Trumpington Personalities

A checklist of some of the individuals and families who have been associated with Trumpington. For a comprehensive A-Z of families who are known to have lived at least part of their lives in Trumpington over the last 250 years, see the separate page about People in Trumpington.

Portrait of Thomas Hobson, in The Guildhall, Cambridge. Photograph with permission of Cambridge City Council.
Portrait of Thomas Hobson, in The Guildhall, Cambridge. Photograph with permission of Cambridge City Council.
Portrait of Henry Fawcett and Millicent Fawcett, pre 1884. Newnham College Archives.
Portrait of Henry Fawcett and Millicent Fawcett, pre 1884. Newnham College Archives.
Portrait of Jack Overhill, Ramsey & Muspratt Studio Archive deposited in the Cambridgeshire Collection, Cambridge Central Library.
Portrait of Jack Overhill, Ramsey & Muspratt Studio Archive deposited in the Cambridgeshire Collection, Cambridge Central Library.

Allbutt, Sir Thomas Clifford (1836-1925), physician, lived in Trumpington

Anstey family, owners of Anstey Hall, 1748-1838

Bacchus, Edmund (d. 1609), owner of ‘Anstey Hall’

Baker, John Fleetwood, Baron Baker (1901-85), a civil engineer who lived in Trumpington. He was the inventor of the Morrison Shelter, used by families as a place of safety during World War 2. (see page about Lord Baker and the People in Trumpington database)

Barker, Jean, Baroness Trumpington (1922-2018), distinguished political career including Cambridge City Councillor for Trumpington Ward from 1963-73, County Councillor for Trumpington from 1973-75, and Mayor of Cambridge, 1971-72. (see page about Jean Barker (Baroness Trumpington))

Brooke, Rupert Chawner (1887-1915), poet

Bunsen, Sir Bernard de (1907-90), educationalist, born in Trumpington

Byron, Lord George Gordon (1788-1824), poet, was a student at Trinity College. Lord Byron is thought to have swum in the River Cam at Byron’s Pool, which is named in his memory. (see pages about Lord Byron and the naming of the street Byron Square)

Carr, Edith, local historian (see People in Trumpington database)

Chaplen/Chaplin, Thomas, Lord of the Manor of Trumpington in the early 1600s. In 1610, he signed an agreement with Cambridge and the university, giving them rights over Hobson’s Brook which provided a water supply into Cambridge, running from Nine Wells through Trumpington to Hobson’s Conduit. (see page about Thomas Chaplen and Background to the name Chaplen Street)

Chaucer, Geoffrey (c. 1343-1400), author

Cosin, Edmund (1510/11-1574?), college head, vicar of Trumpington

Cuthbert, Tillie (1940-2013) was a nurse at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and a district nurse in the local medical practice, a leader of the Guides group and the youth club at the Village Hall and a campaigner for local issues, such as traffic calming measures on Foster Road, etc. (see page about Tillie Cuthbert).

Dakins, William (1568/9-1607), biblical scholar, vicar of Trumpington

Darwin, Sir George Howard (1845-1912), mathematician and geophysicist, buried at Trumpington

Ellis, Robert Leslie (1817-59), mathematician and classical scholar, lived at Anstey Hall

Fawcett, Henry (1833-84), an economist, academic and politician, blinded in an accident at the age of 24, he served as Postmaster General from 1880-84. Married to Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Henry Fawcett was buried in Trumpington churchyard and there is a memorial to him in the Church (see Henry Fawcett: Man of Vision , the Funeral of Henry Fawcett , and notes about Henry Fawcett)

Fawcett, Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett (1847-1929), leader of the constitutional women’s suffrage movement, married Henry Fawcett in 1867, lived at 18 Brookside from 1875-84. Millicent Garrett Fawcett was a leading member of the campaign for women’s suffrage, commemorated by a memorial in Parliament Square unveiled in April 2018 and a joint memorial in Westminster Abbey (see Millicent Garrett Fawcett and the Campaign for Women’s Suffrage and notes about Millicent Garrett Fawcett

Forbes, Charles (d. 1926) was head gardener at Anstey Hall and prominent in starting the Grantchester and Trumpington horticultural shows in the 1880 and 1890. Charles Forbes was born in 1850 in Birse, near Aboyne, Aberdeenshire. He built Aboyne Cottages at the eastern end of Alpha Terrace, lived at 1 Aboyne Cottages from about 1908, and died in Trumpington in 1926.

Foster family, owners of Anstey Hall, 1838-1941 (see Background to the name Foster Road )

Fowler, Sir Ralph Howard (1889-1944), mathematical physicist, lived in Trumpington (see People in Trumpington database)

Gill, Eric (1882-1940), artist, craftsman and social critic, sculptor of Trumpington War Memorial

Gresham, Professor Austin (1924-2009), Professor of Morbid Anatomy and Histopathology, Cambridge University, and Home Office pathologist

Grote, John (1813-66), philosopher, vicar of Trumpington (see People in Trumpington database)

Hacket, John (1592-1670), bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, vicar of Trumpington

Hailstone, John (1759-1847), geologist, vicar of Trumpington (see People in Trumpington database)

Harraden, Richard (1756-1838), topographical draughtsman and printmaker, died in Trumpington on 2 June 1838, memorial in churchyard (see People in Trumpington database)

Hartree, Eva (1873-1947) was a Cambridge Borough Councillor from 1922-42 and the first woman Mayor of Cambridge in 1924-25. Eva Rayner married William Hartree in 1895 and they lived in Newton Road and Bentley Road from 1907 (see pages about Eva Hartree, her Life and Times and the People in Trumpington database)

Henty, George Alfred (1832-1902), journalist and writer, born in Trumpington (see People in Trumpington database)

Hobson, Thomas (1544?-1631), carrier, funded Hobson’s Conduit (see Background to the name Hobson Avenue )

Kefford, Joseph Robert (1888-1973), was a member of the local cricket team in 1912, when they won the Milton and District League Cup and Championship. Despite the partial amputation of his right leg during World War 1, he continued to be a member of the cricket club and he was included in the team photograph (as an umpire) following the final match of the Milton and District League (Division I) when Trumpington was defeated by Willingham by seven runs in 1921. He was the fourth generation of Joseph Keffords to live in Trumpington.

Latham, Rev. Henry (1821-1902), college head, lived in Trumpington

Maddox, Rev. David (1922-97), vicar of Trumpington, 1956-90 (see Background to the name Maddox House , People in Trumpington database)

Maris: the Maris family built and lived in Maris House and farmed Church Farm in the early-mid 19th century. In addition to Maris Lane, the ‘Maris’ name is now well known as it was used as part of the name of a number of crops developed by the Plant Breeding Institute (PBI). The Trumpington Meadows development has been built on the land formerly used by PBI.

Moule, Rev. A.C. (1873-1957), vicar of Trumpington

Overall, John (bap. 1561, d. 1619), bishop of Norwich, vicar of Trumpington

Overhill, Jack (1903-89), local resident, writer, swimmer (see page about Jack Overhill and the People in Trumpington database)

Palmer, John (d. 1607), dean of Peterborough, vicar of Trumpington

Palmer, William (1538/9-1605), clergyman, vicar of Trumpington

Peile, John (1838-1910), college head and philologist, lived in Trumpington (see People in Trumpington database)

Pemberton family, owners of Trumpington Hall since the 17th century (see Trumpington Hall and the Pemberton family ; see also Pemberton entries in the People in Trumpington database)

Perne, Andrew (1519?-1589), dean of Ely and college head, conceived of Hobson’s Conduit

Pitcher/Pitchard family, owners of the manor between the Trumpington’s and the Pemberton’s

Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji, maharaja jam sahib of Navanagar [Ranji] (1872-1933), Indian ruler, cricketer, lived in Trumpington

Richards, Sir Gordon (1904-86), jockey

Robinson, Percy (1878-1943), local school teacher and local historian who made important contributions during World War 1 (see pages about Percy Robinson and Percy Robinson and the History of Trumpington and the People in Trumpington database)

Sayle, Robert (1816-83), draper and philanthropist, lived in Trumpington (see page about Robert Sayle and the People in Trumpington database)

Shadwell, Charles (1898-1979), leader of the BBC Variety Orchestra, retired to Trumpington and took over the Green Man

Smith, Mary Raeburn (1914-93), local resident and respected watercolour artist

Smith, William Saumarez (1836-1909), Archbishop of Sydney, vicar of Trumpington (see People in Trumpington database)

Southwell, Sir Richard Vynne (1888-1970), mechanical and aeronautical engineer, lived in Trumpington (see People in Trumpington database)

Stokton, Agnes and John (d. c. 1475) were commemorated on the old village cross which was erected around 1476 on ‘Cross Hill’, where Church Lane joins the High Street. The stone base of the cross was rediscovered when the War Memorial was erected on the site in 1921. The base has the inscription ‘Orate pro animab[us] Joh[ann]is Stokton et Agnetis uxoris ei[us]’ [Pray for the souls of John Stokton and of Agnes his wife]. Agnes and John Stokton probably lived in a house on the north west side of Church Lane (in the area now occupied by The Lord Byron pub). He may have been a farmer (in the 16th century, there was a Stokton Farm of 100 acres). (see page about Agnes and John Stokton )

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-92), poet

Thackeray, William Makepeace (1811-63), novelist

Todd, Alexander Robertus, Lord Todd of Trumpington (1907-97), organic chemist, lived in Trumpington

Trumpington family, local landowners, 13th-14th century, including Sir Roger de Trumpington (d. 1289)

Trumpington, Baroness, see Jean Barker

Venn, John (1834-1923), lived in Chaucer Road from the early 1900s. He was President of Gonville and Caius College, and invented the “Venn Diagram” used in mathematics (see page about John Venn and the People in Trumpington database)

Whittle, Sir Frank (1907-96), aeronautical engineer, lived in Trumpington while a student at Cambridge University in the 1930s (see People in Trumpington database)

Widnall, Samuel Page (1825-94), local historian

Willers, Kitty [Catherine Elizabeth] (1898-1977), expert bellringer who contributed to the church: see appreciation by the bellringers and friends of the church (see People in Trumpington database)

Williams, Glanville Llewelyn (1911-1997), jurist and law reformer, lived in Trumpington (see People in Trumpington database)

Wilson brothers, three brothers who were killed in World War 1 (see page about the Wilson brothers and the People in Trumpington database).