27 April 2009

Pubs'n'Prisons

Yesterday, whilst I was off enjoying myself in the great metropolis, I missed the 127th wedding anniversary of Henry Orpwood and Ann Webb. The latter was my g-g-aunt and she & Henry tied the knot at the Parish church in Landbeach in 1882.

Henry had been brought up in a pub (the Prince of Wales in Histon Road, Chesterton) but sought gainful employment away from the licenced trade by becoming a prison warder. Although he spend a fair amount of time in Cambridge, he also seems to have been transferred to a prison near Shepton Mallet (1901 census) and his entry in the 1911 census lists him as a "pensioner from HM Prison Leeds". I hope that didn't mean he changed sides . . . . !! By this time, the family had returned to Chesterton, living in Victoria Road, just round the corner from Henry's childhood home.

Ann was housekeeper in the Victoria Tavern, Chesterton in 1881 so there's no real mystery about how he and Henry met, I guess. They produced four children: Ethel, Percival, Albert and Rose, and three survived to adulthood. By 1911 only Rose is still living with her parents, the other two (Ethel & Albert) were living in the village of Burwell with their uncle George Webb.

The two daughters both married in 1912 - Ethel to Herbert Long and Rose to Owen Brown - and Albert married two years later to Janet Gealy.

That's about all I know about them - not a bad bit of info really. Henry was buried in Histon Road Cemetery (after his death, obviously) in 1945. Ann died in 1916 but I don't know where she's buried.

More soon.


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