Occupants of Orchard Cottage: George and Elsie Pullen

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Orchard Cottage 1931

Cambridgeshire Archives croc_ph_23_Z1590

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George Albert Pullen 1930

Photo supplied by Joan Gane

George Albert Pullen, a foreman at the Atlas Stone Company, and his wife Elsie (née Dash) occupied Orchard Cottage from the early 1920s until the late 1930s. Their daughter Dorothy’s memories included her brothers having to bend down to avoid the low ceilings, her father rearing pigs and chickens in the garden and the long walk to the outside toilet at night!

Both George’s and Elsie’s families were deeply affected by the Great War. Elsie’s brother Private Reuben Dash, commemorated on the village war memorial, died in action in 1916. George’s brother Acting Corporal William Henry Pullen, who is commemorated on Melbourn’s war memorial, both died on the front in 1918.