How do i find more info on a fair ground worker in the 1960's

[TINA67]

Hi, i have Romany blood and my Nan married a fairground worker (he was in the army when they met).

Its a sad story, my nan died when she was 37 yrs and he died when he was 41. I am trying to find out more about my grandfather and i wonder where the best place is to ask. No family members on his side left.

He was crushed to death when a caravan trailer ran him over at Great Easton, near Dunmow, Essex in 1964. The fair was moving from Hitchin , Herts to Long Melford, Suffolk.It was an accident which i can imagine affected the lifes of those involved and its not the accident i am interested in, i have the newspaper reports and a letter from the coroner's office, these are enough for me on that subject. However it is stories and photos i am looking for about my grandfather.
I dont even know of the name of the fair he worked for just that
the person who was driving was from Peterbourgh.

My grandfathers name was Arthur William Stokes, i don't know if he had a nickname. He never really had a place he called home so areas i know he stayed are, Hampshire, Maidstone, Kent and Hitchin was were his mother lived.He had 9 children.

I doubt i get anywhere with this but then if i don't try......................

[CaroleW]

Hi

A good starting point would be a copy of your grandparents marriage certificate but this will only help with his ancestry - not his life

It would show his fathers name and occupation and also confirm Arthurs age at that time

I doubt you will get any photos or stories about him prior to his death from any source other than any of his children who are still living

From his age at death he appears to have been born around 1923 and there is this birth on freebmd

Births Jun 1923   

Stokes  Arthur W  mothers maiden name = Houghton  District Hitchin Hertfordshire  Volume 3a Page 1339

[TINA67]

Hi thank you maybe i should have added i have all these details already.
Its more about his working life and the names of the fairs he worked in. You know silly little things that help piece together a small history of a person that people never knew. of course stories will always be that but it would be nice if anyone came up with something.

You see his not all of his 9 children lived with them for whatever that might have been. So to try and build a picture up is nigh on impossible. The only one we do have is that after his death the fair ground owner sent a huge bunch of flowers and a payment of £50 towards his funeral.

However with family history now being a forever growing hobby maybe someone might just have heard the story and then sometimes things get remembered.
Straw clutching maybe, forever hopeful always..

[CitizenSmith]

Hi

You could try posting an enquiry at this site for fairground enthusiasts. There might be people on the list who remember your grandfather.

www.fairground-heritage.org.uk/forum

Sharon

[TINA67]

Thank you Sharon, i will try there now.

I have reg but it hasn't confirmed as of yet 

[rebekahm28]

Try posting on the Romany Roots message board, its updated every few days. If you post a name and location, someone's memory may be jogged, there are a some older folk on there.

[cassandra123]

You could ask Silcocks they would perhaps lknow the best people to contact.   They were the fairground people that we used to get around Lancashire.  I think their homebase used to be in Warrington.   But the Show people knew each other anyway.

http://www.funfairground.com/

[mc8]

post a message on this forum
http://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/romany_roots/
regards
Monique

[laurence2]

Try these Sites.

http://members.shaw.ca/pauline777/TravellersUK.html

And also try this
http://www.nfa.dept.shef.ac.uk/holdings/index.html