CFHS code : MG110
Parish : St Mary the Great
Inscription : kerbs In Loving Memory of SUSAN LYDIA SUMMERTON d Aug 29th 1933 aged 63 small slab: also / THOMAS WILLIAM / SUMMERTON / d March 12th 1946 / aged 71
Monument : Kerb stones/Ground slab/Flowerholder
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Lat Lon : 52.20222, 0.13803803 – click here for location
Monument
Inscription
Susan Lydia Summerton (née Smith) (October 1870 – 29 August 1933)
Susan was known as Susie, and was born in Aldershot and was the daughter of Edward and Sarah. She grew up on the High Street in Aldershot where her father was a furniture dealer. She married soldier Thomas Summerton in 1898 and they had three children: William Edward (1901-1965), Ethel Catherine Sarah (1906-1978) and one more child who died as an infant. William Summerton was born in Lucknow, India and Ethel in Jaipur, Rajasthan, but in 1907 the family returned to England to live in Cambridge. In 1911 Thomas Summerton was a Sergeant-Major in the 2rd King’s Own Hussars Cavalry and the family were living at 50 Norwich Street. He appears to have been seconded to the Cambridgeshire Squadron of the Duke of York’s Own Loyal Suffolk Hussars and in May 1908 was asked to inspect the new rifle range in Cambridge which he declared to be ‘one of the best of its kind in England’.
The family later moved to 45 Devonshire Road (1930) and Susie died at the Evelyn Nursing Home aged 63 years old. Her funeral was held at the Hills Road Weslayan Church on 1 September where the hymns ‘Jesu, Lover of my soul’ and ‘Give me the wings of faith’ were sung.
Captain Thomas William Summerton (18 October 1874 – 12 March 1946)
Thomas was the son of William and Catherine and was born in Thame, Oxfordshire. His father was a publican and he enlisted in the 3rd King’s Own Hassars regiment on 9 February 1891. Immediately prior to joining up he had been working as a groom/coachman to a doctor and from his papers it is known he was 5ft 6 inches tall, with hazel eyes, brown hair and sallow skin. He was awarded a distinguished conduct medal (DCM) for service in the Boer War.
He threw himself into Cambridge life and was a member of the Lensfield Rifle Club and helped to usher at the Town Council Popular Concert at the Guildhall (1909). In September 1910 he was asked to join the Town Representatives’ Committee. In January 1913 he organised a ball for the Cambridge squadron of the Suffolk Hussars at the Masonic Lodge which the Cambridge Independent Press reported ‘passed off without the slightest hitch and Staff Sergt-Major T.W. Summerton…with his many helpers are to be congratulated upon the carrying out of a most successful evening’s entertainment’. He was a prominent member of the Hills Road Wesleyan Church and was also involved in the running of the Boys’ Brigade.
Thomas served in the 1st World war with the Suffolk Yeomanry (Regimental Sergeant Major), ,Fife and Forfar Yeomanry (2nd Lieutenant, August 1915), 2/1st Lovat Scouts (Lieutenant, November 1915) and was then made a Captain with the 2nd King’s Own Scottish Borderers. He left the army in 1919.
After the war he changed career and wored as a travelling salesman for the East Anglian Cement comany, and thereafter worked for a couple of years at the Inspector of Taxes office, Hobson Street. In 1931 he joined the commercial department of the Cambridge Daily News, where he worked until two weeks before his death.
In October 1919 he was voted assistant secretary for the Guildhall Concert Committee and helped organise the concerts. In November 1920 he was elected as a co-opted member of the Cambridge and Isle of Ely Territorial Force Assocation representing ‘comrades of the Great War’. By 1920 Cambridgeshire had 300 unemployed ex-soldiers and the situation in Wisbech was said to be particularly bad, so the Assocation looked at ways in resolving this. He also organised military reunions for the Suffolk Yeomanry.
He was a methodist lay preacher and served as church treasurer of the Hills Road Methodist Church for many years. It was said that he did not smoke and was a life long teetotaler.
Thomas married for a second time in 1934 to Julia Palmer (1871-1946) and they lived at 7 Norwich Street (at least 1935 onwards). He died at Addenbrookes Hospital aged 71 years old. He had been admitted two weeks earlier, following a stroke. The funeral was held at the Hills Road Methodist Church.
Julia Summerton died in December 1946 at the County Hospital, Mill Road.
Susie Sommerton’s mother Sarah was also buried at Mill Road Cemetery – her grave has not yet been identified.
Sarah Smith (née Loader) (20 November 1838 – 8 February 1924)
Sarah was born in Finchampstead, Berkshire, the daughter of handle maker William (1801-1887) and Sarah (née Maynard) (1808-1896). She married Edward Smith (1838-1885) in 1865 and they had at least four children: Annie (1866-), Sarah (1869-), Susie and Edward (1872-1905). The family lived at 62-63 High Street, Aldershot where Edward ran a furniture shop. By 1891 she was a widow and subsequently worked as a sick nurse (1891) before living with daughter Annie and son in law Jack Wright in Aldershot (1901) and then Warrington (1911). By 1921 she was living with Susie and Thomas Summerton at 50 Norwich Street. She died there ‘after a long illness’ and her funeral was held at the Hills Road Wesleyan Church on 12 February. Her obituary noted that ‘for many years she was associated with the late Miss Daniels in her misson work among the soldiers at Aldershot’.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
by Claire Martinsen
Thank you to J.S. great granddaughter of Susan and Thomas Summerton for permission to publish family photos on this site.
[If you have any information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]