CFHS code : AS75
Parish : All Saints
Inscription : In Affectionate Remembrance of JOHN THURLBOURN d Sep 13 1898 in his 85th year also SUSANNA [wife] of the above d June 17 1909 age 98
Monument : Headstone/Kerb stones
Above information amended from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Lat Lon : 52.203515, 0.13701722 – click here for location
Monument
This tall headstone is located 8/9 rows from the west wall and 2 rows from the north path in the parish of All Saints.The stone has a cross carved at the top and while the inscription for John is still legible there is damage to the stone which has obscured Susanna’s. The damage is significant and may cause the monument to fall within a few years.
Inscription
In Affectionate Remembrance of JOHN THURLBOURN who died Sep 13 1898 in his 85th year
Also SUSANNA [wife] of the above who died June 17 1909 aged 98
John Thurlbourn (1814 – 1898) In parish registers Thurlbourn is spelt in various ways.
John was born in Cambridge. Likely to be the son of John and Rhoda born on June 11th 1814 in the parish of Holy Sepulchre and baptised at the Downing St Independent Meeting House on July 1st. His family were Wesleyan. He had many siblings born between 1807 and 1821. Two of his elder sisters died of smallpox in 1807/8. He became a master tailor and lived and worked at 15 Trinity St. For many years he worked with Henry Holden, but this partnership was dissolved in 1865. By this time his son John had joined the business. By 1871 the business was employing 25 men and 1 boy.
He married Susanna Thompson on June 25th 1835 at St Botolph’s church. They had at least 5 children John Rogers (1836 – 1872), Alfred (1838), Ann (1840) Isabella Ann Maria (1841), Catherine (1845), Henrietta (1847)
At least 2 of his daughters became school teachers – There was a school in Trinity St run by a Miss Hutt and they may have worked there.
His son John Rogers married in 1863 but was widowed in 1865. He married again in 1869 but in 1872 had a stroke and died.
John died at home, after a long illness, and was buried on September 16th. An obituary appeared in the local paper the same day from which we learn that he had run the tailor and robe makers shop for 55 years, had joined the Presbyterians in later life and died from heart failure. He was buried after a service in his own home.
Susanna Thurlbourn (1810 – 1909)
Susanna was born in Cambridge on 6th December 1810. She was the daughter of Edward & Mary Thompson and baptised in St Benedict’s church. Her father, a cabinet maker, died a few weeks before her birth, he was 40 years old. After her marriage to John she was able to keep at least one servant. After John’s death she continued as proprietor of the shop under the management of E Smee until at least 1936. In the 1953 Street Directory it was still called Thurlbourn and Son
Her elder sister Ann Owen is also buried in Mill Road Cemetery.
Pictures of the shop in Trinity St can be found here https://capturingcambridge.org/centre/trinity-street/15-trinity-street/
[If you have any information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]
by Mary Naylor
Sources
CFHS transcripts of parish & census records
Family Search
British Newspaper Archives
1953 Cambridge Street directory – Spalding