Author Topic: Occupation traveller  (Read 4459 times)

Offline lesleyhannah

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Occupation traveller
« on: Sunday 16 July 17 20:40 BST (UK) »
I'm helping my son in law to research a mystery branch of his tree. The Shaw family seems to have been based in Huddersfield, moved to Manchester, Liverpool then his branch ended in east End London. My question is the occupation Traveller (wives often described as hawker); I'd assumed this meant they were travelling salesmen, but a friend suggested that the fact that there were some from Ireland could point to Irish Travellers.

What would other researchers understand by the word traveller on a census? Any help gratefully received. Thank you

Offline groom

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Re: Occupation traveller
« Reply #1 on: Sunday 16 July 17 22:08 BST (UK) »
Yes, I would take that more as a Traveller ( ie Romany, gypsy etc)  perhaps with no fixed abode rather than a travelling salesman, especially if the wife is described as a hawker. What addresses are given in the censuses, are they houses?

In one census my great grandfather was described as a mustard salesman (travelling) so I think if they'd been travelling salesman it would have been described in a similar way.
Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Offline lesleyhannah

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Re: Occupation traveller
« Reply #2 on: Sunday 16 July 17 23:13 BST (UK) »
Thank you groom, that's a big help. I had just assumed a traveller meant a door to door salesman, which I remember from my childhood in the 1940s. Just waiting to see if anyone who knows about Travellers can tell me if the name Shaw sounds likely. Then it'll mean getting all the records out and looking again.
Regards
Lesley

Offline Steve G

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Re: Occupation traveller
« Reply #3 on: Monday 17 July 17 16:36 BST (UK) »
Just waiting to see if anyone who knows about Travellers can tell me if the name Shaw sounds likely. Then it'll mean getting all the records out and looking again.


Did ye call me, Lesley?  ;D The BOB ~ please click my house. Above left ~ has good news for ye! SHAW is a helluvva Gypsy surname!

Get this:

" 1567 to the present. (Intermittent) Used in ..... Deep breath ..... BFD, CAM, CHS, DBY, ESS, HRT, HUN, IRE, KEN, LDN, LEI, NBD, NFK, NTH, NTT, SAL, SCO, SFK, STF, WAR, YKS. "

 :o Phew! So, yeah! Fill ye boots!  8)
GAITES (Alverstoke / Bath Pre 1850)
CURTIS (Portsmouth & 1800's Berkshire).
BURGE (Dorset, Somerset and Hampshire)
HUNTLEY (Dorset, Hampshire, Sussex, 'Surroundings')


Offline lesleyhannah

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Re: Occupation traveller
« Reply #4 on: Monday 17 July 17 16:49 BST (UK) »
Just waiting to see if anyone who knows about Travellers can tell me if the name Shaw sounds likely. Then it'll mean getting all the records out and looking again.


Did ye call me, Lesley?  ;D The BOB ~ please click my house. Above left ~ has good news for ye! SHAW is a helluvva Gypsy surname!

Get this:

" 1567 to the present. (Intermittent) Used in ..... Deep breath ..... BFD, CAM, CHS, DBY, ESS, HRT, HUN, IRE, KEN, LDN, LEI, NBD, NFK, NTH, NTT, SAL, SCO, SFK, STF, WAR, YKS. "

 :o Phew! So, yeah! Fill ye boots!  8)

Well, this is more exciting news than I ever found in my own family tree! I'm still going through the ancestry records - I think a couple of families may have been mixed up though I'm not sure. Son in law's Shaws first found in Almondbury (\I believe near Huddersfield) but with connections in Manchester area and Liverpool.
Thank you so much for your help - every bit of information is valuable. \I would never have guessed Shaw was a travellers' name. Will let you know if \I make any progress with this search.
Regards, and more thanks.
Lesley

Offline Redroger

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Re: Occupation traveller
« Reply #5 on: Monday 17 July 17 18:00 BST (UK) »
A travelling salesman would be described as a representative.
Ayres Brignell Cornwell Harvey Shipp  Stimpson Stubbings (all Cambs) Baumber Baxter Burton Ethards Proctor Stanton (all Lincs) Luffman (all counties)

Offline lesleyhannah

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Re: Occupation traveller
« Reply #6 on: Monday 17 July 17 18:27 BST (UK) »
In the part of Liverpool I lived in - in the 1940a - we used to call them travellers (maybe short for commercial travellers - or maybe just local slang?) which is probably what threw me. So thanks for your reply - it's all adding to the bigger picture. Think I may have been a bit too enthusiastic deleting all the Liverpool records which I thought were probably a different family! Feeling the genealogy bug again!

Offline Steve G

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Re: Occupation traveller
« Reply #7 on: Monday 17 July 17 18:34 BST (UK) »
LesleyHannah; Don't forget, Liverpool was a Big staging post for the Irish, coming over, back in the day.

 :-\ Ooh dear! And ye've slung all that research?! Horror!
GAITES (Alverstoke / Bath Pre 1850)
CURTIS (Portsmouth & 1800's Berkshire).
BURGE (Dorset, Somerset and Hampshire)
HUNTLEY (Dorset, Hampshire, Sussex, 'Surroundings')

Offline lesleyhannah

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Re: Occupation traveller
« Reply #8 on: Monday 17 July 17 19:47 BST (UK) »
My first husband was Liverpool Irish. In the 50s it was called a mixed marriage!