CFHS code : HT30
Parish : Holy Trinity
Inscription : In Ever Loving Memory of BERNARD CHARLES DENSTON d 23 Dec 1952 aged 66 and ELLA DENSTON [wife] 5 Dec 1961 aged 71
Monument : Headstone/Kerb stones
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Monument
This headstone, Located in the parish of Holy Trinity stands against the east wall just after south path bends towards the north.
Inscription
In Ever Loving Memory of
a dear husband and father
BERNARD CHARLES DENSTON
Died Dec. 23rd 1952
Aged 66 years
Loved and remembered always
and of a loving mother
ELLA DENSTON
Died Dec. 5th 1961
Aged 71 years
Bernard Charles Denston (15 September 1886 – 23 December 1952)
Bernard was the son of Frederick and Amelia and grew up at Gwydir Street. His father was a carpenter and Bernard worked as a tailor. He married Ella on 17 April 1911 in Cherry Hinton and they had at least eight children: Winnie Amelia (1912-1988), Frederick Arthur (1913-1985), Rita Eileen (1915-), Margaret Ella (1916-2003), Cecil Charles (1919-1953), Charles Bernard (1921-2017), Ada Florence (1924-1925) and Arthur Newman (1926-1999). The family lived at 39 Gwydir Street and Bernard enlisted in the army in May 1916 serving with the 2nd South Staffordshire Regiment. From his army records it is known he was 5ft 1.5 inches tall with ‘poor’ physical development. Records show that the army failed to return his marriage certificate and the birth certificates fo the children and Ella had to write at least twice requesting their return – ‘this is the second time I have written for them as you said you would return them as soon as possible so I am anxious about them [and] fear they should get lost trusting you will forward them as quick as possible’. He was wounded in March 1919 whilst undertaking wire disposal and admitted to hospital in Lichfield.
After the war he continued to work as a tailor and the family lived 39 Gwydir Street (until at least 1937) and then 48 Abbey Road (1939).
Ella Denston (née Chapman/Ellwood) (8 January 1890 – 5 December 1961)
Ella was born in Harlton, a village five miles south-west of Cambridge and was the illegitimate daughter of Ada Florence Chapman (1870-1942). Her mother married Arthur Ellwood (1870-1953) in 1892 and over time she adopted the surname of Ellwood. Arthur was a plate layer on the railway and then worked as a labourer in a cement factory. Ella grew up in Cherry Hinton with her parents and younger siblings and started school at Cherry Hinton on 7 May 1895. She was working as a domestic servant before her marriage to Bernard Denston when she was 21 years old.
Using information from Parish burial records it is thought that Bernard and Ella’s infant daughter Ada is also buried in the same grave
Ada Florence Denston (c.May 1924 – March 1925)
Ada died at 39 Gwydir Street aged 10 months old and was buried at Mill Road Cemetery on 2 April 1925.
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]