CFHS code : AL218
Parish : St Andrew the Less
Inscription : In Loving Memory of FREDERICK GREENWOOD d May 30 1872 aged 42 also SARAH JANE COULSON d Dec 23 1933 aged 77 also SARAH JANE GREENWOOD wife of the above d Sept 30th 1899 aged 65
Monument : Headstone
Above information amended from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Monument
This headstone, in the parish of Andrew the Less, stands to the east of the east path just before the bend to the left where it becomes the north path. This monument has been restored. The carved inscription can only be se clearly when the sun shines on it.
Inscription
In Loving Memory of FREDERICK GREENWOOD died May 30 1872 aged 42 years
Also SARAH JANE COULSON died Dec 23 1933 aged 77 years
At Rest
Also SARAH JANE GREENWOOD wife of the above died Sept 30th 1899 aged 65 years
Frederick Greenwood (1830 – 30 May 1872)
The son of baker Thomas Greenwood and Sarah, Frederick grew up at 10 Butcher’s Row, Cambridge. He was baptised at St. Mary the Great Church on 2 January 1831. He trained as a shoemaker/cordwainer and married Sarah Toulson on 15 March 1851. The couple had at least eight children: William (1851-), Sarah Jane (1856-1933), Frederick (1858-1897), Alice (1859-1860), Susannah (1861-), Ellen (1865-), Amelia (1866-1952), and Alfred (1867-1949). They lived at 23 Trinity Place (1861/1781). In February 1852 Frederick charged Edwin Smith with assaulting him at the Highland Piper pub on Green Street. Newspapers described Edwin as a ‘ruffian like painter of the Rose Crescent’ and he was found guilty and fined 5s plus expenses of 8s. Frederick died aged 42 years old, but his name does not appear in the burial records of St. Andrew the Less, suggesting he was buried elsewhere.
Sarah Jane Coulson (née Greenwood) (1856 – 23 December 1933)
Sarah was the eldest daughter of Frederick and Sarah and married tailor Francis Ernest Coulson (1855-) in 1877. The couple had nine children: Francis Ernest (known as Frank) (1877-1953), Grace May (1881-1881), Clarence Edmund (1885-1911), Arthur (1886-1925), Alfred (1888-1888), Florence May (1888-1961), Alfred (1890-1893), Ellen Amelia (1893-1950) and Albert Edward (1894-1904). They lived at 77 New Street (1881) and 72 York Street (1891). In 1901 Sarah was living at 107 New Street with her five children, and was working as a ‘covers machinist’, she was documented as being the head of the household and still married. By 1911 she was a widow, living at 21 Bradmore Street with daughters Florence and Ellen and was working as a laundress. It is not known where or when Francis Coulson died. Sarah died in Cambridge aged 77 years old and was buried with her parents at Mill Road Cemetery.
Francis and Sarah’s five young children were also buried in the St. Andrew the Less area of Mill Road Cemetery, but their grave has not yet been identified.
Sarah Jane Page (née Toulson, formerly Greenwood) (1834 – 30 September 1899)
Sarah was the daughter of Samuel and Alice and was baptised at All Saints Church, Stamford on 22 September 1834. She married Frederick Greenwood when she was 17 years old and after his death married Robert William Page on 17 December 1872. Little is known of Robert, but the report of their marriage said he was ‘of King Street’, and he was thought to have been a bootmaker and publican, who ran a business at 97 King Street. The couple did not live together, and in 1881 Sarah was at 17 Occupation Road, with five of her children and was working as a laundress / ‘mangel woman’ (sic).
In November 1897 Sarah was a witness at the inquest into the death of her son Frederick. He had served in the army and then lived with her from c.1890 onwards, working as a labourer. He died suddenly, and the inquest heard he was ‘subject to fits and no one would employ him for that reason’. The cause of death was said to have been from meningitis, probably caused by a fall, and a death by natural causes verdict was returned. Frederick was buried in the St. Andrew the Less area of Mill Road Cemetery on 27 November, but his grave has not yet been identified. Sarah died at Occupation Road aged 65 years old and was buried at Mill Road Cemetery on 5 October. Her death was registered as Sarah Page, and it is not known why the surname Greenwood was used on the grave monument.
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]