The
Romanichals (also Romnichals) are
groups of Romani people (also known as
Gypsies) found in some parts of the United Kingdom
, notably England
. The
word "Romanichal" is derived from
Romani chal, where
chal is
Angloromani
for "fellow".
Oxford English
Dictionary Second Edition 1989, "Romany
3, n. and
a."
They are
thought to have arrived in Britain in the 16th century and were
descendants of the Illes clan of Eastern Hungary
. They
are related to the
Welsh Kale
and originally spoke the same dialect of Romanies, Scottish Lowland
gypsies especially at Yetholm and the borders and also to other
Romani groups in continental Europe.
They (and
their descendants) are also to be found throughout the United States
and also in Australia.
Language
The Romani people in England are thought to have spoken the
Romani language until the 19th
century, when it was replaced by English and Angloromani, a
creole language that combines the
syntax and
grammar of
English with the Romani Lexicon. Most Romanichals also speak
English.
Many Angloromani words have been incorporated into English,
particularly in the form of
British
slang.
History
The Romani people have origins in the
Indian subcontinent and began migrating
westwards from the 11th century.
The first groups of Romani people arrived
in Great
Britain
by the end of the 15th century, running from the
conflicts in Southeastern Europe
(the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans). In 1506 there are recorded Romani persons in
Scotland
, arrived
from Spain
and to
England in 1512. Soon the leadership passed laws
aimed at stopping the Romani immigration and at the assimilation of
those already settled.
Under the Reign of
Henry VIII, the
Egyptians Act (1530) banned Romanies from entering the country and
required those living in the country to leave within 16 days.
Failure to do so could result in confiscation of property,
imprisonment and deportation. During the reign of
Mary I the act was amended with the
Egyptians Act (1554), which removed the threat of punishment to
Romanies if they abandoned their "naughty, idle and ungodly life
and company" and adopted a settled lifestyle, but on the other hand
increased the penalty for noncompliance to death.
In 1562 a new law offered Romanies born in England and Wales the
possibility of becoming citizens, if they assimilated in the local
population. Despite this legislation, the Romani population managed
to survive but was forced to a marginal lifestyle and subjected to
continuous discrimination from the state authorities and many of
the local non-Romanies.
In 1596, 106 men and women were condemned to
death at York
just for
being Romani, but only nine were executed. The others were
able to prove that they were born in England.
From the years 1780s, gradually, the anti-Romani laws were
repealed, although not all. The identity of the Romanichals was
formed in the years 1660-1800, as a Romani group living in
Britain.
Persecution
Shipments to the Americas, Caribbean and Australia
From the outset of their arrival in Britain, the Romanies were
regarded with fear and suspicion, no doubt because of their dark
complexion and foreign appearance that was far different from the
local English population in the 16th century.
England began to
deport Romanichals as early as 1544, principally to Norway
, a process
that was continued and encouraged by Elizabeth I and James I. In 1603 an Order in
Council was requested to transport Romanichal to Newfoundland
, the West
Indies
, France
, Germany
, Spain and the Low Countries. European
countries forced the further transportation of the British Romani
to the Americas. Many times, those deported in this manner did not
survive as an
ethnic group, because of
the separations after the round up, the sea passage and the
subsequent settlement as slaves, all destroying the social fabric.
At the same time, voluntary emigration began to the English
colonies. Romani groups that survived, continued the expression of
the Romani culture there.
In the years following the American Wars of Independence, Australia
was the preferred destination for Romanichal transportation, as its
use as a penal colony. The exact number of British Romani deported
to Australia is unknown.
It has been suggested that three Romanichal
were present on the First Fleet, one of
whom was thought to be James Squire who
founded Australia's first commercial brewery in 1798, and his
grandson James Farnell who became the
first native-born Premier of New South Wales
in 1877. The total Romani population seems
to be an extremely low number, when we consider that British Romani
people made up just (0.01%) of the original 162,000 convict
population. However, it had been suggested that Romanichal were one
of the main target groups and discriminated due to the draconian
transportation laws of England in the mid-18th century. It is often
difficult to distinguish British Romani people of Wales and England
from the majority of non-Romani convicts at the time. Therefore it
is not known the precise number of British Romanies, although there
are occurrences of Romani names and possible families within the
convict population; however it is unclear if such people were
members of the established Romani community. Fragmentary records do
exist and it is thought with confidence at least 50 or more British
Romanies may have been repatriated to Australia, although the
actual figure could be higher. What is clear is that such
deportation (as for all convicts) was harsh resulting in;
One, however, is known to have returned to England. Henry Lavello
(Lovell) was repatriated with a full pardon with a son born to an
Aboriginal woman in Australia who was also repatriated.
Romanichal Slavery
In the
17th century Oliver Cromwell shipped
Romanichals as slaves to the American
southern plantations and there is documentation of English Romanies
being owned by freed black slaves in Jamaica
, Barbados
, Cuba
and Louisiana
. Gypsies, according
to the legal definition, was anyone identifying themselves to be
Egyptians or Gypsies. The works of George Borrow reflects the
influences this had on the Romani Language of England and others
contain references to Romanies being
bitcheno pawdel or
Bitchade pardel, to be "sent across" to America or
Australia, a period of Romani history by no means forgotten by
Romanies in Britain today. One term reflects this in the
contemporary Angloromani for "magistrate" is
bitcherin'
mush, the "transporter."
Romanichal lifestyle
Traditionally, Romanichals earned a living doing agricultural work
and would move to the edges of towns for the winter months. There
was casual work available on farms throughout the spring, summer
and autumn months, and would start with seed sowing, planting
potatoes and fruit trees in the spring, weeding in early summer,
and there would be a succession of harvests of crops from summer to
late autumn. Of particular significance was the
hop industry, which employed thousands of Romanichals
both in spring for vine training and for the harvest in early
autumn. Winter months were often spent doing casual labour in towns
or selling goods or services door to door.
Mass industrialization of agriculture in the 1960s led to the
disappearance of many of the casual farm jobs Romanichals had
traditionally carried out. This, and legislation aimed at stopping
travellers camping on common land and roadsides, has forced large
numbers of Romanichals to abandon their nomadic lifestyle and take
on a sedentary existence.
Romanichal wagons (vardo)
Romanichal style Reading Vardo late
19th century.
Originally, Romanichals would travel on foot, or with light,
horse-drawn carts, typical of other Romani groups and would build
"bender" tents where they settled for a time. A bender is type of
tent constructed from a frame of bent hazel branches (hazel is
chosen for its straightness and flexibility), covered with canvas
or tarpaulin. These tents are still favoured by
New Age Traveller groups.
Around the mid to late-nineteenth century, Romanichals started
using wagons that incorporated living spaces on the inside. These
they called
Vardos and were often brightly and colorfully
decorated on the inside and outside. In the present day,
Romanichals are more likely to live in
caravans.
British Acts of Legislation
Due to the
Enclosure Act 1857 created
the offence of injury or damage to village greens and interruption
to its use or enjoyment as a place of exercise and recreation. The
Commons Act 1876 makes encroachment or
inclosure of a village green, and interference with or occupation
of the soil unlawful unless it is with the aim of improving
enjoyment of the green.
The
Caravan Sites
and Control of Development Act 1960 states that no occupier of
land shall cause or permit the land to be used as a caravan site
unless he is the holder of a site licence. It also enables a
district council to make an order prohibiting the stationing of
caravans on common land, or a town or village green. These acts had
the overall effect of preventing travellers using the vast majority
of their traditional stopping places.
The Caravan Sites Act 1968 required local authorities to provide
caravan sites for travellers if there was a demonstrated need. This
was resisted by many councils who would claim that there were no
Romanies living in their areas. The result was that insufficient
pitches were provided for travellers, leading to the situation
whereby holders of a pitch could no longer travel, for fear of
losing it.
The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 removed the duty of
local councils to provide authorised pitches and gave the Council
and Police powers to move travellers on, subject to certain welfare
issues. The official response of the government was that travellers
should buy land and apply for planning permission to occupy it.
However, those that did so found it extremely difficult to get
planning permission, with more than 90% of applications by
travellers refused.
In the first phase of the
Second World
War, the
Nazis drew up lists of Romani
individuals (many of them Romanichals) and persons with Romani
ancestry from the United Kingdom to be interned and subjected to
Porajmos in the event of the country's
occupation.
The crisis of the 1960s decade, caused by the
Caravan Sites Act 1968 (stopping new
private sites being built until 1972), led to the appearance of the
"British Gypsy Council" to fight for the rights of the
Romanichals.
In the
UK, the issue
of "travellers" (referring to Irish
Travellers and New Age
Travellers as well as Romanichal and other groups of Romani
people) became a 2005 general
election issue, with the leader of the Conservative Party promising to
review the Human Rights Act
1998. This law, which absorbs the
European Convention on Human
Rights into UK
primary
legislation, is seen by some to permit the granting of
retrospective
planning
permission. Severe population pressures and the paucity of
greenfield sites have led to
travellers purchasing land and setting up residential
settlements very quickly, thus subverting the planning restrictions
.
Romanichal including other ethnic groups of travellers,
Irish Travellers and
New Age Travellers, argued in response
that thousands of retrospective planning permissions are granted in
Britain in cases involving non-Romani applicants each year and that
statistics showed that 90% of planning applications by Romanies and
travellers were initially refused by
local
councils, compared with a national average of 20% for other
applicants, disproving claims of preferential treatment favoring
Romanies.
They also argued that the root of the problem was that many
traditional stopping-places had been barricaded off and that
legislation passed by the previous Conservative government had
effectively criminalised their community, for example by removing
local authorities’ responsibility to provide sites, thus leaving
the travellers with no option but to purchase unregistered new
sites themselves.
Famous Romanichal
- David Essex - (born 1947) Former
president of the Romani Union of Great Britain
- Raby Howell - British (Liverpool,
Sheffield United and Preston North End)
- Ian Hancock - Romani scholar and
activist, born in UK, living in USA, Professor at the University of
Texas
- Augustine Bearce - a Romanichel
deported by the British authorities to the colonies in America in
1638.
- Tracey Ullman - Presenter and
actress, born in England of Polish father and Romani mother.
- Billy Joe Saunders - A
British boxer athlete who won silver and became the first Romani
boxer to represent team GB at the 2008 Chinese Olympics.
- Henry Joseph Wood -
(1869–1944) was an English conductor, forever associated with the
Promenade Concerts which he conducted for half a century.
- Adam Ant - (born 1954) British punk/New
Wave musician; of Romanichal descent.
- Elanor Smith (1902-
1945) - English writer of popular novels often romanticized
historical and Romani setting, (she believed her paternal
great-grandmother to have been a Romanichal).
English Romanies in popular culture and literature
Romanichals have been portrayed on numerous occasions in popular
culture, literature, film and television. However most portrayals
depict a mismatched amalgam of different groups and
traditions.
Television
- Lark Rise to
Candleford, Series 2 Episode 1 — A BBC costume drama television series starring
Dawn French, set in the fictional
village of Lark Rising. The village is haunted by the spirit of a
young Romani girl who drowned in the local lake. She is freed when
the villagers hear of her plight and release her to wander in the
next world.
- Ashes to Ashes Series
2 2009 Episode 2 — A British
television police drama series set in the 1980’s. A police
officer tries to clear her name when she is involved in the
accidental death of an English Romanichal. She uncovers a
pre-meditated plot to murder him with a depressant overdose. The
episode does include some stereotypical elements as the plot
unfolds; namely the plot device of an old Romani clairvoyant and
friction between the police and the Romani camp. However these
stereotypes are turned on their head as there are elements of
police corruption and the local doctor who was obsessed with the
victims wife is found guilty of poisoning.
- Romany Trail, The World About Us (1981) TV documentary
– Discusses the Indian origin of the British Romani people and
other groups throughout Europe. The programme shows various aspects
of Romanichal culture, including Appleby fair in Cumbria.
- Romany Summer by Barry Cockcroft (1971) TV documentary – A
documentary of Romani life in Britain in the 1970s, featuring a
family of Romany Gypsies who travelled and lived around York.
- The Canterville Ghost
(1974) Television dramatisation - Based on the (1887) short story
by Oscar Wilde. A Romani group are
suspected of kidnapping a girl but are innocent and join in the
search for her.
Film
- Caravan – Based on the book
by Elanor Smith (herself of Romani
descent). Richard Durrell loses his memory as a result of the
assault and marries a Romani girl.
- Sky West and Crooked (1966)
- Inspired by the novel The Gypsy and the Gentleman by D.
H. Lawrence. A young girl played by Haley
Mills finds happiness and friendship with a young English
Romani played by Ian McShane in an
English village.
- The Raggedy Rawnie - Starring Bob
Hoskins (himself of Romani descent) playing a soldier who goes
AWOL during WWI who is taken in by a community of English
Romanies.
- The Gypsy and the
Gentleman (1958) – A movie based on Belle, a young English
Romani, who seeks to infiltrate the gentry of high society.
- Stone of Destiny (2008)
– Based on a true story, Scottish nationalists reclaim the ancient
symbol of their nation the Stone of
Scone and bury the treasure is in a field. They return to find
a Romanichal camp and one of the nationalists barters with the
leader for the stone. In reality they waited until the Romani
family left before recovering the stone.
Literature
Many of the descriptions in the 19th century are also the product
of a romanticized view of Romanichal and other Romani groups, both
idealized and reviled by Victorian and early-twentieth-century
writers which manifests itself in the works of fiction by many
other authors throughout the Victorian Era to the present.
Poem and verse
- Bartholomew Fair by
Ben Jonson (1631) – A comedy in five
acts, set in London's Bartholomew Fair. A band of German Romani
arrive in England and perform to the assembled crowed as
entertainers and rope-dancers.
- The Scholar Gypsy by Matthew Arnold – A poem based on a legend
recounted by Joseph Glanvill in The Vanity of Dogmatizing (1661),
based on the thoughts and reflections of a Romani's relationship,
belief in, and relationship with, God.
- Vagrant Muse by William Wordsworth – A young homeless
woman is welcomed by a band of Romanies who take her in and offer
her charity and companionship.
- Not all Wagons and Lanes by Charlie Smith – A collection of
English gypsy poems.
- The Invisible Kings by David Morley – A selection of Romani
poems inspired by the authors own British Romani heritage.
- The Scholar Gipsy by Matthew Arnold – A 19th century poem
regarding the religious moral of the English Romani based in his
belief in, and relationship with god. Arnold laments that
non-gypsies have lost their faith.
- Not all Wagons and Lanes by Charles – Collection of poems by
Charles Smith.
- Gavvered All Around by Dennis Binns – Anthology of thirty poems
written by 10 Gypsy poets.
Novels and short stories
- Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe (1722) - Moll's earliest memory is
of wandering "among a group of people they call Gypsies or
Egyptians" in England.
- Lavengro by George Borrow (1851) – Considered to be
Borrow’s autobiographical masterpiece and a part philosophical
adventure. A young man is befriended by a group of English Romanies
and reflects on his wanderings with them.
- Romany Rye by George Borrow (1857)
– In which a young man continues his journey with English Romani
and is a sequel to Borrow’s previous work Lavengro.
- Romano Lavo-lil by George Borrow
(1874) - A dictionary of the language of the English
Romanichals.
- Guy Mannering by Sir Walter Scott (1815) describes a
community of Romanies living in the Scottish borders as being
Scottish Romani and exotic. This refers to a Romanichal community
living in the border area between Scotland and England, especially
in the Kirk of Yetholm.
- The Wind on the Heath: A Gypsy Anthology by John Sampson (1930)
- A compilation of more than three hundred selections from novels,
plays, etc, from British authors, to convey the ubiquity of the
idea of the Romanichal in British literature.
- The Mill on the Floss by
George Eliot - The protagonist Maggie
runs away to Romanies, but decides she has gone out of her depth.
They do not harm her, but the episode darkly prefigures the steps
that she will take in adulthood.
- Emma by Jane
Austen - Romanies make a brief appearance in Emma as
children who bait Harriet in a lonely lane. Mr Knightley is warned
about them as a neighborhood nuisance. Austin’s description of the
Romani is romanticized.
- The Gipsies Advocate by James Crabb – A Reverend motivates his
community to improve the living standards of Romanies. The book was
inspired after the author J. Gibb saw the injustices of society on
British Romanies when a gypsy was convicted to death and his
accomplice a non-Romani was spared.
- Haresfoot Legacy by Frances Brown – Left destitute by her
preacher father a young when he discovers she's pregnant, Liddy
Nolan is taken in by a gypsy prize-fighter who offers to be a
father to her unborn child. In time, Liddy shows herself a true
Romany at heart and find happiness and love for each other.
- The Other Sister by Frances Brown – A young Romani girls life
in a 19th century circus troop that travels in England.
- Dancing on the Rainbow by Frances Brown – A young woman finds
love and romance when she joins a 19th century circus troop.
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë - A supposed English
Romani visits Thornfield Manor to tell fortunes, and the reactions
of the guests there illustrate their characters as well as social
attitudes.
- Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë – Heathcliff perhaps might
have been descended from Romani people and is often described as
"dark" as or a "gypsy".
- Gypsy Lover by
Edith Layton - The third book in a
trilogy of romantic fiction where Daffyd the illegitimate son of a
noblewoman and a Romani, returns to England from a penal colony in
Botany
Bay
to pardon and clear the name of his adopted father
the Earl of Egremont who was wrongly accused of a
crime.
- The Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame – Toad, owner of
Toad Hall, an impulsive and conceited character, buys a horse-drawn
English Romani vardo. A few days later a passing motor car scares
their horse causing the wagon to crash. This marks the end of
Toad's craze, to be replaced by an obsession for motor cars.
- Danny, the Champion
of the World by Roald Dahl (1975) - A
children's book in which a young boy lives with his father in a
traditional English vardo,
although it is unclear if the protagonist Danny and his father are
themselves Romanichal and admire the culture or prefer the
lifestyle.
- The Diddakoi by Rumer Godden – Winner of the Whibread
Children's Book Award, Diddikoi is the tale of a orphan Romani girl
whose life is put in turmoil when her only living relative dies,
her wagon burns, and she is left alone in a village community that
hates her.
- Dark Blood by William Lee – Written
by a Romani author Dark Blood tells the true story of Ethan Bray, a
restless Romany orphan. Into his settled farming life in post-war
Kent comes May, the beautiful daughter of the Traveller Tucker
Beaney; but Ethan must face immense danger and personal conflict if
he is to win her hand in marriage.
- Once by James
Herbert – A Wiccan called Nell Quick is
described to be alluring and dressed in the manner of a Romani
woman. She is noted for her extremely beautiful looks and
raven-colored hair. The novel never fully explains her origins or
if she is connected to the Romanies.
- The Romany Heiress by
Nikki Poppen - The heir to the Earl of
Spelthorne is captivated by the arrival of a beautiful Romani who
shows up on his doorstep claiming to be his deceased parents’
long-lost daughter.
- Whistledown Woman by Josephine Cox – In a rage a man who thinks
his wife has been unfaithful to him, he gives his new-born daughter
to a gypsy family and has his wife locked away in an asylum.
Starlena the daughter grows up ignorant of her parentage and vast
inheritance, though her gypsy mother is ever watchful that someone
might track her down and wish her harm.
- Aylwin by Theodore Watts-Dunton – A bestselling novel about a
boy who befriends a clan of British gypsies and its positive
portrayal of gypsy life.
- The Romany Girl by Valerie Wood – Orphan Polly Anna finds love
and acceptance with a colorful travelling fair, becoming a horse
rider and acrobat. Set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire Wolds,
this saga spans three generations.
- Far From Home by Valerie Wood – A young woman and her maid
travel to the gold rush in California to find her Romani
lover.
Non fiction
- Appleby Horse Fair by Barrie Law – The historical, social and
cultural history of the Romany Applby horse fair.
- The Appleby Rai by G. Thorburn & J. Baxter – A book that
discusses the history and culture of the Romanichal.
- Gypsies - Wanderers of the World by Bart McDowell (National
Geographic) – A pictorial guide to the gypsies of Europe, the
author stayed with a group of English gypsies and noted the
cultural similarities and common roots between English and
continental Romanies.
- Gypsies of the Heath by Betty Gillingham – An insight into the
lives of the Romanichal in the early 20th century.
- A Mysterious People by Charles Duff – A guide to Romani culture
including the Romani groups of Britain.
- West with the Tinkers by Cledwyn Hughes – A journey through
Wales with British Romani gypsies.
- Gypsy Folk Tales by Francis Hinds Groom – A story based on the
lovell Romani family who travel to Wales.
- Gypsy Travellers in 19th Century Society by David Mayall – A
guide to the life and culture of the Romani gypsies of Britain in
the 19th century.
- The English Gypsy Caravan by Denis Harvey – A guide to the
British Romani wagon time.
- The Gypsies, Wagon Time & After by Denis Harvey – The
Romanichal wagon its history use and construction.
- We are the Romani People by Ian Hancock – A look into the
different types of Romani people
- The Wind on the Heath by John Sampson – A gypsy anthology first
published in London 1930 containing items of prose and verse
gleaned from classical literature, folklore, history and true Gypsy
life.
- Romany Nevi Wesh by Len Smith – A history of early English
Gypsy settlement in England
- Gypsy Horses by Lisa McNamara – The history of the Gypsy Cobb
horse.
- Dreams of the Road- Gypsy Life in the West Country by Martin
Levinson & Avril Silk – Contains an insight into gypsy life,
childhood, community, education and work in the West Country of
England.
- A Romany Tapestry by Michael Hoadley – The author’s personal
memoirs and lifetime association and friendship with gypsies, their
origins, practices, beliefs and customs.
- Jack by the Hedge by Nancy Price –
The memoirs of English country life, including the gypsies.
- Gypsies, Didikois & Other Travellers by Norman Dodds – An
account of the authors personal experiences of the gypsies of the
British Isles.
- A Calendar of Fairs and Markets by Pat Loveridge – A collection
of fairs and markets held in the nineteenth century and the Romani
travllling people.
- The Gorse and the Briar by Patrick A. McEvoy – A tale of the
gypsy life on the roads among horse-drawn Travellers in the last
days of 'Wagon-Time'.
- Gypsies & Travellers in their own Words by Peter Saunders –
A book that provides an insight into Gypsy and traveller lifestyle
from the early 20th century to the present day. They tell how
Gypsies and Travellers have lived and coped in extremely difficult
circumstances. Whilst providing an insight into everyday life, the
stories tell of both personal and cultural survival. They relate
individuals' hopes and fears for the future, for themselves
personally and for the Gypsy and Traveller way of life in
general.
- Gypsy Wayside Burials by Robert Dawson – An insight into the
burial customs of the British Romanies.
- British Gypsy Slavery by Robert Dawson – The history of British
Romani slavery in the Caribbean and Americas.
- Crime & Prejudice, Traditional Travellers by Robert Dawson
– The role of prejudice by non-Romani populations towards the
Romani people.
- Northern Traveller Tales by Robert Dawson – Old Romani fireside
stories from Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and the West of
Scotland.
- The Hanging of Tobias Smith by Robert Dawson – The touching
account of a 18th century Romani called Tobias Smith, an illiterate
prisoner found god and repented for his past wrong doings before
being hanged in 1792.
- Empty Lands by Robert Dawson – The history of the British
Romanie, which includes a chapter on child removals by the
authorities in the 20th century.
- Times Gone by Robert Dawson – British Romani history, including
a section on the slavery of the 18-19th centuries.
- On the move in a Gypsy Wagon by Tom McReady – The story of a
British Romani family who still live in a traditional vardo. The
book contains over 200 color pictures.
- A Season in Time by Robert Dawson – The recollections of twelve
gypsy authors at different times of the year.
- Spotting Old Vardos by Robert Dawson – History and information
on the gypsy wagon.
- Henry Dry-Bread by Robert Dawson – A collection of gypsy
letters.
- The Christening by Lisa Young and Val Mannering – The
traditions and customs involved in a gypsy christening.
- Northern Traveller tales by Robert dawson – Traditional tales
collected from Travellers in the East Midlands, North of England
and Scotland.
- Times Gone by Robert Dawson – The British governments
involvement in Romani slavery.
- On The Move in a Gypsy wagon by Ryalla Duffy – The account of a
Romani family that still travels in the old vardo.
- A Romani in the family by Robert Dawson – How to trace your
Romani heritage.
- Rokkering, Crecking and Cracking by Robert Dawson – The Romani
language and cant dialects as found
in Britian today.
- My Ancestors Were Gypsies by Sharon Floate – The
autobiographical account of the authors own Romani heritage.
- The
Story of Notting Dale by Sharron Whetlor – The history of Notting
Dale North
Kensington
London
including
the Romani population.
- Stopping Places by Simon Evans – A gypsy
history and the traditional life of the Gypsies when they lived in
"bender" tents and wooden horse drawn wagons in South London
and Kent
.
- The Book of Boswell by Sylvester Gordon Boswell – The
autobiography of the English gypsy activist Sylvester Boswell who
led the deputation to save the historical Applby Horse Fair when it was threatened with closure
by the local councils in 1965.
- Gypsy Camera by Tony Boxall – The author travelled with a Gypsy
travelling in southern England in 1964, leading to a four year
photographic project which, recorded the most significant
transition in Gypsy culture in several hundred years. His
photographs depict one Gypsy family's experience of the decline of
the horse-drawn way of life and culture.
- A Gypsy Upbringing by Tony Price – A look into the gypsy
upbringing in Britain.
- Raggle Taggle by Walter Starkie –
A book written by a president of the Gypsy Lore Society detailing his
wanderings with Romanies during a vacation from university. Written
in the which are picaresque accounts in the tradition of George Borrows.
- Seven Steps to Glory by John Pateman – The story of a Gypsy,
Walter Pateman following the introduction of conscription in 1916
he fought in WWI and took part in an attack which proved to be one
of the final actions of the Battle of the Somme. Who later was
killed in action during night patrols and raids sent out into No
Man's Land to gauge the strength of the enemy. The book accounts
his birth in Kent to his death on the battlefields of France.
- Charles Dickens And Travellers by John Pateman – A book
describing the influences and poinions Charles dickens had about
the Romanies of Britain. His views were positive and he had a great
respect for the Romani people as was evident in his books; Old Curiosity Shop, Nicholas Nickleby as well as characters in
his novels and essays.
- Romanichal Gypsies, by Thomas Acton and David Gallant –
Describes the wealth of Romanichal culture and tradition and
explains why this way of life is under constant threat, as fewer
and fewer allow caravans to stop.
- Looking Back on my Gypsy Childhood by Louise Orchard – This
book takes through the history and culture of the Romanies through
the 1930s and Second World War.
- The Travelling People Anthea Wormington – Informative and
colourful book for children covering a range of Traveller
subjects.
- A Horse for Joe Margaret by Hird & Ann Whitwell – The story
of a boy Joe who dreams of owning a horse. Can he get his dream and
buy one at Appleby Fair.
- Time to go Travelling by Charlotte Webster – Photographic
account of a family preparing to leave their site to go travelling
for the summer.
- Moving with the Times by Goodiy Reilly – A historical account
of traveller life.
- A Victorian Childhood by Beryl Williams – Portrait of a Gypsy
Traveller family and of a Funfair
family.
- Focus: Background history of Travelling people in the Victorian
period from a child’s viewpoint.
- The Romano Drom Song Book by Denise Stanley & Roswy Burke –
Traditional songs and ballads.
- Dirty Gyppo by Tom Odley – Collection of poems describing true
side and hardships of the Gypsy way of life.
- Gypsy Caravans by E Alan Jones – looking at the history and
restoration of traditional wagons.
- Gypsy Vans by Juliet Jeffery – Descriptions of different
wagons.
- Travellers: An Introduction by Jon Cannon & the Travellers
of Thistlebrook – Insight into the history, culture and lives of
Travellers in Britain today.
- The Gypsies, Wagon-time and After by Denis Harvey – Dated book.
An insight into the different aspects of Traveller life; including
fashion, wagons and livelihood.
- The English Gypsy Caravan by C H Ward-Jackson & Denis
Harvey – Origins, builders, technology and conservation of the
Gypsy Caravan.
- Smoke in The Lanes by Dominic Reeve – classic account of the
reality of life as a Gypsy in the 1950s.
- Whichever Way We Turn by Dominic Reeve – Personal insights by
the author who lived with Romanichal gypsies, how the culture has
adapted in the modern world.
- No Place Like Home by Dominic Reeve – A book reflecting on
British gypsy politics and social change of the 60s.
- Beneath the Blue Sky by Dominic Reeve – A book depicting the
modern changes Romanichal lifestyle in the modern age.
- Gypsy Dorelia by Dorothy U. Ratcliffe – The tale of a woman
called Dorelia and her children.
- Yorkshire Gypsy Fairs by E. Allan Jones – A guide to the
traditional Yorkshire gypsy fairs.
Other media
- Cadbury Flake television advert
(1985) – A chocolate advert in the UK in which a young Romani woman
eats a flake, paints a watercolor in a sunflower field, and travels
in a Romanichal wagon. [217065]
- Meggan by Marvel Universe – Meggan of the Marvel
comics superhero team Excalibur was born to a band of Romanies in
England. She was expelled when they saw that she was a
shapeshifter.
See also
Notes
- http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=rme Areas of
Angloromani's use
- The dialect of the English Gypsies (1875) B. C. Smart et al.
Published by Asher
- Gypsy Law: Romani Legal Traditions and Culture (2001) Walter
Otto Weyrauch, University of California Press, 200
- Bergman, Gösta, 1964. Slang och hemliga språk. Stockholm
- MacRitchie, David, 1894. Scottish Gypsies under the Stuarts.
Edinburgh: Constable
- Romani Culture and Gypsy Identity (1997) Thomas Alan et al.
University of Hertfordshire Press.
- Donohoe. J.H. (1988) The Forgotten Australians Non-Anglo or
Celtic Convicts and exiles.
- Romani Culture and Gypsy Identity (1997)
- Donohoe. J.H. (1985) The Forgotten Australians Non-Anglo or
Celtic Convicts and exiles.
- The Pariah Syndrome: An Account of Gypsy Slavery and
Persecution Ian F. Hancock, (Ann Arbor, Michigan: Karoma,
1987)
- Chambers, Robert, 1865. Domestic annals of Scotland from the
reformation to the revolution. Edinburgh: Chambers. Vol.II.
- Smith, Abbot E., 1971. Colonists in bondage. New York: Norton
Co.
- Beier, A. L., 1985. Masterless men: the vagrancy problem in
England, 1560-1640. London and New York: Methuen.
- The Patrin Web Journal - Timeline of Romani (Gypsy)
History
- Gypsies and the British Imagination, 1807-1930 (2006). Deborah
Epstein Nord. Columbia University Press
- http://website.lineone.net/~rtfhs/pubs4c.html
-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/voices/book_reviews/dark_blood.shtml
- Charles Dickens And Travellers by John Pateman
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