Licensed Hawkers

[mike175]

I was just browsing the 1901 census and discovered that there were three 'Licensed Hawkers' in caravans listed at that time, close to the site of the one in my 1919 photo on an earlier thread: http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,242829.0.html

I notice that in each case the Head of the household is a married woman, with 1 to 4 children, but no man present. Was that a common situation, and where would their husbands have been? Did the women and children travel alone?

I shall have to now check the other censuses to see if it was a regular spot for caravans.

Mike.

[social-butterflies]

the men could have been at horse fairs or out buying ready for the fairs
or some could have transported

[behindthefrogs]

If they were Romanies there is a fair chance that the mother was not married and the children belonged to different fathers.

David