was held at 45 Ross Street, before they honeymooned in Felixstowe.
The couple lived at 50 Sedgwick Street and had one daughter: Muriel Gwendoline (1911-1984) . In 1911 Arthur was working as a railway engine stoker for G.E.R. and by 1921 was a railway engine driver. Arthur died a train accident at Wormley, Hertfordshire aged 53 years when the train he was driving (the 8.31 service from Cambridge to Liverpool Street) crashed into a lorry at a level crossing. The engine of the train was flung off the line, ending up in a ditch about 100 yards from the crossing buried in earth and two of the six coaches were derailed – Arthur and the train fireman Harry Mansfield were both killed instantly, but the lorry driver – Thomas Skeggs was thrown clear and survived with a broken jaw, cuts and bruises. There were 80 passengers on the train at the time, and many received ‘cuts, bruises and shock’. The crossing at Wormely was an unmanned crossing, with less than 20 vehicles crossing it a day. At the subsequent inquest Thomas Skeggs said that he had used the crossing several times over the past year, and that he had approached it with caution. However when he saw the oncoming train his wheels were ‘just on the up line. I realised I had got to keep going forward to keep out of the way so I accelarated. Then there was a bang’. The Coroner noted that there was a no catch on the gate to hold it back and said that ‘Skeggs was placed in a terrible emergency. Possibly he had been a little careless in approaching the line, but he had one thousandth of a second to make up his mind what to do and in such emergency if one makes an error of judgement one cannot be called heavily to blame, and it is quite possible in the emergency he did the right thing. No one is accountable criminally for a mere error of judgement’. A verdict of ‘accidental death’ was returned with a recommendation that ‘some system should be immediately instituted to prevent a recurrance of such an accident’.
Arthur’s funeral was held on 3 December at St. Philip’s Church, where a large congregation attended, including the Cambridge station master Mr S Wright. Members of the public lined both sides of the road. His coffin was carried by six fellow engine drivers. In January 1936 Amelia Coe received £1,400 (c.£90k at 2025 values) in damages. Harry Mansfield’s widow was awarded £1,000, and his two children £500 each.
Amelia Maria Coe (née Hall) (7 June 1869 – 20 February 1944)
Amelia was born in Felixstowe, Suffolk and baptised there on 17 July 1870. She was the illegitmate daughter of Maria Hall. Maria married agricultural labourer George Branch (1845-) in October 1870 and she grew up in Felixstowe with her three half sisters.
She came to Cambridge to help her aunt Emily as a domestic servant (1891 census). after Emily’s death she stayed as housekeeper for her uncle Henry. When Henry died in 1902 Emily was 31 and it is not known where she lived until she met and eventually married Arthur Coe on December 27th 1909. After his death she continued to live at 50 Sedgwick Street with daughter Muriel and son in law Aubrey. Amiela died at Addenbrooke’s Hospital ‘after much suffering’ and her funeral was held on 24 February.
Emily and Henry are buried in the parish of St Andrew the Great.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
By Mary Naylor and Claire Martinsen
[If you have any information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]