CFHS code : AL27
Parish : St Andrew the Less
Inscription : In Loving Memory of WILLIAM FELSTEAD d May 22 1895 aged 69 also HANNAH FELSTEAD wife of the above who passed away September 18 1907 aged 77 In Loving Memory of GEORGE WILLIAM FELSTEAD who departed this life August 11 1882 aged 26 also Corporal ARTHUR JOHN FELSTEAD Royal Engineers brother of the above died suddenly at Assouan Egypt October 16 1885 aged 23
Monument : Headstone
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Monument
The headstone has fallen since CFHS did their survey in 2000 with only the west face visible. It is located east of the path that runs from the north path, under a tree.
Inscription
west face
In Loving Memory of WILLIAM FELSTEAD d May 22 1895 aged 69
Also HANNAH FELSTEAD wife of the above who passed away September 18 1907 aged 77
east face
In Loving Memory of GEORGE WILLIAM FELSTEAD who departed this life August 11 1882 aged 26 years.
4 lines that are illegible
Also Corporal ARTHUR JOHN FELSTEAD Royal Engineers brother of the above died suddenly at Assouan Egypt October 16 1885 aged 23
William Felstead (1825 – 22 May 1895)
William was born in Hevingham, Norfolk – a small village between Norwich and Cromer. He was the son of John and Mary (née Blackburn) Felstead and was baptised on 13 March 1825. He married Hannah Fendyke in 1850 and the couple had at least eight children: Mary Elizabeth (1851-1901), Sarah Susannah (1854-1925), George William Fendyke (1856-1882), James William (1859-1922), Arthur John (1862-1885), Lieut Quarter Master Robert (1886-1902), Barbara Annie (1869-) and Mark Herbert (1872-1938).
The couple started married life in Denver, Norfolk (1851) and then Outwell (1861) and William worked as a labourer. By 1862 they had moved to Cambridge and in 1871 William was running the Sign of the Volunteer pub at 8 Green Street. Later he worked as a road labourer and the family lived at 89 Gwydir Street (1881) and 12 Catharine Street (1891). William died at 42 Catharine Street, Cambridge. He is believed to have bee 70 years old when he died, but his grave monument reads 69 years.
Hannah Felstead (née Fendyke) (1832 – 18 September 1907)
Hannah was born in Upwell, five miles outside Wisbech and was the daughter of William and Sarah. Her father was an agricultural labourer, and she married William Felstead when she was 18 years old. When the census of 1901 was taken she was in Battersea with the family of her daughter Mary Elizabeth. Mary had died in March, and Hannah was staying with her son in law Edward Burton and granddaughter Clara. She returned to Cambridge and died at 23 Staffordshire Street, Cambridge, which was the home of her daughter Sarah.
George William Fendyke Felstead (1856 – 11 August 1882)
George was born in Upwell and baptised there on 25 January 1857. In 1871 he was working as a college servant and living with his family at Green Street. By 1881 he was working at the Moulsford Asylum just outside Wallingford in Berkshire – his occupation on the census record was noted as an ‘attendant on the insane’. George died at 89 Gwydir Street aged 26 years old.
Arthur John Felstead (1862 – 16 October 1885)
Arthur was the third son of William and Hannah and by the age of 19 had joined the Royal Engineers. In 1881 he was in Bristol and was noted as being a telegraphist – he was lodging with fellow soldier Sapper Edward Wallis. Arthur married Louisa Hobby (1860-1943) in Lymington in 1883 and then went out to Sudan with the 4th Section Telegraph Battalion of the Royal Engineers who served there from 1884-1886. Arthur died in Eygpt aged 23 years old.
Louisa Felstead married for a second time in 1893 to Patrick McDonough. She had two children when she remarried: George William Felstead (1885-) and Ethel May Felstead (1888-1962). George must have been Arthur’s son, but Ethel was preumably born out of wedlock but given the surname of Felstead.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
by Claire Martinsen
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