Dear Listers, Does anybody have a connection to John May and his wife Elizabeth, who were recorded as Cow Keepers in the 1840s and 1850s? John died about 1845 in Camberwell Surrey and his widow then is also shown as being a Cow Keeper in the 1851 census records. Her maiden name is unknown at this stage but on a later census she was listed as having been born in Ringwood Hampshire. Elizabeth died in November 1872 with the place being given as 3 Clayton Road Peckham Surrey. Does anybody know if this would have been a private dwelling at that time? Also would anybody know if cow keepers had their own land to graze stock on or would the cows have been grazing on common ground at this time? Many thanks for any background information or connections to this couple or to any of their known 11 children born between 1818 and 1838. I have a copy of the birth certificate, 19 August 1838, for the youngest, Annie Sophia May (later Mrs William Aldous and married 23 December 1865 St George Bloomsbury Middlesex) Regards, Elizabeth

Hi Elizabeth, Occupation Cow keeper - one who kept one or more cows in cities when a cow was kept in the back yard of a house providing milk which was sold. Forerunner of the local dairy. HTH Regards Gill in Canada

Elizabeth, [snipped] > John died about 1845 in Camberwell Surrey and his widow then is also > shown as being a Cow Keeper in the 1851 census records. Her maiden name is > unknown at this stage but on a later census she was listed as having been > born in Ringwood Hampshire. ... I have a copy of the birth certificate, 19 August 1838, for the youngest [child], Annie Sophia May ....> In that case, it should give the mother's maiden name. Chris Townsend