1919 caravan identification

[mike175]

I have just posted a photo on the Photograph Restoration board of an old horsedrawn caravan in a field on my grandparents farm in c.1919. I don't know if it was a Romany traveller, perhaps doing seasonal work on the farm, or possibly someone on a touring holiday.

It was suggested that I put a link here in case someone can provide any extra information about it:

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,242829.0.html

Quite incidental to my family tree, but it has aroused my curiosity.

Mike.

[Showman One]

I am no expert however i am from a showman family and from what my Grandfather tells me this looks like a traveling Showmans Wagon rather than general Gypsie style that was what was called barrel top (same kind of shape as your stereotypical wild west film wagons)

Hope this helps.

do you know who the family pictured are?

[mike175]

Hi Showman One,

Thanks for your comments. I know nothing about the circumstances of  picture, but it has always intrigued me.

The little boy was my father (born 1918), together with his sister and parents, and their farmhouse is in the background. Presumably the man on the wagon was the showman.

Do you think he could have been a 'one-man show', or would he have been with a travelling fair?

Mike.

[Showman One]

from what i understand during the summer months he most likely would have been with a traveling fair, however come the winter months of periods of no events some would have gone their own ways to find work.

Where was the farm by the way?

[Christopher]

I think it's a showman's wagon.

[mike175]

It's good to get some feedback after all this time. I hadn't thought of a travelling showman, and nobody suggested it when I first posted the picture last year, but it looks right to me. I wonder if the lady in the background was the showman's wife? Maybe she was camera shy 

Perhaps they had pulled in to rest for the night, on their way to the next fair. The lane in front of the house was then the main route between London and Southend, which later became the A13.

Mike.