CFHS code : AL586
Parish : St Andrew the Less
Inscription : In Loving Memory of HARRY ARTHUR MILLER d March 25th 1903 aged 23 also REBECCA WEEKES d Dec 12 1910 age 74 also ROBERT MILLER d Feb 28 1920 age 78
Monument : Headstone
Above information amended from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Monument
Inscription
Relationship: Father, son, and sister-in-law
Harry Percival Arthur Miller (1879 – 25 March 1903)
Harry was born in East Wickham, Kent and was the son of Bob and Rachel (née Weekes) Miller. By 1896 his widowed father had moved to Cambridge, where he ran the Empress pub. Harry worked in the pub as a barman and died at the Empress aged 23 years old. His funeral was held on 28 March.
Rebecca Weekes (1836 – 12 December 1910)
Rebecca was also born in East Wickham, Kent and was the daughter of Charles Lucas Weekes (1794-1874) and Amelia (née Masters) (1797-1865). Her father was an agricultural labourer, and Rebecca eventually went to live with her sister Rachel, and brother in law Bob Miller. She moved with Bob and Harry to Cambridge and died at Thoday Street aged 74 years. She was buried with her nephew Harry on 19 December 1910.
Robert (Bob) Miller (1 September 1841 – 28 February 1920)
Bob was born in East Wickham and baptised there on 3 October 1841. He was the son of Scottish blacksmith Alexander Miller (1804-1872) and Ann. Aged 17 he was living with his widowed father and two brothers and was working as a labourer. He married Rachel Weekes (1838-1889) on 4 June 1861 and they had four children: Clara (1864-), Robert John (1866-), Elizabeth Amelia (known as Libby) (1867-1950) and Harry Percival Arthur. Bob worked as a furnaceman at the Woolwich Arsenal for over fifty years and the family lived on The Green, East Wickham. He was widowed in 1889 and after retiring from the Arsenal on a pension, moved to Cambridge where he ran the Empress pub, 74 Thoday Street from at least 1896 to 1910. Bob also ran beer tents at various fairs in the town including Stourbridge Common (1908 and 1909) and Midsummer Fair (1907, 1908 and 1909). On New Year’s Eve 1900 he ran a ‘smoking concert’ at the Empress and newspapers reported ‘a large number assembled at the invitation of the landlord, who provided a free house’. In July 1910 he retired, and the license of the Empress was transferred to John Jay. Bob moved to live at nearby 62 Thoday Street, where he died aged 78 years old.
His funeral was held on 4 March, and was reported in the Cambridge Daily News. It reported ‘although very old, he patriotically tried to assist in meeting the demands made upon labour during the war period’.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
Parish burial records transcribed By CFHS
by Claire Martinsen
[If you have any information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]