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Hello alpinecottage,

It is very kind of you to take the time to write with such thorough information.  I have just started looking for Italian street musicians in England (1850-1866, though for my man, 1863 arrival in England is most likely), so I am brand new finding my way around new resources.  You saved me an enormous amount of time learning what the resources are, so thank you so much!  I looked in London Gazette but found only tiny general mention in two spots about street musicians (maybe I'm not doing it right); BNA may be worth the money (I have several archive newspaper subscriptions for U.S. papers and they were all worth the cost); will try Gale and Times Archive today.  My Bosco ancestor was not an important person as to appearing in articles or on lists of street musicians, so I look instead for adults (likely padrones) with whom he is known to have traveled, names like Briglia, Lapetina, Panella, Lauletta and Savino.  The padrone stories made big news in London as well as U.S., so not sure why I'm finding so little.  I found 50+ articles in American newspapers, esp. New York Times, on the Italian child street musicians and the padrones for time period 1860-1885; it took a lot of looking but was fascinating stories.

I am not averse to paying for records access like FindMyPast (I'm already on Ancestry.com), but realize that I may find very little as these street musicians were often "clandestine immigrants," too underage for formal documents of their own, often traveled under papers belonging to others or had changed names, traveled constantly, would have ducked out of official censuses if possible (illegal mendicants/street beggars), and are more likely to be on an arrest list in a police office than anything else.  I looked in FindMyPast, and so far found only one possible record in 1861 in Salford, Lancashire, but wrong first name of "Jno" Bosco.  I had great hope I'd find my Francesco (Frank?) Domenico Bosco on a ship departure list, probably leaving Liverpool in 1866 for either New York or New Orleans, but had no luck so far.  The "Little Slaves" book describes in detail where in London the padrones kept their children, but I do not have that reference to hand right now.  Again, all these resources are new, so I'll work harder on it soon.

I am in United States, though perhaps some libraries here would have subscriptions to these archival newspapers and FindMyPast.

Again, many thanks for your speedy help.

Valerie

Is anyone still following this thread as to Italian street musicians in England in late 1800's?  You will find much fascinating information in the book "Little Slaves of the Harp," by John Zucchi.  Portions of it are online if you search GoogleBooks.  It is about the "white slave trade" in Italian child street musicians about 1850-1890 (they were essentially street beggars, run by a padrone a la Fagin, to oversimplify).  These kids were bought and sold all over the world.  Quite a story.

Valerie