CFHS code : AG163
Parish : St Andrew the Great
Inscription : headstone In Affectionate Remembrance of ANNE the beloved wife of E W HARDWICKE d June 6th 1872 aged 35 also of BERTIE son of the above d June 19th 1872 aged 7 also EUPHRATES WEBSTER HARDWICKE d Nov 24th 1896 aged 61 reverse illegible
Monument : Headstone/Kerb stones/Footstones x 2
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Monument
Located in the parish area of St Andrew the Great, the west face of the headstone faces the western path and is well preserved. The kerbstones are to the east of the stone and both foot stones are still in place.
Inscription
In Affectionate Remembrance of
Anne the beloved wife of E. W. Hardwicke died June 6th 1872 aged 35 years
Also of Bertie son of the above died June 19th 1872 aged 7 years
Also Euphrates Webster Hardwicke died Nov 24th 1896 aged 61 years
Anne Hardwicke (née Burne) (1837 – 1872)
Anne was the youngest daughter of Thomas Burne, a farmer. She was born in the Nottinghamshire village of Eakring. She was 35 when she died at home in Petty Cury, Cambridge.
Euphrates Webster Hardwicke (1832 – 1896)
Born Euphrates Webster in the in the Nottinghamshire village of Edwinstowe, known as the “home of Robin Hood”. His mother was Ann Webster, born in Leicestershire in 1811, who was the daughter of Joseph Webster, born 1779. His father is not recorded. The Webster family were prominent business people in and around Edwinstowe with interests in farming, land, property, a shop and a public house. In 1841 Euphrates was living with his uncle Miles Webster at Black Hill farm, Edwinstowe. Later he was described as a journeyman draper. Anne and Euphrates were married in Eakring at the village church of St Andrew on the 14th of April 1858. Eakring is situated just six miles from Edwinstowe. They had nine children.
Bertie Hardwicke (1865 – 1872)
The sixth child born to Anne and Euphrates. He was born in Cambridge. His death followed that of his mother by thirteen days.
How Euphrates Webster became Euphrates Webster Hardwicke
In 1837 his mother married an agricultural labourer from Edwinstowe named John Ezra Hardwicke. They became school teachers in Suffolk and in the 1850s John Ezra Hardwicke became a Professor of Botany and in 1855 had a business in Bury St Edmunds as a Medical Botanist and later expanded to include a wholesale druggist.
In 1861 after being employed in Edwinstowe as a farmer and grocer Euphrates Webster made the momentous decision to leave Edwinstowe and start a new life in Cambridge, with his wife and two children. Euphrates had followed the career of his stepfather, John Ezra Hardwicke, in the study Botany and Medicinal plants and from then on their lives ran on a parallel course. How or where they studied is not known.
On leaving Edwinstowe, Euphrates took the surname of Hardwicke for himself and his family and was now called Euphrates Hardwicke. He had taken a lease on a property in All Saints Passage where he set up as a Herbalist
By 1871 he had relocated to 10 Petty Cury, Cambridge and his business was variously named as a Medical Botanist, Dispensary, Herbalist and a Chemist. He was a member of the “Association of Herbalists” and “The British Medical Reform Association”.
In the 1870s he once again changed his name. He incorporated his original surname of Webster and became known as Euphrates Webster Hardwicke. He retained this name until his death in 1896.
“Euphrates Webster Hardwicke, Druggist and Herbalist” must have been a highly impressive title above his property in the centre of Cambridge. He had one further relocation to Alexandra Street, Cambridge before retiring to Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire where he died on 24th November 1896.
footnote
The second child of Euphrates and Anne was Edwin Webster Hardwicke born 1861 in Edwinstowe. Obviously an outstanding scholar, Edwin entered Cambridge University in 1881 becoming a B.A. and by 1891 he was a duly registered MA and a Practitioner and House Surgeon in Huntingdon. Dr Edwin Webster Hardwicke married Jessie Masterson of Cambridge on 20th August 1892 in Cambridge . They had two children, Cedric Webster Hardwicke (b 1893) and Muriel Hardwicke (b 1896). Cedric Webster Hardwicke who later was known as Cedric Hardwicke was described by George Bernard Shaw as one of the finest actors of his generation and was knighted for his services to acting in 1934.
Sources:
Parish Records
Census Records
by Mary Naylor from information supplied by Stephen Taylor
(anyone wanting to contact Stephen can do so via Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com )