William Francis OLIVER, born October 1850 (General)

by unknown, Wednesday, May 07, 2008, 04:10 (6051 days ago) @ slowhands

Talking to my mother last night about the absence of imprint in the censuses by W.F.O., she reminded me that his granddaughter's mother-in-law described him as "no better than a Diddakoi"...and I suddenly wondered whether she might really have meant this. As opposed to just meaning that he was feckless. Maybe the family really was itinerant. I know she was being insulting and clearly had a very low opinion of William, but maybe she was also stating a partial truth; albeit in somewhat intemperate language! It might explain the invisibility of the Olivers. I don't know whether or not any attempt was made to identify and enumerate the itinerant community. It must have been nigh on impossible to find many families, I would have thought.

By the way the renegade vicar in Bethnal Green was the Reverend E.F.Coke at St James the Great, Bethnal Green.

Sian.