CFHS code : AS2
Parish : All Saints
Inscription : In Loving Remembrance of ELIZA the dear wife of ALFRED CURTIS d June 12th 1896 aged 58 also of ALFRED affectionate son of the above d August 17 1897 in his 40th year also WILLIAM AUGUSTUS CURTIS aged 33 d May 18th 1904
Monument : Headstone/Flowerholder/Kerb stones
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Lat Lon : 52.203395, 0.13771392 – click here for location
Monument
This headstone is one of a pair that stand together 1 row west of the central path and 2 and 3 monuments north of the north path, in the parish of All Saints. Both stones are carved with a rose in a circle at the top. The carved inscriptions have eroded and are now quite hard to read. There is a flower holder at the base of the stone.
Inscription
In Loving Remembrance of ELIZA the dear wife of ALFRED CURTIS who died July 12th 1896 aged 58 years
1 line illegible
Also of ALFRED affectionate son of the above who died August 17th 1897 in his 40th year
Also WILLIAM AUGUSTUS CURTIS aged 33 years died May 18th 1904
Eliza Curtis (née Thurgood) (14 September 1837 – 12 June 1896)
Eliza was born in Aldgate and was the daughter of Abraham and Mary. Her father was a car man [delivery driver] and her mother worked as a shoebinder. Eliza was baptised at St Andrew Undershaft Church in Aldgate on 22 October 1837. She married Alfred Curtis (1835-1915) on 5 April 1856 at St Barbabas’ Church, Bethnal Green. Alfred was a cooper and the couple had ten children: Alfred (1857-1897), Frederick Henry (1861-1956), Frank Percy (1863-1959), Mary Ann (1866-), Sidney (1867-1933), Lawrence Stephen (1869-1916), William Augustus (1871-1904), Alice Maud (1872-1957), Grace (1875-) and Elizabeth J (1879-).
The family lived at Archibald Street in Bromley (1871) and then at Fen Stanton where Alfred worked as a cooper in a brewer (1881). By 1891 they had moved to run the Duke of Gloucester pub at 35 Prospect Row and Alfred also worked as a cooper in conjunction with being a landlord. In April 1891 Alfred was declared bankrupt and in court he stated that ‘he had kept no books…he attributed his insolvency principally to loss of employment’. Eliza died in 1896 aged 58 years old.
Alfred Curtis (10 April 1857 – 17 August 1897)
Alfred was born in Spitalfields and baptised at St. Jude’s Church in Whitechapel on 14 June 1857. He married Eliza Martha Masters (1855-1906) on 12 July 1880 in Marylebone and the couple had at least four children: Florence Eliza (1881-1955), Alfred (1882-1944), Christopher Henry (1885-) and Edith Mary (1888-1973). They lived at Bovey Street (1881) then 60 Station Road (1891) and Alfred worked as a tram driver/stage driver. It is not known when the family moved to Cambridge, but Alfred died there aged 40 years old (despite the grave monument saying he was 39).
William Augustus Curtis (23 January 1871 – 18 May 1904)
William was the youngest son of Alfred and Eliza and was born in Bow. He married Priscilla Empleton (1868-1959) in 1889 in Linton and they went to live at 9 Orchard Street, Cambridge (1891) then Oster Street in St. Albans (1901) . William worked as a china packer and later as a cooper. He and Priscilla had ten children: Dora (1894-1984), William Alfred James (1897-), Emily Maud (1899-), Sydney (1900-), Frederick (1902-), Cicely (1904-) and a further four children who died as infants. William died aged 33 years old.
Source:
Ancestry
by Claire Martinsen
[If you have any further information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]