Romany Life by Frank Cuttriss pub 1915
Frank Cuttriss was in the Forest with the local Travellers and took some wonderfull early pictures and also records some intersting stories and anecdotes,It is however hard to get hold off and rather expensive when you do ,but its now available as a free download i will post the web link when i find it!
Frank Cuttriss was also among the New Forest Gypsies at the turn of this century and wrote "Romany Life, Experienced and Observed During Many Years of Friendly Intercourse With the Gypsies" which has some wonderfull pictures,as well as describing their trades and culture and their style of clothing and even the womens hair styles!.
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The Gorse and The Briar:-By Patrick A. McEvoy Published 1940 Readers Union Limited
Nice little book similar to Dominic Reeves style of writing easy going and straight from the heart as was said to the author at the time,mainly South Wiltshire Travellers usual tales a few names mentioned but would probably
only be recognised by family members ,mainly how the two brothers Patrick and Christopher McEvoy (Christopher also did the illustartions some 8 line drawings of a Romany boy and horse and waggon etc)The two brothers set off to travell across country and in the process meet up with and camp with local Gypsies and even buy a wagon and horse from them ,and travel to the local horse fair with the Gypsies ,some good tales well worth a read if you get hold of it at a reasonable price although printed 1940 ,the tales are from 1934.
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THE GENEALOGY OF THE ROMANY BOSWELLS
Volume 1: The Pedigrees. By Robert Dawson (A4, 142 pages)
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TRAVELLERS & FAIRKEEPERS (Fom the Cotswolds & Vale Of The White Horse To Regions Beyond)
Jim Hayward (SERIES OF SIX BOOKS.)
Part 1 THE BUCKLAND FAMILY "THEIR KITH & KIN" A4(44)Pages
Part 2 ABRAHAM BUCKLAND & and his Children A4 (32)Pages
Part 3 MANTIS BUCKLAND His Kin and their Associates A4(32)Pages
Part 4 ALIBON SMITH "Some of his tribe" With Addenda/Revisions A4 (36)Pages
Part 5 THE SPURRETTS Their Families & Associates.
Part 6 ADDENDA & REVISIONS to parts one to five(28 A 4 Pages)
Limited number available signed & numbered,soft cover stapled.
(These were a Limited self publication so you would need to check if they are still available)
Excellent Genealogical data for any one with Buckland Ancestors and also Smith's once again! Jim has pieced together the major Buckland Line's and followed through with the many marriages between the Smith's,Shaws and
many other Romany families and has also given credit to Terrence Lee where due.
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Gypsies the Secret People By G.E.Webb:-1960
Nice book again mainly south of England but also some general references to the well known English Romanichals In my view worth getting as covers taboos and Culture etc..
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Wanderers in the New Forest by Juliette de Bairacli Levy .1958
The Wells family to name just one are mentioned as well as photos of Dosha Wells and other's . Juliette de Bairacli Levy the Famous Herbalist also lived at Abbotswell in the N/Forest and befriended old Eiza or "black Lizzy" Cooper as she was known "black" being a compliment and referring to Lizzy's pure Gypsy blood line, she along with other Forest Romanies including the Sheen family, can be found in the excellent Wanderers in the New Forest. Juliet writes that she was very touched by the members of the Sheen family who walked miles in the snow from their camp at Millersford Bottom to attend her wedding at the New Forest registrar's office at Ringwood,she also talks of old granny Sheen and her old Gypsy type photos of old wagons which she loved to show people while sat round the fire.
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Also at a much later date Irene Soper author of "The Romany Way" and "My New Forest Home" lived in the same cottage at Abbotswell that Juliette had, and was herself also visited by members of the Cooper family who wanted to see where their granny Liza had spent so much time. The cottage is still there today and is a typical 'picture postcard' cottage, the type much sought after by outsiders for a holiday retreat and alas out side the price of the local inhabitants of the Forest.
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THE GIPSIES' ADVOCATE
very expensive !!but now available as a reprint in their classic series of reprints from the Romany & Traveller Family History Society details below.:-
By James Crabb (A5, 98 pages) Reprint of the Third Edition, originally published in 1832.
The Reverend James Crabb of Southampton tried to encourage others to join him in his attempts to improve the lives of Gypsies in Britain. Although not named, other than William Stanley the evangelist, there are clues to the identity of some of those for whom he provided shelter, education and employment.
If you would like to know what life was like for your Traveller ancestors in the early 1800s, then this is the book to read, particularly if you harbour romantic notions of the 'carefree' Romany of bygone days. Life could be harsh - Crabb was motivated after witnessing a Gypsy being condemned to death while his non-Gypsy accomplice was spared the gallows.
Price including P&P: UK £7.30; Europe £7.80;
Worldwide Airmail £8.50.
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Another book that recorded the Local Forest Romanies at the turn of this century was was Gypsies of the New Forest and other
Tales by H.E.J.Gibbons published in1909,concerning his works for the New Forest Good Samaritan Charity who tried to get the
poor people of the Forest into decent housing often with out much luck , and one notible character was Hannah Lakey who was pictured on a postcard by John Short (Photographer) with her swiggler (pipe) in her mouth and looking rather regal! this was a
famous holiday post card of the Forest and I believe is still on sale Hannah Lakey was regarded at the time as the ' Queen ' of the
New Forest Gypsies. Hannah was in fact the wife of Silas Lakey having married at St Mary's Parish Church Andover on 11th October1841, and they had five children that I know of. She died in 1903 her funeral was attended by a large number of Gypsies
at East Boldre Church where the register reads :- An old Gypsy woman, styled Queen of the Gypsies Hannah Lakey.(nee Mason) Silas
Lakey died much earlier in 1871.
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Another of my favourite books is Gypsies Of The Heath by "The Romany Rawny" aka Betty Gillington and published by Elkin Mathews London 1916 :- Account of the gypsies of the Hampshire moors.
The Barney family feature in the main theme, along with the Stanley family and other related families, their daily life at work and at play, and even Death are covered in a very affectionate way by the author who was obviously very fond of the Romany families she made friends with.Old blind Solomon Stanley who was the matriarch of the Stanley family at that time,and uncle Chawny the king of the camp, Sam and Elenda Barney,and Ellenda's parents Ameline and Britannia and little Athaliah's granny who died in her little apple green caravan,and the funeral with little Athaliah and little Clara Stanley and her handsome mother -one of the tribes of the New Forest, superb in face and figure,the people and the events all explained in perfect dialect ' just how they spoke'.For me personally it captured their lives and character perfectly and of course as I had researched all these people it brought them to life,and its not very often when you do your family history that you will get to read about your ancestors yet alone how they lived their lives.
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Another excellent book is "Tales of the old Gypsies" by Jennifer Davies, it has lots of lovely pictures and family stories told by the Gypsies themselves including Hampshire and Dorset folk as well as the North and Midlands all areas are covered, so well worth a look.
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Gypsies of Britain by Brian Vessey-Fitzgerald 1973 is another must have and as well as mentioning some of the hampshire Gypsies he also covers some of the early History of the Gypsies as well as many extracts from the Journal of the gypsy Lore Society , this book can still be bought for a reasonable price.And I have seen it for as little as £5 on Ebay ,quite a bit of info on the Chilcott/Smith clans and their complicated relationships!
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My Gypsy Days(Recollections of a Romany Rawnie) by Dora.E.Yates Pub 1953 is also another excellent book and also more poignant, as she was also Curator of the Scott Macfie Collection of books on Gypsy Lore which she had largely been instrumental in obtaining for its Library in 1936. Dora's first introduction to Gypsies occurred on Christmas Eve 1903 in a snowstorm on a desolate piece of waste ground at Aintree in Liverpool. Here she met the flamboyant Gypsy character, Kenza Boswell (Mackenzie Boswell, head of the Lancashire clan). There is a description of this meeting in Yate's autobiography My Gypsy Days (1953). She spent many years recording the speech and folktales of the Wood family of Welsh Gypsies, whose members by reason of their isolation still spoke the "deep" inflected Romani, a dialect of Romani which had already died out amongst many Gypsy groups in Western Europe by the early 1900's.This material became the basis for John Sampson's great work The Dialect of the Gypsies of Wales (1926) which is still one of the most authoritative works on the Romani language.
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The way of the Romany is a new book by Fred Price ,with Lots of information about British Romany Gypsies plus 200 photos mainly, members of the price and lee families although other families who have married into the price family are covered, with the people identified and covering many English and Welsh counties and families.There is not alot of writing in the book as it is mainly wonderful photos
but what is Written by Fred Price with added information from Robert Dawson and
Siobhan Spencer. is well worth reading!
Published for Derbyshire Gypsy Liaison Group. Hardback.
Book ISBN: 978-1-903418-56-7 Price: £30.00
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Smoke In The Lanes By Dominic Reeve 1958./ With drawings by Beshlie.
No Place like Home By Dominic Reeve 1960 Forward by Augustas John .O.M.
Whichever Way we Turn : By Dominic Reeve First Published 1964
Dromengro Man of the Road .By Sven Berlin First Published 1971
Virgo In Exile By Sven Berlin First Published 1996

Beneath the Blue Sky
(Paperback) by Dominic Reeve Publisher: Five Leaves Publications Format: Paperback.
ISBN: 1-905512-02-3 Pages: 236 Price: £9.99
Beneath the Blue Sky does not romanticise Romani life but reveals how people have lived, survived – and thrived – at a time of enormous pressure to integrate..
Dominic Reeve is the author of four books on Gypsy/Travelling life – this is his first new book in 40 years.
Now well past retirement age within the “settled community” he continues to work, selling goods from door to door.
Dominic Reeve’s Smoke in the Lanes was a classic book on traditional Gypsy life – this book covers the mechanised years of the last half-century. The above books by Sven and Dominic are mainly about South Country Travellers and as such are a great read for any one roots in these Counties what I love about them as they are wrtten as spoken with the regional accents like "bide he there" cors cuss em ya ols oman" etc so a charming read and you can just see the old folks around the yog cussing at one another or spinning a yarn ,its almost like you are there the old way of speech and old sayings have been captured perfectly including a few swear words!! so its warts and all !!!Families mentioned are the Wells/Hughes/Cooper/light/Barney/Benham/Doe/Stanley/ and odd references to many more .But worth buying for the sheer enjoyment of the antics they get up to in a time when they still had freedom to roam.
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One has to mention of course the Journals of the Gypsy Lore Society abeit very expensisve if you do find a set!!but they are available on CD if you have 2 or 3 hundred pounds to spare!! the newer ones arnt so helpful to a researcher as they cover more modern issues and alot of foreign information on Roma.The most informative issues as regard to genealogical information are the early Series ,now and then they crop up on Ebay I have bought several myself on there ,also missed some at a car boot !!!! my friend told me a whole bin full and she never knew i wanted them !!and they was only a few quid !!!!!!!!!
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The Gypsy Lore Society was founded in May 1888 by a group of scholars who were interested in the songs, stories and language of Romany Gypsies, “with the object of investigating the Gypsy question in as thorough manner as possible”. The results of their efforts were then published in a quarterly journal, with David MacRitchie as Secretary, MacRitchie of the opinion that the primary duty of the Society should be to publish the rich store of knowledge that had already been collected by John Sampson. The first series of the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society ran from 1888-1892.
In 1907, Robert A.S. Macfie was persuaded by a group of scholars and Gypsiologists, which included John Sampson and David MacRitchie, to revive the Society. Based in Liverpool between 1907-1973, many of its most active members were closely associated with the city and the University, in particular John Sampson (1862-1931), R.A. Scott Macfie (1868-1935) and Dora Yates (1879-1974), after whose death the GLS was dissolved. The quarterly Journal was published July 1888-April 1892 (Old series, vols 1-3); July 1907-1916 (New series, vols 1-9); 1922-1973 (3rd series, vols 1-52); 1974-1982 (4th series, vols 1-2).
The collections held at Liverpool University comprise the archive of the Gypsy Lore Society - over 10,000 letters and administrative files relating chiefly to members' Gypsy research and the publication of the journals, plus the Scott Macfie Gypsy Collection - books, manuscripts, photographs, illustrations and press cuttings made by Macfie and other GLS members. The main historical focus of the collections is mid-19th to mid-20th century.
The Gypsy Lore Society, North American Chapter was founded in the United States in 1977, and since 1989 continued as the Gypsy Lore Society. This revived Society has published since 1991, the 5th series of the Journal, which was renamed Romani Studies from 2000.
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Anthony Sampson. THE SCHOLAR GYPSY. THE QUEST FOR A FAMILY SECRET. 1997
I enjoyed this book but mainly because of the "behind the scenes" information about John Sampson and Dora
Yates !! some rather shall we say intimate poems they penned to one another made me see sampson in a new light and Dora come to that !! His grandson has included pictures and also information about the gypsies Sampson befriended in Wales, and mainly the North and Midland Gypsies ,
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