« Reply #19 on: Sunday 16 March 08 17:06 GMT (UK) »
Hi there,
I hope you don't mind me giving my 2p worth on the 'Tinker/Romany' question.
IMHO the way the travelling people were recorded as 'Hawkers, Tinkers' etc, bears no relation to what sort of Travelling people they were. The only thing it tells you is that they were travellers.
As has been said, the Romany peoples did tend to marry within their 'own kind' so the clues may lay within your ancestors names, but also if you can speak to older members of the family and find out whether there were any Romany speakers. Also their darker appearance may be a clue.
On looking at the photos of my mums side the Harris's were all quite short in stature, dark haired and brown eyed. Where-as my grandfather has blue eyes and was always referred to as a 'showman' not a gypsy (though as a 'general dealer or hawker' in official documents), so I suspect there may be Irish or similar on that side, but I don't know.
My mother always said that the travelling communities had a 'class' system almost like house dwellers and that Romanies were the 'top'. And true gypsies spoke Romany.
However, she never lived on the road, so I don't know how true what she said was. It was certainly what she was told and experienced when she visied relatives living in vans on various sites.
Good luck with your search
cindy
LANCASHIRE: Briscoe, Taylor, Hamilton, Cutts, Mousdell, Dixon, Fairclough, Dingle, Pennington, Ingham, Martin, Pinnington, Haselden, Molyneux
CHESHIRE/DENBEIGHSHIRE: Briscoe, Gibson, Tudor
SCOTLAND: Hunt, Murray, Docherty, Malley, Cameron, Colman, Middleton, Mason, Drummond, Gourdale, Fraser
East Anglia/East Midlands/Traveller: Harris, Gray, Thorpe, Sherratt, Sly, (Twigdon, Fendick, Clarke) Jackson, Rowe