CFHS code : HT539
Parish : Holy Trinity
Inscription : In Loving Memory of BERT STAPLES d July 27th 1939 aged 52 also EMILY FLORENCE STAPLES d Dec 12 1945 aged 58 also ALICE ANNIE MABBUTT d February 1918 aged 52 and GEORGE WILLIAM MABBUTT d February 1924 aged 58
Monument : Small pedestal/Kerb stones
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Lat Lon : 52.202042, 0.13742948 – click here for location
Monument
This double space monument of kerbstones and corner posts lies 6 rows east of the central path under a large tree and north of the goldfinch birdstone. The carved inscription is very eroded but that of Bert Staples can be read in sunlight. This area is often overgrown but can but the monument can be seen in springtime when the crocuses are in flower.
Inscription
west kerb
In Loving Memory of BERT STAPLES died July 27th 1939 aged 52
other kerbs
also EMILY FLORENCE STAPLES d Dec 12 1945 aged 58
also ALICE ANNIE MABBUTT d February 1918 aged 52
and GEORGE WILLIAM MABBUTT d February 1924 aged 58
Relationship: Mother, father, daughter, son-in-law
Bert Staples (1887 – 27 July 1939)
Bert was the son of William and Louisa (née Randall) and grew up at 26 Covent Garden. His father was a postman/letter carrier, and his mother worked as a launderess. Aged 14 he was working as a butcher’s assistant (1901) and later became a butcher. He married Emily (Ciss) Mabbutt in 1918 and they had one son: Douglas Bert (1919-1976). They lived with Ciss’s parents at 40 Paradise Street (1920) and then at 65 Russell Street (at least 1925 onwards). Bert died at Addenbrooke’s Hospital aged 52 years old and was buried at Mill Road Cemetery on 31 July after a service at St. Paul’s Church.
Emily Florence Staples (Ciss) (née Mabbutt) (16 September 1887 – 12 December 1945)
Emily was known as Ciss and was the daughter of George and Alice. She grew up at 90 Newmarket Road (1801) and 40 Paradise Streeet (1911) and aged 13 was working as a domestic servant. She later worked as an assistant in a confectionery shop (1911). She married Bert Staples when she was 29 years old and after being widowed continued to live at Russell Street with son Douglas. Ciss died at Russell Street in 1945 and her funeral was held at St. Paul’s Church.
Alice Annie Mabbutt (née Woodroffe) (1865 – 16 February 1918)
Alice was the daughter of house painter Soloman and Ann Woodroffe. She grew up at 32 James Street (1871) and by the age of 19 was working as a domestic servant at 7 Maid’s Causeway. She married George Mabbutt in 1885 and they had six children: George Percy (1886-1968), Emily Florence (Ciss) , Ellen Annie (1889-1964), Arthur Frederick (1891-), Sidney (1893-1917) and Laura (1897-1973).
George worked as a house decorator and two of their sons served in the 1st World War. Their youngest son Lance-Corporal Sidney Mabbutt was killed in Eygpt in December 1917. The Cambridge Independent Press reported that Sidney ‘enlisted in the Yeomanry in June 1915 and went to Salonica. He was in hospital for six months and then returned to Salonica. He was later sent to Eygpt. He was formerly with Messrs Mill and Co, Benet Street. Another son of Mr and Mrs Mabutt serving in the Suffolk Regiment was wounded on September 25th (1917) and is in hospital at Southampton’.
Alice died at home ‘after a long and painful illness,patiently endured’. She was 52 years old. The following year her family placed an In Memoriam in local newspapers which read: In loving memory of our dear mother, Alice Mabbutt, who passed away February 16th 1918. One year had passed since that sad day, When our dear one was called away, Her loving ways, her smiling face, No one can fill her vacant place – From Dad and her children, 40 Paradise Street, Cambridge.
George William Mabbutt (1866 – 16 February 1924)
George was the son of George and Sarah (née Cottage) and was born in Linton. He was baptised on 28 October 1866, and grew up on the Bartlow Road in Linton where his parents ran a pub. George worked briefly as a porter (1881) and later as a house decorator. He died aged 58 years old at 65 Russell Street, the home of Ciss and Bert, exactly six years after his wife’s death. His obituary said he ‘was well known among the painters and decorators of the town, by whom he was held in high esteem, being a member and past president of the local branch of the Painters’ Society. Members of the society acted as bearers and a large number of old assoicates in the trade also attended’.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
by Claire Martinsen
[If you have any further information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]