Identity area
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Authorized form of name
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Description area
Dates of existence
History
John Death was born in 1818 in Lakenheath, the son of Walter (a schoolmaster) and his wife Ann.
In 1841 he married Caroline Apthorpe and by 1851 was living with her in Malcolm Street .
In 1803 the Fellows of Jesus College had built themselves stables in the close which backed onto stables belonging to Beaumont Prior [who had a lease of No. 31 Jesus Lane]. The Fellows didn’t use them for long and soon let them to John Death who ran them and made his fortune. He employed 7 men at the stables and was also a farmer of 150 acres. He later moved to Poplar House, 52 King Street. However, the coming of trams, bicycles and cars saw the decline of the stables and they became derelict remaining so until sold to the Methodist Church in 1922.
John Death was a Parish Councillor and served four terms as Mayor of Cambridge - 1873-74, 1874-75, 1880-81 and 1881-82. During his second term in office he laid the foundation stone for the Cambridge Corn Exchange which was opened on 6 November 1874 and his name is on the building today.
“A promenade concert was held on 8 November featuring the Coldstream Guards and a local choral society. A mistake was made during the playing of the national anthem and later, rioters attacked the mayor’s house. The following trial attracted the world’s press and resulted in crowds of sightseers to the building, interfering with the corn trading.’ [Cambridge Mayors https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/media/j2fotixm/cambridge-mayors.pdf]
He died aged 78, and left an estate valued at £49,298 10s 10d.