Ok, mate. I've just re read what ye've said above and have picked it apart some. Here's what's caught my eye ~ without allowing myself to get too bogged down in the names, for now:
" Herbert Davey was from woolpit in suffolk. "
And, as said above, Davey is a Gypsy name, found in Suffolk.
" how did mary ann whiteman meet herbert if she was from pevensey bay which is in hastings."
Possibly his familys 'Circuit' took them down that far. Probably more likely, they'd have 'met halfway' as they each converged on the seasonal fields, perhaps in Kent, eg.
" Herberts Father (William reginald Davey) Was on the 1841 census as an ag lab."
Most Gypsys, in those days, worked as Agricultural Labourers. Picking, etc. in season. Clearing ditches and so forth at other times.
" Then He goes missing off the census all the way up to 1891 census, so i wonder where he went for that time. "
Buggers, aren't they? Into some wood, probably. Somewhere the Enumerator wouldn't think or care to look? Or possibly over to Eire? My people used to cross the water.
" my granny used to get told she was gypsy when she was younger. "
Who by? Family or strangers?
" But that family didnt move about at all as u can see by the birth places. "
Such spacial records can actually be misleading. Many Gypsys had a home base. Even a 'house' of some sort. Contrary to popular belief, not all of them lived in a constant cycle of aimlessly wandering the roads and byways.
" her family are described as ''living on the beach''."
Delicious, isn't it? I've seen that mentioned before, for other people. Fires the imagination, just How they were living there. I'm afraid I have no reference.
" show up as licened hawkers and showmen and living in a showvan. "
Hardly run of the mill nine to fiver's then!
" my granny said she was at a travellers site or somewhere in woolpit when she was young ".
Now; What did I just say, above ....?
Steve.
