As my transcript of the Chevening burial register from 1813-1866 is being prepared for publication online at Kent Online Parish Clerks Chevening page one of several traveller burials in the parish is worthy of comment.
The register records the burial on 9 June 1858 of fifteen month old Jesse Delanie Laurence. The registration of death records the second given name as spelt Delani. Chevening is one of the Pilgrims Way parishes and was a useful route to travel East or west as it avoids the steep inclines of the North Downs to the north of the ancient route.
For a number of years in Kent parishes I have located a number of eighteenth and nineteenth century Black servants,bareknuckle boxers and travelling fair people as well as Asian people. It has frustrated me to hear the mistaken assumption that Kent parishes do not contain Black family history. Perhaps it is only the record transcriber who can provide such insights!
Jesse was recorded in the parish register as "Travelling through the parish a black child" at death and could have been travelling with her parent (s) either for seasonal work or as part of a travelling fair.
One reason for Kent Online Parish Clerks interest in the Pilgrim's Way parish burials is to help traveller research to locate family member's burials. Some years ago our Cudham burial register helped one Showman's Guild member locate the burial plot in Cudham Churchyard through the parish office and erect a memorial for a family member. For a quarter of a century the family had been looking elsewhere and then a google search by name located my transcript.
© Henry Mantell Downe and Farnborough Online Parish Clerk 2013-2020
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