CFHS code : PL490
Parish : St Paul
Inscription : SARAH WEBB d Jan 1st 1925 in her 105th year
Monument : Kerb stones
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Monument
Inscription
Sarah Webb (10 February 1820 – 1 January 1925)
Sarah was born in Bloomsbury, London and was the daughter of surgeon Henry Webb and Elizabeth (née Dunn) (1791-1877). In 1861 was living with her widowed mother Elizabeth, and sister Mary in Paddington. Sarah and Mary were both ‘fancy workers’ (someone who did decorative needlework, for example embroidery). Elizabeth Webb had been born in Burwell and in 1871 Sarah was living with her mother at 23 New Square, Cambridge, where Elizabeth died aged 86 in February 1877. Sarah moved to 7 Perowne Street (1891) and Mawson Road (at least 1901 onwards). In 1901 Sarah was living with a companion, and her nephew.
In February 1920 she was 100 and received a message from the King which read: ‘Madam, It was been brought to the King’s notice that on the 10th of February last, you celebrated your 100th birthday, and I have received his Majesty’s commands to congratulate you on having attained this venerable age. I am to add that it is the KIng’s hope that the remainder of your days may be blessed with prosperity and health – Yours faithfully, Cromer’. The Cambridge Daily News printed the reply which was sent back to Lord Cromer: ‘Miss Webb (whose eyesight is failing, but who otherwise, through the goodness of God, is in the enjoyment of her faculties), has asked me, on her behalf, to thank his Majesty the King for his kind congratulation on the completion of her 100th year, and for the good wishes for the remainder of her time down here. Miss Webb would also like the King to know that her daily prayer is that the blessing of the Lord may be with his Majesty’.
In February 1924 The Saffron Walden Weekly News reported her birthday under the headline of ‘Cambridge Centernarian. Miss Sarah Webb 104 years old’. The newspaper reported that she had ‘received the congratulations of many friends. Miss Webb is still able to get about, and enjoys fairly good health, considering her great age’.
She died at home aged a few weeks before her 105th birthday and her funeral took place on 6 January 1925. The Saffron Walden Weekly News printed a short obituary which noted ‘Miss Webb was suffering from an attack of bronchistis about ten days before she died, but she did not take to her bed until about three days previous to her death. On Christmas Day she was present at Christmas dinner. She was born in London and was the daughter of a doctor, her mother being a native of Burwell. She came to Cambridge after the death of her father some years ago, and was the last survivor of a family of seven children. Her longevity and health she attributed to a peaceful and quiet life, regular habits and abstinence from stimulants. Miss Webb’s sight at the time of her death, had failed, but her hearing and speech were quite good. She had a wonderful memory for scriptural texts and humns, which she repeated frequently up to the time of her decease. On her hundreth birthday she received congratulations from their Majesties the King and Queen, and each successive year had had greetings from the different Mayors’.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
Parish burial records transcribed by CFHS
by Claire Martinsen
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