Romnichal
Encyclopedia
The Romanichals are a Romani sub-group in the United Kingdom
.
Romanichals are thought to have arrived in Britain
in the 16th century. They are closely related to the Welsh Kale
and Romani groups in continental Europe
.
for "child".
, particularly England
, Lowland Scotland and Wales
. The romanichal diasporia emigrated from the UK, to other parts of the English-speaking world
. There are now more people of Romanichal descent in the United States
than Britain. Based on some estimates.
They are also found in smaller numbers in South Africa
, Australia
, Canada
and New Zealand
.
until the nineteenth century, when it was replaced by English and Angloromani, a creole language
that combines the syntax
and grammar
of English with the Romani Lexicon. All Romanichals also speak English.
Many Angloromani words have been incorporated into English, particularly in the form of British slang
.
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, escaping conflicts in Southeastern Europe (such as 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.
, a process that was continued and encouraged by Elizabeth I and James I
. The Finnish Kale
, a Romani group in Finland, maintain that their ancestors had originally were a Romani group who travelled from Scotland
, thereby supporting the idea that they and the Scandinavian Travellers/gypsies are distantly related to present-day Scottish gypsies and English Romanichals.
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 which 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 due to 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 whose 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 has been suggested that Romanichal were one of the main target groups and discriminated against 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 the precise number of British Romanies transported is not known 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 transported to Australia, although the actual figure could be higher. What is clear is that such deportation (as for all convicts) was particularly harsh:
One, however, is known to have returned. Henry Lavello (Lovell) was repatriated with a full pardon with a son born to an Aboriginal woman who accompanied him back to England.
Racism against Romanichal and other Travelling peoples is still endemic within Britain and until the 1960s signs in pubs declaring “No Blacks, No dogs, No Gypsies” could be found. In 2008 the media reported that Gypsies experience a higher degree of racism than any other group in the UK, including asylum-seekers, and a Mori poll indicated that a third of UK residents admitted to being prejudiced against Gypsies.
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, were 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."
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.
During the 20th century onwards Romanichals became, and remain, the mainstay of scrap metal dealing, horse dealing, tree surgery, tarmacking, hawking, fortune telling and wooden rose making. They have also produced notable boxers such as Billy Joe Saunders
as well as some notable football players like Freddy Eastwood
, and journalists, psychotherapists, nurses and a whole manner of professions. Romanichal scrap metal dealers are one of the most visible presences of Romanichal culture in Great Britain today with their distinctive calls for "any old iron" from their Ford Transit
vans.
Originally, Romanichals would travel on foot, or with light, horse-drawn carts, and typical of other Romani groups would build Bender tent
s where they settled for a time. A Bender is a 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 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
or houses.
Over 60% of 21st century Romanichal families live in houses of bricks and mortar whilst the remaining 40% still live in various forms of traditional Traveller modes of transport, such as caravans, trailers or static caravans (a small minority still live in Vardos).
According to the Regional Spatial Strategy caravan count for 2008, there were 13,386 caravans owned by Gypsies in the West Midlands
region of England, whilst a further 16,000 lived in bricks and mortar. Of the 13,386 caravans, 1,300 were parked on unauthorised sites (that is, on land where Gypsies were not given permission to park).
Over 90% of Britain's travelling Romanichals live on authorised sites where they pay full rates (council tax
).
On most traveller Romanichal sites there are usually no toilets or showers inside caravans because in Romanichal culture this is considered unclean, or 'mochadi'. Most sites have separate utility blocks with toilets, sinks and electric showers. Many Romanichals will not do their laundry inside, especially not underwear, and subsequently many utility blocks also have washing machines. In the days of horse-drawn wagons and Vardos, Romanichal women would do their laundry in a river, being careful to wash upper body garments further upstream from underwear and lower body garments, and personal bathing would take place much further downstream. In some modern trailers, a double wall separates the living areas from the toilet and shower.
Due to the (British) Caravan Sites Act 1968
which greatly reduced the number of caravans allowed to be pitched on authorised sites, many Romanichals born within certain local council consituencies cannot find legal places on sites with the rest of their families.
Like most nomadic groups, Romanichals travel around for work, usually following set routes and set stopping places (called ‘atching tans’) which have been established for hundreds of years. A lot of traditional stopping places were established before land ownership changed and any land laws were in place. Many atching tans were established by feudal land owners in the middle ages, when Gypsies would provide agricultural or manual labour services in return for lodgings and food.
Nowadays most Gypsies travel within the same areas that were established generations ago. Most people can trace their presence in an area back over a hundred or two hundred years. Many traditional stopping places were taken over by local government or by settled individuals decades ago and have subsequently changed hands numerous times, however Gypsies have long historical connections to such places and do not always willingly give them up.
Most families are identifiable by their traditional wintering base, where they will stop travelling for the winter, this place will be technically where a family is ‘from’.
The upper body is viewed as clean and the lower body is dirty, therefore t-shirts, shirts, hats, scarves etc can be washed together but lower body garments cannot. Underwear is washed in completely separate bowls from upper body garments and in some cases not even with trousers or skirts. Male clothing is always washed in separate bowls from female clothing so ideally Gypsy women (always women) would have at least four different bowls which are reserved for the different types of clothing. In Wagon Times men’s upper garments would be washed furthest upstream (in a river), followed by women’s upper garments, then men’s underwear followed by women’s underwear further downstream. Men would bathe themselves upstream from men’s underwear and women would bathe themselves upstream from their underwear. Plates would be washed upstream from everything else. Dogs would be allowed to swim downstream from everything else and horses could wash wherever they pleased, as horses are sacred animals and considered intrinsically clean.
Contact with blood or death renders one unclean as does contact with bodily waste. Urine is not allowed to come into contact with clothing and still water is avoided also. Menstrual blood is considered to be both unclean and to possess magical powers. When a woman gives birth she is treated with awe and many superstitions surround her presence. No outsiders are allowed physical contact with her and she will not sleep with her husband until the baby is christened. During this time she only washes in holy water and she cannot cook or clean, during this period the men take over the tasks normally only associated with women. This is not for fear of ritual pollution but for fear of her blood’s power. The baby’s ankle is tied with a red string which he or she will wear until the age of one, the red signifies the mother’s blood. Even the words spoken by a new mother are powerful.
In the times of the plagues in Europe Gypsies were declared to be in league with the Turks (and by default the Devil) because they avoided the plague due to their strict hygiene rules at a time when settled people in Europe considered it evil to bathe or wash (Elizabeth I bathed once a year). It was at this time that Gypsies earned the reputation for occult powers and when the first laws against them settling were implemented. Back then Gypsies travelled but stayed in inns, the anti-settlement laws banned all that and they took to the road, settled people viewed them with fear and declared them dirty because they were polluted by the devil.
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 a 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.
Groups:
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Romanichals are thought to have arrived in Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
in the 16th century. They are closely related to the Welsh Kale
Kale (Welsh Romanies)
The Kale are a group of Romani people who reside in Wales. Many claim to be descendant of Abram Wood, who was the first Romani to reside permanently and exclusively in Wales in the early 18th century, though Romanies have appeared in Wales since the 15th century...
and Romani groups in continental Europe
Continental Europe
Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....
.
Etymology
The word "Romanichal" is derived from Romani chal, where chal is AngloromaniAngloromani language
Angloromani or Anglo-Romani is a language combining aspects of English and Romani, which is a language spoken by the Romani people; a ethnic group who trace their origins to the Indian subcontinent. Angloromani is spoken in the UK, Australia, the US and South Africa.The language combines a mix of...
for "child".
Distribution
Romanichal are found across the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, particularly England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Lowland Scotland and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. The romanichal diasporia emigrated from the UK, to other parts of the English-speaking world
Anglosphere
Anglosphere is a neologism which refers to those nations with English as the most common language. The term can be used more specifically to refer to those nations which share certain characteristics within their cultures based on a linguistic heritage, through being former British colonies...
. There are now more people of Romanichal descent in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
than Britain. Based on some estimates.
They are also found in smaller numbers in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
Language
The Romani people in England are thought to have spoken the Romani languageRomani language
Romani or Romany, Gypsy or Gipsy is any of several languages of the Romani people. They are Indic, sometimes classified in the "Central" or "Northwestern" zone, and sometimes treated as a branch of their own....
until the nineteenth century, when it was replaced by English and Angloromani, a creole language
Creole language
A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable natural language developed from the mixing of parent languages; creoles differ from pidgins in that they have been nativized by children as their primary language, making them have features of natural languages that are normally missing from...
that combines the syntax
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
and grammar
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
of English with the Romani Lexicon. All Romanichals also speak English.
Many Angloromani words have been incorporated into English, particularly in the form of British slang
British slang
British slang is English language slang used in the UK. Slang is informal language sometimes peculiar to a particular social class or group and its use in Britain dates back to before the 16th century...
.
History
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
and began migrating westwards from the 11th century. The first groups of Romani people arrived in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
by the end of the 15th century, escaping conflicts in Southeastern Europe (such as the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
conquest of the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
).
In 1506 there are recorded Romani persons in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, arrived from Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
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
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
, the Egyptians Act (1530)
Egyptians Act 1530
The Egyptians Act 1530 was an Act passed by the Parliament of England in 1531 to expel the "outlandish people calling themselves Egyptians", meaning Gypsies. It was repealed by the Act 19 & 20 Vict...
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
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
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
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
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.
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 a 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 NorwayNorway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, a process that was continued and encouraged by Elizabeth I and James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
. The Finnish Kale
Finnish Kale
The Finnish Kale "blacks") or the Finnish romanis are a group of the Romani people that live primarily in Finland and Sweden.Their main languages are Finnish and Finnish Romani. They are mostly Christian.-History:...
, a Romani group in Finland, maintain that their ancestors had originally were a Romani group who travelled from Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, thereby supporting the idea that they and the Scandinavian Travellers/gypsies are distantly related to present-day Scottish gypsies and English Romanichals.
In 1603 an Order in Council was requested to transport Romanichal to Newfoundland, the West Indies, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
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
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
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 which 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 due to 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
First Fleet
The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts , to establish the first European colony in Australia, in the region which Captain Cook had named New South Wales. The fleet was led by Captain ...
, one of whom was thought to be James Squire
James Squire
James Squire , a convict transported to Australia, is credited with the first successful cultivation of hops in Australia at the turn of the 19th century, and is also considered to have founded Australia's first commercial brewery in 1798, though John Boston appears to have opened a brewery making...
who founded Australia's first commercial brewery in 1798, and whose grandson James Farnell
James Farnell
James Squire Farnell was an Australian politician and Premier of New South Wales. Farnell was a hard-working legislator who gave much study to the land question and also tried hard for some years to pass a bill for the regulation of contagious diseases.-Early years:Farnell was born in St Leonards,...
who became the first native-born Premier of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. 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 has been suggested that Romanichal were one of the main target groups and discriminated against 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 the precise number of British Romanies transported is not known 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 transported to Australia, although the actual figure could be higher. What is clear is that such deportation (as for all convicts) was particularly harsh:
One, however, is known to have returned. Henry Lavello (Lovell) was repatriated with a full pardon with a son born to an Aboriginal woman who accompanied him back to England.
Racism against Romanichal and other Travelling peoples is still endemic within Britain and until the 1960s signs in pubs declaring “No Blacks, No dogs, No Gypsies” could be found. In 2008 the media reported that Gypsies experience a higher degree of racism than any other group in the UK, including asylum-seekers, and a Mori poll indicated that a third of UK residents admitted to being prejudiced against Gypsies.
Slavery
In the 17th century Oliver CromwellOliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
shipped Romanichals as slaves to the American southern plantations and there is documentation of English Romanies being owned by freed black slaves in Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. Gypsies, according to the legal definition, were 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 culture
Historically, 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; spring would start with seed sowing, planting potatoes and fruit trees, early summer with weeding, and there would be a succession of harvests of crops from summer to late autumn. Of particular significance was the hopHops
Hops are the female flower clusters , of a hop species, Humulus lupulus. They are used primarily as a flavoring and stability agent in beer, to which they impart a bitter, tangy flavor, though hops are also used for various purposes in other beverages and herbal medicine...
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.
During the 20th century onwards Romanichals became, and remain, the mainstay of scrap metal dealing, horse dealing, tree surgery, tarmacking, hawking, fortune telling and wooden rose making. They have also produced notable boxers such as Billy Joe Saunders
Billy Joe Saunders
Billy Joe Saunders is a British professional boxer, who after a distinguished junior career qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.-Career:...
as well as some notable football players like Freddy Eastwood
Freddy Eastwood
Freddy Eastwood is an English-born footballer, currently playing for Coventry City. He is a Welsh International, eligible to play for the Wales national football team as his maternal grandfather was born in Llanelli, Wales...
, and journalists, psychotherapists, nurses and a whole manner of professions. Romanichal scrap metal dealers are one of the most visible presences of Romanichal culture in Great Britain today with their distinctive calls for "any old iron" from their Ford Transit
Ford Transit
The Ford Transit is a range of panel vans, minibuses, and pickup trucks, produced by the Ford Motor Company in Europe.The Transit has been the best-selling light commercial vehicle in Europe for 40 years, and in some countries the term "Transit" has passed into common usage as a generic term...
vans.
Travel
Originally, Romanichals would travel on foot, or with light, horse-drawn carts, and typical of other Romani groups would build Bender tent
Bender tent
A bender tent is a simple shelter. A bender is made using flexible branches or withies, such as those of hazel or willow. These are lodged in the ground, then bent and woven together to form a strong dome-shape. The dome is then covered using any tarpaulin available...
s where they settled for a time. A Bender is a 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 Traveller
New age travellers
New Age Travellers are groups of people who often espouse New Age or hippie beliefs and travel between music festivals and fairs in order to live in a community with others who hold similar beliefs. Their transport and homes consist of vans, lorries, buses, narrowboats and caravans converted into...
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
Travel trailer
A travel trailer or caravan is towed behind a road vehicle to provide a place to sleep which is more comfortable and protected than a tent . It provides the means for people to have their own home on a journey or a vacation, without relying on a motel or hotel, and enables them to stay in places...
or houses.
Over 60% of 21st century Romanichal families live in houses of bricks and mortar whilst the remaining 40% still live in various forms of traditional Traveller modes of transport, such as caravans, trailers or static caravans (a small minority still live in Vardos).
According to the Regional Spatial Strategy caravan count for 2008, there were 13,386 caravans owned by Gypsies in the West Midlands
West Midlands (region)
The West Midlands is an official region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It contains the second most populous British city, Birmingham, and the larger West Midlands conurbation, which includes the city of Wolverhampton and large towns of Dudley,...
region of England, whilst a further 16,000 lived in bricks and mortar. Of the 13,386 caravans, 1,300 were parked on unauthorised sites (that is, on land where Gypsies were not given permission to park).
Over 90% of Britain's travelling Romanichals live on authorised sites where they pay full rates (council tax
Council tax
Council Tax is the system of local taxation used in England, Scotland and Wales to part fund the services provided by local government in each country. It was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as a successor to the unpopular Community Charge...
).
On most traveller Romanichal sites there are usually no toilets or showers inside caravans because in Romanichal culture this is considered unclean, or 'mochadi'. Most sites have separate utility blocks with toilets, sinks and electric showers. Many Romanichals will not do their laundry inside, especially not underwear, and subsequently many utility blocks also have washing machines. In the days of horse-drawn wagons and Vardos, Romanichal women would do their laundry in a river, being careful to wash upper body garments further upstream from underwear and lower body garments, and personal bathing would take place much further downstream. In some modern trailers, a double wall separates the living areas from the toilet and shower.
Due to the (British) Caravan Sites Act 1968
Caravan Sites Act 1968
The Caravan Sites Act 1968 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which resulted in the provision of 400 caravan sites in the UK - where there had been no council-sites before....
which greatly reduced the number of caravans allowed to be pitched on authorised sites, many Romanichals born within certain local council consituencies cannot find legal places on sites with the rest of their families.
Like most nomadic groups, Romanichals travel around for work, usually following set routes and set stopping places (called ‘atching tans’) which have been established for hundreds of years. A lot of traditional stopping places were established before land ownership changed and any land laws were in place. Many atching tans were established by feudal land owners in the middle ages, when Gypsies would provide agricultural or manual labour services in return for lodgings and food.
Nowadays most Gypsies travel within the same areas that were established generations ago. Most people can trace their presence in an area back over a hundred or two hundred years. Many traditional stopping places were taken over by local government or by settled individuals decades ago and have subsequently changed hands numerous times, however Gypsies have long historical connections to such places and do not always willingly give them up.
Most families are identifiable by their traditional wintering base, where they will stop travelling for the winter, this place will be technically where a family is ‘from’.
Hygiene customs
Romany culture is intrinsically linked to a nomadic lifestyle which brings with it very complicated yet vital rules regarding hygiene. In the days before tarmac roads Gypsies were travelling in wooden wagons or often on foot with tents and horses on dirt tracks all year round. This meant that everybody and everything had to keep extremely clean using methods of washing that would not be shared with the settled communities. The loss of a nomadic lifestyle did not erase the centuries of traditions that had arisen regarding hygiene. Gypsies never share cups, plates or cutlery with anybody else (not even their own husbands or wives) and all these items are washed in running water, never still, and then soaked in a separate bowl of boiled water, dried with a towel used only for that purpose (there is no such thing as multi-use tea towels) and then washed again in running water before being reused. In Wagon Times (the days before modern caravans and houses) this was essential to hygiene because of the pervasiveness of dust and the risk of disease from contact with stagnant water.The upper body is viewed as clean and the lower body is dirty, therefore t-shirts, shirts, hats, scarves etc can be washed together but lower body garments cannot. Underwear is washed in completely separate bowls from upper body garments and in some cases not even with trousers or skirts. Male clothing is always washed in separate bowls from female clothing so ideally Gypsy women (always women) would have at least four different bowls which are reserved for the different types of clothing. In Wagon Times men’s upper garments would be washed furthest upstream (in a river), followed by women’s upper garments, then men’s underwear followed by women’s underwear further downstream. Men would bathe themselves upstream from men’s underwear and women would bathe themselves upstream from their underwear. Plates would be washed upstream from everything else. Dogs would be allowed to swim downstream from everything else and horses could wash wherever they pleased, as horses are sacred animals and considered intrinsically clean.
Contact with blood or death renders one unclean as does contact with bodily waste. Urine is not allowed to come into contact with clothing and still water is avoided also. Menstrual blood is considered to be both unclean and to possess magical powers. When a woman gives birth she is treated with awe and many superstitions surround her presence. No outsiders are allowed physical contact with her and she will not sleep with her husband until the baby is christened. During this time she only washes in holy water and she cannot cook or clean, during this period the men take over the tasks normally only associated with women. This is not for fear of ritual pollution but for fear of her blood’s power. The baby’s ankle is tied with a red string which he or she will wear until the age of one, the red signifies the mother’s blood. Even the words spoken by a new mother are powerful.
In the times of the plagues in Europe Gypsies were declared to be in league with the Turks (and by default the Devil) because they avoided the plague due to their strict hygiene rules at a time when settled people in Europe considered it evil to bathe or wash (Elizabeth I bathed once a year). It was at this time that Gypsies earned the reputation for occult powers and when the first laws against them settling were implemented. Back then Gypsies travelled but stayed in inns, the anti-settlement laws banned all that and they took to the road, settled people viewed them with fear and declared them dirty because they were polluted by the devil.
British acts of legislation
The Enclosure Act of 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
Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960
The Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that regulated caravan sites.-Act:The Act was based on a 1959 report by Sir Arton Wilson on problems of people living in caravans, which found that the principal problem was the unclear and...
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 a 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
Porajmos
The Porajmos was the attempt made by Nazi Germany, the Independent State of Croatia, Horthy's Hungary and their allies to exterminate the Romani people of Europe during World War II...
in the event of the country's occupation.
The crisis of the 1960s decade, caused by the Caravan Sites Act 1968
Caravan Sites Act 1968
The Caravan Sites Act 1968 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which resulted in the provision of 400 caravan sites in the UK - where there had been no council-sites before....
(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
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the issue of "travellers" (referring to Irish Travellers and New Age Travellers
New age travellers
New Age Travellers are groups of people who often espouse New Age or hippie beliefs and travel between music festivals and fairs in order to live in a community with others who hold similar beliefs. Their transport and homes consist of vans, lorries, buses, narrowboats and caravans converted into...
as well as Romanichal and other groups of Romani people) became a 2005 general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
issue, with the leader of the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
promising to review the Human Rights Act 1998
Human Rights Act 1998
The Human Rights Act 1998 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received Royal Assent on 9 November 1998, and mostly came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim is to "give further effect" in UK law to the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights...
. This law, which absorbs the European Convention on Human Rights
European Convention on Human Rights
The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...
into UK primary legislation
Primary legislation
Primary legislation is law made by the legislative branch of government. This contrasts with secondary legislation, which is usually made by the executive branch...
, is seen by some to permit the granting of retrospective planning permission
Planning permission
Planning permission or planning consent is the permission required in the United Kingdom in order to be allowed to build on land, or change the use of land or buildings. Within the UK the occupier of any land or building will need title to that land or building , but will also need "planning...
. Severe population pressures and the paucity of greenfield
Greenfield land
Greenfield land is a term used to describe undeveloped land in a city or rural area either used for agriculture, landscape design, or left to naturally evolve...
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
New age travellers
New Age Travellers are groups of people who often espouse New Age or hippie beliefs and travel between music festivals and fairs in order to live in a community with others who hold similar beliefs. Their transport and homes consist of vans, lorries, buses, narrowboats and caravans converted into...
, 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
Local government in the United Kingdom
The pattern of local government in England is complex, with the distribution of functions varying according to the local arrangements. Legislation concerning local government in England is decided by the Parliament and Government of the United Kingdom, because England does not have a devolved...
, 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.
Romanichal depictions and documentaries
See also
- DidicoyDidicoyDidicoy is a term of the Romanichal for travellers with mixed Romani blood. There was often fierce competition between the groups, and the Romanichal tended to blame their own reputation for criminality on the didicoys and other nomadic groups masquerading as "Gypsies".Some families of mixed...
- Gordon Boswell Romany MuseumGordon Boswell Romany MuseumThe Gordon Boswell Romany Museum is the lifetime's work of one man, the eponymous Gordon Boswell, who has amassed a collection of artifacts, photographs, and several examples of the characteristic wagon or Vardo...
- Jumping the broom (Romani people)Jumping the broom (Romani people)Jumping the broom is a popular phrase referring to a wedding custom which was practiced among Romani people in Wales and England. Couples would get married by eloping together, or "jumping the broom," or over a branch of flowering broom or a besom made of broom...
Groups:
- Romani people
- Kale (Welsh Romanies)Kale (Welsh Romanies)The Kale are a group of Romani people who reside in Wales. Many claim to be descendant of Abram Wood, who was the first Romani to reside permanently and exclusively in Wales in the early 18th century, though Romanies have appeared in Wales since the 15th century...
- Finnish KaleFinnish KaleThe Finnish Kale "blacks") or the Finnish romanis are a group of the Romani people that live primarily in Finland and Sweden.Their main languages are Finnish and Finnish Romani. They are mostly Christian.-History:...