CFHS code : ML11 and 10
Parish : St Mary the Less
Inscription : In Memory of Sir GEORGE EDW— PAGET KCB MD LLD DCL FRS Regius Professor of Physic in the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Gonville & Caius College b Dec 22 1809 d Jan 29 1892 also Lady CLARA PAGET b Nov 5 1825 d May 7 1899 also HESTER PAGET bur 29 Jan 1856 aged 2 ALFRED OWEN PAGET 2 Jan 1857 aged 1_ GEORGIANA PAGET 15 Aug 1857 aged 1
Monument : Stone cross/Vault
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Lat Lon : 52.202837, 0.13773105 – click here for location
Monument
There are two plinths within one set of kerb stones, in the parish area of St Mary the Less. The larger plinth has the main inscription and the smaller one the initials of the three children. The crosses have fallen and the inscriptions are now very hard to read.
Inscription
west face
In Memory of Sir GEORGE EDWARD PAGET KCB MD LLD DCL FRS Regius Professor of Physic in the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Gonville & Caius College
born Dec 22 1809 died Jan 29 1892
“Faithful unto death
east face
Also Lady CLARA PAGET born Nov 5 1825 died May 7 1899
Also HESTER PAGET bur 29 Jan 1856 aged 2
ALFRED OWEN PAGET 2 Jan 1857 aged 1_
GEORGIANA PAGET 15 Aug 1857 aged 1
Sir George Edward Paget (1809-1892)
George was born on 22 December 1809 in Yarmouth, the third son of Samuel Paget, a brewer, and Sarah Elizabeth Tolver. He attended Charterhouse School before being admitted as a pensioner to Gonville and Caius on 29 May 1827. He gained his BA in 1831 (8th Wrangler), MB in 1833. He was a Fellow from 1832 to 1851 and Bursar from 1835 to 1838. In 1842 he persuaded the University to institute bedside examinations for its medical degrees, which were the first regular clinical examinations in England. was also the Linacre Lecturer on Medicine at St John’s college in 1851.
George was elected one of the doctors to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in 1839 and resigned in 1884 after 45 years service. He was described ‘as most punctual in his attendance, while his charming manner, combined with his extensive experience and skill, endeared him to all with whom he was brought into contact’. On his resignation he was apointed as ‘consulting physician’ and a subscription was launched in order to purchase a marble bust of George to be placed in the entrance of the hospital (1885). donors included the Prince of Wales and Prince Edward of Wales. In the same year he was knighted.
He served as President of the BMA in 1864 and President of the General Council of Medical Education and Registration from 1869-1874. In 1872 he was appointed Regis Professor of Physic at Cambridge University. His impact on the study of Medicine at the University was enormous and it was later reported ‘for many years previous to the appointment of Dr. Paget to the Professorship, the study of medicine had been much neglected in this University, From 1833 to 1858 the average number of persons proceeding to the degree of Bachelor of Mediine was less than four a year. With the exception of Gonville and Caius and St. John’s Colleges, no encouragement was given by Fellowships or scholarships to the students of mediine. The degree itself, although it enabled its holders to practise, was not considered in the profession as a very high qualification, and there was some danger of the medical faculty becoming extinct’. By the time of George Paget’s death in 1892 ‘the medical school at Cambridge ..(was) one of the largest in the Univted Kingdom and the possession of a medical degree at Cambridge is considered one of the highest professional qualifications’. He introduced the Natural Science Tripos, which was a gateway to a medical degree, as well as endowing professorships, laboratories and museums.
He married Clara Fardell on 11th December 1851 at Sutton, Isle of Ely in the parish church where her father was the vicar. George and Clara had at least ten children; George Edmund (1852-1929), Hester (1853-1856), Alfred Owen (1855-1857), Georgiana (1856-1857), Clara Maud (known as Maud) (1857-1949), Charles Edward (1858-1927), Rose Elizabeth (1860-1951), Violet Emma (1860-1924), Alfred James Meyrick (1869-1927) and Owen Frank (1871-1953). All the children were baptised in the parish church of St Mary the Less.
In June 1888 Sir George suggested that Miss Alice Fisher, a matron at Addenbrooke’s Hospital be honoured. She had died in Philaelphia and he wanted her to be remembered for the ‘very great work which she died at the Hospital and the great improvement she effected in nursing and which had gone on until the present time, more of less on the lines of her organisation’. He proposed that a ward be named after her, and it was proposed that a ward which was known as ‘Alice Ward’ be known as ‘Alice Fisher Ward’. Her name lives on in, and there is an Alice Fisher Lecture Theatre at Addenbrooke’s new site.
He died on 29 January 1892 of influenza at his house in St Peter’s Terrace, Cambridge. The Asiatic/Russian flu pandemic spread from 1889-1895 and killed 1 million worldwide, and Sir George was thought to have been one of these. He attended the inauguaration of the the Duke of Devonshire as University Chancellor on 12 January, where ‘he caught a chill, which rapidly developed and in a space of little two weeks robbed us of one of our formost men of science’. The Cambridge Chronicle and Journal reported that ‘the many deaths we have had to record lately had already cast a gloom over the town, and this has materially deepened by the loss of one so universally beloved by all classes’. In the final weeks he was monitored by Dr. Humphrey who issued daily bulletins which were reported by the newspapers.
His funeral was held on 4 February at the chapel of Caius College where ‘the body was enclosed in an elm shell and a polished oak coffin with massive brass furniture’. The coffin was ‘completely buried in most magnificent wreaths, in which arum lilies, lilies of the valley and violets were the most conspiculous. At the head of the coffin was placed a very pretty wreath of laurel, violets and lilies of the valley’. The Masters of most of the Cambridge colleged attended the service, and the coffin was then taken to Mill Road Cemetery for interment, ‘where a very large number of people assembled to pay a last tribute of respect to the deceased Knight’. In the evening a dumb peal was rung on the bells of St. Mary the Great.
The Governors of Addenbrook’s paid tribute to him at their March meeting saying ‘how remarkably kind and attentive he was to the patients….and how admirable his treatment was, not only from a medicinal point of view, but from a moral point of view. They all knew…..how courteous, kind and considerate he was, not only to the patients, but to his colleagues, to the nurses, to the Governors, and to all concerned….they might well say he was a pattern of an honourable gentleman and upright physician, and of an honourable gentleman’.
Lady Clara Paget (née Fardell) (1825-1899)
Clara was born in York and baptised at St Mary’s Bishophill Junior on 8th November 1825. She was the youngest daughter of Rev Thomas Fardell (1791-1860) and Emma Clara Anne (née Meyrick) (1801-1874). She died at Litchfield Lodge, Hereford aged 73 years old. Her funeral was held at Mill Road Cemetery on 11 May 1899 where ‘the body arrived at the Railway Station shortly before four o’clock and was conveyed straight to the Cemetery. A short service in the Chapel preceded the interment. The Rev. E.G. Swain, of King’s College, was the officiating clergyman’.
Alfred Owen Paget (2 April 1855 – 2 January 1857)
Alfred died aged 1 year old.
Georgina Paget (1856 – 15 August 1857)
Georgiana died in Cambridge a few months after her first birthday
Sources :
George’s obituary
ACAD – A Cambridge Alumni Database
by Mary Naylor and Sheila Plaister with further information added by Claire Martinsen
[If you have any information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]