No hawkers in my northern family that i know about but a sideways ancestor who was a butler in Higher Broughton to a Canon of what became Manchester Cathedral had a son who after attending Oldham Blue Coat School became a Commision Agent of sugar and fruit. I presume he may have worked at Smithfield market.
Not sure what this job would have entailed but maybe selling goods on from the market to shops ?? This was in the 1870s or thereabouts.
My great grandmother was a Hawker in Leeds and I have her Hawkers License, I think she sold whatever she could get hold of. Both my great grandparents were gypsies.
My paternal grandmother's family were Hawkers and dealt mainly in fish and fruit and vegetables. The hawking came down the maternal line from her gypsy great grandparents. My granddad died young, leaving my dad as the main bread winner, so after working all day, my grannie would send him with a barrow ladened with fruit and hot chestnuts, to stand outside the cinema and wait for the movie to end; he said he always wished he was inside and felt embarrassed when his friends came out of the cinema. My maternal grandmother was born and bred in Angel Meadow and sold matches as a little girl. Her parents weren't married, as her father had a wife and kids in Ancoats and times were hard for her and her mother.
Such an interesting read Dean. So relevant to Victorian city life but also in rural areas where people would walk for miles to sell their goods
No hawkers in my northern family that i know about but a sideways ancestor who was a butler in Higher Broughton to a Canon of what became Manchester Cathedral had a son who after attending Oldham Blue Coat School became a Commision Agent of sugar and fruit. I presume he may have worked at Smithfield market.
Not sure what this job would have entailed but maybe selling goods on from the market to shops ?? This was in the 1870s or thereabouts.
My great grandmother was a Hawker in Leeds and I have her Hawkers License, I think she sold whatever she could get hold of. Both my great grandparents were gypsies.
My paternal grandmother's family were Hawkers and dealt mainly in fish and fruit and vegetables. The hawking came down the maternal line from her gypsy great grandparents. My granddad died young, leaving my dad as the main bread winner, so after working all day, my grannie would send him with a barrow ladened with fruit and hot chestnuts, to stand outside the cinema and wait for the movie to end; he said he always wished he was inside and felt embarrassed when his friends came out of the cinema. My maternal grandmother was born and bred in Angel Meadow and sold matches as a little girl. Her parents weren't married, as her father had a wife and kids in Ancoats and times were hard for her and her mother.