CFHS code : AL593
Parish : St Andrew the Less
Inscription : Sacred to the Memory of JOHN PURKIS d Dec 21 1865 aged 43 also WALTER JOHN PURKIS (son) d Mar 1886 aged 34 also ESTHER wife of JOHN PURKIS d Mar 7 1908 aged 80 also FLORENCE (daughter) of the above d May 23 1920 aged [63]
Monument : Headstone
Above information amended from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Monument
Inscription
John Purkis (1822 – 21 December 1865)
John was born in Cambridge and was the son of Thomas. He married Esther Duce on 28 July 1844 and they had at least six children: Edwin (1845-1906), Clara (1846-), Walter John, Kate (1853-), Florence and Agnes (1859-1937). The family lived at 28 James Street and John worked as a house decorator/painter. He died aged 33 years old.
Walter John Purkis (1853 – 24 March 1886)
Walter was the second son of John and Esther and also worked as a painter. He lived with his widowed mother at 5 Burleigh Street (1871) and then James Street (1881 onwards) where he died aged 33 years old.
Esther Purkis (née Duce) (1828 – 7 March 1908)
Esther was the daughter of John and Esther and was baptised in Barkway, Hertfordshire on 27 April 1828. She married John Purkis when she was 16 years old. After she was widowed Esther worked as a college bedmaker and from 1891 onwards lived with daughter Agnes at Bertha Cottage, 36a James Street. She died aged 80 years old.
Florence Purkis (1857 – 23 May 1920)
Aged 24 Florence was working at 16 Harley Street as a ‘young lady’s maid’ for the daughters of sugeon William Stewart. She died at Bertha Cottage aged 63 years old.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
by Claire Martinsen
[If you have any information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]