Ada Pain; Alice Pain; Emily Pain; Jessie Pain; Mary Ann Pain; Walter Edward Pain

CFHS code : HT616

Parish : Holy Trinity

Inscription : In Loving Memory of WALTER EDWARD PAIN b 2 Nov 1835 d 25 Dec 1910 also MARY ANN wife d 12 Dec 1919 in her 83rd year also EMILY PAIN b 16 May 1865 d 24 Apr 1939 also JESSIE PAIN b 14 Mar 1881 d 29 Dec 1941 also ALICE PAIN b 1 Jun 1868 d 11 July 1952 also ADA PAIN b 17 Mar 1875 d 6 Mar 1963

Monument : Stone cross/Kerb stones

Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey

Monument

This stone cross with kerb stones is located in the parish area of Holy Trinity, at the south end of the eastern path just before the path curves southwards. It is close to the west side of the path (almost opposite the prominent column with scrolls surrounded by iron railings of the Smith family.)

Inscription

‛In Loving Memory of Walter Edward Pain
born 2 Nov 1835 died 25 Dec 1910’

‛also Mary Ann wife
died 12 Dec 1919 in her 83rd year’

‛also Emily Pain
b 16 May 1865 d 24 Apr 1939’

‛also Jessie Pain
born 14 Mar 1881 died 29 Dec 1941’

‛also Alice Pain
born 1 Jun 1868 died 11 July 1952’

‛also Ada Pain
born 17 Mar 1875 died 6 Mar 1963’

Walter Edward Pain (1835-1910)

Walter Edward Pain was born on 2 November 1835 at 5 Rose Crescent, Cambridge, the third child of George and Sarah Pain, who are also buried in Mill Road Cemetery. In 1850 at the age of 15 he entered his father’s chemist business, G. A Pain as a pharmacist, and after his father’s death in 1858 changed the company name to W E Pain, and in 1867 moved the business to 8 Sidney Street, and then in 1878 to 13 Sidney Street. The business also supplied drawing, scientific, medical and meteorological instruments, and then sight testing, and the manufacture and supply of spectacles.

Walter became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Meteorologists, was an Observer for the British Rainfall Organisation and about 1895 was made a Fellow of the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers and was admitted to the Freedom of the City of London. He was also Inspector of Gas for the Cambridge Corporation for nearly 40 years, was an agent for two insurance companies, and churchwarden of Holy Trinity Church.

He married Mary Ann Welsford on August 9 1864 at St. Nicholas Church, Sidmouth and the couple had seven children: Percy (1866-1953), Alice (1868-1952), Rev. Harold (1873-1951), Sydney Welsford (1879-1960), Jessie (1881-1941), Emily (1865-1929) and Ada (1875-1963).

Walter also had hobbies of trout fishing and doing ornamental lathe turning, and died on Christmas Day 1910 at 13 Sidney Street. He left £100 to Holy Trinity Church to provide a fire-proof safe which still stands in the church vestry.

The Mayor of Cambridge made a tribute to Walter saying that ‘by his death Cambridge lost one of her sons, for he was born 75 years ago very adjacent to that building – in Rose Crescent – and his was a familiar figure of almost everyone, particularly every member of that chamber’. He left the business at 13 Sidney Street split equally between his daughters Emily and Jessie and sons Sydney and Percy.

Mary Ann Pain (née Welsford) (15 March 1837 – 12 December 1919)

Mary was born in Sidmouth, the eldest daughter of William and Ann (née Yeo). Her father was a master shoemaker, and her mother ran a lodging house. Aged 24 she was working for draper John Odell Pain at 3 Sidney Street (1861) and married his nephew Walter. After she was widowed she lived at Sidney Street with five of her children, and two household servant. She died at home aged 82 years old.

Emily Pain (16 May 1865 – 24 April 1939)

Emily worked as an optician’s assistant (1891) and later as an optician. By 1921 Emily was living at Sidney Street and running the business with her sister Jessie and brother Sydney, who lived elsewhere in the city.. Her other sisters Alice and Ada also lived with them. The sisters later moved to 44 Lyndwode Road, where Emily died aged 73 years old and left an estate valued at £6,640 (c. £2.3m at today’s wealth values).

Jessie Pain (14 March 1881- 29 December 1941)

Jessie also worked as an optician and lived with her sisters. In September 1939 she was living at Lyndewode Road with her sister Alice. Jessie died at the Evelyn Nursing Home and was buried at Mill Road Cemetery on 1st January 1942. Her brother Harold conducted the funeral service.

Alice Pain (1 June 1868- 11 July 1952)

Alice was baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 30 July 1868. She appears to have worked as the family housekeeper and never married. She continued to live at Lyndewode Road until her death aged 84 years old.

Ada Pain (17 March 1875 – 6 March 1963)

Ada was bpatised at Holy Trinity Church on 29 April 1875. Aged 36 she was working as an amanuensis (someone who takes dictation). She was a pianist, and played at Holy Trinity Church concerts. From newspaper reports it is known that she also sang, and took part in many church activities. In June 1914 she provided strawberry and cream refreshments for a sale of work held by the Ladies’ Home Mission Union. She lived at at Lyndewode Road until 1952, before moving to 15 Mackenzie Road in 1953 and died at the Evelyn Nursing Home aged 87 years old.