Person:Trinity Unknown (1)

Trinity’s maiden name and origins have yet to be established. The age given when she died suggests that she was born around 1780. Her first confirmed sighting is in 1798, by which time she was already married to a man named Cain Smith, when they had a daughter called Avenay baptised at Holdenby in Northamptonshire.

Trinity and Cain were Gypsies, and they travelled around extensively. Between 1798 and 1824 baptisms for nine of their children have been found in eight different parishes across the three counties of Northamptonshire, Leicestershire and Huntingdonshire. Two of the baptisms note that the family was from Brinklow in Warwickshire, which is where Cain appears to have been born. The fact that this was noted on those two baptisms may have been an effort on the part of the baptising parishes to deny responsibility for the family under the Poor Laws. It is entirely possible that there were other children in addition to these nine for whom baptisms have been found; some Gypsy baptisms in the area at this time do not record the parents’ names.

Trinity’s name was variously recorded as Trenit, Trinity, Tranetta and Tranet. As well as being described as a Gypsy in many records, Trinity’s husband Cain was also described as a fiddler, basket maker and labourer. One of Trinity’s sons died when just over a year old in 1816, whilst another died aged nineteen in 1836.

Trinity died on 26th January 1851 in a Gypsy tent on the road between Great Casterton and Ryhall, in the parish of Great Casterton in Rutland. She was said to be seventy years old. She was buried two days later at neighbouring Little Casterton, described as a vagrant. Cain survived her by five years.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Death certificate, in General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration. (London: General Register Office).

   Registration District of the Stamford Union
   1851 Death in the Sub-district of Stamford in the Counties of Lincoln, Rutland and Northampton
   No.	When and where died	Name and surname	Sex	Age	Occupation	Cause of death	Signature, description and residence of informant	When registered	Signature of registrar
   361	Twenty-sixth January 1851 Gipsy Tent, Casterton Magna	Trinity Smith	Female	70 years [1780/1]	Wife of Cain Smith, Basket Maker	Old Age Not Certified	James Peet In attendance Casterton Magna	Twenty-eighth January 1851	Henry Gilbert Deputy Registrar

   
2. ↑ Bishop's Transcript of burials register, in Little Casterton, Rutland, England. Parish Registers.

   BURIALS in the Parish of Little Casterton in the County of Rutland in the Year One Thousand Eight Hundred and 51
   No.	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   87	Trinity Smith	Vagrant	Jan[uar]y 28	70 [1780/1]	T. Nowell Twopenny, Rector

3.   Stamford Mercury, in United Kingdom. The British Newspaper Archive
   31 Jan 1851.

   DEATHS
   At Great Casterton... on the 26th, on the road between Casterton and Ryhall, Trinity Smith, a gipsy, aged 70.

4.   Lincolnshire Chronicle, in United Kingdom. The British Newspaper Archive
   Page 4, 31 Jan 1851.

   DIED.
   At Casterton Magna… on the 26th, in a Gipsy Tent, Trinity wife of Cain Smith, basket-maker, aged 70.