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Romany surnames - Southern England?

Romany surnames - Southern England?

Posted: 9 May 2008 8:52PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Ayres, Bassett, Bray, Cox, Golding, Hibberd, Hickman, Hiscock, Loftus, Martin, Peacock, Pearce, Plunkett, Smith, Woodcock
Hi there - some of my surnames are Ayres (Wiltshire), Bassett, Bray, Cox (Hampshire/Wiltshire/Dorset), Golding, Hibberd (Wiltshire), Hickman (Oxfordshire), Hiscock (Wiltshire), Loftus, Martin (Sussex), Peacock, Pearce (Surrey), Plunkett, Smith, Woodcock. Some of these names I've been able to trace back to Ireland and Lancashire.

I was emailing a Romany friend today about Romany surnames and ended up at the Romany & Traveller Family History Society; I found all of the above surnames as possibly Romany on the lists on their website. I have no knowledge of a Romany background; does anyone know how/if I can establish whether these names are Romany or not? Where I'm able to find Census entries, the occupations tend to be blacksmiths, agricultural labourers etc.

I'm adopted and while I've traced my family back, I have no contact with my birth family, so unfortunately I can't pick anyone's brain on this.

Many thanks - any suggestions gratefully received,
Jules
(London, UK)

Re: Romany surnames - Southern England?

Posted: 13 May 2008 12:58PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Bassett
I would be interested in trading information with you on your Bassett family line. You can contact me directly at bassettgenealogy@hotmail.com.

Jeffrey Bassett
www.bassettbranches.org.

Re: Romany surnames - Southern England?

Posted: 21 Jul 2008 6:05AM GMT
Classification: Query
I have never heard any of those names and Im all rumneychel

Re: Romany surnames - Southern England?

Posted: 30 Jul 2008 5:07PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Smith
The only one i heard of is Smith because there related 2 me and we come from the midlands the rest i would not class as even being roma names

Re: Romany surnames - Southern England?

Posted: 7 Aug 2008 8:44AM GMT
Classification: Query
Jules
You maybe pleased to learn that Ayres are most definitely Romany Travellers and were/are largely spread over Hampshire and all the surrounding counties (including Wiltshire)

I also know of some Goldings and Hiscocks that either were travellers or married into the families and Hibberd are also definitely a travelling family.

With regard to research, it depends on how much info you already have and how far back you have got.
this site obviously has all the census for the UK and you can research that, also you can try Genes Reunited and put your tree on there to find any links,
also these two web sites have a lot of records of Romany travellers including Baptisms, marriages, etc and could prove a link
www.romanygenes.webeden.co.uk
passingthrough.wetpaint.com

Good luck....

Re: Romany surnames - Southern England?

Posted: 25 Sep 2008 6:21PM GMT
Classification: Query
can tell you that some names are familiar to me,especially the Smiths and they came from southern england,but being a romany myself,cannot believe that they put a child up for adoption, maybe your father was a romany and got a gorgio into trouble and their family made her give you up.Our children are very important to us.Do you know the first name of the Smith connection and the dates I will see if I can help you.
best wishes L

Re: Romany surnames - Southern England?

Posted: 25 Sep 2008 7:03PM GMT
Classification: Query
Thanks Linda. I've actually got questions on my blood side and my adoptive side. My adoptive grandmother was Emily Smith b. 1907 in Ware, Herts (long line of pig farmers), and it's complicated by the fact that her daughter (my adoptive Mum, surname Chalkley - also prolific name in Herts) married a man who may have been Jewish (family changed their name in the 1930s because of the Oswald Moseley trouble). We never could work out why Nan didn't like Dad; he would never talk about a Jewish connection (although his Jacob and Hyatt cousins were jewellers in Hatton Garden), and Nan would never talk about a Romany connection. So that all ground to a halt.

My sister (bio-granddaughter of Emily Smith) married a Smith from Cheshunt, Herts who is definitely Romany; she was never accepted (they thought of her as a gorgio as she had no proof of Romany blood) and they divorced after a couple of years.

My ancestral Smiths on my bio-mother's side are from Wiltshire in the early 1800s, as are the Hiscocks, Hibberds etc. John Smith b. 1838 (no knowledge of his parents) married Lucy Pearce b. 1839 in Whitechapel; her parents were William Pearce (b. 1816, Surrey) and Jane Ayres (b. 1816, St Katharine Coleman, London). Jane's father was George Ayres b. 1786, Middlesex, who married a Sarah, but that's as far as I've got with that line. I suspect I'll need to go to parish records to get back any further. On my bio-father's side I have Irish and Indian blood (no Romany to my knowledge, unless Boorman counts - the only line of his I haven't been able to get back further because I can't find a UK birth record), so it's all a big mix!

Thanks,
Jules

Re: Romany surnames - Southern England?

Posted: 6 Nov 2008 11:31AM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: smith (salisbury plain area), carter (imber) mullins (teffont) saunders (wallop)
My family were from Imber, Teffont and the Deverills all on, or on the edge of, Salisbury Plain, I have traced most lines back to at least 1750.
However one line of my family were always known to be of Romany descent, my father remembers his Granny Smith to be the first of her family to live in a house. Her father came from Coombe near Enford, but I cant find any information on the gypsies of Salisbury Plain, they are mentioned in a book about "The Plain", but only in the context of a group drinking in the pub in Imber. My Imber relation actually married a daughter of "Granny Smith", a Mullins girl from Teffont, he had just been widowed aged 53...he was self employed as a baker in Imber and she was just 19 and pregnant with his child all within 6 months of his first wife dying. However they went on to have 5 children and a happy life.
My father remembers the Smith and Mullins families playing the fiddle and piano accordian, dancing, singing and drinking and having fun.
does anyone have any info on the gypsies in the salisbury plain area between 1800 and 1900?

Re: Romany surnames - Southern England?

Posted: 8 Jan 2009 12:34AM GMT
Classification: Query
i was married to a gypsy with the surname smith(although he never knew his dad)
my middle daughter is very proud of her romany roots and wants to find out everything she can about her dads family.
sadly she doesnt see him,and his mother is dead.her name was rosina harbour,sometimes she used the surname chapman.she never married my exes father .her family had land in peasmarsh surrey.

Re: Romany surnames - Southern England?

Posted: 5 Mar 2009 10:40PM GMT
Classification: Query
Hi
There is a site that could help you it made up of people that have Romany/Gypsy in their family, its a friendly site, its free, at, http://romanyconnections.wetpaint.com
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