Is Ling a Romany name?

[robert186]

This is very interesting. I am descended from Lings who I know were definately travellers, mainly active in Derbyshire (Alfreton, Ripley) and South Yorkshire (Barnsley, Doncaster). They were mainly general/marine store dealers and china/earthenware dealers, though some of them settled down later. The furthest back I've got to was George Ling, who came from Hundon, Suffolk (b. 1824), though most of his descendants were active in Yorkshire/Derbyshire, so I wonder if the Lings you mention who ran the funfairs are related to him. There's a few stories in our family about distant cousins being involved in travelling funfairs.

[aug]

Hi

Hope you don't mind me butting in, my GG-grandmother was a ling,before she married my GG-grandfather a Brooker.. Its nice to know about the ling surname and i can Add this info to my tree.

jew

[robert186]

My great grand mother's brother George Ling (b. abt 1878 Ripley, Derbyshire) may be of interest to you. In 1901 he's a coconut stall proprieter living in a caravan in Holbeck, Leeds and in 1911 he's a described as a 'showman' at the fairground in Goole (Leeds again). His wife was Agnes Amy Hunt (1879-1854) and he had at least four children, Sarah (1900), Annie (1901-1903), Olive (1905) and John George (1910-1932). Olive's baptism record also describes her father as a showman.

Hope this helps with your research!

[aug]

Hi Robert

 I keep the info you sent,in case the name comes up in my tree.  I heard Lings were showpeople.

 Don't know alot about Lings only have GG-grandmother and her father.

 Thank-you

jew

[robert186]

I've written a blog post on my showmen ancestors on the Ling side if you're still researching this topic 

https://robertfjones.wordpress.com/2016/04/20/travelling-with-the-lings-part-4/