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Auctioneer/Traveller?

Discussion in 'Lincolnshire' started by Jennie, Apr 7, 2013.

  1. Jennie

    Jennie LostCousins Member

    I could possibly help you in this area. If you could ask me again, please, on here or through a PM, I'd be only too happy to help you but at the moment I'm struggling even to find the time to add more links on here. I'm sure you'll understand ;)
     
  2. Alexander Bisset

    Alexander Bisset Administrator Staff Member

    The event was in April 2010 an AGM for Lincolnshire FHS. The guest speaker was doing a talk about Traveller families and how to research them. I was on holiday in Yorkshire/Lincolnshire and saw from the society magazine that the talk was on given my only English branch has someone who was an Auctioneer that is on a census as being in a caravan on a village green I thought he might have been a traveller. The talk suggested otherwise, however I have no proof either way.
     
  3. Jennie

    Jennie LostCousins Member

    Sounds very intriguing. What year and where was the Census? Perhaps you could send me the RG refs etc, please. Strange that the caravan was addressed 'on a village green' area as these were usually quite close-guarded as a public amenity for all the parish and also, quite possibly in full view of the ever-vigilant Guardians of the Poor. Maybe, though, the village green was the nearest identifiable place name to a field or similar? Was the Auctioneer in the company of a group of drovers on their way to market through this area and all had luckily obtained grazing permission for their livestock and shelter(s) for the night?

    Perhaps the title of Auctioneer is being somewhat generous? I have found a couple of my relatives with this job title and both appeared to be 'steady' type of people who observed BMDs and led stationary lifestyles. Another, however, described himself on four CRs as either an auctioneer' clerk, indoors servant, auctioneer and then back to clerk.
     
  4. Alexander Bisset

    Alexander Bisset Administrator Staff Member

  5. Jennie

    Jennie LostCousins Member

    Also sounds like that to me.

    I can understand why these CR returns details do not specifically mean that he was a 'traveller' as was the head of household and their abode was a caravan. I still feel, however, that he may have been en-route to a Hardware etc Auction and possibly had temporary lodgings with them. Have you any other corrobative evidence on the auctioneer, please?
     
  6. Alexander Bisset

    Alexander Bisset Administrator Staff Member

    1886 William McMillan-Myra Kirton Marriage.jpg
    Marriage entry of Myra Kirton his daughter.

    Entry clearly states her profession is "Auctioneer's daughter" and his profession is given as Auctioneer. Notice the family she marries in NE Scotland are "Horse dealers" and "Stoneware merchants" (later China merchants). However nothing I've seen back in his line suggests the family were travellers. His father Joseph Kirton was transported to Australia for 10 years in 1841 for stealing a waistcoat and a shoulder of Veal, sentenced at Linconshire Azises, but that shouldn't sway the argument one way or the other!
    As an aside I was amazed to find Joseph's prison record in Tasmania Joseph Kirton Convict Record 1842-1850.jpg at the Tasmanian archives online. It gives the most detailed description I have of any ancestor other than those with photos. You may need to zoom in the image to make out the writing though
     
  7. Jennie

    Jennie LostCousins Member

    Thanks, Alexander, I'm looking forward to studying all your information - I especially like the fact (just another co-incidence?) that Kirton [in Lindsey], Lincs is only approx 11 miles from Ingham, Lincs. To keep you going until I get back to you later, here's some reading: GENUKI: Kirton in Lindsey, LIN. If you're read it, here's a second reading! ;)
     
  8. Jennie

    Jennie LostCousins Member

    Thought you may like a 1950s view:​

    BBC iPlayer; A documentary about the love affair between the British and their caravans, which transformed the holiday habits of generations of families from the 1950s through to the present day. (R)
     

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