BLOOD OF GIPSIES

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXX, Issue 12199, 10 March 1934, Page 9

BLOOD OF GIPSIES

’■ _ . \\TDEL Y4SPREAD STRAIN

•, t j * . : ••... ••v* •• LORD BIRKENfIEAD R DESCENT.

’ .Many, facts regarding ;the origin ttiifL. cbaraeforistics :■ of gipsies were given iby i Lieutenant-Colonel C, •'P. Uawkes :ifi .a • lecture; ■ on' “Gipsy Blood” - delivered' to - members of the Society of Genealogists in ■ London recently." a : ' ’ 1 • • "C/otonel- llawkcs isaid that the gipsy blood.might be implied in tw° ways: from names and from’ physical cliaTactmsticsi, ' and iti ' somo favourabld Instances from both. • The name alone was poor evidence, for the gipsies had'ever been shy of disclosing jtiheir true Romany names, and even, lived in"public. .for' years under' wjhat Itbey called travellingl names. ( The.' merit familiar . gipsy names ■ found in' tbo British , Isles, with . rare exceptions, . were . occupational names ' or names adopted by the Romaiiy from place names, qr those .of well-known families who had befriended Them. : From what--part of the world did this, mysterious people .come, .'homogeneous so many ■ centuries, and. in thb English form .of their generic name, with afi implied origin., jn Egypt?. Taking philology as a guide, they. misfit believe That the. ancestors off the’ present-day gipsies ferried for. centuries in North-Wesfern India, in The region of tho Indus Valley, a .. region . which they, left with their, faces Toward the west not later than about ,AD. 1069- •

IN THE MIDDLE AGES. -There were many indications ot vbe ..existence of - gipsies in Europe, .during; the. Middle Ages, and it wav clear* that, they ca'nie into special prominence during the loth century. Instances of their being regarded n s Christian pilgrims were by no means! exceptional. • After the 15th century the 'gipsies lost more end more of their. 1 influence and pos'ii ion j - and their right to live upon others degenerated into “masterful hogging/’ At the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th, the gipsien began tc adopt - a sedentary in place of a. nomadic life. Housedwelling in town and village broke down the Romany exclusiveness; community of social and commercial interests led /to intermarriage with, those who wore not of .gipsy blood, and there were consequently many families to-day whose members had forgotten their gipsy origin. Jtwa c among those .That there st ill survived peculiarities .of temperament and character. and a physical typo ■ wbien pointed back, to a. tent-dwelling ancestry.

Groat aptitude, for sport- was another side of gip-qy character, and possibly tho transportation of s 6 many gipsie s to Australia last reni.urv had something To do with Aimtralian, excellence at cricket. PROUD OF GIPSY STRAIN. Snsf’ex was full of I lie l.ees, one of the oldest gipsy clans in England.. Tbo Heanie family of Kontifih • cricketers", was undoubtedly or Gipsy descent. The gi-psies liadrid-,way4-been attracted To the army and they had. always excelled in ••■sports 'demanding a. lithe agility cf . body and a lightning quickness of' eye and baiMl. , While gipsy eharacterisTics; were more, istrongly evident and easily Observed in'tho individual woman gipsy, if she married ft “Gorgio” she. failed to transmit fhem to. her offspring, while the .reverse was the case with- The men ;' so ■ that the name, remained, and in almost all rase* which he had notic-ed the type recurred through male descent" and in families whose name indicated !1 possibly gipsy origin. The gipsies worn an old. mysterious and derelict race, which perristed in. suviving, even if only in its voad-ges. The late Lord Birkenhead (F. ESmith) was among the notable pnojdo mentioned by Colonel Hawkes a s .being cleeidodly of gipsy descent Smith, he said, was a well-known gipsy name. Lord Birkenhead had “the .sleek black hair, sallow complexion and those peculiar eyes, which seem to look right through von and beyond—in fact, all the mental and physical characteristics of the. gipsy, including the extraordinary love of horses."” Colonel Hawke? said be believed Eord Birkenhead's, grandmother and her husband were both pure gipsies; therefore his father was one.

COMMENT BY EARL'S DAUGHTER. Lady Eleanor Smith, daughter <A th e fate Lord Birkenhead and wellknown as a writer on gipsy life — rhe. is the author of “Red AVagori' —-stated in reference to Colonel Hawkes’s remark's: “It. ha H never been definitely established that my great-grandmother was a. gipsy, but my father always believed that he -had ■ some .-feipry blood and he was very proud of it. Fie had a pft'ssion for horses, liked bright colours, and would- sleep in ft tent in-tho garden when ‘ the wonthen’ permitted, rather than in the house. He also adored travelling. These are tastes common to gipsies —it is true—but they are also shared bv ''other -pecple.' ro ' they do nob realjy prove anytbiipg.'’