CFHS code : AL400
Parish : St Andrew the Less
Inscription : In Affectionate Remembrance of HARRIET ANNE the beloved wife of JOSEPH STANLEY FURBANK who after a painful affliction borne with Christian fortitude d August 26th 1860 aged 35 also JOSEPH STANLEY FURBANK husband of the above d Jan 16 1884 aged 63
Monument : Headstone
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Monument
Inscription
Harriet Anne Furbank (née Parmenter) (15 March 1824 – 26 August 1860)
Harriet was the daughter of Edward (1796-1861) and Betsy Stubbings (née Matthews) (1799-1882) Parmenter and was baptised on 11 April 1824. Her father was a carpenter, and she grew up at 35 East Road. She married Joseph Furbank in 1845 and they had at least one child: Ellen Maria (1846-1934). Joseph was a Livery Stable keeper and they lived at 10 Fair Street, where she died aged 36 years old (although the grave inscription reads 35 years). Newspapers reported that she died after a ‘long and severe affliction, borne with Christian fortitude’ and was the ‘beloved wife of Mr Joseph Stanley Furbank’. Her funeral was held on 30 August.
Joseph Stanley Furbank (c.1820 – 16 January 1884)
Joseph was the son of John (1794-1854) and Esther (née Wentworth) (1797-1849) Furbank. His father was a tea-dealer, cheesemonger and grocer who had a shop on St. Andrew Street and Joseph ran a Livery Stable from Fair Street. He married for a second time on 11 January 1862 to Rachel Smith (1845-1925) and they had a further five children: Alice (1862-1933), Sidney Stanley (1865-1938), Ada Flora (1867-1927), Frederick Charles (1871-)1958 and Harry (1876-).
In October 1861 Joseph took George Frederick Bagnall of Sidney Sussex College to court for non-payment of his bills, for ‘keep of horse, attending to it, purchase of whips, attending the boat-races and keep of dog’. The charge for keeping the horse, grooming it, feeding it, keeping the trap and harness clean was 35s per week, and there was an outstanding balance of £29, 6s to pay. George Bagnall had presented two cheques given to him by his uncle, but both cheques had been ‘dishonored’. George was a married man, and it emerged in court that his uncle had refused to be responsible ‘for the payment of his drives’. The judge found for Joseph Furbank, and a further re-trial was denied.
In May 1867, Joseph’s ostler William Tredgett charged him with assault. William had refused to groom some horses and had been ‘pushed off the premises by the defendant and discharged his employ. The defendant said the complainant used very bad language, frequently calling him a b_____. The Bench decided to dismiss the case and regretting that such a filthy word as had been used by these parties was so common in the mouths of some of the inhabitants of Cambridge and said they should instruct the police to take into custody any one they might hear indulging in obscene language in the streets, so he might be made an example of’. Joseph died at home ‘after a long and painful illness’ and his funeral was held on 21 January.
His widow died in Islington in 1925 and was buried there on 2 April.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
Parish burial records transcribed by CFHS
by Claire Martinsen
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