This graph, from Google's Ngram English corpus of books, shows that the word tattoo grew in frequency through the Victorian period, and took off in the 1980s.
Even if your ancestor wasn't a convict or a sailor they may have ben tattooed. Today, one in five Britons reportedly have a tattoo.
How tattoos became fashionable in Victorian England is a long(ish) read from The Conversation with data sourced from the Digital Panopticon
Oh, my gosh! I never even thought about that! Family lore says we had boat/ship connections. Ship carpenter for sure and probably ship crew, too. This would have been pre 1800 so I guess I can spend an hour or 3 researching this. I'm sure I won't ever know if any of the old ones did. No one alive to ask.
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