A history of Gypsy/Travellers
A History of Gypsy/Travellers by John Mathew Miller
Gypsies and Travellers are a very unique people. Our history spans over a thousand years. Many Gypsies and Travellers migrated to the UK to find better lives.
Around a hundred years ago my Granny’s family came over from Sicily, Italy, they left to start a new life in Britain and things were getting tough due to Mussolini’s fascist rule> My Grandfathers family are supposedly came to Scotland hundreds of years ago and took the name McPhee and pretended to be Viking invaders.
Most Travellers nowadays live in trailers (caravans) but it wasn’t always like that. Around the 60s trailers became more and more popular. Gypsy/Travellers used to live in vardos (wagons). some still do but it is not as popular as before. There are two types of wagons, bow top and square top. wagons are painted with patterns, fruit and swishes are quite popular. Before wagons and trailers people lived in gate tents, a round tent made of canvas to keep out water, but rod tents would be used too and were held up by sticks. The materials used for the tent was canvas or other waterproof materials but the not so well off used anything to keep water out like woven bags and sheets. The earliest home for Gypsies were caves which made good homes and places to hide from persecution and authorities.
The Gypsies got their name from King James VI. He called us Gypsies after mistaking us for Egyptians due to our dark skin. The name for Gypsies before that , and is still sometimes used for today was Romany/Romanichal.
The date of when the Travelling people came to the UK is very controversial. A very late date suggests in the late 1500s the Gypsies came to the UK. The most likely is Gypsies started to cross the Channel and the North Sea around Viking and Saxon times. As soon as we came over we weren’t very well liked and never got much work. So some worked in the fields but never got much because it was a seasonal occupation. Many started dockering (palm reading) but that was frowned upon by the authorities. Then horse dealing became very popular with horses such as Cobbs. The buying and selling of horses took place and still does at horse fairs such as Appleby, Stow, St Boswalls and Eddie’s Fair. My Great Grandfather, John McPhee and James McAllister were horse dealers. Also quite common for work was wagon painting and carving. My Great-great Grandfather was also a wagon painter.
The Travellers have become known by mixed coloured horses, this was because of the Great and Second World Wars when many Travellers were forced to give their horses to the army. My Great Granny, Janet McAllister, worked in an ammunition factory and her father James McAllister, a horse dealer, was drafted during the Great War. My Granny, Marina Nicholson’s Grandmother came from Sicily after being harshly treated by Mussolini, this was during the late 1920s, and they played instruments and sold materials for a living.
In today’s world many Travellers work as landscapers and driveway installers like my Grandad, Bobby McPhee. Many Traveller women used to sell clothes, paper roses and teas to help out with family costs. My Granny, Rosie Lowe and her sisters used to do so around Ayrshire where they originally came from in the back of Stranraer.