Giffen Family

The Giffen family were numerous in Bassingbourn and nearby parishes such as Whaddon. By contrast their involvement with Steeple Morden was extremely limited.

Louisa Giffen was born to Joseph & Charlotte nee Reynolds on 1 May 1861 at Kneesworth. No first name is given on the birth certificate, on which the registrant is the mother on 20 May. She was baptised Louisa on 11 August 1861 at Bassingbourn. In 1883 she married Arthur James Miller of Steeple Morden and they set up home there in Hay Street.

The house was photographed with Arthur James Miller standing outside. It survives today, although it has since been doubled in size and the thatched roof replaced with slates and is now 67 Hay Street – illustrated above.

Louisa had a younger brother Arthur, who was born 23 Sep 1869 at Bassingbourn/Kneesworth to Joseph and Charlotte nee Reynolds and baptised there 12 Dec 1869. In 1881 his father was fined for neglecting to send his son to school.

Arthur Giffen joined the Army and was a private in the Suffolk Regiment and was at Colchester Barracks in 1891 Census. Ten years later in the 1901 Census he was recorded at his sister and brother in law’s house in Steeple as a soldier on furlough. His Army records have not been found and may not have survived.

He may be the Arthur Giffen included on the WW1 Roll of Honour in the Bassingbourn Congregational Church.

He never married and on leaving the Army lived with Louisa and Arthur James until his death in 1931. He is listed on the electoral roll from 1919 to 1931. He worked as a farm labourer and in 1921 was employed by Walter Pepper, a local small-holder.

Arthur James Miller had died in 1923. Louisa continued living at the cottage until she died in 1947 age 86.