CFHS code : AL408
Parish : St Andrew the Less
Inscription : In Loving Memory of ALBERT THURSTON d 1 Dec 1925 aged 63 also SABINA THURSTON d 24 June 1949 age 84 also ALBERT BOBBY THURSTON d 28 Oct 1949 aged 65
Monument : Headstone/Kerb stones
Above information amended from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Monument
This headstone in the parish of St Andrew the Less is located roughly 9 rows east of the central path and a few metres south of the north path. Appart from some damage to the metal lettering the headstone, kerbs and corner posts are all intact.
Inscription
In Loving Memory of my dear husband ALBERT THURSTON Who fell asleep Dec 1st 1925 aged 63 Years.
“After toil – cometh rest”
Also SABINA THURSTON died June 24th 1949 age 84 years
And ALBERT ‘BOBBY’ THURSTON died Oct 28th 1949 aged 65 years
Albert Thurston (1862 – 1 December 1926)
Albert grew up on Newmarket Road with his parents George and Ann (née Larkins). His father was a labourer, his mother a charwoman and aged 19 Albert was working as a brickmaker. He married Sabina Wayman in 1882 and they had seven children: Albert (Bobby) (1884-1949), Mabel (1887-1965), Bertie (1890-1945), Daisy (1894-1983), Thomas (Tom) (1895-1974), Ethel (1897-1978), Richard George (1900-1973) and one more child who died as an infant (possibly named Beatrice (Beattie) born c.1889). Albert continued to work as a brickmaker and the family lived at Coldham’s Lane (1891), 1 Leeke Street (1901) 11 Norfolk Terrace, Norfolk Street (1911) and Adam and Eve Street (at least 1915 onwards). When the census of 1911 was taken Albert was documented as an out of work general labourer, and Sabina as a college bedmaker.
Sabina Thurston (née Wayman) (17 December 1864 – 24 June 1949)
Sabina was born in Kingston, Cambridgeshire and baptised there on 5 February 1865. She grew up in Kingston with her parents John and Sarah. Her father was an agricultural labourer and aged 16 Sabina was living at Trumpington Street, Cambridge and working as a servant to baker Ann Gray. She continued to live at 46 Adam and Eve Street after she was widowed and in 1939 was living there with her granddaughter Phyllis Ludman (daughter of Ethel). She died at home ten years later.
Albert (Bobby) Thurston (29 January 1884 – 28 October 1949)
Bobby was the eldest son of Albert and Sabina and worked as a delivery driver for Messrs Beales and Co (1899), and then as a brickmaker (1901). He was no stranger to the court system and appeared in front of magistrates many times. In 1895 as an eleven year old he was charged with stealing two pigeons from labourer Harry Allen. Two other boys were involved in the theft, but at court Bobby and another boy were acquitted as there was not enough evidence, whilst the third was ‘liable to be flogged or to be imprisoned for a month’. In January 1899 Bobby and three other delivery drivers who worked for Beales and Co, were seen racing ‘at between ten to twelve miles an hour’ up Mill Road. They were seen by PC MacQuillan who told the court that ‘in his opinion they were racing and trying to pass each other. They were going two abreast’. The bench charged the four a fine of 5s, including costs.
In April 1899 Bobby was charged by PC Merry with ‘using obscene language on Newmarket Road’. At court Bobby said he was very sorry and would not do it again – he was fined 2s and 6d. In June 1901 he was charged by PC Ridgewell of being ‘drunk and disorderly in St. Andrew’s Street’. The policeman told the court that he was drunk using bad language and had been shouting out. He had also caught hold of some ‘young girls and pushed them around’. He was fined 10s, including costs or a week’s imprisonment.
He married Jane Elizabeth Freeman (1884-1960) in 1906 and they had three children: Doris Nora (1908-1983), Thomas Henry (1909-) and Albert Edward (1913-1973). In 1911 the family were living at 16 Willow Place, Fair Street and Bobby was working as a ‘plant hawker’. In June 1915 he was back in front of the courts accused of aiding and abetting another hawker (James Curry) to sell fish from Peas Hill without a license. James Curry was fined 5s, and Bobby Thurston 2s and 6d.
Bobby and Jane’s marriage does not appear to have been harmonious and by 1939 the couple were living separately. Bobby was living at 23 Brandon Place with Florence Harben and was working as a ‘dog fancier and dealer’. Jane Thurston was living at 5 Nelson Street and working as a college worker. He died at 46 Adam and Eve Street, four months after his mother.
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]