A tinker's life
The phrase tinker has been used for more than 1,000 years. For much of that time the tinker was an outsider, misunderstood and shunned by society. Villagers would welcome a tinker. Their work was useful. They were not welcomed to stay for too long. Residents feared tinkers as carriers of disease, or criminals. Not the subjects of any master, they were outside normal society.
A tinker's life was one of constant movement. Even if they found a comfortable location, local authorities hurried them on. Tinkers slept anywhere they could keep dry and warm. Under a hedgerow or haystack, or in a disused barn. A simple tent of rags and branches might do. The better off owned a pony and cart. Tinker families might use a more robust tent or traditional caravan.
The number of tinkers declined in the 1900s. Mass production and a throwaway society meant their skills were no longer needed. Utensils from new materials, such as plastic, were cheap to replace. Rural communities declined and workers commuted to urban locations. What needed fixing went to specialist repair centres. Tinkers turned to other work. Some became rag-and-bone men. Others dealt in scrap metal.
Even authorities discriminated against tinkers because they were different. The most shocking example was The Tinker Experiment. Between 1940 and 1980, Scottish Local Authorities, church groups and the UK Government attempted to force travellers into mainstream society. They were relocated to poor and unsuitable housing around Scotland. In some cases, families were broken up and children separated from their parents.
A St Ives tinker
There was little opportunity for anyone from St Ives to earn a living as a tinker. The huge Monday livestock market brought farmers, their workers and residents of local villages into town most weeks. Whilst in St Ives, they could get kitchen utensils repaired at one of the tin-plate repairers. Slater's Director of 1850 lists two in Bridge Street and one in Crown Street. Anyone with the required skills worked for one of these three.
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| Tinker working in street, 1894. |
Except JOHN BYATT. Born in Chelmsford, Essex, in 1829, John was one of at least nine children. His father was a farmer.
John married Ann Day, from Needingworth, early in 1851. They lived near the Waits, in Byatt's Yard. The yard was named after Byatt's lodging house. It's likely Joseph Byatt, the owner, was John's relative and the reason he came to St Ives. John worked as a cutler and grinder.
John and Ann didn't stay in St Ives for long. Within months they'd moved to High Street, Swavesey. John did farm work. Daughter Emily Day arrived in late summer 1851, then Eliza 1853, and William 1858. A further six children followed through to 1874.
In August 1870, the authorities arrested John for a diabolical crime. His daughter, 16 year old Eliza, accused John of raping her. Working together harvesting, after breakfast Eliza fell asleep. It was then she claimed her father raped her.
John absconded, fleeing to a relative in St Ives. He was re-arrested. Brought up before the magistrates, John exhibited a violent temper. He pleaded not guilty, saying if I go to prison for 20 years it would be as innocent as a babe. The Chairman of the Bench asked Eliza if her father had raped her. She distinctly and unhestitatingly affirmed that the felonious crime had been committed by the prisoner. A surgeon should have examined Eliza to confirm the rape. Since he was not available, John was gaoled for a week.
On Tuesday 21 March 1871, over seven months later, John appeared at the Crown Court in Cambridge, charged with raping his daughter. Doubt arose over John's guilt. The surgeon who examined Eliza found no evidence of the crime.
Eliza said her original statement was untrue. She claimed a witness called Walker told her what to say to get her father sent away. With no other evidence, the case against John collapsed. He was immediately freed. The judge threatened Eliza with a charge of perjury. Was Eliza in love with Walker? Did Walker hold a grudge against John? The reason for Eliza's lie is a mystery.
How should a father react to such behaviour by his daughter? He would have been justified in throwing her out of the house. But John didn't react that way. Where was Eliza two weeks after the court case on the night of Sunday 2 April 1871, the time of the 1871 census? She was at home with her parents and siblings. Her occupation was works at home. There were five children aged under 12 years still at home, one newborn. It appears John's wife, Ann, couldn't do without Eliza's help. John's occupation was tin worker and brazier.
Eliza stayed with her parents for a further eight years. John's wife died in 1878, aged 51 years. Eliza married Thomas Harris, a wine worker, in 1879. They lived in Robb's Yard, St Ives. By then, John lived around the corner in Green Street, one of the poorest parts of the town. Three children were still with him, aged from 12 years to 7 years. John also had a housekeeper, her two young children as boarders. Seven people living in a jerry built two up two down hovel. John, aged 62 years, was a tinker.
John made a few more appearances before the law. In 1882 he stood in the Priory Road court, charged with failing to send his children to school. In 1884 he appeared for being drunk and disorderly in Crown Street, fined 14 shillings and sixpence (today £75).
In 1885 John married Annie Baker, also of St Ives. In 1890 at Huntingdon Crown Court, the judge questioned Annie's honesty. John was one of several debtors called up by Robert Rae Cowan, a travelling draper from Cambridge. Cowan claimed John owed him a balance of 11 shillings and ninepence (today £60) for a jacket supplied. Annie claimed John's father ordered the jacket. The judge called Annie's statement unscrupulous evidence. A witness said John had worn the jacket out. The judge ordered John to pay 2 shillings (today £10) a month to repay the debt.
John died on Wednesday 23 September 1891, aged 69 years.
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