CFHS code : AL474
Parish : St Andrew the Less
Inscription : In Memory of ELIZA wife of FREDERICK KEENE LRCPL surgeon of this town b Nov 1830 d May 1893 FREDERICK JOSEPH KEENE b Nov 18 1830 d July 31 1899
Monument : Headstone (fallen)
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Monument
This large ground ledger, located in the parish of St Andrew the Less, lies 11 rows east of the central path close to the southern border of the parish. Most of the carved inscription is still legible.
Inscription
In Memory of ELIZA wife of FREDERICK KEENE LRCPL surgeon of this town
Born Nov 1830 Died May 1893
“The memory of the just is blessed. “
FREDERICK JOSEPH KEENE
Born Nov 18 1830 Died July 31 1899
Eliza Keene (November 1830-26 May 1893)
Eliza was born in Holt, Norfolk and married surgeon Frederick Keene. In 1861 they were living in Holbrooke, near Ipswich, they then moved to Chelmsford (at least 1870-1878) and in 1881 were living in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. By 1889 the couple had moved to Cambridge where Frederick had a surgery at 4 Fitzroy Street. The couple lived at Acacia, Church Street (1891). Eliza died at 2 Christ Church Villas, Newmarket Road aged 62 years old and was buried at Mill Road Cemetery on 29 May.
Frederick Joseph Keene (18 November 1830 – 31 July 1899)
Frederick was born in Bristol and baptised in Clifton on 19 November 1830. He was the son of company director John Arthur Thomas Joseph Keene and Catherine (née Johnson), who had at least six sons, all with the middle name of Joseph. Frederick attended Stonyhurst College from 1839 to 1846 – a Catholic boarding school in Lancashire. The family then moved to Boulogne, and it is thought he completed his education there.
Frederick qualified as a doctor in 1859 and worked for many assurance companies. He wrote two articles for the Lancet during his career: ‘on the treatment of gonorrhoea’ and ‘five years’ obstetrical returns’. Frederick’s father died in 1877, and Frederick was sued by his brother as executor of the estate, which may suggest that he was in debt to his father.
In Cambridge he attended many inquests. In June 1892 he did the post-mortem on Mr Lovett, a Christ’s College undergraduate who was struck by lightning on Stourbridge Common. Lovett had been walking to the University Boat Races when he was struck and died instantly. Frederick told the inquest that the lightening had entered the body at the back of the neck and ‘the cause of death was concussion of the spinal marrow and must have been instantaneous’. In September 1895 he conducted the post-mortem of Hannah Jeffs who died suddenly aged 39 years old. Frederick ‘found the woman had recently been confined, and that death was due to blood poisoning. She had been attended by a midwife’. The jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical recommendation, but ‘were not quite satisfied as to the conduct of the midwife’. Frederick’s father died in 1877, and Frederick was sued by his brother as executor of the estate, which may suggest that he was in debt to his father.
Frederick married for a second time to nurse Aida Dickinson (1863-) on 30 June 1894 at Holy Trinity Church, Skirbeck, Boston, Lincolnshire. The couple lived at Merton House, Grantchester where they ran a ‘resident home for dipsomaniac or mild mental cases’ [sic]. The home was advertised as ‘a pleasant and refined home offered to all suffering from these diseases. The house stands in eight acres of ground; goft links in close proximity, tennis, drives etc. A nurse and male attendant in residence. Terms..on application to the resident medical officer’.
Frederick died at home aged 68 years old. He was buried at Mill Road Cemetery on 3 August 1899. His widow Aida moved to Girton where she ran a private hospital (1901) and The Lodge Temperance Home in Girton (1901).
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
Parish burial records transcribed by CFHS
by Claire Martinsen
With thank you to HS for providing additional information on the family
[If you have any information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com