Hello, Judy Margaret's suggestion of Hethersett, Norfolk, (which, incidentally, reached my Inbox about 36 hours before your original enquiry!!) does appear quite likely to be your answer, although proving it could be difficult! You've obviously discovered that your Thomas FORSTER died before the 1861 census was taken, so there's no help there. And you've probably also viewed the 1841 census, which records exactly the same family members as the 1851, 10 years younger but without their birthplaces! A possible clue comes from the 1801 - yes, 1801! - census for Hethersett "... one of the few places in the county (Norfolk) for which a census before 1841 containing names survives": see http://www.origins.org.uk/genuki/NFK/places/h/hethersett/census1801.shtml . This records a household headed by a Thos. FORSTER, comprising 2 males and one female; details were a little thin on the ground in those very early censuses! Were these, possibly, father and infant son, both named Thomas, and, of course, their wife/mother? This could be checked by reference to the Parish Registers, but could you accept that as conclusive proof that the Hethersett Thomas junior, and your Thomas, are one and the same? Have you considered that, given Thomas's rather unusual occupation, any surviving trade directories for the 1820s/30s might help to establish at least a pre-St. Pancras residential link with the general area in Norfolk? Mike Joseph (in bright and sunny - well, it was during the daytime! - but very cold, Ashford, Middlesex, UK