boswell family gypsies or not?

[carol46]

My husbands name is boswell which i know is a well known gypsy name,i,ve traced his family in london back to 1650 but cant seem to findout if they were gypies or not,they havent had gypies occupations,also none of them lived in caravans.could they be gypsies?ive been on a few romany websites but  cant findout anything on there about them.
could someone point me in the right directions,to find this info out.
thanks.

[cathayb]

you have a few other gypsy names lurking in your family.cooper, and others.can you give some first names to go with boswell and who they married as that might help.alot of gypsies stayed around the east end of london.they got on particularly well with the jews.give me some of the addresses aswell.oh by the way they didnt have caravans until the 1950s and before that it was wagons and that only from about 1880.most were in benders(tents)or barns or under hedges or in lodgings!!!!give me some of the occupations aswell.the boswells by the way didnt arrive in england until about 1650!!!!!so maybe thats a clue?

[cathayb]

more gypsy surnames     bartlett,harfield,taylor,evans,moss sanders and maybe a few more of yours i will need to check.get back to me cathay

[carol46]

Hi Cathay.Thanks for your reply,i'm mainly intereted in the boswells here is some info on then.

Richard Boswell b1756 marylebone married a Hanna kirk

Thomas Boswell b1792 Marylebone married Elizabeth White in shoreditch occupation painter

Henry Boswell b1839 Westminster married a Mary she was born in waterford ireland 1845 ocuppation of henry lithograph printer they did live in carnaby street but in the 1861 census they lived 33 Tonbridge st St pancras.

Daniel Boswell b1864 st pancras married Minnie Harding b1869 occupation coppersmith 1901 census residence 19 Drummond st st pancras.

I do have details of all there children if needed.

Hope you can find something out.

Best wishes

Carol.

[carol46]

just like to add could be of interest thomas boswell 1792 had a daughter sophia boswell she married a george smith from paddington both there ocuppations were vendors of cats meats which is quite a unusual job.plus smith is a romany name?

[cathayb]

right i h\ve a sophia boswell married a smith only his name was reuben smith and he was really an ayres so was he into name changing very often gypsies are!!painter and coppersmith and cat meat vender are all done by gypsies as well as non gypsies!white is also a gypsy surname.oh by the way my sophia boswell was born in oxfordshire and was born 1811 so she could be your thomas daughter.her fathers name though was thomas and he changed it to lewis!!!!!!!i have him as born 1888 though.when dealing with romanies you have to be so careful as because they were paid sixpence each time they had a child baptised they often baptised said child more than once at different churches and giving different names!!!gypsies def were around shoreditch.how do you know they were always in london?many gypsies often appear in one place because they had gone in the cencus month for work or a fair but would be travelling the rest of the year and then back to the same place by the time of the next cencus.i will make some enquiries as regards london boswells and get back to you again.can you give me the surnames just relating to your husbands family and not yours?regards cathayb

[carol46]

hi thanks for that info,my husband surnames are boswells,on all the census's they are showing being in london, 
The rest are from my family,alot of my own ancestors came from oxfordshire so thats interesting.with some of the surnames you have mentioned.

we dont want to get confused so stick to boswells

thanks for you help.

[Redroger]

The Ayres surname was often carried by  travelling show people, Reuben is a name often carried by male gypsies.

[enwau]

more gypsy surnames     bartlett,harfield,taylor,evans,moss sanders and maybe a few more of yours i will need to check.get back to me cathay

     
                  Hello again Cathayb, I notice you have the name Harfield on your list above.My John Harfield born in 1719 married a Mary mitchell in Basingstoke and had John 1739,Mary 1743 and Lazarus 1746.Mary was born in Greenham Berks , she married a Willliam Seller in shinfield berks.He worked as an agricultural labourer.Do you have any more info ?Thanks