LIFE GOES ON: AN INTRODUCTION

MY GRANDPARENTS - I - MY GREAT-GRANDPARENTS - I - MY GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS - I - MY GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS

THE SIXTEEN FAMILIES

KNOTT - I - BOWLES - I - WATERS - I - HARRALL - I - PAGE - I - WISEMAN - I - CROSS - I - CARTER

CORNWELL - I - HUCKLE - I - MORTLOCK - I - MANSFIELD - I - REYNOLDS - I - CARTER - I - ANABLE - I - STEARN

CHRONOLOGY - I - DRAMATIS PERSONAE - I - WHERE PEOPLE CAME FROM - I - CALENDAR

MAP OF ELY - I - MAP OF MEDWAY
MAP OF CAMBRIDGE AND DISTRICT

THE WORKHOUSE

WORLD WAR I - I - WORLD WAR II

simonknott.co.uk I home I e-mail

LIFE GOES ON

Edmund Stanley Cecil Cornwell
born Oakington, Cambridgeshire, 31st July 1903
died Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, 2nd October 1953

on the Cornwell family tree
part of the Cornwell, Huckle, Mortlock and Mansfield family stories

married to Winifred Ellen Reynolds

son of
William Cornwell
and Eliza Mortlock

Edmund Stanley Cecil Cornwell (1903-1953). My Mother's Father. My Grandfather.

Edmund Stanley 'Stan' Cornwell was born in Oakington on the outskirts of Cambridge on the 31st July 1903. On the birth certificate, Stan's father gave his occupation as a bricklayer's labourer, but by 1911 he is shown as a roadman for Chesterton District Council. William had adapted his parents' surname of Cornell into Cornwell. Nevertheless, some of Stan's siblings had their births registered under the surname Cornell rather than Cornwell. His mother was a member of the Mortlock family of Huntingdonshire.

Edmund was always known as Stan. He married my grandmother Winifred Ellen Reynolds in 1923. She came from the neighbouring village of Dry Drayton, but they married in Lichfield, Staffordshire when they were both just 19 years old. They gave false ages to acquire the certificate, as one of them had to be of age, that is to say 21 or over. They were in Staffordshire because my grandmother was pregnant, and they had run away to get married. Stan's older sister Ruth lived at Colton on the outskirts of Rugeley, and she arranged the marriage for them. Their first child was born less than three months later. He had a learning disability, and lived with his mother for the rest of her life.

They returned to Cambridge after the birth of their first child, and lived in Shelley Row near to Winifred's parents. However, they seem not to have got on well with them, and after the birth of two more children they did a moonlight flit, first to Barway near Ely and then to Grunty Fen on the other side of the river, before settling in Little Thetford. They had nine children altogether. Stan was a farrier, working with horses on farms in the Isle of Ely. He is the only one of my grandparents that I did not know - he died of a heart attack at the age of 50, in 1953, eight years before I was born. He is buried in Little Thetford cemetery. He was the youngest of nine children, most of whom outlived him. His siblings were:

Clarence Charles Cornwell was born in Histon, Cambridgeshire on the 19th December 1885. His birth was registered under the surname Cornell rather than Cornwell, but when he was baptised at St Andrew's church in Histon on 17th January 1886, his surname was recorded as Cornwell. In 1911, Charles was still living at home and working as a farm labourer. However, in the second quarter of 1911 he married either Caroline Flack or Edith Papworth in the Chesterton Registration District. When the First World War broke out, Charles enlisted as a private soldier with the Cambridgeshire Regiment, but was transferred to become a Lance-Corporal in the Military Foot Police. His medal record shows that he landed in France on the 14th February 1915, when he was 29 years old. He survived the War, and remained in the forces, joining the Grenadier Guards. My mother remembers him visiting her family in uniform when she was a child in the late 1930s.

Lily Elizabeth Cornwell was born in Histon, Cambridgeshire on the 13th August 1887. Her birth was registered under the surname Cornell rather than Cornwell, but when she was baptised at St Andrew's church in Histon on 11th September, her surname was recorded as Cornwell. She went to work as a nanny in France. She married Thomas Shemilt at Leigh in Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire in 1909. Shemilt was born at Godstone in Staffordshire in 1884. The couple lived with Thomas's mother Emma Shemilt, née Cope, who was a widow; her husband of three years, George Shemilt of Stone, Staffordshire, had died in 1885. Lily died at Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire in 1957, at the age of 70.

Walter Eric Cornwell was born in Histon, Cambridgeshire on the 29th June 1889. His birth was registered under the surname Cornell rather than Cornwell, but when he was baptised at St Andrew's church, Histon on 4th August his surname was recorded as Cornwell. He married Gertrude Simpkins in the Chesterton registration district in the second quarter of 1915. Walter died in Cambridge in 1967 at the age of 77.

Violet Maude Cornwell was born in Histon, Cambridgeshire on the 15th September 1892. She was the first of the children whose birth was registered under the surname Cornwell. She was baptised at St Andrew's church, Histon on 23rd October. She married Ernest Frederick Golding at St Andrew's church, Oakington on 3rd February 1912. Golding was a farm labourer who also came from Oakington.

Catherine Ayliffe Grace Cornwell was born in Histon, Cambridgeshire on 15th February 1894. She was baptised at St Andrew's church, Histon on 25 March. She worked in service at Roxford Grange at Hertingfordbury in Hertfordshire. She married Frederick George Cannon on the 30th August 1919 at Hertingfordbury, Hertfordshire. They lived in Hertfordshire.

Frances Eliza Cornwell was born in Histon, Cambridgeshire on the 29th April 1895. She was the last of the children to have her birth registered under the surname Cornell. When she was baptised at St Andrew's church, Histon on 26th May, her surname was recorded as Cornwell. She married Charles Hewitt at Elham in Kent in July 1924. They lived in Worthing in Sussex, where she died in 1972.

Ruth Mortlock Cornwell was born in Oakington, Cambridgeshire in June 1899. She married John Wheeldon at St Andrew's church Oakington on 5 Jan 1921. John was a platelayer from Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire (Ruth's sister Lily lived in Staffordshire, which may be significant). They appear to have lived at Corton near Rugeley in Staffordshire.

William Arthur James Cornwell was born in Oakington, Cambridgeshire in September 1901.

1903: Edmund Stanley Cecil Cornwell was born at Oakington, Cambridgeshire on 31st July. His father William Huckle Cornwell gave his occupation as a bricklayer's labourer. The birth was registered by Stan's mother, Eliza Cornwell, who signed her own name. He was baptised at St Andrew's Church, Oakington on 27th September. .

1953: Stan died in Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge. He was buried in the cemetery at Little Thetford, Cambridgeshire.