CFHS code : AL614
Parish : St Andrew the Less
Inscription : In Loving Memory of LAURA MARTYR SPURGE d Aug 11 1888 aged -2 also RICHARD MARTYR SPURGE father of the above d June 11 1896 d in his 73rd year also SARAH wife and mother of the above d Nov 19 1900 aged 78
Monument : Headstone
Above information amended from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Monument
The headstone has been restored since the CFHS survey. In the parish area of St Andrew the Less, it stands close to the corner of the north west wall, three rows north of the north path. The upper part of the inscription has eroded so badly that we have been unable to verify the CFHS transcript. The burial record was used to complete the inscription.
Inscription
In Loving Memory of LAURA MARTYR SPURGE died 11 Aug 1888
aged 27 years
Also RICHARD MARTYR SPURGE father of the above died June 11 1896 in his 73rd year
Also SARAH wife & mother of the above died Nov 19 1900 aged 78 years
Relationships: Parents and daughter. The family were non conformists who attended the Zion Baptist Chapel on East Road.
Laura Martyr Spurge (1861 – 1888)
Laura was 27 when she died. She lived at the family home all her life and was a member of the Zion Baptist Chapel.
Richard Martyr Spurge (24 June 1823 – 11 June 1896)
Richard was born in Colne, Essex, the son of tailor Joseph Spurge and his wife Harriet (née Franklin). His unusual middle name was apparently handed down by an ancestor who ‘three centuries before had suffered the flames of martyrdom rather than deny his faith’. Richard worked as a tailor but also dealt in hides. He married Sarah Cooper in Halstead on 3 September 1846. They moved into a house on the High Street and had the first three of at least seven children: Richard Martyr (1848-1920), John (1850-1930) ,and Joseph (1853-1933). By 1856 they had moved to 50 Eden Street, Cambridge where Charles (1857-1944), Thomas Martyr (1859-1902), Laura (1861-1888) and Jessie Sarah (1866-1945) were born.
From sales particulars in the Cambridge Chronicle we know that 50 Eden Street had three bedrooms, a kitchen, parlour, keeping room, cellar and large yard. In 1856 Richard was renting it for £12 a year. Richard was listed among those who did not vote in the Parliamentary elections of 1859.
In February 1864 Richard was discharged from bankruptcy. In notices placed in the Cambridge Independent Press in relation to this he was referred to as a ‘dealer in hides, commission agent and tailor’. In 1872 he was a witness in the trial of Mr Gilbert who he had brought lambskins from that turned out to have been stolen. He died at the family home 50 Eden Street aged 72 years.
Sarah Spurge (née Cooper) (1822 – 19 November 1900)
Sarah was from Halstead Essex, the daughter of Thomas (Tom) Cooper. Tom was a cabinet maker, who was the deacon of the Congregational Church in Halstead for over forty years, and was said to be ‘much respected’. She was also a committed member of the Zion Baptist church.
Sarah was ill for some time before she died – what was later described as a ‘long and intensely painful illness, patiently borne and quietly passed..at the ripe age of 78’. She died at 50 Eden Street and was buried at Mill Road on 23 November. A service was held at her home by Rev. Frank Griffin, who had been the former Pastor of the Zion Church and who had returned to Cambridge for the funeral. It was noted that she had been connected with the Zion church for over 40 years and of ‘the many saintly characteristics of the deceased – her many activities in the Church and her Godly example as a devoted and loving mother’.
Sources:
CFHS transcript of Zion Baptist Chapel members 1848-1860
CFHS Census transcripts
Family Search
Ancestry
British Newspaper Archive
Find My Past
by Mary Naylor and Claire Martinsen