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Ok, finally had a chance to update my search. Sorry for delay. Husband ill (not corona) and my time is limited these days.

I have managed to work back on William Coopers family from present day to 1911 Census. He was married to Elsie Riddoch who was born in Scotland. His place of birth states England age 37. The 1901 census is the same, Born England age 27. The information he gave on his marriage certificate in 1898 was that his father was George Cooper (Deceased) Agricultural Labourer. His mother was Lydia Leamelle. This information was copied onto his death certificate when he died on the 11th August 1945, aged 71. Williams occupation was given as Groom (on marriage certificate) and the family say he had grown up with horses and worked with them.

I cannot find a marriage anywhere in the UK between these two people. There is a possibilty he was illigitimate I suppose, but I am having great difficulty finding a Lydia Leamelle anywhere. Did find one born 1843 but on further searches found out that her name was actually Lydia Sewell and she did not marry George Cooper. There is a George and Lydia in Burghfield but they are not the right family. Her maiden name was Webb. The son named William in their census's was actually given the birth name of John William. Although he was named William in family census's, when he married he listed himself at marriage and future census's as John William. I sent for birth and marriage certificates so have now ruled him out completely.

The reason I started looking at gypsies was because the family still alive said they heard through the years that he was from a family of travellers and never ever spoke about his life. However, they all seem to be aware that the son called Wilson was named after one of his family members. Before he died in 1940 he asked one of his sons to take him to the New Forest. He wanted to visit it. Unfortunately, he gave no reason for wanting to do this. Once there he became very agitated and odd and refused to get out the car. Several years after his death there was a fire in the house of his son that destroyed all family photographs and documents so we do not have birth certificate or exact date of birth for him. None of the grandchildren still alive can remember what day his birthday fell on.

Please see my reply on your other thread re Wilson.  I am going to ask the moderator to merge the 2 posts for continuity

Thank you very much.

My apologies . I do get it, got illness in the house at the moment and not in the best frame of mind to be honest. Trying to do this to take my mind off it but its not really helping because the frustration is driving me crazy!!!! The previous post is mine yes. The William Cooper I am trying to find named one of his sons WILSON which was out of the ordinary compared to his other sons names. As Wilson is such an unusual name I hoped it had come from a relative in his previous life as a gypsy. The only travelling one I found was the one in 1861 census aged 6. I just thought somebody might have a WILSON in their tree and I could then look further to see if my William fitted in somewhere. Sorry, its all very up in the air. My apologies for previous 'nippy' post. Kind Regards

Does anyone have a WILSON COOPER in their family tree? Found one aged 6 living in a tent with his mother Hannah in 1861. Unfortunately, he does not appear to be part of the family I am searching for and just wondered if anyone has come across another WILSON in a gypsy family they can tell me about? Many Thanks