I have my first person on a census "of no place of abode"

[Margaret in Burton]

I have never come across this before

William Tomlinson

RG11; Piece: 3426; Folio: 89; Page: 13

Address:
No place of abode, living in a barn

[Uncle John]

I had one (in the same street as relatives) in a road roller van.

[Pamdidle]

I had one living in a cart on the turnpike road

[Little Nell]

1881
RG11 Piece / Folio 1961 / 59 Page Number 26
Cornelius GOWEN Head U Male 59 Cantley, Norfolk, Drover
Dwelling : A Shed

[Uncle John]

And didn't someone come across an itinerant under a hedge on one census?

[Little Nell]

some enumerators were obviously more conscientious than others.

[jenoco]

I had a whole family down as living in a field in Suffolk in one census. Not sure what to make of it. One of the daughters married one of my gg uncles.

[James]

Even in recent history we have had people living cars, I remember on who lived in a lay-by on the North Circular, Finchley, A family living in a bus, in Walthamstow, though that was quite a common event.

[Canadian Cousin]

I'm sure these census entries reflect real tragedies ... but I can't help thing about Monty Python's "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch.

For those who don't remember it, it went in part:

EI: I was happier then and I had NOTHIN'. We used to live in this tiiiny old house, with greaaaaat big holes in the roof.

GC: House? You were lucky to have a HOUSE! We used to live in one room, all hundred and twenty-six of us, no furniture. Half the floor was missing; we were all huddled together in one corner for fear of FALLING!

TG: You were lucky to have a ROOM! *We* used to have to live in a corridor!

MP: Ohhhh we used to DREAM of livin' in a corridor! Woulda' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woken up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House!? Hmph.

EI: Well when I say "house" it was only a hole in the ground covered by a piece of tarpolin, but it was a house to US.

GC: We were evicted from *our* hole in the ground; we had to go and live in a lake!

TG: You were lucky to have a LAKE! There were a hundred and sixty of us living in a small shoebox in the middle of the road.

MP: Cardboard box?

TG: Aye.

MP: You were lucky ...

And the punchline was:

MP: you try and tell the young people today that... and they won't believe ya'.

No disrespect intended to anyone, just hope it brightens your day.

Tim

[Little Nell]

Tom

I loved that sketch!

And I suppose my ancestors were lucky, as far as I know none of them had to lick gravel off the road with their tongues.

[Sheila from Down Under]

I have my G/Grand father and his family living in a " caravan " in the pub yard in Battersea on the 1901 census. That answers a lot of questions about us lot today LOL
Sheila

[Norfolk Marsh Gal]

My grt grt grt grandad was a gypsy who lived all his life in a caravan and died there in his 80s. All the children were born in the caravan, luckily most of the children were baptised and the ones born in Scotland were registered, but they don't turn up on census.
On another branch of my tree my great grandad once owned a extensive market garden with many green houses, after a freak whirl wind demolished all they had my great grandmother took her children (any of the 13 still living at home) and left him to live with her sister, great grandad ended up living in a railway carriage, bus or tram of some sort on his land which he gradually had to sell off bit by bit. i know he lived in the lower compartment and had a greenhouse on the roof where he would grow his vegetables

[Rachel Scand]

I've got witnesses to a marriage, living in Regents Park, London .... would that be the Zoo ?

[Uncle John]

Not necessarily. I think the Crown Estate owns properties in Regents Park, mostly just inside the gates.