The Census: Exploring the long history of the Gypsy Traveller community within the Gairloch Area

In this, our second post for Gypsy, Roma, Traveller History Month, we’re tracing several Gypsy/Traveller families through the census records, from 1851 until 1911…

Within the UK, the census has been taken every 10 years since 1841 to record who is living where and with who. It also includes a person’s occupation, age and where they were born. Although there are no mentions of any Gypsy/Travellers in our area in the 1841 census, with the help of Dorothy Malone we’ve found many families after this, including MacFee, McAlister, Williamson and Stewart. The following three families frequent the Gairloch area year after year, living, working and having children here.

A Gypsy/Traveller camp within the Gairloch area, exact location unknown. From the collection of Gairloch Museum, GARHM IMG1266

The MacDonalds

The MacDonald family first appear in the 1851 census in Kinlochewe. At this time, the whole area came under this name, so we don’t know exactly where they were camped. The family is Alexander, a widower of 89 years who was a spoon maker, and with him are his grandson, 32-year-old Donald, and 22-year-old Jane. Donald was a tinsmith from Kintail and Jane was a tin merchant born in Gairloch.

By the 1861 census Donald is shown in Laid [sic] Udrigle still working as a tinsmith, and now married to Jane Stewart, with three children.

For 1871 the family had moved to Bualnaluib, near Aultbea, and were living in a house which had one room with a window. Donald was still a tinsmith, and their family had risen to seven children, three of whom were at school. But they must have moved several times over the years before this as three of the children were born in Mellon Charles, one in Strath, one in Gairloch and the two youngest in Bualnaluib.

The Wilsons

The Wilsons are first mentioned in the 1871 census at Cromosaig near Kinlochewe, probably in Glac nan Ceàird (the Travellers’ hollow) which was mentioned in our last post. In their tent is Andrew, a 34-year-old tinsmith from Inverness-shire who is living with his wife and five children, as well as Andrew White, a 75-year-old tinsmith cousin.

In 1891 at Tolly, near Poolewe, there is a hawker’s camp housing three families of Wilsons. James is 60 years of age, from Forfar and is staying with his wife and two children. William, the son of James above, was 26 and camping with his wife and son who was born in Gairloch. And John was a 33-year-old widower camping with his three children.

In 1901, two families of Wilson are shown back in Cromosaig. William, who we saw in 1891, is now recorded as 34 and has a second child, born in Lochcarron. Staying with this family is James Wilson, also a hawker and a tinsmith, with his wife and his two sons.

The Millers

The Miller family first appear in the 1871 census at Talladale, just south of Gairloch, where six of them are living in a tent. William is a 60-year-old widower living with his unmarried daughter, his married son and daughter-in-law and their two children. The four adults are shown as travelling hawkers.

By 1891 two families of Millers are at Kerrysdale living in two tents, which are recorded perhaps ironically as having no windows. In one was Thomas, a licensed hawker, and Catherine his wife, who are the son and daughter-in-law of William, seen in 1871. Thomas was born in Grantown and Catherine in Brora, but their four children were all born in Gairloch. In the second tent is William, another licensed hawker, who is William from 1871s grandson born in Gairloch, with his wife and two young children. By 1901 this William was in a tent in Applecross, working as a tinsmith.

Our access to census data ends in 1911, but through a member of the local community we’ve been told that a Miller family was living permanently near Big Sand during the 1930s. A photo of Sands School within our collection, dated to the late 1920s, shows Tommy, Mary and Jean Miller who are recorded as being from North Erradale. We’re not totally sure, but we think they are the children of a Gypsy/Traveller family who are staying in a house or large tent during the cold months. Does anyone else within the local area remember this family?

and school, from the late 1920s. Tommy Miller is second left on the top row, Mary Miller second left on the bottom row, and Jean Miller fourth left on the bottom row. From the collection of Gairloch Museum, GARHM IMG1331

In our next post, we’ll hear about two more families, the Stewarts and the Davies, with memories of their annual camps near Kerrysdale in the 1950s and 60s…

Gairloch Museum recently relocated to a former nuclear bunker in the centre of Gairloch in Wester Ross, winning ArtFundUK’s Museum of the Year 2020. The museum tells the story of the people and landscape of Gairloch and the surrounding area from Mesolithic man to crofting communities. If you or your family have any memories of Gypsy/Travellers within the area, including photographs or objects, we’d love to hear from you at info@gairlochmuseum.org