Sarah Elizabeth Giddings
(1852-1925)

Sarah Elizabeth Giddings (later Sarah Elizabeth Martin) was the oldest, and illegitimate, of the three children of Elizabeth Giddings of March, Cambridgeshire, England.

An 8 year old Sarah appears on the 1861 census along with her mother, uncles, and aunts at Burrow Moor in March. By the time of the 1871 census she had taken a job as a Servant and can be found working for Elijah Chambers and his wife Emma Ann a few miles away at Main Street, Little Downham, Cambridgeshire.

A year after her mother's premature death in 1873, Sarah married railway labourer James Martin (also of Little Downham), and together they would go on to become parents to 12 children - her first when she was 22 and her last when she was 47.

The family eventually lived at the Railway Gatehouse at 2nd Drove, Little Downham where James' widowed mother, Mary, also lived until her third marriage in 1877.

Tragedy strikes

One of Sarah's sons, William Martin, died when he was kicked off a horse and cart and died from severe internal wounds in 1890 and within the space of 11 months during the First World War she lost four members of her family - her sons; Herbert (1884-1917) who was killed in a train accident in France, and Albert who died as a prisoner of war in a German hospital; her daughter Emma Jane (1887-1917) and Emma's husband John William Goodge (1885-1917).

In total, she was pre-deceased by 6 of her 12 children and 2 of their spouses.

Life Events

Born

• 3rd July 1852 at Town End, March, Cambridgeshire, England.

Baptised

• 15th July 1852 in March, Cambridgeshire, England.

Married

• James Martin (1851-1934) on 30th January 1874, at The Providence Chapel in March, Cambridgeshire, England.

Children

• Isaac Watson Martin (1874-1934) married Sarah Elizabeth Rogers (1873-1907) and Florrie Butcher (1885-1940)
• Rose Ellen Martin (1876-1955)
• Walter James Martin (1878-1936) married Rebecca Ann Lythell (1879-1954)
• William Martin (1879-1890)
• George Edward Martin (1882-1958) married Annie Frances Redhead (1878-?)
• Herbert Martin (1884-1917) married Daisy Burnell (1885-1952)
• Mary Martin (1886-1915)
• Emma Jane Martin (1887-1917) married John William Goodge (1885-1917)
• Percy Martin (1889-1890)
• Percy Martin (1891-1967) married Amelia Neal
• Ethel May Martin (1895-1999) married Ebenezer Everitt (1892-1969)
• Albert Martin (1899-1918)

Census and Residence

• 1861: 8yrs, Burrow Moor, March, Cambridgeshire, England.
• 1871: 18yrs, Main Street, Little Downham, Cambridgeshire, England.
• 1881: 28yrs, Main Drove House, Little Downham, Cambridgeshire, England.
• 1891: 33yrs, Railway House, Little Downham, Cambridgeshire, England.
• 1901: 48yrs, A Furlong, Little Downham, Cambridgeshire, England.
• 1911: 58yrs, Gate House, A Furlong, Little Downham, Cambridgeshire, England.

Employment

• 1871: Servant to Elijah Chambers (Farmer)

Death

• 21st March 1925 at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire England, aged 72yrs.

Cause of Death

• 1. Gall Stones
  2. Post-operative shock
  3. Myocarditis

Burial

• 25th March 1925 at St. Leonard's Cemetery, Lawn Lane, Little Downham, Cambridgeshire, England, "under burial laws amendment act".