RootsChat.Com

I'd missed your posting when you confirmed the death as the young girl, Honey Roma, but this picture is a particularly haunting one for some reason, so I was glad to see it at the top of the board again and catch up with the details.

What happened to Johnny?  Do you know his later history?

I'm afraid I know very little of Johnny after his childhood. Recent searches on ancestry.co.uk have shown he married and had one child but I have no idea what happened to him. My grandmother remembers him as a very handsome young man but she was just a small child at the time so doesn't know anything else.

Ok lol.  Just noticed you have Munday/Mondays.  So has my husband, do you have a William Munday/Monday/Mundy who married Temperence Harding in Northants?

My Mundays are originally from Somerset, moved to Westminster in the 1850s I think. I'm sure there is a William...my gggg grandad's brother was called William but I think he married a Mary Ann. He was a chair caner I believe. I assume that isn't the right one. 

One more note on the picture - just discovered this morning that my ggg grandfather (who was a Jewish acrobat but who married a Romany girl - Amelia Georgiana Hunt) worked for Jem Mace. I have a book from the 1920s which shows the bookmakers he worked for and he has written in it "Jem Mace - Champion Pugilist of the World".
I know none of them are Jem himself but thought it might hold a clue.

For some reason my grandfather seems to have had no children with his first wife. From 1871 onwards to 1891 there is a string of "nurse children" in the household, some related, some apparently not. I believe them to have been orphaned children who were brought up by these people in an informal adoption,adoption was only formalised in the late 1920s. So far as I know there was no gypsy link in the family.I think the myth of taking children is just that, like the other myth that a gypsy caravan was burned with the dead owners possessions inside it. No caravan remains of any description have been found during any road widening scheme in the UK; unless of course someone knows differently.

Apologies for my lack of knowledge about the subject but I am pretty certain (nay absolutely certain) that it was common for the caravan of a deceased traveller to be burnt as part of the ritual of death. I think I have even seen pictures of it happening. I am ashamed at my lack of knowledge on the subject though. 
I agree about the children thing being a myth with obvious motives. I am sure the children my ancestors unofficially adopted were probably orphaned Romany children although the Alfred Hardiman story is a bit of a strange one as I can find him and his 7 year old brother with their biological parents on one census - on the next census the brother is nowhere to be seen (not unusual as he would have been 17) but the father is on his own claiming he is widowed and the mother is also on her own somewhere else. God knows what went on there. 

Quote

My family mainly the Morgans who lived at eight different addresses in Walmer Road as well as Latymer Road and other places in the very near area. They were originally from Wiltshire and regularly seemed to travel back an forth especially in the earlier years of the census.

My mother's family lived on Walmer Road, and my great aunt Louisa Hamilton married a Bert Morgan in 1908. There are hazy memories that he had some connection with the fair on Hampstead Heath? Any connections perhaps??

God, sorry I have left this so long. Haven't been on here for ages. I have many many Albert Morgans (seems to be a family name - my great uncle, great grandad, great great grandad and great great great grandad's brother were all called Albert) - so a Bert seems quite a likely name to have been in the family. My Morgans lived on about 10 different places on Walmer Road (laziest travellers ever!) so I will have to look into this. Thank you for replying.

Andrew - I thought I had answered you but can't see my reply so I must be imagining it  . But I do have Jones who are a complete mystery to me. I know they lived in Westminster after travelling from Somerset in the 1840s and then everyone but my great great great great grandmother Jane disappears. She says she is born in Wells or Bath or Bristol (depending on her mood I suppose). Her father was William Jones (a basket maker) and her siblings were William, Thomas, Elizabeth and Joseph. Her mother was Mary Ann but I have no idea of her surname.
All of the family were described as beggars in 1851 (the only time I find them) when they are living in a lodging house Westminster (presumably in between sites).
Jane married George Munday (a chair caner) and is missing in '41, '51 and '61 but is on every other census.

Hello

I know this is a bit of a strange one and I should probably post this in the photograph section but I think I may get more success in this forum.
This is a photo I found among the various photos of my ancestors. I don't recognise anyone in the photo but I don't know what a lot of my relatives look like.
It seems to be taken in a studio which is a bit odd, I have no idea of the date but it seems more like a early 1900s photo than and mid-to-late 1800s photo (but I could be completely wrong).

I thought perhaps people who knew something about bare knuckle boxing might know something. Of course they might just be mucking about - their clothing certainly doesn't look too professional. It would be even better to be able to connect it to my Romany ancestors.
I have no idea why we would have this photo if they weren't relatives.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.