CFHS code : HS31
Parish : Holy Sepulchre
Inscription : ALBERT WILLIAM PLEASANCE d March 31 1910 age 57 ADA ELIZA PLEASANCE 1897
Monument : Stone cross (base only)/Kerb stones (double grave)
Above information amended from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Lat Lon : 52.202353, 0.13763466 – click here for location
Monument
Part of the cross is still within the grave set. As the inscription on the east face is no longer legible, Ada’s name has been added after checking the grave register.
Inscription
ALBERT WILLIAM PLEASANCE d March 31 1910 age 57
ADA ELIZA PLEASANCE d. 21 March 1897
south face of plinth
ADA ALBERT
PLEASANCE
1897 1910
Albert William Pleasance (1852 – 31 March 1910)
Albert was the son of Frederic and Mary Ann (née Chapman) Pleasance and grew up at 12 Jesus Lane where his father worked as a bootmaker. He was baptised on 8 August 1852 at All Saints’ Church. Aged 18 he was living at home and working as a plumber (1861). He married Ada Marsh on 13 April 1879 at the Church of the Annunciation, Chislehurst in Kent. The couple had at least four children: Emmeline Alice (1881-1975), Lillian Edith (1882-1953) Harry Chapman (1885-1887) and Minnie Farley (1887-1972). Albert worked as a plumber/glazier and the family lived at 8 Willow Walk (1891) and then 8 Bridge Street (1891).
In October 1881 Alfred was summonsed to the magistrate’s court for failing to have had his daughter Emmeline vaccinated. He was charged under the Compulsory Vaccination Act 1853 – an ‘order was made and defendant undertook that the child should be vaccinated before Christmas’. The act legislated that all children should have the small pox vaccination within their first three months.
After he was widowed in 1897 Albert married for a second time in 1898 to Ellen Louisa Wales (known as Nellie) (1868-1954). Nellie already had two illegitimate children Dorothy Nellie (1892-1985) and Walter (1896-1965) but the children don’t appear to have lived with Albert and Nellie. They had at least one child together: Ada Elsie (1899-). In 1901 they were back living at 8 Willow Walk.
Throughout his life Albert was a chorister and was clerk of St. John’s College for over 35 years. He was a chorister at St. John’s as a boy until his voice broke and returned to the choir aged 22 years old as a tenor. He was also a member of the Choir Mutual Aid Society which was composed of member of Trinity, King’s and St. John’s College choirs. Albert was also connected with many musical societies within the town and sang in concerts.
He died aged 57 years old and was buried at Mill Road Cemetery on 4 April 1910.
Nellie Pleasance ran a Lodging House from 8 Bridge Street after she was widowed. She died in Addenbrookes Hospital aged 86 years old.
Ada Eliza Pleasance (née Marsh) (1853 – 21 March 1897)
Ada was born in Chislehurst and baptised there on 8 May 1853. S he was the daughter of Henry and Eliza Marsh and her father was a baker in the town. Aged 18 (1871) she was working as a kitchen maid at Codicote Lodge in Hitchen. It was a large house occupied by widow Elizabeth Busk and her four daughters. They had two governesses, two footmen, a nurse, a cook, two ladies’ maids, two housemaids, a schoolroom maid and kitchen maid Ada Marsh to look after them.
Ada married Albert Pleasance when she was 24 years old and died at Bridge Street after what newspapers said was ‘a long and painful illness, aged 43. Much beloved’.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
by Claire Martinsen
[If you have any further information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]