CFHS code : AL601
Parish : St Andrew the Less
Inscription : In Loving Memory of SAMUEL STONEBRIDGE d March 23rd 1925 aged 53 also of his wife MARTHA STONEBRIDGE d Jan 8th 1947 aged 81
Monument : Headstone
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Monument
This monument lies 1 row to the west of the central path north of the centre circle on the southern border of the parish of Andrew the Less. We have only been able to uncover part of the kerbstone. It does not seem to have a headstone but due to the large amount of holly we were unable to clear the entire grave set.
Inscription
In Loving Memory of SAMUEL STONEBRIDGE died March 23rd 1925 aged 53 years
Also of his wife MARTHA STONEBRIDGE died Jan 8th 1947 aged 81
Samuel Stonebridge (1868 – 23 March 1923)
Samuel was the son of Richard and Harriet (née Johnson) and was baptised in Madingley on 29 May 1867. His father was a farm labourer, and Samuel grew up on the Madingley Road. Aged 13, he was also working as a farm labourer, as were his two older brothers. He married Martha Potter in 1891 and they had seven children: Ernest Samuel (1891-1897), Arthur Robert (1893-1980), Edith Rachel (1895-1982), William (1898-1951), Ivy Lilian (1900-1973), Dorothy May (1905-1905) and Frederick Samuel (1907-1989). Samuel worked as a brewer’s drayman (1901) and then as a labourer at the cement works (1911). In July 1902 he was fined 5s and 8s,6d costs ‘for being asleep while in charge of a horse and cart on the highway at Histon’.
The family lived at 2 Star Cottages, Auckland Road (at least 1897-1901) and 84 Sturton Street (at least 1905 onwards). He died in March 1923 aged 54 years old – it is not known why the inscription on the grave monument is incorrect.
Martha Stonebridge (née Potter) (19 January 1865 – 8 January 1947)
Martha was born in Bradfield St. Clare, a village six miles south of Bury St. Edmunds. She was the eldest daughter of farm labourer Alfred Potter and his wife Martha, and aged 14 was working as a general servant for widow Charlotte Flynn in Bury St. Edmunds. In 1891, just before her marriage to Samuel Stonebridge she was working as a cook in Great Shelford for auctioneer Arthur Grain. After she was widowed, she continued to live at 84 Sturton Street until at least 1930, and then moved to live with daughter Ivy and son in law Dennis Brown at 139 Arbury Road (1939). Martha died just before her 82nd birthday.
From parish burial records it is known that two of Samuel and Martha’s children were also buried in the St Andrew the Less area of Mill Road Cemetery. It is not known if they were buried in the same grave.
Ernest Samuel Stonebridge (1891-February 1897)
Ernest died at Auckland Road aged 5 years old, and his funeral was held on 13 February 1897.
Dorothy May Stonebridge (February 1905 – February 1905)
Dorothy died at Sturton Street aged 16 days old, and was buried at Mill Road Cemetery on 27 February 1905.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
Parish burial records transcribed by CFHS
by Claire Martinsen
[If you have any information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]