CFHS code : PL28
Parish : St Paul
Inscription : front illegible reverse also of JANE GRAY daughter of the above d 3 Nov 1924 aged 67
Monument : Headstone
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Monument
Situated behind bushes near the south wall and the central path, in the parish area of St Paul. As the headstone has broken, most of the inscription has been lost.
Inscription
(Using the burial and grave register we have been able to establish that Jane and her parents are all buried here.)
west face
[Elizabeth Louisa Gray d Oct. 1887 aged 63]
[Thomas Gray d Feb. 1889 aged 71]
east face
JA daughter of the above Who passed away Nov. 3. 1924. Aged 67 years
“Thy will be done”
Elizabeth Louisa Gray (née Brown) (1824 – 8 October 1887)
Elizabeth was born in Balsham and baptised there on 16 April 1826. She was the daughter of James and Ann, and in 1851 was working as a servant to dentist James Hagreen and his family at Petty Cury, Cambridge. She married Thomas Gray on 6 Jul 1856 at St. Paul’s Church and they had at least two daughters: Jane (1857-1924) and Emma Elizabeth (1863-1949). Thomas was a bricklayer’s labourer and the family lived at 11 Cambridge Place. Elizabeth died at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and her funeral took place on 12 October.
Thomas Gray (c.1818 – 4 February 1889)
Thomas was the son of Samuel and Martha (née Wilson) Gray. In 1841/1851 he was living with his widowed mother and brother Nathanial at 27 Cambridge Place and was working as a labourer. After he was widowed he went to live with his daughter Emma and her family in Gwydir Street. Thomas died after being run over by a train in the goods yard of the London and North Western Railway Company in Cambridge. He had been spotted behaving suspiciously for about ten minutes and had deliberately stepped in front of the oncoming train. An inquest heard that he had not worked for a year due to ill health, and had been in a very low mood for the previous six months. His wife’s death was said to have greatly affected him and his son in law Henry North said that ‘he was subject to illusions, fancying that he could see things dancing before his eyes’. The inquest returned a verdict of suicide ‘whilst in an unsound state of mind’.
Jane Gray (1857 – 3 November 1924)
Jane was born in Cambridge Place, Cambridge and baptised in St Paul’s Church on August 30th that year. In 1871 she was working as an under nursemaid for Charles and Elizabeth Vinter who had three small children. Although she would have lived in their house at 1 Dorset Terrace, Hills Road she was not far from her family. She later worked at the Hermitage, Silver Street as cook for widow Lucy Parkinson (1891) and continued to work at the Hermitage for composer Gerard Cobb and his wife Elizabeth (1901/1911). Jane died at her sister Emma’s home at 33 Gwydir Street aged 67 years old.
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]