Gipsy Dan Boswell

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                                Dundee evening telegraph Tuesday 16 January 1912


                                                  EXPERIENCES IN GIPSY LIFE.     


"Yes, it is quite true that I am known as the gipsies' parson," said the Rev. George Hall, rector of Ruckland, to a press representative, who succeeded in unearthing him in the most inaccessible corner of Lincolnshire. " I don't minister to them; but whenever any are about this way they come  to my church, and invariably hold their books upside down while otherwise endeavour to conform to the ritual of the service. “
 In my early clerical days I used to delight in the visit to the fairs, horse markets, and even race-courses, where I could meet gipsies, and in that way got acquainted with the representatives of all the old Romany families, the Boswells, the Grays, the Herons, the Smiths, the Lovells, the Lees, the Locks, and Woods, so that when the Gipsy Lore Society was formed I was glad of the opportunity to specialise on the genealogy of the Romany families to be found in this country, while colleagues were devoting themselves to the customs, folk lore, and language of the nomads." The Rector of Ruckland gives his friends a good character for general honesty. "As a race," he says, "they have not been addicted to deeds of violence. Their sins are small ones—picking up a rabbit or hare, taking a potato or a turnip; that is the extent of their pilfering." The Rector believe it would-be a great misfortune if the gipsies were forced by the persecution of local bodies to settle, because when driven to town life they invariably  drift into the slums and become degenerate.

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                                    The scotsman Monday 20 september 1915
 
                                                      The Gypsy 's Parson .


 His Experiences and Adventures . By the Rev . George Hall , Rector of Ruckland , Lincolnshire . 10 s . 6 d . net . London : Sampson Low . Marston , & Co . The-Gipsy has become a cult of which Borrow is the honoured high priest though the more meticulous Romanists of later times are not inclined to take him as a Romany scholar at his own valuation . Links with Lavengro are numerous in this attractive and anecdotic narrative of hobnobbing with the Egyptian folk in many parts of England , and the worshippers of Borrow will, find reappearing in these pages the descendants of those personages whom the great magician has immortalised . But Mr Hall knows the Romanis perhaps more intimately than Borrow himself , and though he has not the same magic of presentation , he can make them and their ways interesting.

The Gipsies who figure in his narrative are probably truer to type than those seen through the distorting and magnifying imagination of their first great discoverer in literature . Mr Hall has gathered up much of their lore , and fixed it for future generations, to enjoy and ponder. He offers no speculations as to the origins  of the mysterious  race, but he chronicles the views of one of themselves on the matter .

 - Alma Boswell refused to believe that the gipsies came from India . " far more likely , " said she , " we came from the land of Bethlehem . Being a rashai ( parson ) , you'll know the Bible , I suppose , from cover to cover . Well , you ' ve heard of the man called Cain . Now don ' t the old Book say that he went away and married a black-eyed camper-gal, one of our roving folks ? I reckon we sprang from them . We was the first people what the dear Lord made, and mebbe we shall be the last on earth" .

                        "When all the rest is wore out, there'll still be a few of our folks
                                             travelling with tents and waggons. "


 Alma classified the Gipsies as follows :


 ( 1 ) The . Black Romanitshels, " the real thing"

( 2 ) the Didnkais , or halfbreeds , who pronounce the Romany words
        dik akai ( look here ) as did akai

 ( 3 ) hedge crawlers or mumpers , "There's a lot of them up London way", ' said Alma,
       " We'd scorn to go near the likes of them—a tshikli / dirtv ) lot . not Gipsies at all "


 My Mother would talk  of certain Gipsys and true She would refer to them as Romany, you either understand what I’m telling you or you don’t, no writer that I have read, the lot of them, not a soul, evan understands the truth when it was laid bare beneath their eyes, they never felt the truth, if they did I would have felt it when I read their words,  people in these times, use words like Romany, they understand words from the teaching of others , Gipsys were on the run for hundreds of years, all their descendant’s in the many generations down through the century’s no matter how much their tank was full, they were told, yes, they were told , what is what ,who is who, people can think what they will,  say what they please, sure I'm an ole scrag end and nothing at all, now isn't that the truth of it

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                                          Dundee daily telegraph Tuesday 3 may



                                                  THE GIPSIES TRANSYLVANIA.


(From Blackwood's Magazine for May,  "The gipsies" religion is of the vaguest description.   Two clergymen, the one Catholic, the other Protestant, visiting a gipsy confined in prison, were both endeavouring with much eloquence to convert him to their respective Churches. The gipsy appeared to be listening to their arguments with much attention, and when both had finished speaking, he asked, of Which of the two gentlemen can give him cigar ?

 One of the two being in the advantageous position of gratifying this modest desire, the scale was thereby turned in favour of the Church he recommended, and the other clergyman was sent away, doubtless with the bitter reflection that for lack of a pennyworth of tobacco be had failed to secure an immortal soul.




                                         Middlesex chronicle Saturday 15 august 1914



                                                             GIPSY PROPHECY. ?


It is recalled at this stage of the European conflict that a long time ago a German news- gave an account of a supposed interview of the Kaiser with a gipsy, when he was a young man.

 “Germany,” she told him will have Great War in 1914, “and.” added, ominously, ‘‘Germany will go when she is ruled by an Emperor who mounts his horse on the wrong side,
his Heir will perish on the scaffold.”
It is sufficient, if one be at all superstitious, that the Kaiser, owing to his lame arm, has to mount his horse on the off side.

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                                    Nottingham evening post Wednesday 14 June 1916


                                                    WORK-SHY & UNREGISTERED.
 

                                      GRAVE CHARGES AGAINST NOTTINGHAM YOUTHS.
 


Two described as van-dwellers, were remanded at the Nottingham Shire Hall this morning upon charges of having obtained money by false pretences from a local engineering firm. the method adopted was to obtain a check on entering the works and then to leave at an opening where an extension is taking place. The men did no work at all, and on re-entering the works and passing through the time-office tendered the checks, each being paid according to the number of hours these had been in their possession. In the case of the first defendant, William Smith, the Deputy Chief  constable said he was unattested and unregistered, and had told him he did not intend to join the army. " I think," said Mr. Harrop. " that I can find him a better situation than this." The other defendant was a youth named Ambrose Bacon, who said he was only 17, but Mr. Harrop remarked that he had been unable find his birth certificate.

 He was, however, quite willing to " join  the army. "



 

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                                       WESTERN TIMES MONDAY 11 SEPTEMBER1916



                                                              THE SLACKERS



                                         Raid on a Gipsy Gamp on Exmoor on Saturday


The Press Association, telegraphing last night, says: Among the raids on Saturday night for men believed to be evading military service, was one on a gipsy camp on 'Exmoor. Two men were arrested, and subsequently fined £2  at Barnstaple and handed over to the military authorities. Many other men hiding on Exmoor evaded capture.

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                                                Liverpool echo 13 January 1917



                                                            GIPSIES RAIDED.



                                              MIDNIGHT VISIT TO THE CARAVAN.



Three young men were fined and handed over to the army authorities by the St. Helens magistrate’s to-day. Inspector Anders and several constables, at 11.30 last night, raided some gipsy caravans near St. Helens Hospital They found a father and mother and one son, who said he was over the age, but did not know when or where he was born. A constable who searched another van found two young sons hiding in boxes. They were under the impression that the constable was alone, but found they were mistaken. The men had earned their livelihood for years as hawkers, but had no licence. The eldest brother was fined 50s, and the other 40s each, and they were handed over to the military.

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                                            Liverpool echo Friday 19 January 1917



                                                         CARAVAN SEARCHED.
 


                                  GIPSY HAWKERS HANDED TO MILITARY AT ST. HELENS.
 


Alfred and Walter Smith, gipsy hawkers, were brought before the St. Helens magistrates today as absentees from the Army reserve and failing to register.
 Inspector Anders said he and other officers raided some caravans on the waste land off Fleet-lane. Parr. In one van there was Smith's father and mother and two young women, but they denied that anyone else was inside. A search was made, and in a cupboard at the end of the van with a huge kettle in front of him was Alfred Smith, a married man, with a wife and three children. In another van, after a search, another man was found. Alfred had £41 in his possession. The men's father produced his registration card, as he was over military age, but the young men had never registered. Alfred Smith said he and his wife had three children and several horses that wanted looking after. He was a man of business. The Chief Constable. Why should you skip out of it? Both men were fined £4 and handed to the military authorities.

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                                       Kent and Sussex courier Friday 29 march 1918



                                                           A GIPSY ABSENTEE.


 Joseph Stanley (29), a gipsy, of no fixed abode, was charged with being am absentee  under the Military Service Act, at Four Elms, March, and further with failing to produce a certificate, as required, under the National Registration Act. Prisoner pleaded guilty, and P.c. Tippett stated that he searched a gipsy van at Four Elms, and found the prisoner concealed in the back. He had no papers to show why he was not in the Army, so arrested him. A fine of £2 was imposed, and he was ordered be handed over to the military.

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                                            Liverpool echo Saturday 26 august 1916



                                                           LIFE IN THE FIELDS.


The Oxted police have been rounding up the gipsies who have evaded the Military Service Act They raided an encampment at Limpsfield, but several men got away.  Henry Collings was captured, and when he appeared before the bench he expressed his ignorance to the registration. At the same court  giving the name of George Marsh, who had failed to join up under the Military Service Act. presented appearance. he had a head of long matted hair, and a beard that had never been trimmed, while his clothes were ragged and primitive. He was found in a field, and evidently had but a faint idea of the war. Expressed ignorance of registration, and stated he had lived in the fields. Defendant who was not short of money, was sent with the military to the recruiting office.