Scottish GypsiesThis is a featured page


There are records of Romany people in Scotland in the early 16th century but it would seem they were there even earlier :
Many Gypsies from this period explained their arrival by saying that they were on a seven year Christian pilgrimage, having been driven out of Egypt by the Saracens, and many sought support from the Royal Courts.


The first recorded reference to "the Egyptians" would appear to be in

1492, in the reign of James 1V When an entry in the Book of the Lord High Treasurer records a payment
"to Peter Ker of four shillings, to go to the King at Hunthall, to get letters subscribed to the 'King of Rowmais'".
Two days after, a payment of twenty pounds was made at the King's command to the messenger of the
'King of Rowmais'.

1502, the 'Earl of Grece' was paid 14 shillings at the king's command.

1505 - April 22 nd - Item to the Egyptianis be the Kingis command, vij lib.(£7)'
1506, - July 5th -Anthonius Gawino, described as the Earl of Little Egypt, received from James IV, letters commending him to the King of Denmark, to which country he was about to sail.
1527 - The trial and subsequent death penalty for a group accused of theft in Aberdeen
1529, - 'King Cristal's' servant was paid £20.
1532, the 'King of Cipre' got, at the command of the king, James V, £100.
1539, Another appearance in court for a group led by George Faw, referred to as 'Erle George callit of Egypt', led to him being in the curious position of being ordered out of Aberdeen whilst, apparently, at the same time being the recipient of a King's Writ in his support.

1540, there is recorded a writ granting protection to 'our lovit Johnnie Faa, Lord and Erle of Littil Egipt' signed by King James V. Johnnie Faa was also granted powers to administer justice upon his people 'conforme to the laws of Egypt'.
They were charged to help Johnnie capture and punish a group of gypsies under the leadership of Sebastaine (or Sebastiane) Lalow and including two men of the name Bailzow. (Bailzow is believed to be Baillie, of which name people appear at Yetholm.) This protection was renewed, in 1553, during the minority of Mary.
1540, a precept was granted in favour of John Wanne, son and heir of the said Johnnie Fall, to hang and otherwise punish all his Egyptian subjects within the kingdom of Scotland.
1541, the Lords of Council, on considering the complaints given in by Johnnie Faa and his brother, and Sebastiane Lowlaw, Egyptians, to the King each against the others, were ordered to depart the kingdom within thirty days after being charged so to do, under pain of death.
1553, having renewed the writ in favour of the gipsy king, Queen Mary granted a respite to Andrew Faa, captain of the Egyptians, George Faa, Robert Faa, his sons, for the murder of Ninian Smaill within the town of Linton.
1571, an Act of stringency was passed upon them and all the hangers-on which they attracted - bards, minstrels and vagabond scholars.
During the next thirty-three years the penalties on the Gypsies increased, just as in England.
The Court Records show how hanging, drowning and being deported were the order of the day for those convicted of being Gypsies. An Act passed in 1579 refers to the gypsies as 'the idle peopil calling themselves Egyptians'.
This Act included the requirement that any person found to be a gypsy was to be nailed to a tree by the ears, and thereafter to have the said ears cut off.
1603, the Privy Council ordered the entire race of gypsies to leave Scotland by a certain date, never to return on pain of death.Banishment from the Court and Exile from Scotland showed that, following a Royal welcome to Scotland, the gypsies became the subject of Acts ordering their removal from Scotland on pain of death.
Many gypsies fled south, to England, though others remained hidden in the Cheviot Hills, which straddle the English/Scottish Borders.
Many gypsies changed their way of life, for example by wearing local clothing, by intermarrying with non-gypsies, and by adopting local surnames, such as Blyth, Campbell, Douglas, Fleckie, Geddes, Gordon, Kerr, Marshall, Rutherford, Ruthven, Shaw, Stewart, Tait, Wilson, Winter and Young. Two names that remained relatively unchanged were Faa and Baillie (or Bailzow). Many Faas settled to the east of the Borders, in Roxburghshire, Berwickshire, East Lothian and Northumberland, while the Ballies were to be found more to the central and western parts, including Selkirk, Tweedsdale, Langholm, Longtown and Lockerbie.


http://www.electricscotland.com/history/gipsies/scottish_gypsies.pdf


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Scottish Gypsies/Travellers

Travellers from other parts of Britain often travel in Scotland.
These include English Romanies or Romanichals, Welsh Kale or Irish Travellers and English Gypsies.
English Gypsies from the north of England may be part of common communities with Scottish Travellers living in the Borders.
Scottish Gypsies/Travellers is an official term, used by the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government.
The slash between Gypsies/Travellers reflects an official awareness of the fact that some families now call themselves Gypsies, while others prefer to call themselves Scottish Travellers.
In the past, people comprising these communities were known as travelling people or Travellers, some of whom called themselves Nawkens or Nachins, or more famously ‘tinklers’ or ‘tinkers’. The term ‘tinker’ is no longer an acceptable term as it is frequently used as a term of abuse.
It is difficult to be clear about the numbers of Scottish Gypsies/Travellers, probably about 15,000, as many are reluctant to self-identify as a Traveller or as a Gypsy for fear of prejudice or official interference.
Some Gypsy/Traveller families travel all the time, living in caravans or trailers, on local authority or privately owned sites and by the roadside. Others may live on the same site for most of the year. Many Gypsy/Traveller families live in houses for part of the year. Others live in house for all of the year, but may move from one house to another.
Whether living a mobile lifestyle or living in a house, Gypsy/Traveller families still have a strong sense of their Traveller identity and of belonging to a community of traditional Travellers. Many Gypsy/Traveller families have a strong commitment to the maintenance of their Traveller identity, life styles and cultures.
Scottish Gypsies/ Travellers oral tradition has given rise to a rich source of storytelling and songs. Many Gypsy/Traveller people speak a form of non-standard Scots, called ‘cant’, which includes many words that have much in common with Romani words. Scottish Traveller cant also contains Gaelic and old Scots words. Scottish Travellers share many cultural features with European Roma communities such as a belief in the importance of family and family descent, a strong valuing and involvement with extended family and family events, a preference for self-employment, and a strong commitment to a nomadic lifestyle; even when living in a house.

Occupational Travellers

Scotland’s largest community of Occupational Travellers, Scottish Showmen or travelling show and fairground families, self-define as business communities, albeit with a strong and distinctive culture well known and enjoyed as the ‘shows’ that regularly travel across Scottish towns and cities. This community is not and does not claim minority ethnic status, and is distinguished from Gypsies/Travellers. Other Occupational Travellers include Circus and bargee families and other waterway family businesses (the latter two groups are most likely to be visitors). As business communities, the families almost by definition travel for work, across Scotland, the rest of the UK and frequently across Europe.

Scottish travelling show and fairground families are based in a yard, mainly in Glasgow’s East End, to which they return for periods of time to catch up with other families. Scottish Showpeople have a strong cultural identity and long proud histories of living and working in Scotland. A very good idea of their lives can be gained from their newspaper, World's Fair or their website: www.worldsfair.co.uk/wf.htm More information is also available at the National Fairground Archive website: http://www.shef.ac.uk/nfa.
The Showmen's Guild website will also provide information about their organisation and how it has governed the setting up of funfairs for over 100 years.
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From Jess Smith. Scotch & Irish Travellers - RomanyJib

I am a Traditional storyteller from Scotland's Perthshire Travelling people. My past lifestyle which is now extinct was working the land. This closeness to nature taught me many things about the body's hidden senses and thankfully I have never lost them.
I have written three books on my life travelling the country in an old bus with parents and seven sisters who came and went over a period spanning ten years. Two of the books, Jessie's Journey and Tales from the Tent were in Scotland’s best-selling list and are now for sale in America and Canada. Book three, Tears for a Tinker, which finishes my journey stories, was published in April 2005.*

Book Description
‘I am a Scottish traveller’ begins Jess Smith’s bestselling account of her childhood as one of Scotland’s travelling people. ‘Ask me where I belong,’ she says: it is ‘wherever the feather falls or the seed is blown.’ She is the proud inheritor of a long gypsy tradition. Her mother was born in a tent, and her aunts and uncles were described on official forms as tinkers, hawkers and itinerants. She herself lived from the ages of 5 to 15 with her parents, sisters and a mongrel dog, in an old blue Bedford bus. They travelled the length and breadth of Scotland, and much of England too, stopping here and there until moved on by the local authorities, or driven by their own instinctive need to travel. By campfires under the unchanging stars they brewed up tea, telling stories and singing songs late into the night.
Jessie’s story describes what it was like to be one of the last of the traditional travelling folk. It is not an idyllic tale: her way of life was outside the margins of respectable society, and that society could be harsh to travellers. It was not easy to get a good education from widely scattered schools; sudden ill-health could present a problem to those who were not registered with any doctor, and the threat of bigoted abuse or even violence was never far away. Despite this, humour and laughter run throughout Jessie’s childhood: her story teems with unforgettable characters and incidents. In more senses than one, this is a magical book: it is full of tales and songs, glimpses of animal and human nature. Jessie’s Journey is seen through the fresh eyes of a girl growing into adulthood, travelling along the roads and the wild places of a Scotland few of us really know.

http://www.jesssmith.co.uk

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Billy Marshall
BILLY MARSHALL was held in high regard by the Galloway Tinklers of whom he was Chief, and even after the lapse of over a century since Billy's death his name and fame are known in every home in Galloway.

In the annuals of the Gypsy race Billy stands pre-eminent on account of his remarkable longevity, and if the facts of his life could be completely laid bare to the gypsiologist, that would enable many a point in dispute with regard to the Gypsy race to be settled.
Billy was both a Tinkler and a Gypsy, and is supposed, besides being a renowned Gypsy Chief, to have been the last of the Pictish Kings.
A study of the languages used by him and his gang should therefore prove an invaluable auxiliary, not only to the philologist in settling whether Billy really was both a Gypsy and a Pict, but also to the gypsiologist in determining the proper degree of relationship of the Scottish Tinklers and Tinkler- Gypsies to the wave of Gypsies which entered Ireland or Great Britain either towards the end of the fifteenth or the beginning of the sixteenth century.
The M'Culloch family, of whom there are at present several branches of landed proprietors in the Stevvaitr)-, seem to have taken a kindly interest in Billy, and in return he appears to have been very grateful to them ; indeed to this day Billy's descendants speak highly of the varicnis branches of that family.
For a great part of his long life he reigned with sovereign sway over a numerous and powerful gang of Gypsy Tinkers who took their range over Carrick, in Ayrshire, the Carrick mountains, and over the Stewartry and Shire of Galloway ; and now and then by way of improving themselves and seeing more of the world they crossed at Donaghadee, and visited the counties of Down and Derry.
"Billy Marshall's account ot himself was this :
He was born in or about the year 1666, but he might have been mistaken as to the exact year of his birth. However, the fact never was doubted of his having been a private soldier in the army of King William at the battle of the Boyne.
It was also well known that he was a private in some of the British regiments which served under the great Duke of Marlborough in Germany about the year 1705. But at this period Billy's military career in the service of his country ended.
About this time he went to his commanding officer, one of the M'Gufifogs of Ruscoe, a very old family in Galloway, and asked him if he had any commands for his native country.
Being asked if there rt'as any opportunity, he replied yes ; he was going to Keltonhill Fair, having for some years made it a rule never to be absent.
His officer, knowing his man, thought it needless to take any very strong measures to hinder him ; and Billy was at Keltonhill accordingly. " Now Billy's destinies placed him in a high sphere; it was about this period that, either electively or by usurpation, he was placed at the head of that mighty people in the south-west, whom he governed with equal prudence and talent for the long space of eighty or ninety years.

Scottish Gypsies - RomanyJib

NEW ANNUAL REGISTER, 1792, No. 34, part 2, p. 47. "Died, 28th. (Nov., 1792).
At Kirkcudl)right, Scot- land, at the great age of 120, William Marshall, Tinker.
This miracle of longevity retained his senses almost to the last hour of his life.
He remembered distinctly to have seen King William's Fleet, when on their way to- Ireland, riding at anchor in the Sol way Firth close by the bay of Kirkcudbright, and the transports lying in the harbour.
He was present at the siege of Derry, where, having lost his uncle, who commanded a King's frigate, he returned home, enlisted in the Dutch service, went to Holland and soon after deserted, and came back to his^ native country.
Naturally of a wandering and unsettled turn of mind, he could never remain long in any particular place.
Hence he took up the occupation of a tinker, headed a body of lawless banditti, and frequently traversed the kingdom from one end to the other. But it is to be observed to his credit that of all the thieving wandering geniuses who, during the weakness of the established government, led forth their various gangs to plunder and to alarm the country, he was far the most honourable in his profession."
Billy Marshall claimed to have been married 17 times and to have fathered many children (four children after his 100th birthday). He had deserted the Army several times and the navy three times.
His military experience may have helped him to organize the peasants into gangs of robbers in the area of the Barullion Hills.
Him and his gypsy band, called "the levellers", would tear down dykes that the landed gentry built which would route water away from the peasant farms. His "levellers would, also, tear down the King's fences.

It seems to be a tradition to leave coins on top of his gravestone anyone know how or why this began ?


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SCOTTISH GYPSIES OF THE BORDERS:

The best known family of Scotland were the Faw or Fall , changed over time to Faa, bu tthe name became generic to many other families linked to them far back in the history of the Scottish Border Gypises : Blythe : Baillie : Clark :Douglas :Gordon: Heron Macfarlane: Montgromey : Rochester :Rutherford: Tait : Kennedy ; Young :Winter: Welsh : Williamson

EARLY HISTORY :
A few examples of Romany names in 16th century Lowland Scotland found :
. There was a group in Aberdeen in 1541, described as "Egyptians", apparently living separately from the community. Four of their names are recorded
Barbara Deya Baptista, also recorded as Barbara Babtista
Helene Andree
George Faw
Johnne Faw

Paul Fa or Faa was given 15 days to get out 1537 . It was because he was accused of having murdered another Gypsy.
This is the first occurence of the name Faa or Faw, which was to become very familiar in Scotland:
Gypsy Faas were already known there, is shown by the fact that in 1539 George Fae and Michael Meche were examined by the Sheriff of Staffordshire, they were found to possess a variety of letters, including one from the King of Scots and a bill from the Abbot of Holyrood

The Blyhte's did not live in Wagons as we find in the parts of England ,but in cottages. From 1770 they paid a yearly sum for the allotments and cottages.
A whole street in Kirk Yetholm was called Tinkler Row, this was because the people who lived there spent the whole summer as wandering Tinkers, making and repairing pots and pans or culinary utensils : these people were unquestionable Scottish Gypsies.
They had the dark complexion and darkhair & eyes- although the Faa Bltyhe family below did not typify this they were fair of skin and hair.
Trades done by families:
Horsedealers ; China Merchants : General dealers: Hornspoon makers:

A very interesting book to read if you have ancestors that started or were of Scottish descendant is:
Scottish Gypsies under the Stewarts
( 1894) Google books has online readable version just put the title in search :

The Young family of the borders were true a Romany race ,most had dark complexion and were well respected by the settled comminutity. Yorkshire & Lancashire were the other places they travelled.
Originally their surname was Heron.
The Douglas Tribe, some were known as Black Douglas's.

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jeannie BlytheDated 1904 The Green Blouse

This is a portrait of Jeannie Blyth, a Gypsy flower seller who posed for Peploe on many occasions from the age of fifteen or sixteen. Her dark colouring and lack of self-consciousness made her one of his favourite models. The artist’s use of dark colours and loose brushwork in this painting shows the influence of Dutch art. Peploe had visited Holland in 1895 and returned with reproductions of paintings by Rembrandt and Frans Hals. He would also have been able to see their work at the National Gallery of Scotland.









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For those who maybe interested many of these early Scottish Gypsies were deported to Virginia USA
As early as 1715 its written 10 Gypsies were deported to Virginia from Scotland
The names Baillie Brown Faa Huston Robertson Ross Tait StirlingYorstoun are mentioned in Scottish court records, when they were deported and named either Egyptians or Gypsies
The most complete list of gypsies sentenced to transportation appears in "Directory of Scots Banished to the American Plantations, 1650-1775", by David Dobson,1984,Baltimore, MD Genealogical Publishing Co. includes 16 Scottish Travelers forming 3 groups sentenced in 1682, 1715 and 1739.
Extracts from Sykes local Records 1833
1752 :The following Felons from Morepeth Gaol were transported to South Carolina for 7 years:
J Fall & wife Margaret : William Fall & wife Jane.

In *Wilson's Tales of the Borders * that the name Faa not only was given to individuals whose surname might be Fall, but
to the Winters and Clarkcs.....
Extracts from Sykes's Local Records (1833)
1754, Aug. 24. — A woman named Elizabeth Rochester made her escape from Durham Gaol. She was one of the gang of
Faas, or strolling depredators, who infested the northern counties at this period.
1756, Jan. 13.— In the burial register of Jarrow Church under this date, occurs "Francis Heron, king of Faws"
1767 Apr. 18. — Richard Clark was executed at York for breaking into a house near Knaresborough. As this man was one
of the Faw-gang which so long infested the county of Northumberland

One Margaret Crozier was murdered, 29th Aug. 1791, at Haws Pele, 3 miles N. of Elsdon, by William Winter, a desperate character,
at the instigation and with the assistance of two female faws (vendors of crockery and tinwork) named Jane and Eleanor Clark,
who, in their wanderings, had experienced the kindness of Margaret Crozier. The day before, they had rested and dined in a sheepfold,
and they were identified by a shepherd boy who had taken particular notice of the number and character of the nails in Winter's
shoes, and also the peculiar gulley or butcher's knife with which he had divided the food. All three were hanged at Newcastle, and
Winter's body was hung in chains within sight of his victim's house."

Winter is thus described by another writer : —

" This man belonged to a family which was one of the worst of a bad gang of faws, itinerant tinkers, who formerly infested this
part of Northumberland in considerable numbers, robbing and threatening the small farmers, who would not allow them to lodge
in their out-houses, and who did not, either in provisions or money, say them a kind of black-maiL Winter is described, by the country
people who remember him, as a tall, powerful man, of dark compllexion, wearing his long black hair hanging about his shoulders,
and of a most savage countenance. The appearance of this ruffian in a small village was a signal for the inhabitants to close their
doors ; Avhile he, as if proud of the terror which he inspired, would keep walking back and forward, with his arms a-kimbo, on the
green."

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Charles Faa Blythe 1777 -1861 King of the Scottish Gypsies

Charles Faa Blythe

Charles was at least 70 years old when he was crowned King, he was crowned by the local Blacksmith George Gladstone on 27th October 1847
He only became the King, due to the death of William Faa II, who had no children, so the crown went to his sister's husband Charles Faa Blythe.
Charles travelled the country selling earthenware, dressed in the traditional style - knee breeches, velveteen coat and slouched hat with a red handkerchief at his throat and accompanied by his dog. He was born in Yorkshire, and entered the royal family by marrying Esther, a sister of Will II. They had at least twelve children, six of whom are buried in Yetholm graveyard, four who died in infancy, and two girls, Betty and Jeanie, who both died in January 1835, barely out of their teens. Their gravestone describes them as the children of Esther Faa and Charles Blythe, feuar in Kirk Yetholm.
When Charles died on 19th August 1861, at the good age of 86, the Kelso Chronicle in an obituary stated: 'Great grief in the gypsy community here and throughout the district on account of the venerable King whose death took place here on the 19th ultimo. It is not right that one exalted so high above his kindred should be laid in the dust without a word of farewell over his grave, especially when his reign was of a peaceful, and not a predatory character. Unike some of his contemporary monarchs, his rule was so mild that his subjects not only maintained a loyal deference, but were tenderly attached to him, while his exemplary habit of abstaining from interference or aggression procured him much of the goodwill and respect of other 'powers'. While his regal character and conduct was thus exemplary, his personal demeanour gained him the respect of those not acknowledging his sway. His palace had been a house of call for many a tourist and the conversation of the old king was generally much relished. His most noticeable habits were reading the Scriptures and chewing tobacco, of which he frequently received considerable quantities from his visitors. The deceased bore the designation of Charles I, being the first of that name to occupy the throne, and had attained the venerable age of 86. A large company followed the remains of Charles I to the last resting place in Yetholm churchyard.'
When Charles died his son David declined the crown and it was left to his daughters Helen & Esther to squabble over who would be next elected crowned Queen

On the 8th November, the Chronicle reports: 'The succession to the gypsy kingdom is still a matter of keen dispute between the royal sisters ... Etty has urged her pretensions to the coveted title on the ground of 'hereditary right' as she terms it, and because she alone of the family bears the royal name of Faa, maintaining that her brother has no right to gift away 'crowns and kingdoms'. 'The two sisters are thoroughly in earnest in their assertion and maintenance of what they consider their rights, and, in order that a settlement may be effected as pacifically as possible, it is proposed to let a vote of the gypsies and the inhabitants of Kirk Yetholm amd Town Yetholm decide the matter, the poll to take place in one of these places, according to present arrangements, on Tuesday first, 12th November.' 'Esther is confident of success, having been promised the suffrages of many of the respectable inhabitants of the villages, and the vote of the minister of the parish being counted safe on her side. Her active and resolute sister is no less sanguine, and will have powerful support, both among the tribes and the public.'
The report includes the proclamation which Etty had issued: 'I, Esther Faa Blyth, hereby notify and make known that in consequence of the lamented death of my father, lately King of the Gipsies, and in consequence of a pretender to the vacant crown having arisen in the person of my younger sister, the question in dispute will be settled at Yetholm on Tuesday the 12th day of November instant, and I do hereby summon and command all the members of the various tribes to appear there on the day named, and at the same time invite all the inhabitants of these villages and neighbourhood favourable to my cause to come forward and record their votes in my favour, by doing which they will ensure the promotion to royal honours and authority of the candidate possessing the most rightful claim, bearing as I do, the royal name of Faa, and being the eldest daughter of his late Majesty King Charles, and earn the enduring gratitude of my royal heart. - Esther Faa Blyth Given under my hand and seal this first day of Nevember in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-one years.'

On the day of the election there was a good turn out of the tribes and the villagers. In the event, Esther was returned unopposed. She was duly crowneEsther Faa Blythed with her title 'Queen Esther Faa Blythe

Esther Faa Blythe The Gypsy Queen born 1803 -1883 .
She was the last of the Royal Faas.
2nd child of Charles Faa Blythe. She married John Rutherford, known as 'Jethart Jock' in an irregular ceremony at Coldstream. He was a mason and plasterer to trade. They had twelve children.
Prior to her crowning, she had lived a travelling style of life, touring the countryside from Coldstream with her horse and cart selling her crockery. There is no evidence of her having ever been a fortune teller. Her palace was a single storey, white-washed thatched cottage, with ivy covered walls. The single room was kept neat and tidy and was relatively well furnished with two beds, in recesses on either side of the fireplace, a chest of drawers, a clock, pictures and a cat.
In the last few years of her life she lived with her daughter in a large building called 'The Castle' in Horsemarket, Kelso. This building was was the place where all the local vagrants met and lived. She received an allowance from the Parochial Board of Yetholm, but soon fell into ill-health. Despite care from her daughters, she sickened and died. When she died on July 12th 1883, her remains were taken to Kirk Yetholm for burial in the tomb of her forebears. It has been estimated that about 1500 attended the interment, but that of them only about two dozen were Gypsies. The coffin bore the inscription 'Esther Faa Blythe, Queen of the Gipsies, died July 12th, 1883'.

It was ornately decorated with tinsel and flowers, including a wreath of white roses from Lady John Scott.
Over it was spread the royal scarlet cloak which she had worn during her reign. She was the last remnant of gypsy royalty in the Yetholm area.

Charles Faa Blyth-Rutherford , was the last Hereditary King of the Scottish Gypsies, he was crowned in 1898,accepting the royal title that belonged to his mother -he died in 1902
His cottage at Kirk Yetholm was known as his palace.
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Interest in the Scottish Gypsies was also to be found in America: I found a very interesting Article:
April 25th 1890 :
Thomas H Blythe
: Who died suddenly in Aprill 1883 - came from England in August 1849
It appears he had vast amounts of estate worth a great deal of money... a court case was held because he left no will
Over 2 hundred people applied with various stories to their entitlement - one being he was born of the Scottish Gypsy Blythe family:
He was born 1822 - The story reagrds his Gypsy birth: Born son of Adam Blythe & Elizabeth Savage * known as Betty* and 2nd cousin to Esther Faa
While on a trip to Preston in 1847 his mother was in some manner thrown into a fire? she died of her burns...
In 1849 T H Blythe being in Liverpool got the Gold fever and took passage on the Antelope.. to America ..where it appears he made his fortune although it also appears he never married or had issue .
As to if its true I cannot tell you......... nor do I know if or how his estate was dealt with..

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Interesting Snippets found :

Will Balmer better known as Blind Wull * William* Bawmer o' Jethart, who operated on the gin smuggling run from Boulmer on the Northumberland coast.
The ringleader, William Faa II, King of the Yetholm Gypsies.
William Faa II reigned from 1784 to 1847. It seems likely that the pair would be of similar age.
The name * Jock & Melvin has also been found as an associate. The Boulmer end of the operation was run by Isaac 'the Smuggler' Addison landlord of the Fishing Boat Inn.


This book also sounds interesting:
Andrew McCormick’s ‘The Tinkler-Gypsies of Galloway’ was published in 1906. It was one of the first books to look at the life and culture of Scottish Traveller communities and is now regarded as a classic of Galloway literature.


Galloway Travellers
Andrew McCormick’s Tinkler-Gypsy + Photographs
ISBN 0-9551638-2-X, Dumfries
GallowayCouncil , Stranraer & 01776 705088 £3.50 inc. p&p
A lot of the past portrayal of Gypsy and Traveller culture has been academic – ‘through university-learned eyes’. Andrew
McCormick was aware of this and in this compilation of photographs he successfully finds the natural picture and narrative. By
hours spent learning ‘cant’, and sharing the daily way of life of his border neighbours, he became their friend. As a Traveller author
I know how important the voice is and that is why, with each image, smiles and tears stirred deep as I remembered my own people
now gone. In future, children from Travelling backgrounds will want to see where they came from – books like these are gems!

Andrew McCormick's Book:
One other fascinating facts in the book was that these * Tinkler* families often married within their own travelling groups, so Marshalls married Stewarts or McMillans etc.
Marshalls who were travellers from Ayrshire. They were very mobile and moved around - Ayrshire, Dunfermline in Fifeand Nairn in the north. One of the delights of ‘The Tinkler-Gypsies of Galloway’ is its extensive use of illustrations, including a large number of photographs taken by McCormick himself.
(above found on the internet)

Some interesting Photos : Can be found here : http://futuremuseum.co.uk/Collection.aspx/galloway_travellers/
Please read their Terms & conditions:
You may not copy, reproduce, republish, download, post, broadcast, transmit, make available to the public, or otherwise use futuremuseum.co.uk content in any way except for your own personal, non-commercial use. Any other use of futuremuseum.co.uk content requires the prior written permission of the the copyright holders.






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[Untitled]Memerising Scottish storyteller who had a huge repertoire of tales from his nomadic youth among the travelling families

Duncan Williamson was one of the most celebrated storytellers in Scotland. His fame became international when he appeared at storytelling festivals in North America and Australasia and he published many books and recordings of his stories. Duncan Williamson was born to a travelling family, “under a tree” as he told it, on the shores of Loch Fyne, near Furnace, Argyll, in 1928. Life in a traveller's bow tent with 15 brothers and sisters was hard in the 1930s, and he would recall “sitting in school pure starving hungry” — so hungry he could not heed the teacher but he knew he had to sit there and put in the legal number of attendances or he would not have the real life of travelling the summer road in horse and wagon with his family.
That road would take him to the community of pipers, ballad singers and storytellers that fed in him the passions that were to drive his entire life. But it was closer to home that these passions began, from his father, uncles and two grannies. “My wee granny was the best thing ever happened to me,” he recalled. His wee granny, Belle, 5ft 2inches tall, was a brilliant storyteller, and as a little boy he determined to be as good as she was. His big granny, 6ft 2in “like a warrior lady”, could stop a whole street with the power and beauty of her singing. The course of his life was set. Travelling the road, working with shepherds, drystone dykers, berry-pickers, fisher folk, cattlemen, moving from the Western Islands to the East Coast harbour towns he gathered stories and stored them in the extraordinary library of his mind. He left home equipped with two educations: the brief, strict curriculum of the Furnace School that, however, gave him a love of the great British poets, and the education from his family and the travelling people. By the age of 13 he could handle axe and cross-saw, build dykes, dig peats, survive on the fare of river, shore and countrysides, tell a story and sing a song. This life he would later describe in his autobiography, The Horsieman — Memories of a Traveller (1994). As a young man he married a traveller-lass, Jean Townsley, and together with horse, wagon and tent they took to the road, taking work wherever he could find it. In the early 1960s Williamson's life changed. He was “discovered” by the School of Scottish Studies and began to sing in Glasgow with the folk luminaries of the day. After his wife died in 1971, he met another crusading spirit, Linda Hedley, an American student. She recorded his songs, became his wife and, living with him and their two children in the traveller's tent, discovered his huge repertoire of stories. She convinced him that they should be published, and in Stephanie Wolfe-Murray, of the publisher Canongate, they found an enthusiastic advocate. Fourteen books, a tiny morsel of his reputed 3,000 stories followed, and invitations flowed in from around the world. It was in the telling of his stories that Williamson's genius glowed brightest. Hamish Henderson, the greatest Scottish folk-collector and himself a legendary figure, was quick to recognise his unique qualities of singer and storyteller: “Duncan Williamson,” he said, “is the Scottish folk traditions in one man.” It was not Williamson's huge repertoire of story and song that made him one of the world's best-known storytellers, it was the sheer storm force of his being, a force that expressed itself in a tireless generosity, a lavish giving. The old Celtic saying says of the generosity of Finn McCool, “If the leaves of the trees were gold / And the waves of the sea silver / Finn would have given them all away”, and Williamson was his spiritual descendant. From Alaska to Australia pilgrims and story enthusiasts came to his ever-open door. Where two or three were gathered together, for Williamson it was a ceilidh, a night-long feast of story and song. Even if it was only one stranger visiting, Williamson would give him or her his full intent attention, dispensing from his huge purse of tales and songs till the sun shone out of the morning. For him a story was the greatest gift — “stories was wir education” — and he gave freely. Williamson is survived by his wife, Linda, and his ten children. Duncan Williamson, Scottish storyteller, was born on April 11, 1928. He died from the effects of a stroke on November 8, 2007, aged 79

















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sandeyb
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lemani Stewart and Francis families 9 May 4 2013, 10:36 AM EDT by lemani
Thread started: Dec 13 2009, 5:13 AM EST  Watch
looking for anyone who has these names in their families, especially in the North East of England or the borders
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momarshm King Billy Marshall 2 Jun 4 2012, 3:43 PM EDT by sandeyb
Thread started: Jun 5 2011, 1:38 PM EDT  Watch
As a decendents of William Marshall i would like to know more about him, would also like to here from any other decendents out there....
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bucklandfamily scottish gypsies (page: 1 2 3 4) 73 May 29 2012, 8:15 AM EDT by deedeeb
Thread started: Aug 5 2009, 4:05 AM EDT  Watch
hi my name is davie stewart i joined romany jib a while ago as my wife is a buckland and related to sandy buckland and we are interested in her tree, but i was hoping someone would start a page on scottish gypsies as i have a fair mix of blood my self and hope to give help and also possibly get a little back, on the subject of scottish families. i have already asked for help on my mothers side who were english stewarts, but my father is a stewart also, his father jock/john stewart was born in new mill,kieth bamfshire his father was hugh stewart, mother jean whyte,, my fathers mother was rachel douglas her father charles douglas born in kirk yetholm,so i have quite a mix, i have quite a bit of info so i would be very happy share it with anyone who might need help on the subject,
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