 It’s a sad aspect of this series of articles describing the lives of pre-World War I Abbey United players that many of the men featured died young. Ernest Hancock was one. Ernest was only 33, working as a labourer, married with three children and living in Cheddars Lane, when he died in 1931. His may have been a short life, but it was a notable one. Born in 1897, Ernest passed his early years in the Earl of Durham pub, between Godesdone Road and River Lane on Newmarket Road. His publican father Albert also turned his hand to ‘general dealing’, but the family faced financial hardship when he died in 1905. His widow, Eliza, struggled to run the pub in the face of a torrent of debts, and was declared bankrupt a couple of years later. The family, living at 235 Newmarket Road by 1911, faced further trials when Eliza died at the age of 42 and Ernest’s brothers Arthur and Harry departed this life the following year. Playing for Abbey United in the 1913-14 season must have provided Ernest with a welcome distraction from those sorrows. He played in at least three games, at centre half and left half, and appeared on the scoresheet a minimum of three times. In June 1916, Ernest gave up his work as a clock repairer to join the Royal Garrison Artillery and a mere five weeks later was posted to the killing fields of the Mesopotamian Campaign. He was far from alone in suffering the effects of dysentery and fever during that campaign – nearly 17,000 UK forces died of disease (compared to 11,000 killed in action) and more than 150,000 were evacuated due to sickness. Ernest was discharged from the RGA in 1920 and, while boarding at 235 Newmarket Road, found work as a labourer on a government scheme in Cherry Hinton Road. His brother Sidney died that same year. In 1922 he married neighbour Ethel who, like many Cambridge people of the time, worked at Chivers’ jam factory in Histon. The first two of their children were boy and girl twins, born in 1925, and another son followed in 1929. Ethel died in 1951. The Abbey team is imagined here by ChatGPT – that’s possibly why the players look suspiciously similar; none of them should be mistaken for real people. If you believe you are or know of a descendant of Ernest’s family, please get in touch: [email protected]. If you have any further information concerning the article above or related to the Cook family please contact [email protected]
Read more about the Royal Garrison Artillery Read more about the Earl of Durham pub Read more about the Mesopotamian Campaign Read more about the Chivers’ jam factory Read more about the 1911 census If you would like a copy of the programme Bromley programme which included the article above contact CFU via www.slocamutd.org/programmes.html or www.curtis-sport.com/cambridge-united  'The biggest night in the Coconuts calendar is upon us again. CUFC Legends will gather to induct nine more of their own. Come and join us. The date for your diary is Thursday 20th November. This year's inductees will be Mark Bonner (Mr Cambridge Utd and EFL L2 promotion manager 2020/21 Phil Chapple (solid central defender during the back to back promotion years of 1989/90 and 1990/1991), Ian Ashbee (dynamic midfielder, promotion winner 1998/99 and FL Trophy finalist 2001/02), Dave Doggett (club Chairman during 2013/14 return to the league promotion and FA Trophy winners) Bryan Boggis (247 appearances between 1961 & 1966) Len Saward (player, volunteer, fundraiser and club employee), Tom Youngs (youth team 1989-1997 then 151 goal striker 1997 to 2003) Richard Caborn (Sports Minister whose intervention saved the club from folding) Jamie Murray (Cambridge Evening News described him as 'one of the greatest left backs ever to play for Utd' 1976-1984). Come along and rub shoulders with United greats, listen to eloquently presented citations of their exploits. Whoop, cheer, get selfies and congratulate them as they enter the Hall of Fame, to be eternally remembered as one of the all-time club greats. Would you like to host your favourite Legend or any other former player for the evening? Sit with them and look after them. Contact Coconuts for further details. Check out the 100 Years of Coconuts website for previous inductees (plus so much more)' Ticket price: £35 per head. Tickets can be purchased via tinyurl.com/4rnwe23u or click here The event this year has been sponsored by THAXTED STOVES & FIREPLACES 2 Wrights Yard, Top Road, Wimbish, Saffron Walden, Essex CB10 2XJ Thaxted Stoves & Fireplaces can be contacted via 01799599333 [email protected] www.thaxtedstoves.com
 Research is being carried out into the men who played for Abbey United during World War Two, and we need your help to identify them.
Many of the Abbey’s matches during the war years took place against teams drawn from local RAF and Army units, and some were reported in the local press, But the names of players and teams were not always revealed: the government wanted Adolf Hitler to know as little as possible about the high number of military units in the Cambridge area. Locally based servicemen sometimes turned out for the Abbey: the Wasps, as they were known at the time, often found themselves short of a player or two, sometimes due to military call-ups, and were grateful for temporary loans. Do you know of a family member or family friend – a Cambridge resident or someone who was based in the area – who played for Abbey United during the war? If so, we would love to hear from you. Please write to [email protected] if are able to help  Ask David Reed which of the many Cooks living in Cambridge at the time played for Abbey United in the 1913-14 season and he has no hesitation in nominating his uncle Wallace. Of all the Cook brothers who lived at 260 Newmarket Road, adjoining the Cambridge Brick Company works and opposite ‘Rock King’ Jim Reynolds’ confectionery shop, Wallace was the one who could turn his hand to any sport and was still occasionally pulling on a football strip in his 60s. It’s Reed family legend that he was an Abbey player, and that he might also have played for a major Midlands club during a sojourn in the Dudley area. The latter theory can’t be confirmed, but David, leading light in the stonemasonry-and-more firm of Ivett & Reed, recalls his uncle’s sporting prowess well. He remembers visiting Wallace’s Lode home one Saturday in the mid-1950s and hearing him report that he’d just turned out in goal for the village club. Wallace, pictured third from the left in the back row in 1905, was one of six brothers who all followed their father Herbert, yard manager at the Cambridge Brick Company, into the brick-making trade. There were also two younger sisters. Born in 1894 in the Bedfordshire brick-making town of Arlesey and having moved with his family to Cambridge by 1905, Wallace was described as a brick maker in the 1911 census. He played at least twice for Abbey United in 1913-14 before enlisting in the army. Little is known of his early military career other than that he played a part in the bloody and disastrous Gallipoli campaign in 1915, but we do know that he trained with the Royal Flying Corps, soon to become the RAF, in 1917 and 1918. When the war was over Wallace moved to the West Midlands, where he embarked on a career in building and married Swaffham Bulbeck woman Fanny. The couple had three daughters. Back in Cambridgeshire by the mid-1920s, he may have been the W Cook who played at least four times for Abbey in the 1925-26 season. By 1930 Wallace was playing for Lode and carrying on his building business locally. His legacy is evident in the streets around the Abbey Stadium: several houses he built within a long throw’s distance of the ground still stand. He was 72 when he died in 1967; he is remembered with affection by David Reed who, nearing his 90s, is to be seen at every U’s home match. If you’re a descendant of Wallace, we’d love to hear from you. Email [email protected].
If you have any further information concerning the article above or related to the Cook family please contact [email protected] Read more about the ‘Rock King’ Jim Reynolds’ Read more about the Cambridge Brick Company here Read more about the 1911 census Read more about the Gallipoli campaign Read more about the Royal Flying Corps If you would like a copy of the Crawley programme which included the article above contact CFU via www.slocamutd.org/programmes.html or www.curtis-sport.com/cambridge-united  The latest in our series on pre-World War I Abbey United players tells of a post-war return to the club Not many Abbey United players who turned out in 1913-14 resumed their amateur careers with the club when football got going again after the Great War. Thomas Bilton was an exception. Tom played at least three times for Abbey – twice at right back, once at left back – in that pre-war season. He then played at right half in at least one friendly in the 1919-20 season as the reformed club took its first post-war steps and prepared for Cambridgeshire League football in 1921. But it was off the pitch that Tom made his biggest impression on the club. He acted as trainer in the 20s – working with the all-conquering team of 1924-25 and as late as 1928-29 – and he also served on the club’s committee until at least 1931. It’s perhaps not surprising that, in common with several of his Abbey United teammates affected by the war, Tom found that his post-war playing activities were limited. We don’t know much about his time in the army, but we do know that he served with the Royal Garrison Artillery and that he was reported wounded on 23 October 1918 – not much more than a fortnight before hostilities ceased. Tom had been born at Bottisham Lode in 1893 and by 1901 he was living at Stourbridge Terrace, Newmarket Road with his father John (a labourer in a nearby brickyard), mother Annie, two brothers and a sister. By 1911 he was himself labouring in a brickyard. The 1921 census return described Tom as a kiln worker at the Cambridge Brick Company, and he was living with new wife Gladys, formerly a resident of Willow Place, at 417 Newmarket Road – opposite the brickworks (pictured) and just two doors away from his parents. By 1939 the couple had moved to Willow Place and Tom had changed trades: he was working as a lengthman for the London & North Eastern Railway. Since you ask: a lengthman’s job involved looking after a length of track, dealing with minor problems and, if a major issue arose, getting trains stopped. Tom had seen out one world war, but he was not to survive another. After a long illness, he died aged just 51 in September 1944, and was interred in the Borough Cemetery, Newmarket Road. If you’re a descendant of Tom’s, we’d love to hear from you. Email [email protected]. If you have any further information concerning the article above or related to the Bilton family please contact [email protected]
Read more about the Royal Garrison Artillery Read more about the Cambridge Brick Company here Read more about the London & North Eastern Railway here If you would like a copy of the programme Oldham programme which included the article above contact CFU via www.slocamutd.org/programmes.html or www.curtis-sport.com/cambridge-united |
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