How quickly could Hawkers travel in Victorian era?

[Andrew Tarr]

He is listed as 4 in 1881  -  Baptism 21 July 1877
Find a grave - if he died in Southampton 19 Jun 1947 - has birth 1 Apr 1876

The 1881 census was on April 3rd, so if that is correct one might suppose the parents had just celebrated a birthday  But a gravestone is quite likely to be a year out, when people were commonly referred to as 'in their 82nd year' meaning they were actually 81.

I have found someone in the 1939 Register born on 1 October 1880, while the birth had been registered on that day in 1878.  People usually remembered their birthday but had very occasional need to know which year it was in !

[Zaphod99]

Andrew, that is so true. These days it seems that we have to mention our birthday on just about every form we ever fill in on the internet, but up until perhaps 30 years ago it was a very rare occurrence.

Zaph

[MollyC]

Blame the NHS!  They looked at the 1939 register or made a record when you were born, then that is the first question they ask every time you turn up for treatment.  They need to check they have the right person - were mistakes made previously?

[Wexflyer]

While we may not be able to say precisely how fast a hawker would have travelled back then, we can give an absolute upper bound ~3x10^8 m/s. Could not have been faster than that.

[softly softly]

Is Frank‘a birth possibly registered in his mmn as they did not marry until sq 1877

SS

[Andrew Tarr]

While we may not be able to say precisely how fast a hawker would have travelled back then, we can give an absolute upper bound ~3x10^8 m/s. Could not have been faster than that.

I think the implied question was whether a 'hawker' - by virtue of the occupation - would be able to travel as fast as better-off members of the public ?