James Pullen - Possible Gypsy/Tinker Connection?

[morrwilcox]

Wondering if anyone had any insight on this, or suggestions as to where to look for more info?

My 3x great grandfather James Pullen is living on/by Mitcham Common, Surrey in the 1881 census:

John Powell, age 80, widower, tinker, birthplace not known
James Pullen, age 28, unmarried, lab, born Wisley

There's nothing written in relation to head box, and unsurprisingly they're living nearby to many travellers in caravans and tents on the common.

I know that 'tinker' is a word used to describe travellers/gypsies - Irish ones especially - and that Mitcham Common is a very significant site for gypsies in the south of England.

There's nothing else to suggest that James' family were travellers - before coming across this census I believed they were simply a labouring family from Surrey. My quick google came up with this site (http://theromany.weebly.com/) where someone has indexed my James Pullen as a possible gypsy (although it seems to just be based on this one census)

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? And any suggestions as to how to research this connection?

[Waltzer7]

Hi,

Have you had a look at below links?

https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/culture-and ... -ancestors
http://rtfhs.org.uk

[gardener]

Wondering if anyone had any insight on this, or suggestions as to where to look for more info?

My 3x great grandfather James Pullen is living on/by Mitcham Common, Surrey in the 1881 census:

John Powell, age 80, widower, tinker, birthplace not known
James Pullen, age 28, unmarried, lab, born Wisley

If you look at the image for those entries, there is a blank line between them, suggesting that they are not related.
Also, the first columns for John Powell say [Schedule no.] 216; [address] Mitcham Common.
But for James Pullen they say [Schedule no.] 70*; [address] Commonside.

It looks to me as though James should have been entered along with schedule number 70.

Schedule no. 69; No. 21 Smiths Building
Jane Smith head unm 76 formerly cook Mitcham, Surrey

Schedule no. 70, No. 21 Smiths Building
James Cheshire head mar 27 railway porter Whitchurch Bucks
Catherine ditto wife mar 22 Mixbury Northamptonshire

Schedule nos. around 49 have Common Side as the address.

Unless some of those names mean anything to you, I think you could conclude that James Pullen was just living/visiting at No. 21 Smiths Building when the census was taken.





James Cheshire 27
Catherine Cheshire 22