CFHS code : AG108
Parish : St Andrew the Great
Inscription : In Loving Memory of WILLIAM JAMES UPCHURCH d March 31 1909 aged 29 also ELIZA UPCHURCH d Jan 4 1925 aged 70 also SAMUEL UPCHURCH d June 17 1928 aged 74 also HILDA UPCHURCH d March 15 1960 aged 66
Monument : Headstone/Kerb stones
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Lat Lon : 52.202779, 0.13693801 – click here for location
Monument
This headstone which appears to be intact, although leaning, is located south of the path that runs from the centre circle to the west path, completely hidden by a large ivy bush.
Inscription
In Loving Memory of WILLIAM JAMES UPCHURCH
died March 31 1909 aged 29
Also ELIZA UPCHURCH died Jan 4 1925 aged 70
Also SAMUEL UPCHURCH died June 17 1928 aged 74
Also HILDA UPCHURCH d March 15 1960 aged 66
Relationship: Mother, father and two children
William James Upchurch (1880 – 31 March 1909)
William was the eldest child of Samuel and Eliza and was born in Hemingford Abbots, near Huntingdon. Samuel was a footman for the Master of Clare College, and in 1881 he was living in college, so William and his mother Eliza were living in Hemingford Abbots, close to his maternal grandparents. By 1891 Samuel was a butler and the family had moved to 2 Gwydir Cottages, Gwydir Street. Little else of William’s life is known.
Eliza Upchurch (née Robinson) (1854 – 4 January 1925)
Eliza was the eldest daughter of William and Mary Ann Robinson and was born in Hemingford Abbots. Her father was a labourer/gardener and Eliza married Samuel Upchurch on Christmas Eve 1879 at Regent’s Square Church, London. The couple had seven children: William James, John (1882-1964), Maud Mary (1889-1978), George (1891-1971), Hilda May (1893-1960), Arthur Samuel (1896-1958) and one further child who died as an infant. In 1901 Samuel was working as a college waiter and the family were living at 36 Hemingford Road. He later ran a green grocer’s store at 69 Hemingford Road (1911) which his sons George and Arthur both worked in, but by late 1911 the family were living at Vinery Road. Eliza died in Cambridge aged 70 years old.
Samuel Upchurch (1854 – 17 June 1928)
Samuel was born in Great Gransden, near Huntingdon and baptised there on 29 April 1855. He was the son of James and Jane and grew up in the village, where his father was an agricultural labourer. Aged 16 he was working as a groom for Rev. Favill Hopkins, the Vicar of Caxton (1871) and was then footman to the Master of Clare College. He died in Cambridge aged 74 years.
Hilda May Upchurch (7 July 1893 – 15 March 1960)
Hilda was the youngest daughter of Samuel and Eliza, and after her parents’ deaths continued lived at Vinery Road with her brother George. In 1939 George was a green grocer, and Hilda was a laundress. She committed suicide in March 1960 after having been told by doctors that there was nothign else they could do for her eyes. She was found in a gas filled kitchen at Vinery Road and an inquest heard that she had been depressed over her health. George Upchurch told the court that ‘no one wanted to live more than she did, she loved children and animals’ but that her eyes had been a source of worry for her for some years.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
by Claire Martinsen
[If you have any information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]