Potential Gypsy Ancestors
Clues to our Maxteds having been gypsies:
I have seen references about the Roberts family of Stalisfield being gypsies, though would need to find more proof to really be sure of that, and I have seen hints that the Maxted branch of my family could also have been of gypsy ancestry. Kent was indeed home to many many gypsies, and Hothfield Common where the Maxteds sometimes lived was one of their sites. The Maxted children were baptised at a variety of villages, rather than just one, showing that they did not stay in but one place, although those locations were close together. One big clue is that one of George Maxteds listed occupations was that of a general dealer, which was commonly a profession of the gypsy people. I'd previously thought that as a general dealer the Maxteds would have had a shop, but actually, as I have since read, small villages in those days didn't tend to support permanent traders, other than one resident blacksmith and some other craftsmen. It was travelling salesmen, such as from the gypsy communities, who were nomadic by tradition anyway, that provided villagers with domestic articles and trinkets, ornaments and finery. baskets and clothes pegs.
Gypsies were also an essential part of the travelling work force on the fruit and vegetable farms, according to the seasons, which began with hop training in the late spring and all through the summer. Such travellers moved from farm to farm as each crop needed harvesting. Apples and pears needed gathering in the autumn and potatoes picking up in early winter. In between farms one could stay on village commons. In winter products were sold from door to door. Casual labour could often be found, knife grinding, repairing woven cane chairs, and tree pruning. There were also fairs in different towns and villages where gypsies set up shops of their wares and entertained the people as showmen, acting on temporary stages, boxing in booths, with their dancing bears, acrobatics, freak shows, music, and quack remedies, anything really that would relieve the crowds of their money.
Other clues to the gypsy origins of the family:
In a list of baptised gypsies of Kent there are many Roberts mentioned and even some Maxteds, one being the gypsy baptism of a Mary Maxted to a John and Rose at Burmarsh in 1805 on 22nd September, and in Lympne in 1806, on 28th September, there being a child Maxted buried who was a gypsy, with the name of William Kingsford Maxted.
As far as descriptions go, one Thomas Maxted of Kent, born in around 1766, who had deserted the army in 1806, was described as being dark complexioned, with grey eyes and dark brown hair.
Most gypsy families were extended rather than nuclear, all living together, cousins, elders and all. The elders looked after the babies and toddlers while all else worked. Life was lived outside and in the evenings the whole family would gather round a fire discussing the days events, singing, making music and story telling. The people were tent dwellers who travelled with horses and carts, caravans not coming into use until later. The bender tents they created would have a frame of hazel sticks over which was put a tarpaulin or sail cloth.
Gypsies were also an essential part of the travelling work force on the fruit and vegetable farms, according to the seasons, which began with hop training in the late spring and all through the summer. Such travellers moved from farm to farm as each crop needed harvesting. Apples and pears needed gathering in the autumn and potatoes picking up in early winter. In between farms one could stay on village commons. In winter products were sold from door to door. Casual labour could often be found, knife grinding, repairing woven cane chairs, and tree pruning. There were also fairs in different towns and villages where gypsies set up shops of their wares and entertained the people as showmen, acting on temporary stages, boxing in booths, with their dancing bears, acrobatics, freak shows, music, and quack remedies, anything really that would relieve the crowds of their money.
Other clues to the gypsy origins of the family:
In a list of baptised gypsies of Kent there are many Roberts mentioned and even some Maxteds, one being the gypsy baptism of a Mary Maxted to a John and Rose at Burmarsh in 1805 on 22nd September, and in Lympne in 1806, on 28th September, there being a child Maxted buried who was a gypsy, with the name of William Kingsford Maxted.
As far as descriptions go, one Thomas Maxted of Kent, born in around 1766, who had deserted the army in 1806, was described as being dark complexioned, with grey eyes and dark brown hair.
Most gypsy families were extended rather than nuclear, all living together, cousins, elders and all. The elders looked after the babies and toddlers while all else worked. Life was lived outside and in the evenings the whole family would gather round a fire discussing the days events, singing, making music and story telling. The people were tent dwellers who travelled with horses and carts, caravans not coming into use until later. The bender tents they created would have a frame of hazel sticks over which was put a tarpaulin or sail cloth.
(Parish records concerning Pluckley can be accessed, for more research, at the Centre for Kentish Studies in Maidstone)