CFHS code : AL506a
Parish : St Andrew the Less
Inscription : In Loving Memory of GEORGE KENT NICHOLLS of Chesterford late of Abington d April 15 1882 aged 58 also of MARY ANN wife of the above d Nov 22 1918 aged 85
Monument : Headstone (fallen)
Above information amended from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Monument
Inscription
George Kent Nicholls (1824 – 15 April 1882)
George was born in Little Chesterford, on the Cambridge/Essex border and was baptised at St. Mary’s Church, Little Chesterford on 22 January 1824. He was the son of farmer Charles Nichols and Sarah (née Kent) and aged 17 was living with his widowed mother on the farm. In 1851 he was living in Littlebury, just south of Little Chesterford, where he farmed 250 acres, employing 11 men. He married Mary Ann Robinson in c.1851 and they had eight children: Ellen Mary (1854-1869), William George (1855-), Kate Emma (1857-), Lewis Charles (1859-1939), Arthur Robinson (1860-1947), Albert Alfred (1863-), Edith Fanny (1868-) and Mary Elizabeth (1875-1959). The family lived in Littlebury (1861) and then moved to Grange Farm, Abington (1871) where George farmed 483 acres. The farm stock was sold by auction in September 1876 and consisted of ‘100 Hampshire ewes and 100 black-faced lambs, 11 good working horses, foal, 2 nags and 2 cows’. By 1881 George and Mary had moved to live at 3 Albert Street with three of their children, and he was documented in the census of that year as a milk seller. George died at 5 Brunswick Place and his funeral was held on 19 April.
Mary Ann Nicholls (née Robinson) (25 November 1832 – 22 November 1918)
Mary was born in Cambridge, and was the eldest daughter of William Waters Robinson (1806-1861) and Mary Ann (1805-), sister of William. She was baptised on 28 December 1832 at St. Andrew the Great Church and grew up at 13 Benet Street, where her father was a butcher. After she was widowed Mary ran Lodging Houses at 5 Brunswick Place (1891) and 11 Regent Street (at least 1901-1911) before moving to live at 62 Jesus Lane with her daughter Mary and son in law Vernon Fowell.
She died peacefully at home just before her 86th Birthday, ‘from the effects of a stoke which rendered her unconscious’ for the last four days of her life. Her funeral was held on 27 November and the Cambridge Daily News printed a short obituary ‘Mrs Nicholls had been a well-known social worker in Cambridge. The C.E.T.S., Mother’ Union, Cabmen’s Shelter, etc. where only a few of her social activities. further, she was a great Christian worker, and conducted for many years large Bible classes for young women. She possessed exceptional vitality and retained all her faculties up to the very last, and was remarkably active. In her passing Cambridge loses a fearless Christian lady’.
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]