CFHS code : AL233
Parish : St Andrew the Less
Inscription : Sacred to the Memory of FRANCIS RUSSELL HALL surgeon d Dec 31 1894 aged 66 also of MARY his wife d June 24 1902 aged 68
Monument : Headstone/Ground slab
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Monument
Inscription
Francis Russell Hall (1828 – 31 December 1894)
Francis was the son of Rev. Francis Russell Hall (1788-1866) and his wife Frances (née Rector)(1792-1851). He was born and raised at the Vicarage in Fulbourn, where his father was the vicar of St. Vigor from 1826-1866 and baptised on 24 October 1829. He studied medicine at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London and qualified as a surgeon ( MRCS Eng, LM) in 1852. He also qualified as a Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries in 1853.
He practised at 1 St. Andrew’s Street (on the corner of Petty Cury) in 1861, at 3 Trinity Street (1869 to at least 1880), 10 Pulling Terrace (at least 1883 to 1890) and then Kinross House, 11 Mill Road (at least 1891 onwards).
On 22 March 1859 he married Mary Gibbs at Meldreth – his father performed the marriage ceremony. The couple had at least five children: a son who was born still born (June 1861), Frances Mary (1863-1938), Francis Russell (1865-1914), Edward Stuart Russell (1866-1940), Elizabeth R (1869-). However they appear to have lived separate lives, and only appeared on the same census record in 1861 when they were resident at 1 St. Andrew’s Street. Mary lived in Grantchester and then Clare, Suffolk with the children, and Francis lived in Cambridge with various housekeepers.
He was a surgeon under the 1856 Factories Act, a surgeon at the Cambridge Asylum and the Royal Albert Asylum, and was also said to be surgeon to the 1st Cambridge Volunteer Regiment. His name appeared in newspapers with regard to some inquests, but infrequently. In April 1865 he was called an expert witness in the case of Matthews v Reeves, where a woman had died of a broken jaw. Francis was annoyed that he had only been subpoenaed thirty minutes before the case, which he thought was ‘a very serious inconvenience’ and asked to be paid 2 guineas before he would give his evidence. The judge ruled that he would be liable for a £10 fine if he did not give evidence. In 1875 he gave evidence in the suicide of his friend Rev. Arthur Holmes, fellow of Clare College.
Francis was a town councillor for the St. Andrew’s Ward (1874) and was also interested in sport in the town. In 1858 he started a campaign to fundraise for silver cups to present to the winning team on the annual Town v University Boat Race. In 1889 he was president of the Jolly Anglers’ Society.
He died at 11 Mill Road aged 66 years – the Cambridge Independent Press printed a short tribute which read: ‘deceased was at one time a member of the Town Council and was throughout his life a great supporter of outdoor sport. He formerly occupied a good professional position in the town as a surgeon and had for years held the position of certifying surgeon under the Factory Acts.’. He died a near pauper leaving an estate of just £29, 19s.
Mary Hall (née Gibbs) (c.1836 – 24 June 1902)
Mary was the daughter of James and Mary Gibbs and was born at Mount Street, Grosvenor Square. Aged 15, she was at boarding school in Grantchester and a student of Ellen Howard’s school at Merton House in the village. She married Francis Hall when she was c.23 years old.
In 1871 she was living on Merton Street in Grantchester with two of her children and servant Mary Wing. By 1881 she had moved to Cavendish Road in Clare, Suffolk and was documented as being a surgeon’s wife. She was living at Callis Street in Clare in 1901, and died there aged 66 years.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
by Claire Martinsen
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