CFHS code : AG399
Parish : St Andrew the Great
Inscription : In Loving Memory of FRANK EDWARD WINTERTON d Nov 7 1933 and HELEN MARY his wife d [May —-] aged 56
Monument : Kerb stones (part missing)
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Lat Lon : 52.202846, 0.13720466 –click here for location
Monument
These broken kerbstones, located in the northern section of the parish of Andrew the Great, are 2 rows along the path that runs west from the centre circle and 1 monument to the north.We were unable to check the inscription as it is now badly eroded.
Inscription
In Loving Memory of FRANK EDWARD WINTERTON d Nov 7 1933 and HELEN MARY his wife d [May —-] aged 56
Frank Edward Winterton (1877 – 7 November 1933)
Frank was born in Wellingborough and baptised there on 20 September 1877. He was the sixth of seven children born to William and Elizabeth Winterton and grew up in Wellingborough where his father was a schoolmaster, running the Parochial School at Castle Street. Aged 23, Frank was working as a dentist’s assistant and trained as a dentist (1901). He married Helen Lawman on 24 September 1904 at St. Michael at Bowes, Southgate, Enfield and they had one son: Frank Edward (1910-2001). The couple had moved to Nenedale, 191 Hills Road by 1908, where Frank worked from home. By 1913 he was working from Regent House, Regent Street, and applied for exemption from conscription to the War, which was granted.
In September 1913 a fourteen year old un-named school boy was charged with stealing ‘a metal keyless watch, value of 4s’ from Frank’s car. The car was kept at Moss’s garage in Hills Road and when Frank noticed the watch was missing he alerted Walter Moss, who then notified the police. P.C. Wade suspected the boy, and when he searched him found the watch in one of his pockets. The boy was bound over for 12 months, with his father as surety.
In the war years the majority of dentists were non formally qualified, and learned their skills through apprenticeships. They were regulated by the Incorporated Dental Society (IDS), but were often as experienced as their formally qualified equivalents,. Non-formally qualified dentists were cheaper than the qualified dentists and it was not until July 1917 that the BDA (British Dental Association) formed a committee to ‘investigate the extent and gravity of the evils connected with the practice of dentistry and dental surgery by persons not qualified under the Dentists Act’. The BDA were concerned that lack of skills and varying practises were leading to a ‘lowering the social status and public esteem of the dental profession’. There was a lack of formally qualfied dentists, which was just exacerbated by the 1st World War. The Dentist Act was passed in 1921, which ‘restricted the practise of dentistry to registered dentists, registered medical practitioners and to a limited extent registered pharmacists. Those with no formal qualifications were admitted to the register if proof could be provided of five years of continuous working as a dentist within a seven year period prior to the Act’. Formal entry to the Dentists Register was not automatic, but Frank was placed on the BDA list in 1921. These dentists were known as ‘the 1921 men’.
By at least 1931 the Wintertons had moved to live at 22 Lensfield Road and Frank died in Royston Hospital aged 55.
Helen Mary Winterton (née Lawman) (14 May 1875 – 9 March 1956)
Helen was born in Walworth, London, the daughter of William and Rebecca (née Slinn). Her father was a draper and she grew up in Lambeth. Helen’s mother had been born in Wellingborough, and in 1901 Helen was living in the town with her elder brother William, who was a draper on Market Street. This is probably where she met her future husband. She was baptised in Wellingborough on 23 March 1900, aged 25 years old. After she was widowed she continued to live at Lensfield Road with her son Frank, who was a land agent/surveyor. Helen died in Kings Lynn aged 80, it is thought she had moved there to be near to her son and daughter in law.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
BDA website
by Claire Martinsen
[If you have any information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com