CFHS code : AS190
Parish : All Saints
Inscription : In Loving Memory of JOHN CRABB PLEASANCE —- 1881 aged 68 also MARTHA his wife May 5 1891 age 79 JANE CRABB PLEASANCE — May 3 1913 aged 64 CHARLOTTE ANN PLEASANCE daughter of the above d Dec 21 1916 aged 72
Monument : Headstone/Stone cross
Above information amended from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Monument
This small cross above an inscribed headstone, located in the parish of All Saints, stands 4 rows west of the central path hidden under branches of a large fir tree. The carved inscription has suffered from some erosion but the lower part is still legible.
Inscription
In Loving Memory of JOHN CRABB PLEASANCE —- 1881 aged 68 years
Also MARTHA his wife Died May 5 1891 aged 79 years
And JANE CRABB PLEASANCE Died May 3. 1913. Aged 64 years
And CHARLOTTE ANN PLEASANCE daughter of the above Died Dec. 21. 1916. Aged 72 years
John Crabb Pleasance (c.1812 – c.February 1881)
John was the son of Charles and Ann (née Crabb) Pleasance. He was baptised at St Edward’s Church on October 4th 1814. He married Martha Pleasance at St. Andrew the Great church on 8 November 1840 and the couple had at least five children: Charlotte Ann (1844-1916), Alice Mary (1846-1920), Jane Crabb (1849-1913), Benjamin Charles (1851-1906) and Robert William (1854-1933).
Initially the couple lived at Warwick Street with his mother Ann who ran a pub there (1841). Warwick Street ran to the east of St Mary the Great church – it was heavily impacted by a fire in the town in 1849. By 1851 the family were living at 2 Park Street and John worked as a tailor/waistcoat maker. Living next door was Salisbury Pleasance, and his family. Thought to be another relative. John died at Park Street aged 68 years old and was buried at Mill Road Cemetery on 4 February 1881.
Martha Pleasance (née Pleasance) (c.1813 – 31 May 1891)
Martha was possibly a relative of her husband John and was born in Burwell, a village between Cambridge and Newmarket. Her father was named as Benjamin in the parish marriage record. Throughout her marriage she worked as a college bedmaker. In 1881 she was living at Park Street with children: Charlotte, Jane and Robert, Mary Knight who was their domestic servant and grandson Charles Wallman. By 1891 Martha had moved to live at 18 St Peter’s Street, Castle Hill with daughter Charlotte and servant Mary Knight. She died at home aged 79 years old and was buried at Mill Road Cemetery on 3 June 1891.
Jane Crabb Pleasance (1849 – 3 May 1913)
Jane was baptised at All Saints’ Church on 6 January 1850 and in 1871/1881 was working as a milliner and living at home with her parents. She had moved to live in Willesden by at least 1891 where she acted as housekeeper to her widowed sister Alice who was a school teacher. Jane died at 2 Kempe Road in Kensal Green aged 68 years old and was buried at Mill Road Cemetery on 7 May 1913.
Charlotte Ann Pleasance (1844 – 21 December 1916)
Charlotte was the eldest child of John and Martha and worked at Robert Sayle & Co for 53 years. On census returns she was marked as working as a furrier, which is presumably what the ‘down factory’ produced. She lived with her mother until her death in 1891 and then lodged at Ekins Yard (1901) and 8 Haymarket Road (1911). After she retired she moved to Little Shelford and died there aged 72 years.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
by Claire Martinsen
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