I have been researching the history of the gypsies in Britain in old newspapers online, my interest being from a social regard, whether for good or for bad, a neutral observational perspective, as in what glimpses do we get of the lives of these roaming tribes and how did that impact on the settled peoples. Naturally newspapers are sensational and often inaccurate, but they are what little we have to go on, while they nevertheless play their part in conveying the gypsies general struggles in a life on the move, their repute for magical powers, their crimes of fraudulence and banditry, of prejudices against them, as also at times a romantic fascination for that life of freedom on the road. I chronologically reference these stories, beginning in the early 1700's with the main issue having been the habitual fortune telling of the gypsy women and a wish to suppress this. For all the ethusiasm among women to know their fortunes and to have insights into love, it can be seen that along with this there was some intentional fraudulence going on. It's not that this was a reflection on the gypsies at large, but it was surely there for some elements among them. Gypsies of the New Forest appear to have had a good reputation, and Queen Victoria herself had a fondness for these peoples, but this fine picture was not to be experienced everywhere, as will be seen.
1725 Gypsies are put into prison for the 'pretense' of telling peoples fortunes. Six of their women and three of their men have been 'pilfering about the country'.
1733 Two traveller women, referred to as 'notorious cheats', are known to be roaming about selling silk hankies, waistcoats and telling fortunes. At the Fox and Owl pub in Derby they disappeared with a considerable sum of money on the pretense of borrowing it. One of them is a swarthy complexioned woman who goes under the name of the Mistress. She wears a blue silk gown, a short red cloak and a black velvet cap. The other woman, who is known as the Servant, wears a brown gown. Anyone who apprehends them and brings them to justice will be rewarded with a guinea. It is to be understood that they and other such persons, by sly and false insinuations, impose upon weak and unwary people.
1733
A 'country wench', aged 18, journeying alone on foot through the countryside, has on the way been attacked by a 'travelling tinker and his whore'. They waylaid her, stripped her naked and took away all she had. On then tying her to a tree with a strong cord, they set their dog on her, in such a manner that it almost tore off one of her breasts. A gentleman, on horseback, who happened to be passing at a distance, heard the dog barking and out of curiosity rode up, by which time the roaming couple had disappeared, although their dog was still there with his hold upon the girl. The gentleman made the dog let go of the girl and untied her, wrapped her up in his great coat, and followed the dog, who soon returned to his master at an alehouse in the town, where the tinker was seized and sent to Nottingham jail. On returning to the poor girl, the gentleman found that she had died.
1736 A years imprisonment and four stands in the pillory, it is announced by parliament, will be given to all those who tell fortunes or who employ 'crafty science' to find stolen goods. This has been resorted to in response to 'ignorant people being frequently deluded and defrauded'.
1738 Annie Bird has been put into the house of correction charged with being a vagrant and telling fortunes. She has been roaming Kent under such false pretenses and has defrauded many women of several sums of money. Some she said would ride in coaches and that others would marry the men they liked best, according to the gifts they gave to her. 'And yet, what is very strange, this deceiver could not tell her own fortune.' In the same paper, it is written of how a gypsy woman was also at large in Bristol, she being tall, with a long dark riding hood, brown skin and a sour ill favoured countenance. On coming upon a widow, she desired to impart to her a 'great secret', telling her that her husband had hidden gold, silver and guineas in her house, and that in a private place the gypsy would tell her where the treasure was concealed. Once there, the gypsy woman told the widow to take off her gold chain and locket from around her neck and to also put all her rings with a handful of salt into a white hankie which she was then to tie it up very tight. The gypsy took hold of this to make the knots more secure, by which she found the means to take all that treasure without the widow noticing. The widow was told to lock the room securely and to wait for the gypsy woman to return at five o'clock. This gypsy of course did not return.
1739 A 'false prophetess', from among the 'idle strollers in summer times' who 'pretend to tell fortunes', who pose to have the 'gifts of prophecy', has bewitched a gentlemans money away from him in Essex. Sitting under a hedge listening to the gypsy talking, she persuaded him to give her all the money he had in his pockets, advising to go to his friends house and in the orchard to dig under a certain walnut tree where he would find 15 lottery tickets, all of which would win a prize, and that also within each ticket would be a diamond of considerable value. Before digging he was to scrape all the bark off the walnut tree. These instructions the infatuated gentleman followed and he had dug deeply, before realising he had lost out and so had his friend. Warrants were now out to apprehend the false prophetess.
1744 In Norwich two strolling women from a gang of nine gypsies, who had come to the city these last few days, have been put in prison for telling fortunes. One of them, in amusing a young woman, managed to steal goods from her to the value of £3.
1752 Robberies have been committed in Wales by Anne Lewis, a 'vile person', she being the woman of a travelling tinker.
1754 A bunch of roaming defrauding Irish includes a gypsy looking woman who sometimes tells fortunes, she being a wife to one of the Irish men. The men pretend to be cast away sailors or farmers who have suffered the deaths of their cattle, floods and lightning.
1758 Mary Robertson, a gypsy woman, is sent to prison for fortune telling and for using subtle crafts, along with her men companions. Mary was elderly and well dressed, but was nevertheless a vagabond. One maidservant, who she tried to interest in her arts, recognised her face from a previous occasion, all the success she had been promised not having manifested, for which she had her caught. Two men, her confederates, being a father and son, tried to rescue the gypsy woman and were likewise captured.
1758 Susannah Fleming is imprisoned for a year for telling fortunes and is to be pilloried every quarter of a year for one hour during market day.
1758 Of a gang of near 20 gypsies in different parts of Norfolk, the men have been robbing houses and the women have been telling fortunes. Two of the gypsy men, Lomas Smith and James Lacey, have been committed to the castle jail for burgling the house of a widow in the night time. Lomas Smith is 'a gypsy, a tinker by trade'. James Lacey sells buckles and knives. Their women tell fortunes. Ten of those gypsies are in the neighbourhood of Southrepps, Bacton, Trunch and about the sea coast, and one of these gypsies, who is their captain, wears a laced hat and rides a good horse.
1763 An old travelling tinker of around 80 years of age, called Robert Olglebie, is said to have a father who lived for 140 years. Robert has been vegetarian for 12 years, not touching any flesh, but rather living simply on bread and butter, milk, cheese and pudding. His trade is not going so well for him and money is scarce. He had been pressed into being a soldier for 48 years. He has had 25 children.
1767 'Tom Mend-Kettle', a travelling tinker, is found frozen to death near New Cross turnpike.
1768 A fortune telling woman, accused of stealing, near Banff in Scotland, has been ill treated by a mob. She had been going roaming around telling fortunes, and on being suspected of stealing some clothes she was taken by a mob and dragged along the streets to the shore, where they ducked her, tying her hands to a cart and hoisting her up and down into the water. This barbarous exercise they carried on for so long that she would have died at their hands, but for someone more humane than the others freeing her. She then crawled about the streets, begging for shelter from the inclement weather, until at four in the morning a woman showed her to an outhouse. She was almost frozen to death by now and she soon after expired. The principal men behind this horrid affair, being sailors, were found and now lie in prison.
1782 A travelling tinker has taken his daughter for his woman and she has mothered him some children.
1802 A girl named Elizabeth Kellen has accused some gypsies of kidnapping her, only for it to be proved that she was making a false allegation, and that rather she had been in the workhouse, on account of being a pauper, and had run away from there, after which she asked those very gypsies to take her in, but not for six or seven months as she had declared, but for only the last ten days. She'd accused them of kidnapping other children as well as her, two other girls and a boy called Tourney. The accused gypsies were a married couple, another woman and six children, and they were being held in the House of Correction, but now were discharged, a liberal collection being made for them, and Elizabeth was now herself sent to the House of Correction.
1808 Gypsies sell a pony, then pick pocket the buyer. This happened at the Marlborough fair.
1811 An 86 year old leader of a gypsy gang has married a 22 year old. The man, Lawrence Windsor, is a celebrated fiddler and travelling brazier. His young bride is Joanna Skelton.
1811 Gypsies are thought to be behind an 18 year old girls disappearance. Esther Smith, an orphan, was the daughter of a Greenwich boat builder. After her parents death she went to reside with an aunt in Kent. On returning to Greenwich to be with relatives for a few days, and on having then taken her leave of them, she was never more heard of. It is much feared that she was murdered on her way home by some gypsies who frequented a neighbouring wood, the edge of which she was obliged to pass. They had already insulted her when she was on her way to Greenwich, although being a little deaf she had not quite understood their words. The wood was searched but nothing was found and the gypsies had decamped.
1811 A farmers servant girl named Elizabeth Collier has been robbed and attacked by gypsies, whom she came upon while travelling by foot on a misson given to her by her mistress to purchase a bottle of wine for a sick cottager. She was on her return, it being ten in the morning, when a gypsy woman came up to her and insisted on telling her her fortune. Elizabeth was endeavouring to get away when two men rushed out from a park, grabbed her and dragged her some way from the road. They took from her a pound, some silver, a shawl and the port wine. Not content with having robbed and ill treated her, they most inhumanely stabbed her with a penknife under her right breast. The poor girl made it back home and reported what had happened, for which the farmer, procuring the assistance of a soldier, went in pursuit and found them. One of the men escaped, but on some gypsies being rounded up, and with Elizabeth present to identify them, he was captured, his name being Adam Lee.
1812 The two gypsies, Thomas and Adam Lee, who had robbed and stabbed the aforementioned servant girl Elizabeth Collier, were executed for 'highway robbery'. They are said to be part of the gypsy gangs that travelled Hampshire, Sussex, Surrey and Kent, for years having been accomplices in various depredations. Thomas's wife, having been part of the robbery, was sentenced to be transported for life. A most affecting scene took place after their sentences were given, previous to their being taken to separate cells, where on taking their final leave of one another, the 'wretched criminal' Thomas, in a passionate manner, alternately embraced his wife and their little infant which she held in her arms. Thomas and Adam were taken to the scaffold with halters around their necks and their arms pinioned, the while of which Thomas presented a most melancholy scene, being obliged to be carried, while weeping in a most lamentable tone. Upon the scaffold, they had a few moments of prayer, then were launched off, and their bodies, after being suspended the usual time, were cut down and delivered to their relatives and several of their fraternity, who were more in number than had ever been remembered on such an occasion.
1812 Gypsies have stolen animals in London during the early morning hours from a baker, Mr Goodman, having broken open his premises and carried away a bay mare, six geese, 3 ducks and 30 rabbits. Mr Goodmans dog was also missing, it being supposed he had followed the horse, having for years accompanied it here and there. The gypsies left behind part of the coverings they would typically sleep under on commons and in lanes. Remarkably the gypsies dog was in the stable watching and protecting those coverings, nor would he give them up without an arduous struggle. The hope is that this dog will lead one back to the location of those gypsies.
1813 A gang of gypsies pitched their tent on waste ground in Herefordshire and an old gypsy woman from among them called at the house of a man named Gritton, saying she would tell him his fortune. She persuaded him that a large amount of gold lay concealed in his home and that he must put a large sum of money into a parcel, which she would endow with a charm, and then sew into the side pocket of his coat. The more money the parcel contained, the more considerable would be the treasure he would find. The eager man put together £70 in gold, silver and bills, which for nine days was to remain in his coat, at the end of which the gypsy promised to return and that a coffer of guineas would arise from the ground to enrich her 'credulous dupe'. She never returned and when the man opened up the parcel he saw to his utter confusion that the 'witch' had turned his gold and silver into halfpence, stones and waste paper. Much of that money the man had borrowed from his neighbours and if he had been able to procure more he would have. As for the gypsy woman, she had escaped with her 'booty'.
1813 A gypsy queen has been arrested, on account of various depredations having been committed in Dulwich and Sydenham by large parties of gypsies, who have for some time been there assembled. Eight gypsies were taken into custody along with 'their queen'.
1813 Gypsies have been apprehended for selling their wares on Woolwich Common, this being clothes, plate and shop goods of a considerable value, all of which has been detained along with three carts and horses.
1815 New laws against vagrancy are affecting gypsies. By strict application of the law, magistrates are to apprehend and bring to punishment common beggars, gypsies, and other persons who roam about and who refuse or are unable to give good account of themselves.
1818 A gingerbread seller, Mrs Sharp, who sells her sweet foods at fairs, has been viciously attacked and robbed by gypsies, while travelling home from a fair, while in a cart with the company of another woman. Upon one of the gypsies rifling the cart, but being resisted, he and another attempted to overturn the cart, and in being opposed in this, he struck the poor women so violently a blow across the arm with a bludgeon that he broke it, then repeating the blow and aiming at her head, which she avoided by stooping, only to then get a blow upon her back. Upon another cart then coming along, which belonged to a man who was another gingerbread maker, the gypsies departed. The other woman, who had been walking along at the time, recognised the gangleader, having frequently seen him at the fairs. On hearing that he had been spotted lurking at another fair, she accompanied a polieman there and identified him. His name is Augustus alias Samuel Lee.
1820 A gypsy fortune telling woman, passing a field in a village near Harwich, observed a farmer at work and asked him if he was inclined to have his fortune told. She told him that she could show him a spot where in 14 days he would find a box containing gold and silver to a very great amount. The credulous farmer eagerly took the bait and drew forth his purse to reward the lady, paying the required demand of one shilling. In doing this he disclosed a quantity of silver, which she demanded as well, saying that if not so then her magical powers would be ineffectual. The idea of possessing so large a sum overcame his reason and he gave her in all £26, with which she proceeded onward. On reflecting upon this, he realised his error and went to the police. A vigilant search was made and the gypsy lady was found, she being in the company of others. On the 'delinquent' having been seized, she gave up the money and was allowed to depart.
1820 Two gypsies, Thomas Smith and William Lee, have stolen two horses from a field. They were caught up with in Romford where they were offering the horses for sale.
1821 This newspaper article connects the gypsies to the pariahs of India and to the cruel Timur from whom they had been fleeing. It begins by saying the gypsies are not Egyptians, as is commonly supposed, but that they are of the lowest class of Indians, among the castes of India, known as 'pariars', or in India as Sudars (Shudras I would say the author means here) although I do think they would not be really of shudras, but would as tribals been outside the caste system. The article continues by saying that they are to be found in Persia, Turkey, Russia, Hungary and most of the continental nations, amounting to more than 700,000 and they all speak a common language, differing only in a slight degree from one another, just as the provincial accents of a kingdom may differ. This language is similar to Hundustani. For example the gypsy for Moon is schan and the Hindi is chand, water is panj and in Hindi is pani. The emigration of this people from their country is attributed to the war of the Mongol invader Timur in India in 1408, which aligns with their arrival into Europe. So cruel was this conqueror that 100,000 Indians who surrendered as slaves were put to death, for which unversal panic spread, with the Sudars fleeing to the west. The features of the gypsies plainly shows their eastern origin, and yet they so well contrived to dupe the Europeans that until the recent advancement of oriental literature, their country could never be clearly traced. In England, where they arrived in the time of Henry VIII, they appealed to the vulgar classes for their posed skills in astrology and the art of palmistry, 'bringing with them their art of juggling'. That the gypsies 'are of the race mentioned can scarcely be doubted', according to the date of the scattering of Indian tribes by Timur, the similarities in language, and their physical resemblance, surprisingly realised by British officers when Indians joined their armies. Their customs and mode of life are also, in every respect, in accordance with those of the Sudars. 'Both are filthy and disgusting in their habits, both have been given to steal, both dislike to communicate their language to strangers, they are both remarkably fond of horses, they both prefer food killed by disease, they have similar dances, they alike practice fortune telling, they are alike wanderers and averse to civilised life, they equally dislike agricultural pursuits, and they equally practise music, or travel about with their tinkers tools, ready to work at every door, and their marriage ceremonies are similar.' The belief that gypsies were Egyptians is due to the first of them who arrived in the west stating that they were pilgrims from Egypt, which even men of learning came to believe. The gypsies have no particular religion, conforming to that of the lands in which they dwell, but for the most part being destitute of any faith. In England their numbers amount to 18,000. That an Asiatic people should have resided four hundred years in the heart of Europe, subjected to its civilised polity and co-mingled with its various population, and yet have retained, almost unaltered, their distinct oriental character, customs and language, is quite a phenomenon.
1821 Two gypsy women are found to be behind the poisoning of two men in prison with a plum pudding containing arsenic. They are from a gypsy encampment, one having the name of Mary Baker. One of the prisoners, Greenstreet, before dying, said that the poisoning was no doubt due to a man named Proudly, who was part of a desperate gang of gypsies. Mary, a tall gypsy woman, had brought the pudding to the prison, and the other gypsy woman had been observed buying an ounce of arsenic, under the pretext that she wanted it to kill rats. The gypsy man, Proudly, alias Pearce, was himself wanted for horse stealing and murder. As a number of the gypsies were at the Romsey fair, the police went there to try and intercept him, not locating him there, but later finding him on his horse on the road. Proudly violently resisted being unhorsed, and when on the ground resisted still more violently, his companion on horse back assisting him. He was handcuffed and confined. Mary Baker was then herself found, encamped with an old man, old woman, and some gypsy children.
1822 Two travelling gypsies have been prosecuted for burgling the home of a Mr Jacobs, they being Lewis Boswell and Ferdinand Smith. Upon being found guilty, Lewis Boswell violently struck one of the witnesses and cried out 'That's the man that has mudered us'. A great uproar took place with the two gypsies calling out that they were wilfully murdered.
1822 At a wedding in Buckinghamshire, one J Fletcher was marrying Teannah Buckland, whose father was head of a tribe of gypsies, they having long frequented that area. After the ceremony the couple retired to a lane where they partook of an excellent dinner, served on solid plate and beautiful oriental china. The novelty of the scene attracted many people from the villages.
1823 Constables are fined 20 shillings if gypsies or other vagrants camp on the waste lands in their parishes, in accordance with the Vagrancy Act.
1832 A travelling tinker, who sometimes repairs the tin stills used by the peasantry in their illicit distillation, has regularly been poaching fish, which he is very skilled at. On beingcaught landing a splendid salmon, the man was observed to be a 'strange, raw boned, wild looking animal'. He offered a gentleman present that for his freedom he would never sin again, or he would fight two of his captors. This gentleman anyway forgave him and took him back to his lodge for refreshment. The tinkers success in fishing lay in the fly he used which was a strange looking combination of wool and feathers on the casting line. On trying this, the gentleman, who had not himself managed to fish anything all day, successfully caught a twelve pound salmon. His ragged friend stayed with him for some days teaching him this art.
1832 A death in a tent on a race ground has occurred of the 'King of the gypsies' alias Charles Lee, the 'monarch' of a 'murky tribe', maybe aged 74, but maybe much older. He has left 50 children and grandchildren behind him. At his funeral, ten of his relatives attended, the rest of his family being absent at different fairs and races. A thousand spectators came to the church yard, curious to witness the funeral of 'so exalted a character'.
1832 A lady has gone mad after having her fortune told by a gypsy. A poor widow had allowed one gypsy woman into her home and this 'sybil', by her cant and hypocrisy, had extorted from her five shillings and three loaves of bread. Such an impression was made on the ladies mind, that she had ever since imagined herself to be possessed. Several clergymen tried but could not reverse this, for which day and night two women were now required to remain with her to prevent her from committing violence on herself or others.
1833 On historically having entered certain countries the gypsies at first passed themselves off as Christians of Egypt who had been expelled from their land by the Saracens. In this article the dates are given for their arrival in Europe, in Hungary in 1417, as likewise in Bohemia, the German states and France. It was in France, as recorded by Pasquier, that they gave out their story about being Egyptians, and saying that they had come via Bohemia. In 1418 they arrived in Switzerland. In 1422 they came to Italy. From France they passed into Spain and Portugal. It was later, in the reign of Henry VIII that they came to England. The whole of this 'outcaste race' now amounted to five million, there being a million in Europe, 400,000 in Africa, a million and a half in India, and two million in the rest of Asia.
1836 The gypsies have been overunning the Basque lands and turning to violent crime. Innumerable bands of gypsies there no longer confine themselves to their old system of begging, frauding the credulous, and taking hens from roosts and rabbits from hutches and occasionally sheep too, but have taken to violent robberies, sometimes even mudering, watching the farmers on their return from market, to steal from them their moneys for the sales of cattle and all else. When pursued in France they escape to Spain and vice versa. Orders have been given to arrest all the gypsies, 30 of these 'dark complexioned marauders' having already been captured. It is despaired of though that never will these vagabonds acquire fixed habits of industry, but that they will return to their evil courses once released. It has been observed that there are at least 2,000 of this wandering tribe, who have no means of subsistence but fraud, robbery and murder. Therefore, the only way to rid the country people of this scourge is to seize 'the whole of these wretches' and to 'transport them en masse beyond sea'. Such gypsies are not to be considered as Frenchmen, as they are outcastes to all society and are alien from the laws. They are altogether strangers in the land to which they are a burden.
1838 The death of gypsy queen Sarah Boswell happened at the workhouse hospital in Nottingham, her age being 93. This is another of the 'illustrious of the gypsy tribe who has gone to that bourne whence no traveller returns'. Sarah has lived as a gypsy all her life. For 72 years she was married to the great Boswell, king of the gypsies, he himself died in his gypsy camp at Eastwood Park in 1835. For being severely ill, Sarah had to resort to the workhouse. It is noted that this is the 7th or 8th queen of the gypsies whose death has been recorded lately.
1838 A girl caring for children has managed to repel gypsy burglars with a gun. Her master of Woodford Hall had gone to church with the other servants, leaving her alone with his three children, all under the age of ten, and her name being Eliza Whitmel. Two gypsy men had come demanding admittance, which upon her denying them, they tried to batter in the door. Eliza told them from the first floor window to go away, and that she would rather die than let them rob the house. Disregarding her, they continued to batter at the door, upon which she got her masters gun and fired it at them four times. The oldest daughter, who was nine, supplied her with powder and shot so that she could keep reloading. The thieves, finding her to be determined, and having small wounds already from the shots, gave up and left.
1840 The descendants of Bamfylde More Carew, the famous king of the gypsies, have in West Kent been committing numerous depredations. They dwell in tents by roadsides and upon agricultural properties. The 'distinguished leaders of that fraternity of "honest folk"' have been apprehended, due to a charge of sheep stealing, a farmer having lost two of his fattest sheep on but one night. The highway and the remote by-ways were searched until a gathering of the mendicant tribe was discovered and a 'hard run' of hunting them down is said to have been the result and the runaway gypsy men were caught. Amos Lee, their intrepid headman, being the 'hoary patriarch' of their clan hereabouts, behaved with much coolness, and also decently conducting themselves were gypsies Fanny Lee, William Lee, Jonas Hayter and Charles Fianamore. Nothing was given away by them of any sheep stealers, yet still the magistrate had them committed under the Vagrant Act. The old patriarch, who was in his 80's, was close to shedding bitter tears of affliction when he heard that he was to sleep under the roof of a prison house instead of under his own tent by the solitary roadside.
1840 A gypsy quarrel has led to a stabbing. Two men and a woman, who had a child in her arms, have been accused of stabbing and wounding John Midmer, the perpetrators being John Baker, 19, Richard Barton, 48, and his wife Mercy Barton, 40, all parties being gypsies. A numerous body of their 'sunburnt clan' occupied the front seats of the trial. The victim stated that he occupied a tent and on the others having been passing by, they made some reflection on his wife, which led to the quarrel, and for which he hit John Baker with a stick and was in return stabbed in the side with a knife. John Midmer bled profusely and had to resort to the workhouse for care for several days, where he was regularly attended by a surgeon. The accused three had a quantity of rushes with them when they had passed by his tent and appeared to be chair menders. For this stabbing John Baker was sentenced to six months hard labour in the House of Correction.
1841 This article talks of the early persecution of gypsies, their hiding in caves and holes, and their habits since then. So it begins, that shortly after their first arrival in England, which is upwards of three centuries since, a dreadful persecution was raised against them, the aim of which was their utter extermination. Being a gypsy was esteemed a crime worthy of death and the gibbets of England groaned beneath the weight of gypsy carcasses, and the miserable survivors were literally obliged to creep into the earth in order to preserve their lives. Those days eventually passed by, their persecutors becoming weary of pursuing them, and so the gypsies showed their heads from the holes and caves where they had hidden themselves. Venturing forth, they increased in numbers, each tribe or family choosing a particular curcuit, they fairly dividing the land among them. In England the male gypsies were all horse dealers, who would also mend the tin and copper utensils of the peasantry. The gypsy women were all fortune tellers. They pitch their tents in the vicinity of a village or small town, by the roadside, under the shelter of the hedges and the trees. Their complexion is dark, but not disagreeably so. Their faces are oval, their features regular, their foreheads low, and their hands and feet small. The men are taller than the English peasantry and are far more active. They all speak the English language fluently. In their gait and demeanour they are easy and graceful, whereas the peasantry are slower, uncouth and in manner dogged and brutal. This report is gleaned from Borrows 'Gypsies of Spain'.
1841 An incident of gypsy fortune telling has led to the suicide of a servant girl, Mary Wells, aged 19. Mary was in service to a wealthy gentleman and was said to be a 'very silly, credulous girl'. Mary became acquainted with some gypsies who said they would tell her fortune, for which, when her master was absent, she admitted them into the house. She had confidence in the artful tales they told her and gave them every farthing she had and nearly all of her clothes. She was then so fearful of her master finding out that she hung herself on a rope from one of the bedposts.
1842 Gypsies have been making fake coins in Brighton. For a considerable time base coin has been passed among the shop keepers there., until it was found out that two gypsy men, Joseph Lee and James Smith, had the apparatus for this in an upstairs room of a house in the town.
1842 A fortune telling con is reported, as told to the police by a clothier. A few days previously a party of gypsies had camped on the common. One of the gypsy women ingratiated herself into the clothiers favour, making him believe that immense treasures were concealed in his house, which however were watched over by evil spirits, and these she offered by her divining powers to exorcise. The clothier was convinced of her supernatural agency and went along with it all. Before she could do the exorcism money was needed, which he gave to her, and so she worked a charm, placing the money in a little leather bag and performing a cabalistic ceremony, after which she placed the bag in a drawer under lock and key, telling him to leave it there for four days, after which time the charm would be worked and the treasures revealed. Upon four days passing the gypsy had not returned and after but one more day, feeling anxious, the clothier broke open the drawer and found the bag to contain not money but lead and brown paper. Quite frantic, he went to the gypsy encampment, but they had departed. On hearing of another smaller encampment nearby, this was checked out but was found to be not of gypsies but of Irish reapers.
1842 A remarkable circumstance has been witnessed, this being the ceremonial expulsion of one of the gypsies of the New Forest, by the name of Lee. Between 300 and 400 gypsies, both men and women, belonging to different tribes, of Lees, Stanleys and Coopers, assembled at Boltons Bench near Lyndhurst. The offender, a handsome looking man, in his 30's, was placed in the middle of a ring, comprised of the king of the gypsies and the patriarchs of the different tribes. A second ring was made up of the rest of the men and an exterior ring to that was made up of the women. The King, who was one of the Lees, a 'venerable old man', looking to be in his 90's, addressed the culprit for nearly an hour in a tongue that was strange to any bystanders, spoken impressively with vehement gesticulations. Only the gypsies themselves knew what was this mans crime, but it must have been very obnoxious, as the act of expulsion among them is exceedingly rare. When the king finished his speech he spoke to all present, saying in English that Jacob Lee was expelled from among them, that he was no longer of their fraternity and must leave the camp of the gypsies forever. The king then spat on him and the circles opened to allow the mans departure, the people hitting him with branches as he did so. The meeting broke up, all going their different ways, some having come to witness this from a considerable distance. The whole ceremony took place under an imposing ancient oak tree.
1842 The New Forest gypsies are traders in ponies. As it is said, this 'remarkable class of people frequent the royal domain at all seasons of the year, but more particularly in the spring and autumn'. Their chief trade is the ponies of the forest, which in the autumn are caught up by the keepers and put for sale. The gypsies have no settlement within the actual forest, but are in the neighbourhood beside it and 'their conduct is worthy of admiration'. They are mostly in lanes and by-ways near farmhouses and the farmers give to them trusses of straw for their litter, for which nothing of his property ever goes missing and for which the farmers always feel safe, more so than from the gangs of poachers, deer and sheep stealers also to be found around the New Forest. 'The gypsies have been ever considered to be a dark and mysterious community and those who know them and their ways, habits and customs best appreciate them. A farmer hereabouts considers a gypsy to be a good watch-dog for as long as he is around.'
1842 One vicar, Mr Crabb, who is a friend to the gypsies, feeds and clothes them in an annual festival on his grounds, a mile from Southampton. These gypsy tribes are from the New Forest. Nearly 200 gypsies have come to him, men, women and children, all sitting down to a sumptuous feast. They were so overjoyed at the sight of the rich plum puddings that they rose up to greet them and ate with tumultuous chewing. The gypsy children, although many being 'half naked', are a 'fine and healthy race'. 'How this sight would have gladdened the heart of Mr Borrow, author of "The Bible in Spain"'.
1843 A boy child seen to be with the gypsies is suspected to have been stolen.
1845 Gypsies have made a riot and violently assaulted several policemen on duty at the Hampton races. The gypsies names have been given as Zachariah Boswell, Uriah Cooper, Robert Lee, Ferrin Lee, George Lee, Damon Lee and John Porter.
1845 A school has been created by an aged gypsy, Charles Stanley, for gypsy children in Dorset. Twelve boys and twelve girls are to be given education, food and clothing. This is being supported and financed by Lord Ashley and other liberal supporters, the purpose being to gather in the 'too long neglected outcaste gypsy children from the highways and hedges', to be brought up in the ways of God. It is announced that several members of the gypsy tribes are now being converted to Christianity and are going to church regularly.
1845 A travelling tinker has pawned his wife and child for eight pence, for which the fair maid and her babe were put under lock and key until the next day when he returned for them.
1848 Gypsies have committed a murderous assault and highway robbery on two journeymen tailors. The tailors were at midnight overtaken by a gypsy family of four men and a woman with a child slung at her back, who without any provocation commenced beating them in a most brutal manner and stole a newly bought hat. The tailors, becoming faint from a loss of blood, called for help and ran for shelter into a shoemakers shop. They were pursued there and beaten up more, kicked in the head and back, and their pockets searched. Upon the shoemaker raising the alarm the gypsies ran away, until the three men, who were a father and his sons were apprehended.
1848
Sophia Locke, the daughter of a gypsy traveller, born in a cave near Crocker Wood, was one to always roam the land in male attire. She posed as a man, calling herself John Smith, working as a tinker and a scissor grinder. For 14 years she had a woman lover with whom she travelled all over England. In 1847 it is to be seen that the two of them were picking hops in Worcestershire. They lived very happily together and would earn around a guinea a day. Upon her death, Sophia was buried as John Smith and a great many people came to witness her funeral.
1849 Gypsy Lee, alias Charles Lee, has been charged for leading a mob of 300 to 500 ruffians in a riot during a Chartist meeting on Kennington Common, during which they demolished and sacked the shops of respectable tradesmen.
1850 Hordes of ragged Irish and others have turned up for the soon to begin hop picking and are living like gypsies on the common and heath lands, in consequence of which hedges and fences suffer, potatoes are grubbed up, which they ate with their fingers instead of forks, and poultry houses are in danger.
1851 A group of tent dwelling gypsies are prosecuted for pitching their tents on the heath and lighting fires on the highway. Their names are given as George Lee, 26, a tinker and grinder, Uriah Smith, 23, a chair bottomer, Noah Scamp, 21, an ostler, Maria Scamp, 20, a single woman, and Elizabeth Scamp, 22, also a single woman, all having several aliases, and who form part of an extensive party of gypsies. Several complaints had been made in reference to the depredations gypsies commit in these parts as they roamed about. The group have been severely reprimanced, the men being imprisoned for three months each and the women for two weeks.
1851 Two gypsy men, David Yelding and Joseph Barton, have assaulted a French man named Jacques Ponsonque who travels with his bear named Bruin. On meeting one another on the Canterbury road, the gypsies began taunting his bear, playing tricks, and when Jacques tried to stop them they beat him up.
1852 Gypsies from an encampment in the Kent marshes have slaughtered two of the sheep of a farmer, Mr Maxted, taking away the legs and shoulders, and leaving the remainder of the carcasses behind. On a policeman approaching the nearby gypsy encampment, the gypsy men, well knowing him, fled in all directions. Their wives and famillies were enjoying a feast, which included mutton, but nothing was traced to the specific stolen portions. Nevertheless, it is known that where such 'predatory gangs assemble' the pilfering goes on and may quite often, as in this case, be undetected.
1879 A travelling tinker has been beating up his woman, seen to be knocking her down and kicking and stamping on her while she held a child in her arms. Other children, who were standing around, ran to a man nearby for help, for which duly the tinker stopped his ill treatment. Blood was running from the womans face and also the childs face was covered with blood. When told he would be locked up, the tinker ran away, but was caught. The woman, who was a hawker, said she was not the tinkers wife, but that she lived with him and they had five children. She said there were faults on both sides and she did not wish to have him hurt. Her face bore the marks of heavy punishment. The tinker was sentenced to three months hard labour.
1886 A gathering of gypsies, referred to as 'Greek gypsies', said to be a nuisance in many parts of England, have had some 'retribution', it is said, as in a mob of ruffians breaking late into their encampment, tearing down their tents, extinguishing their fires and ill treating them. The gypsies, described as a poor half-clad and half-famished people, were huddling together for warmth. The police were powerless to protect them, so that the ruffians were 'allowed to enjoy their Sabbath recreation to their hearts content'. The gypsies are stated to be lawless intruders living in a degraded condition and that the 'British rough', true to his instincts, gives them a broad hint that 'the sooner they make themselves scarce the better'.
1887 A description is given in the Thanet Advertiser of the typical gypsy woman, she being not always handsome in later life, but that as a maiden she is always attractive. Even when older, she never loses her glowing eyes, nor is she ever feeble. As a rule these women outlive their men. She has an apparently wondrous power of sorcery and divination, her spirit is exhaustless, and she has a certain personal charm and untrained intuitive intellect, for which she may even be considered to be 'the brightest of women'.
1904 The 'Cutler King' has been found dead in a well at St Osyth. He was a travelling tinker known throughout Essex.
1905 In a report on the annoyance of travelling tinkers and beggars they are referred to as pestilent gangs of idel loafers who wander around the country, but who really do precious little tinkering or any other kind of honest work and they are a serious nuisance. Their hulking louts ask one for tobacco and their 'filthy little brats' whine for coppers, while their slatternly women come to ones house begging for tea and milk.
1906 A family of the surname Fabre in France have died eating food from a pan which a travelling tinker soldered with a mixture of brass and lead.
1929 An article has been published in defence of the tinker way of life. Where they come from, it is written, is a disputed point, but they are a race apart and a peculiar people. Some 50 or 60 years back such a lifestyle was easy and pleasant and camping ground could be had almost anywhere, for as long as the rules of peaceful conduct were kept to. Seasonal farm work was easily obtained and money could be earned by making horn spoons, heather besoms, creels, and baskets, and making and mending tinware. The children were free and not made to go to school, for which they were as if young birds, with the finding of food being their chief aim. Now all these money earners are a thing of the past and it is large firms which now cheaply sell tinware. Almost no camping is allowed and children are obliged to go to school. One quarter of the general population support these children to be taken away and placed in industrial schools, but that would break up a devoted family life and mean practically the extermination of the tinker race. People also wish for camping to be entirely prohibited and for the tinkers to be forced into housing. But why force them from their natural environments into city slums, for they are simple and harmless, other than there being an occasional drunken brawl in which there is much shouting and a few hard blows are struck. Posed against them is that they leave unsightly rubbsh and annoy home dwellers with their incessant begging or by offering of small wares for sale door to door. Protestant churches are now watching over the tinkers and keeping in touch with their difficulties, while bringing to them the message of salvation.
1943 Observations are shared in one article on tramp tradesmen, including travelling tinkers and Irish potato lifters. The travelling tinker, or tinsmith, it is said, is a trade which has almost disappeared. These families would travel the country hawking their wares, the children being brought up from infancy in the trade and being experts in this. The womenfold canvas the houses to sell the wares. When a gang of these 'gangrel buddies' came to a village there was sure to be entertainment for young and old. After imbibing alcohol all day the grown ups got 'fou' and then the fighting would begin, for which there would usually be an appearance before the magistrate the next morning.