CFHS code : AG329
Parish : St Andrew the Great
Inscription : JAMES BENNET PEACE 23 April 1864 – 30 Jan 1923 Fellow of Emmanuel College 1889 – 1923 Printer to the University 1916 – 1923 MURIEL SIMONDS PEACE Feb 25 1872 – Nov 26 1944
Monument : Kerb stones
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Monument
In the parish area of St Andrew the Great, this grave is located between the west path and the west wall. The kerb stones are heavily overgrown and inaccessible.
Inscription:
[as recorded by the Cambridgeshire Family History Society]
‘James Bennet Peace
23 April 1864 – 30 Jan 1923
Fellow of Emmanuel College 1889–1923
Printer to the University 1916–1923’
‘Muriel Simonds Peace
Feb 25 1872 – Nov 26 1944’
James Bennett Peace (1864–1923) Fellow of Emmanuel College for 34 years, Bursar of the College for 27 years, and Printer to the University for nine years – see also Life Story page
James Bennett Peace was born on 23 April 1864 (which happened to be Shakespeare’s Tercentenary) in Marykirk, in Kincardineshire, Scotland, the son of school master Hugh Peace (1828-1905) and Catherine (née Bennett)(1826-1914) . He attended Aberdeen University (1880/81), and was admitted to Emmanuel College in 1881, becoming a Scholar a year later. In mathematics Part I he was 5th Wrangler (1887); in Part II he obtained a second-class degree but stayed on to study Physics and Economics, being elected Fellow of the College in 1889.
He married Muriel Simonds Storrs on 16 July 1901 at St. John’s Church, Reading and they had two children; Kathleen Mary (1904-1974) and Thomas Roland (1907-1962). The couple family at 1 Wollaston Road (now the drive to Hughes Hall, beside Fenners Cricket Ground). He died suddenly of heart failure on 30 January 1923 at the age of 58. His death was reported nationally, especially in the Scottish press and noted that ‘he cycled home from his office as usual, and, when talking with a friend later, fell back in his chair and expired’ (the ‘friend’ was in fact his wife Muriel). The town and University were said to be in shock at his death aged 58 years old. Obituaries reported ‘he took a keen interest in the teaching of mechanical science and tripos when the Engineering Department was set up, and was examiner for many years. Mr Peace was also a Tutor Steward and Director of Students in Mechanical Science. He rendered valuable services as a member of the University Financial Board and was also prominently concered with research work in connection with the history of Emmanuel College. He was a keen oarsman and gained his cap in the trial eights’. A tribute in the Aberdeen Press and Journal said ‘he was a very quick worker and had remarkable power of concentration, and he never complained nor said that the tasks thrust upon him were too heavy to bear’. It further stated that they hoped Peace’s name would be ‘linked in perpetuity with the College he loved so well’.
His funeral was held on 3 February at Great St. Mary’s Church and was attended by many mourners. The coffin was carried by four bearers from Emmanuel College and four from the Pitt Press. The Master of the College read the lesson and the service was reported to have been ‘deeply impressive and the attendance a great tribute to the memory of Mr. Peace’.
Muriel Simonds Peace (née Storrs) (25 February 1872 – 26 November 1944)
Muriel was born in the village of Eastham, Wirrel and baptised there on 21 April 1872. She was the daughter of Rev. Henry John Storrs (1839-1915) and Jane (née Simonds) (1844-1917) and grew up in Holdenhurst, Bournemouth (1881) and Reading (1891 onwards). After she was widowed she continued to live at 1 Wollaston Road with a cook and housekeeper. In the records of September 1939 she was documented as being incapacitated and died at home aged 72 years old.
James and Muriel’s daughter was college secretary at Girton College. Their son Thomas worked as a forest pathologist officer.
Source:
Emmanuel College Magazine xxiii (1922/23), pp. 56–60
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
By Amanda Goode, Archivist, Emmanuel College (with Ian Bent) and further information added by Claire Martinsen
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