B~SEMENl

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Gypsy Life Sir Alfred
Munnings
Gypsy Sites Branch
Department
September
af the Enviranment
19S4
B~SEMENl
PAMPHLET BOX
Departments of the Environment and Transport
LIBRARY
SERVICES
Room C3/02.
2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 3EB
Tel. 01 - 212 4848
Author:
)) Ot;.
S·,~
Gr~f>'j
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I
Title:
Book No:
LIB 37
CONTENTS
A.
INTRODUCTION:
B.
A GYPSY IDENTITY
C.
THE REAL GYPSY - MYTH OR REALITY
D.
OFFICIAL DEFINITIONS
E.
THE OPTIONS
F.
CONCLUSIONS
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The purpose of the Study
312714
A.
INTRODUCTION:
THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
'There is a fundamental feeling here, and I wonder if it is not so much
the genuine gypsy, the Romany folk, who are under criticism, but the
people who go under the banner of gypsies and who are not really
gypsies.'
(Lord Mottistone.
House of Lords: February 1979)
'The true gypsy is a wonderful person'.
Lord Brooke of Cumnor
1.
These two quotations sum up a widespread attitude that only a small
proportion of the so called gypsy community living and travelling around in
caravans today are 'real' gypsies.
There seems to be general acceptance
that 'real' gypsies should be able to continue their particular way of life
but that there are others who fall within the statutory definition but are
never the less thought not to be 'real' gypsies and they should therefore
not be given any special consideration.
2.
This paper ~ooks at the question from the historical and practical
points of view and ~xamines whether there are different identifiable groups
within the statutory definition which are readily distinguishable.
3.
The Caravan Sites Act 1968 defines 'gypsies' quite widely to mean
persons of nomadic habit of life, whatever their race or origin.
Paradoxically, as a result of that Act a substantial number of gypsy
families have settled down on caravan sites and no longer travel.
Thus the
nomadic definition in the legislation may no longer apply to them and
appears no longer to be appropriate.
Recommendations are made concerning
the suitability of the present defintiion of a gypsy in the legislation.
4.
The facts in this paper have been obtained from the literature on the
subject (a Bibliography is at Appendix I) and from useful conversations with
those who are knowledgeable about gypsies.
Gypsies are not the best source
from whom to get information about themselves as they often say what they
think or hope the questioner wants to hear.
The extent of illiteracy among
1
them results
in a virtual
from being a homogeneous
5.
The literature
espousers
absence
of written
records.
group and are often divided
on the subject sometimes
appears
They are also far
amongst
themselves.
to have been written
of gypsy life with less regard to the careful compilation
verifiable
facts than to advocating
and charms of the people
(often quite passionately)
they are writing
or so there have been some important
objective
about. However,
race on earth'.
of
the delights
in the last decade
studies which have attempted
look at what a people, who even today, remain
by
an
'the most mysterious
(Brian Vesey-Fitzgerald).
B.
A GYPSY IDENTITY
6.
This section
looks at two matters which should be helpful
the question whether
a gypsy identity
exists:
the origins
in considering
of gypsies
and
their way of life.
(i)
7.
Their Origins
The most popular
nineteenth
century,
about a thousand
remaining
theory about gypsy origins which was developed
is that they migrated
from an area in North West India
years ago, but there appears
in India today from whom gypsies
that they came from a miscellany
Iran and the Middle
East.
to be no single group or tribe
could claim descent.
of tribes and grouped
together
The map produced
by McDowell
the routes of their mainly westward
gives estimates*
It is said
later in
Nobody seems to know why they left, why they took
the routes they did or why indeed they became the world's
nomads.
in the
of the distribution
at Appendix
migration
most famous
11 is an attempt
to show
and the table at Appendix
of gypsies
in Europoe
III
at the preset
time.
*Gypsies:
Thomas Acton
source
2
By the fourteenth century gypsies had penetrated into Eastern Europe and by
the fifteenth century had arrived in North-West Europe. It is said that it
was in Germany that the name "gypsy" originated:
A group of them is said to
have arrived at a German princeling's court in 1417, claiming to have
escaped from Muslim persecution in the Middle East or, as the Germans called
it "Little Egypt" and by gradual corruption of "Egypt" the word "gypsy"
arose.
8. The first record of gypsies in England is in 1514 (some 500 years after
they are said to have left India). Almost from the first they became hunted
as outlaws who defied authority and generally terrified the local
population. Henry VIII decreed by Royal Act that any further immigration of
these "outlandysshe People callynge themselves Egyptians" should be banned
and he ordered those already in the country to leave, since they 'had
committed many and haynous Felonyes'.
9. The same story of banishment and open persecution was prevalent over most
of Europe at that time and it is remarkable that they survived at all. The
old Gypsy Acts with their harsh penalties lasted for over 200 years in
England until repealed under George III in 1783.
10. In the nineteenth century, greatly influenced by the ideas of the French
Revolution and the great Romantic Movement in the Arts, there was a
tremendous interest in gypsies from a wide variety of people eg writers such
as George Borrow and composers such as Liszt and Brahms.
From being known
as outlaws, felons and child-snatchers, they almost overnight became
mysterious harbingers of romance and legend, endowed with almost
supernatural powers. It is from this time that the theory of their origins
in India seems to have originated and this, of course, fitted in well with
their new image.
3
11. The main reason for believing
language.
The gypsy language
it spoken by gypsies
linguists
language.
is known as Romany and the different
throughout
and scholars
that there is an Indian connection
Other racial similarities
languages,
Irish and Scottish
gypsies
explanations
or Indian language.
very little
So, for their origins,
life of Europe during
In the fourteenth
century,
feudal ties and take up a nomadic
and the
as their
relationship
other
In the fifteenth
villeins
existence,
and sixteenth
in a structured
society
is connected
with
the Middle Ages and later
and serfs would escape
centuries
with the slow break up
from their old style of life
and had to seek ways of existing.
Most hired their
as wage labour but it may well be that some could have become
ancestors
of those whom we
know as gypsies
today. Descriptions
the Middle Ages are filled with a great diversity
jugglers,
tumblers,
singers.
Le Roy Ladurie
shepherds,
tight rope walkers,
unemployed
and misfits'
The recent move amongst
very ordinary
in 'Montaillou'
their
living as best they could on
of the feudal system, many more became detached
services
are concerned,
theory about the origin of gypsies
changes in the economic
their wits.
to identify
Indian
have to be found.
12. A less popular
centuries.
by
with an original
are more difficult
'Shelta' and 'Gammon', have apparently
with any Romany
forms of
Europe have been studied extensively
who see a direct relationship
theory falls down where
is
of fairs in
of life - fortune
tooth-pullers.
the
travelling
tellers,
musicians.
talks of 'the flood of migrants.
which ebbed and flowed across France.
some historians
to discover
what life was like at a
level might reveal yet more about gypsy origins
in the Middle
Ages.
13. More recently
dispossessed
resulted
gypsies
after the Enclosure
in wholesale
too far to believe
of the modern
could have resulted
Acts.
dispossession
Certainly
the Highland
and it would not stretch
that some of these landless
Scottish
from among those who were
peasants
clearances
the imagination
became the ancestors
Gypsy.
4
14. In Ireland a Commission on Itinerancy set up in 1960 said in its Report
that 'few of the itinerants in Ireland are of Romany or Gypsy origin' and
suggested that perhaps they might be descendants of the remnants of Irish
tribes dispossessed in the various plantations of the English in Ireland; or
the descendants of the journeying craftsmen and metal workers who travelled
the country centuries ago; or again the descendants of those driven to a
wandering way of life by the famines of the last century. The Commission's
Report concluded that it was likely that a combination of all these factors
to a greater or lesser degree, was responsible for the greater number of
those now on the road.
15. These various theories all contain an element of conjecture and none
would seem to point very clearly to any definable racial identity. The life
style of the gypsies today may give more of a clue to their real identity.
(ii)
The Gypsy Way of Life:
16. There are three main sources of information about the gypsy way of
life.
17. The first and perhaps the most important source which had the greatest
influence on people's minds was started by George Borrow in such writings as
Lavengro and Romano Lavo-lil.
This approach was followed through the
nineteenth century by Hoyland, Leland and Francis Hinds Groome and others
(see Bibliography at Appendix I).
In this century this tradition has been
carried by WaIter Starkie, Brian Vesey~Fitzgerald, Dominic Reeve,
G E C Webb, and Charles Duff who were for the most part idiosyncratic
country gentlemen who had a special regard for particular gypsies.
Much of
their writing is very interesting and they had obviously spent a great deal
of time observing and sometimes living with gypsies. But as with earlier
5
nineteenth
century writings
subjective,
on the subject,
giving a particularly
romantic
18. The second source has derived
anthropologists.
from the sociologists
vivid reading
knowledge
(see Bibliography).
but they have considerably
Report
of
recent book
These do not make for
increased
our
derives from the passing of the Caravan
Sites Act in 1968 which has led to increased
variety of local authority
architects
invaluable
in the MHLG's
of gypsy matters.
19. The third source of information
planners,
and
up by such studies as Judith Oakley's
and David Sibley's wider analysis
objective
tinge to the gypsy way of life.
This approach was much in evidence
1967 and has been followed
particularly
theirs tended to be highly
officers
and health
fund of practical
20. These three sources
contact
between gypsies
such as caravan site wardens,
officers.
knowledge
These officials
about gypsies
identifiable
teachers,
have built up an
and their way of life.
confirm that there is a particular
known as gypsies who are readily
and a
group of people
from other caravan
dwellers
and others who live nomadically.
21. A most important
characteristic
of gypsies,
from other groups who may superficially
to a gypsy way of life.
of life.
Children
the particular
them different
them, is that they are born
From birth a gypsy child is inculcated
work side by side with their parents
trade the parents
are following.
early to be wary of the housedwelling
separateness
resemble
which makes
community.
in that way
and early on learn
Gypsy children
are taught
They are made aware of the
of their lives and this is often reinforced
by cleanliness
rituals and beliefs.
6
22. To gypsies travelling is an ideal way of life which is inherited rather
than accquired.
Gypsies are always self-employed and despise wage earning.
They also appear to be very skilful at seeking new employment opportunities;
for example with the drying up of agricultural and rural occupations, they
quickly turned to the more lucrative fields of scrap dealing, tarmacadaming
and carpet dealing.
23. It seems that most gypsies live in single family units; they marry early
with a minimum of courtship, and although they may associate loosely with
others,each family will usually budget separately. They do not associate
easily in large groups and feuds and rows between them are not uncommon.
Their individualism sometimes makes it difficult to see them as a
homogeneous group of people with common characteristics.
24. The characteristic way of life of gypsies is not easily reproduced by
those who have not had direct experience of it and not born into it.
It is
hardly surprising in the circumstances that gypsies are recognisable as such
by those who are familiar with them and deal with them directly over a
period of time.
Hippies, dropouts and other housedwellers who take to the
road are easily distinguished from gypsies by local authority officials and
others who have experience of dealing with gypsies.
25. However, there is a popular notion that within the group of people
called gypsies there are some that are more real than others.
The next
section examines this idea and discusses whether it may have any credence.
C.
THE REAL GYPSY - MYTH OR REALITY
'Their features are dark, their locks long, black and shining and their
eyes are wild; they are admirable horsemen, but they do not sit in the
7
saddle in the manner
of common jockeys,
it, like gulls upon the waves;
they seem to float or hover upon
two of them mere striplings,
third is a very tall man with a countenance
heroically
but the
beautiful,
but
wild, wild, wild'.
26. That was how George Borrow described
and D H Lawrence writing
some gypsies
in his short story
'The Virgin
eighty years later is no less romantic when he says
a gypsy, one of the black, loose-bodied,
in 'Lavengro'
handsome
in 1851
and the Gypsy'
'the man in the cart was
sort ••• and his pose was
loose, his gaze insolent
in its indifference.
He had a thin black moustache
under his thin, straight
nose, and a big silk handkerchief
of red and yellow
tied round his neck'.
27.
Paintings
frontispiece)
believed
too (as the one by Sir Alfred Munnings
show an enviable
free and handsome
shows on the
idealised
life style
to be led by gypsies.
28. It was writers
true gypsies
such as Borrow who first implanted
leading
has been maintained
a blameless,
carefree
by Vesey-Fitzgerald,
the idea of a breed of
life. In this century,
Webb and Charles
the idea
Duff amongst
others who wrote warm, vivid cameos of gypsy life drawn from their personal
experiences
with particular
in his Supplementary
Gypsies'
says
to his translation
(1963) gives an uncompromising
'are, collectively,
Britain'.
that
Notes
groups of families.
Charles
of Jean-Paul
run-down
of as Gypsies
'grossly inaccurate'
'about 10,000 only are true Roms'. The rest according
10,000 Posh rats (half-bloods):
10,000 Didikois
blood) and 20,000 with no gypsy blood at all.
methods
he used to either distinguish
rats, didikois
and travellers',
Clebert's
in
and maintains
to him comprise
(mixed, less than half
There is no mention
the groups or to count them.
says Duff,
'The
on the 50,000 people who he
spoken and often written
He calls this generalisation
Duff in particular
'often make nuisances
of the
'Posh
of
8
themselves to farmers and townfolk: unlike Roms, they have no real
traditions of their own'. 'The true Roms' he says 'are different in
innumerable ways.' It is argued that British Roms follow, in usually less
intense forms, traditions observed by gypsies on the continent. Duff says
they are 'on the whole peaceable people who seldom make nuisances of
themselves and almost invariably follow law abiding occupations of their own
choice'.
Norman Dodds too said that only a fifth of so-called gypsies were
true Romanies. And on his first visit to a large camp in his constituency on
Belvedere Marshes he was told by the main gypsy there that only a quarter on
the site were real gypsies, the rest were interlopers whose misdeeds rubbed
off on the 'real"gypsy.
29. Thomas Acton in 'Gypsy Politics and Social Change (1974) actually
identifies no less than 18 different types.
However, he gives little
information on numbers in each group, or how they can be objectively
identified.
30. Duff and Acton would appear to have categorised gypsies by defining them
in terms of degrees of blood purity.
An associated idea has been that any
dilution of the so-called 'pure' Romany blood is thought to cause gypsy
behaviour to become erratic aridtheir way of life to show signs of
distintegration.
However, this attitude is sometimes used by gypsies
themselves when they denigrate others by denying them gypsy status while
claiming that status for themselves.
It was common in the fifties for
gypsies wishing to dissociate themselves from others who were being a
nuisance by saying 'Ah they're didikois~ not like us real Romanies.'
Nowadays this is rarely heard: it is more likely to be 'Ah they're Irish' or
even 'they're housedwellers'.
Gypsies, like other groups will unite against
those of their group whose activities they disapprove of or can be seen to
be giving them a bad name.
Without written records, it is quite impossible
to trace a person's ancestry and without written proof 'membership' of a
certain group within the gypsy family is not sustainable.
9
31. The MHLG survey of 1965, recognised four main groups in the gypsy
community, but for obvious reasons did not distinguish between them.
As the
Report says 'From the Ministry's viewpoint these distinctions were of little
practical importance.
Information was needed about the entire traveller
population in caravans, huts and tents, who in large measure follow a common
way of life making the same demands on land, and meeting the same obstacles
in their search for sites.'
32. The legislation on gypsies does not define gypsies in ethnic or racial
terms. The next section looks at the various official definitions which are
currently in use.
D.
OFFICIAL DEFINITIONS
33. Official definitions of gypsies, either in legislation or in Government
Reports, have shown a degree of generalisation which has sometimes given
rise to unease that the definition is too widely drawn. This has been
particularly so in the case of the definition of gypsy contained in the
Caravan Site Act 1968 where gypsies are defined as 'persons of nomadic habit
of life, whatever their race or origin, but does not include members of an
organised group of travelling showmen, or of persons engaged in travelling
circuses, travelling together as such'.
34. It is now almost 25 years since the word 'gypsy' first appeared in
recent times in an Act of Parliament. Section 127 of the Highways Act 1959
states that 'if without lawful authority or excuse ••• a hawker or other
itinerant trader or gypsy ••• encamps on a highway, he shall be guilty of an
offence'. In March 1967 in Mills v Cooper the argument concerned who should
be included within the term gypsy. The definition in the Shorter Oxford
Dictionary was quoted. The sixth edition (1976) of the Concise Oxford
Dictionary defines a gypsy as 'a member of a wandering race (called by
themselves Romany) of Hindu origin with dark skin and hair living especially
10
by basket making, horse-dealing, fortune telling etc and speaking a language
related to Hindi'. But it was held by the three judges in the above case
that the word 'gypsy' in the context of Section 127 of the Highways Act
1959, were not restricted to members of the Romany race, but meant persons
leading a nomadic existence without fixed abode. Lord Chief Justice Parker
said 'that a man is of the Romany race ••• something which is really too
vague of ascertainment, and impossible to prove'. Lord Justice Diplock
agreed with this. He posed the question 'How pure blooded a Romany must one
be to fall into this definition?' He supposed that Section 127 should be
strictly construed as requiring pure Romany descent. But as he said 'members
of this race first appeared in England not later than the beginning of the
sixteenth century, and have not in the intervening centuries been notorious
for the abundance of their written records, it would be impossible to prove
Romany origin even as far back as the sixteenth century, let alone through
the earlier centuries of their peripatetic history from India to the shores
of this island'. He concurred with Chief Justice Parker that a gypsy should
be defined as 'a person without fixed abode who leads a nomadic life,
dwelling in tents or other shelter, or in caravans or other vehicles'. He
also thought it unlikely that Parliament in passing the Highways Act 1959
,
had it in mind to 'discriminate against persons, by reason of their racial
origin alone'.
35. In 1967 the Government published 'Gypsies and Other Travellers' which
was a report of a study carried out in 1965-66 by the then Ministry of
Housing and Local Government referred to above in paragraph 31. This was a
comprehensive document which set out for the first time a careful and
detailed analysis of the problems that gypsies have,and the problems they
cause.
It put forward solutions for dealing with these problems
particularly that of site provision.
36. The Report discussed quite fully the distinction drawn between "true
Romanies" or "real" gypsies and the rest and the fact that sympathy is often
11
expressed
for the former and not for the latter. It notes that the most
widespread
attitude
objections
to the real Romanies,
true gypsies
is typified
olive-skinned
resourceful,
of real Romanies,
and that,
they have in mind the
gypsy family living in a gaily painted horse-drawn
proud and
contact with the housedwe11er.
The Report
called gypsies.
transport,
of scrap-dealing
modern
caravans
Indian sub-continent
disruption
and have migrated
by the Report.
the nomadic
gradually
However,
occupations
in the effects
gypsy way of life), poshrats,
importance:
way of life, making
half-Romany,
of enclosures,
the Irish
house shortage.
ancestry
Romanies,
but who have adopted
ha1f-mumper
and didicoi,
huts and tents, who in large measure
on land and meeting
the
and says
are of little
was needed about the entire
the same demands
the
(Drop-outs
The Report distinguishes
point of view, these distinctions
information
in caravans,
seems to have
casual labour force of the 19th century,
were not mentioned.)
that "From the Ministry's
across Europe
it also says that there are some
(groups with no claims to Romany
population
have now turned
some time ago in the North of the
of two world wars and the resultant
and the unemployed
practical
of
and the more profitable
originated
gypsies who have their origins
potato famine,
of gypsies
that such
and roadwork.
The theory that gypsies
been accepted
The great majority
from a
accepted
do exist but that they are now a very small proportion
to motorised
numpers
from living this sort of life in
spend their time on rural crafts and draw their water
those commonly
37.
but these people are not
away deep in the woods, where the family,
stream, without
families
"I have no
said that this attitude was misconceived
when people speak favourably
caravan hidden
comment:
the true gypsies,
and they must be prevented
this area". The Report
handsome
by the following
traveller
follow a common
the same obstacles
in their search for sites".
38. The information
in this Report
Sites Act 1968. This legislation
formed the background
carried
to the Caravan
forward the High Courts
view that
12
gypsies are a class of people rather than an ethnic group it also underlined
the conclusions of the Ministry's own Report that distinctions between
different types of gypsies are of little practical importance.
Consequently
gypsies are defined in Part 11 of the Act as 'persons of nomadic habit of
life, whatever their race or origin'.
39. Sir John Cripps was asked to investigate the workings of the 1968 Act by
the then Secretary of State for the Environment, and his report was
published in December 1976. He was concerned about the statutory definition
of a gypsy and had invited suggestions for an improved definition from many
of the people that he questoned. But, as he said, nowhere was this challenge
taken up. It appeared to him that no one was inconvenienced in practice by
lack of precision in the statutory definition and he reached the conclusion
that there was no need for any change in the definition.
In para 1.9 of
his Report Cripps said he assumed that the aim of the promoters of the 1968
Act was to secure the provision of sites for families, at least one member
of whom was brought up in the gypsy way of life. He says he uses the term
"gypsy" to include Romanies, didikois, mumpers, tinkers and any such persons
of nomadic habits who travel about the country in caravans or tents.
40. A particularly interesting point noted by Cripps was that most of the
officers employed by local authorities concerned with gypsies had not been
inconvenienced
in practice by a lack of precise definition.
41. In 1981 the Commission for Racial Equality published a Report ~
~
in
respect of Four Formal Investigations made by them into alleged
discrimination against a gypsy family in Brymbo (N Wales). The case
concerned the housing of a gypsy by the local council and the alleged
pressure by local residents not to do so on account of the fact that he was
a gypsy. The Commission also investigated alleged pressure against the
setting up of a gypsy site in South Wales and are apparently now looking at
13
a case of a landlord who has a sign outside his public house saying 'No van
dwellers will be served'.
42. In respect of the first case concerning the rehousing of a gypsy family
(September 1981) they say
'We take the view that gypsies in the UK •••
constitute an ethnic minority group and as such are protected against
discrimination under the Race Relations Act 1976'. (Para 1.2). However,
whether gypsies are a 'racial group' defined by references to 'ethnic
origins' within the meaning of the Race Relations Act 1976 has not been
tested in the Courts.
43. In a recent case in the House of Lords (Mandla and Another v Lee and
Others March 24 1983), the question of what characterised a racial group was
gone into in some detail. Their lordships said 'that for a group to
constitute an ethnic group in the sense of the 1976 Act, it had to regard
itself, and be regarded by others as a distinct community by virtue
ofcertain characteristics. Some of those characteristics were essential;
others were not essential, but one or more of them would commonly be found
and would help to distinguish the group from the surrounding community'.
44. The essential conditions were defined as (1) a long shared history, of
which the group was conscious as distinguishing it from other groups, and
the memory of which it keeps alive and (2) a cultural tradition of its own,
including family and social customs and manners, often but not necessarily
associated with religious observance.
45. Their lordships also mentioned five more characteristics which could be
relevant viz (3) either a common geographical origin or descent from a small
number of common ancestors (4) a common language, not necessarily peculiar
to the group (5) a common religion different from that of neighbouring
14
groups or from the general community surrounding it (6) a common literature
peculiar to the group (7) being a minority or being an oppressed or a
dominant group within a larger community.
46.
Some of these characteristics might well apply to the whole range of
gypsies from the so-called Romany through to Irish tinker although they
might be found less applicable to dropouts and hippies.
47. Legislation and government reports have adopted a wide definition for
the term gypsy and this does not seem to have inconvenienced those dealing
with gypsies on a day-to-day basis.
People of nomadic habit, other than
gypsies identified as such by local authority officials have, so far as is
known, made little or no attempt to get themselves accommodated on gypsy
sites.
Conversely, however, in some instances, gypsy families who have
settled down on sites and could be seen as no longer 'nomadic' and therefore
paradoxically, not subject to the legislation.
Examples of this sometimes
occur in Planning Inspectors decisions concerning private sites for
gypsies.
Cases under the Race Relations Act 1976 and the recent House of
Lords ruling on characteristics for identifying an ethnic group could be
relevant to any future definition of a gypsy in the future.
E.
THE OPTIONS
48. This study seems to indicate three possible options:
The first is to
leave the definition as it stands at present in the legislation.
The second
possibility is to attempt to satisfy the popular idea that there is such a
person as a 'real' gypsy and that others should be excluded and the third
is to make no special provision for
people called "gypsies" so letting them
make their way as best they can with the rest of the population.
15
(1)
Staying with the existing definition:
49. There is occasionally a feeling of unease about the current definition
of gypsy contained in the legislation, relating as it does to the life style
of a particular group of people.
This study finds that there is, (and has
been) a group of people called gypsies who lead a distinctive way of life.
Both nineteenth century literature and recent studies confirm this.
Moreover, those most closely in contact with gypsies nowadays (especially
local authority officials) seem to have little difficulty in identifying
them.
The distinctive way of life has various observable characteristics
such as up-bringing, self-employment, a separateness from the rest of
society and a belief in travelling.
These charactistics make it relatively
easy for them to be distinguished from drop-outs, and others, including the
unemployed who sometimes take to the road.
Thus although some argue that the present definition is unsatisfactory, in
practice it seems to work well and only those who are gypsies are
benefiting from the provisions of the Caravan Sites Act.
(ii)
A "real" gypsy:
Another argument against the present definition of
gypsy is that it includes the whole range of gypsy life from true Romany
through to the Irish tinker.
Some argue that only the true Romany should
benefit from the Caravan Sites Act, although what should happen to the
others who live in caravans (and have done so for a ~umber of generations)
appears rarely, if ever to be considered.
This study finds that although the literature and current comentators on
gypsy life talk about different types of gypsies there is no possible way of
distinguishing them.
There are no written records relating to ancestry and
without these identification would have to rely on a person's claim to be a
Romany.
It would be virtually
impossible to disprove or prove such a claim
where this challenged.
16
Thus although the idea of identifying true Romanies among the gypsy
population is a popular notion, it is quite impracticable.
(iii) Abandoning any definition at all:
This option should not be dismissed out of hand.
Some people find it
incongruous that a relatively tiny group of people pursuing of their own
volition what seems an alien and altogether extraordinary way of life should
have special legislative provisions.
Were it not for the very real problems
that ensue when gypsies park their caravans illegally, they would probably
have been left to make out as best they could as other minorities do.
Gypsies wish to live in caravans and appear genuinely distressed at the
prospect of living in houses.
Up to the present, successive governments
have accepted this situation and indeed the Caravan Sites Act 1968 was an
acknowledgement that gypsies have a particular right to be supported in
pursuing their way of life.
F.
CONCLUSIONS:
There would be considerable advantages in having a clear and indisputable
definition of gypsy in the legislation. Such a course would allay suspicion
that other people were taking advantage of legislative provisions which was
not meant for them.
This study has looked into the possibilities of this
and of dra~ing a tighter definition so as to include only 'real' gypsies.
The study finds that the group of people known as gypsies have a
distinctive, way of life which is easily identifiable by those who work with
gypsies.
Gypsies are not easily confused with those who superficially may
resemble them by living in caravans.
There seems little point therefore in
17
changing the legislative definition for the purposes of excluding
non-gypsies.
However, this study found that although there was a group of gypsies called
Romanies or 'real' gypsies, without written records there could be no
verifiable way of proving or disproving a person's claim that they were such
a gypsy.
In any case even if it were possible to identify such gypsies as
Romanies, there was still the question of what provisions should be made for
other gypsy caravan dwellers not within the Romany category. In Eastern
Europe the acccommodation problem has been tackled by housing gypsies.
18F
APPENDIX
I
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(This bibliography
is listed in date order of publication and comprises
the most important
books written
about gypsies
in the last 150-odd years.
The ones
marked with an asterisk have been read for the purposes
of this study.)
HOYLAND:
The Gypsy - London 1816
GEORGE BORROW:
Lavengro - Murray 1851
* GEORGE BORROW: The Romany Rye - Murray 1857
C G LELAND:
The English Gypsies and their Language 1873
C G LELAND:
The Gypsy - 1882
G SMITH:
Gypsy Life - 188G
A McCORMICK:
The Tinker Gypsies - 1907
J SAMPSON (edited):
The Wind on the Heath - 1930
W STARKIE:
Raggle-Taggle - 1933
* D H LAWRENCE: The Virgin and the Gypsy - 1930
* B VESEY-FITZGERALD:
Gypsies of Br"itain - an introduction to their History - 1944
R CROFT-COOKE:
The Moon
in my Pocket;
Life with
the Romanies - 1948
DOMINIC REEVE:
Smoke in the Lanes - 1958
* C DUFF: A Mysterious People - 1965
(Translated
DUFF)
C
* J P CLEBERT:
The Gypsies
London 1963
* N iv1 DODDS:
GYPsies, Oidikois and other Travellers 1966
* G E C WEBB: Gypsies, the Secret People - 1960
* MHLG and WO: Gypsies and other Travellers - HMSO 1967
* B McDOWELL: Gypsies, Wanderers of the World - 1970
* JEREMY SANDFORD: Gypsies - 1973
* TfIOf'lAS
ACTON:
Gypsy Pol itics and Soc ial Change - 1974
* ADAMS, OAKLEY, MORGAN and SMITH: Gypsies and Government
Policy in England:
1975
* SIR JOHN CRIPPS: Accommodation for Gypsies: A Report
on the Workings
of the Caravan
Sites Act 1968
HMSO 1976
* DAVID SIBLEY: Outsiders in Urban Societies - 1981
* TH0I1AS ACTON: Gypsies - 1981
~ JUDITH OAKLEY:
The Traveller Gypsies - 1983
*
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AFGHANISTAN
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ALGERIA
LIBYA
~UNITED
:
ARAB
REPUBLIC
INDIA
..................
'.'.
'
.
.
:
.....;..
SUDAN
.....
-The westward migration of gypsies
""
'.
CHINA
Hungary
350,000
Italy
60,000
USSR
200,000
Portugal
30,000
Bulgaria
400,000
W Germany
50,000
Czechoslovakia
300,000
Britain
80,000*
Poland
60,000
Greece
50,000
Albania
60,000
Netherlands
40,000
E Germany
20,000
Ir~land
12,000
Switzerland
12,000
Eastern
Europe
*
DOE's
Cripps
Source:
2,500,000
Western
Europe
940,000
latest figure for England = 30,000;
Report
(1976) quoted
Gypsies
but the
50,000.
by Thomas Acton
1981 L-The
lower figure
has been used_I.