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New in Jan 2023 - A Different Kind of Freedom - Richard O Neil

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New in Jan 2023 - A Different Kind of Freedom - Richard O Neil

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GRTHM June 2022 - Participation Pack for Schools - What makes a Home?

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GRTHM June 2022 - Participation Pack for Schools - What makes a Home?

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Romaversitas | 5 November - International Romani language day

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Link to Educational Pack - Free Download of Activities &  Audio

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Link to Educational Pack - Free Download of Activities &  Audio

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Our education pack - Atching Tan: an educational journey into the world of Gypsies, Romanies, and Travellers - is now available!

We're immensely proud of the pack and believe that it will be an incredibly valuable resource for helping children and young people across Key Stages 2 and 3 better understand the Traveller community.

It has been developed in conjunction with Travellers resident across East Anglia, as well as the expertise of the Traveller Education teams in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk. We think that this means it offers the best of both worlds: it covers issues that are important to Travellers, but they are presented in a way that ties into the school curriculum.

There are nine key themes covered by the pack: identity; homes; travelling; education; work; entertainment; Romani; discrimination; and changes, hopes, and fears. Each theme has extensive teacher's notes as well as suggested lesson activities, and supporting resources that range from audio recordings to photographs and poetry.

The lesson activities have been designed to be both fun and challenging with clear cross-curricular links. They include a mystery-solving task, a role-playing activity, and a story-telling project. The pack can be used to form a discrete scheme of work for citizenship, or be used to support individual lessons in subjects including drama, English, geography, and history.

The pack is available as a download*. It doesn't cost anything, but we do ask that you give us some feedback!
Atching Tan: an educational journey into the world of Gypsies, Romanies, and Travellers download version. * Please note the pack download is a 109meg zip file. Individual files are also available to download separately via MediaFire if you wish.

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Our education pack - Atching Tan: an educational journey into the world of Gypsies, Romanies, and Travellers - is now available! We're immensely proud of the pack and believe that it will be an incredibly valuable resource for helping children and young people across Key Stages 2 and 3 better understand the Traveller community.

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Busting Myths About Modern Romany Travellers

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Busting Myths About Modern Romany Travellers

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Busting Myths About Modern Romany Travellers

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International Roma Day is an opportunity for us all to celebrate Romani culture and raise awareness of the issues facing Roma people.

The day, also known as International Romani Day, takes place on 8 April every year after first being declared in 1990. International Roma Day draws attention to discrimination directed at Roma communities globally and calls for the human rights of all to be respected and observed.

European Roma and Sinti (often labelled as 'Gypsies') were targeted for complete extermination under the Nazi regime. Historians estimate that between 200,000 and 500,000 Roma and Sinti people were murdered or died as a result of starvation or disease, and many were imprisoned and subjected to sterilisation and forced labour. This became known as the Porrajmos, which translates to 'the Devouring'.

Many of those who survived this period under the Nazis were still subject to persecution after World War Two, as Roma communities have continued to face discrimination and prejudice across Europe in different forms.
Explore our other dates to remember

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Holocaust Memorial Day Trust | 8 April: International Roma Day

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International Roma Day is an opportunity for us all to celebrate Romani culture and raise awareness of the issues facing Roma people. The day, also known as International Romani Day, takes place on 8 April every year after first being declared in 1990.

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Gypsies and Travellers Lifestyle History and Culture FAQs

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Roads From The Past - Short Film - Travellers' Times Online

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Richard O Neil - Talking about The Can Caravan and Read Aloud

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Richard O Neil - Talking about The Can Caravan and Read Aloud

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Make Some Space - GRTHM June  2021 Participation Pack

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Make Some Space - GRTHM June  2021 Participation Pack

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Travelling Ahead - Children's Rights Toolkit

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Travelling Ahead - Children's Rights Toolkit

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Location : Appleby

Appleby Horse Fair runs for a week in June, ending on the 2nd Wednesday in June, in the town of Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria.

It is probably the best known of the horse fairs attended by Romany families travelling to meet up with old friends and conduct business. It is world famous, the largest of its kind in the world, having existed as a fair for horse trading since 1685, and attracts a huge gypsy gathering.

Young people wash the horses in the River Eden and are then ready to show them off. The tradition of racing and trotting the horses along Flashing Lane takes place throughout the day.

The official website www.applebyfair.org sets out all the arrangements leading up to and during the Fair to help you plan your visit and make it safe and enjoyable.

The field on the outskirts of Appleby originally known as Gallows Hill, due to its usage in earlier times is now called Fair Hill and looks over the town of Appleby. During the Fair, horses may be found everywhere - in the river, on its banks, along the roadsides or tethered outside hotels and shops.

Aerial photos by Simon Ledingham. Other photos by Andy Hibbert.

Related Links :

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Appleby Horse Fair Location : Appleby Appleby Horse Fair runs for a week in June, ending on the 2nd Wednesday in June, in the town of

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Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) groups in Hampshire schools

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Polonius the Pit Pony by Richard O'Neill

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A tale from the wagon Polonius the Pit Pony

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Provision for secondary aged Gypsy Roma and Traveller pupils 

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Travelling Ahead: Wales Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Advice and Advocacy Service « TGP Cymru

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Advice, support and individual and community advocacy working alongside Gypsy, Roma and Traveller families on issues such as accommodation, sites, planning, rights and accessing services. We run youth forums, support to report hate crime and discrimination and we can offer training to improve servic…

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Europe's Roma and Sinti people (often labelled as 'Gypsies' historically) were targeted by the Nazis for total destruction. The Porrajmos, or Porajmos, which translates to 'the Devouring', is the term used to describe the Nazi genocide of Europe's Roma and Sinti population.

Historians estimate that between 200,000 and 500,000 Roma and Sinti people were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. Many more were imprisoned, used as forced labour or subject to forced sterilisation and medical experimentation.

Roma and Sinti men, women and children were targeted for persecution and imprisonment, with a specific focus on clearing Berlin before the city hosted the Olympic Games in 1936. As World War Two began, the persecution of Roma and Sinti people intensified. Roma and Sinti people were deported to ghettos including Łódź and to concentration camps including Dachau, Mauthausen and Auschwitz-Birkenau; which had a specific 'Gypsy Camp'.

On 26 February 1943, the first transport of Roma and Sinti men, women and children arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Of the 23,000 Gypsies imprisoned within the camp, it is estimated that around 20,000 were murdered.

On 2 August 1944 the Zigeunerlager (Gypsy Camp) at Auschwitz was liquidated: 2,897 Roma and Sinti people were murdered in the gas chambers and the remaining prisoners were deported to Buchenwald and Ravensbrück concentration camps for forced labour.

The experience of Europe's Roma and Sinti population has parallels with that of the Jewish people. Both populations were targeted on the grounds of their race and had previously suffered centuries of discrimination. The Nuremberg Laws which prohibited marriage between Jews and Aryans and enshrined the loss of citizenship rights were also applied to Roma and Sinti. As with Jewish children, Roma and Sinti children were banned from public schools and adults found it increasingly difficult to maintain or secure employment.

Despite the atrocities committed against Roma and Sinti people by the Nazi regime, their experiences were only fully recognised by the West German Government in 1981 and the Porrajmos is only now becoming more widely known.
Watch our short film about Nazi persecution of Roma and Sinti people: Find out more:

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Holocaust Memorial Day Trust | Roma and Sinti people

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The Porrajmos, or Porajmos (translated 'the Devouring') is the term used to describe the Nazi genocide of Europe's Roma and Sinti (Gypsy) population. More than 200,000 Roma and Sinti were murdered or died as a result of starvation or disease. Many more were imprisoned, used as forced labour or subject to forced sterilisation and medical experimentation.

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Gypsy Ways - Laurel - Shirenewton Cardiff

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Gypsy Ways - Laurel - Shirenewton Cardiff

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Key dates for GRT people throughout History

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Key dates for GRT people throughout History

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Yokki and the Parno Gry by Richard O'Neill

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100 phrases English / 100 fraze Romani čhib (Arli)

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Provision for secondary aged Gypsy Roma and Traveller pupils cy

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roads from the past follow up lesson ideas

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Ossiri and the Balamengro by Richard O'Neill

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A national charity that works on behalf of all Gypsies, Travellers and Roma. We offer advice, consultancy, promote health and wellbeing and contribute to research and policy making.

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British-Irish Gypsy Traveller History (Part 1)

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British-Irish Gypsy Traveller History (Part 1)

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By Dr Becky Taylor, published 18th June 2021

In this first of two podcasts Dr Becky Taylor, Reader in Modern History at the University of East Anglia and Editor-in-Chief of 'History: The Journal of the Historical Association' is asked questions by Helen Snelson, Chair of HA Secondary Committee. The questions in part one focus on how Dr Taylor came to research the history for Gypsies and Travellers herself. She then explains why it is that Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history is less taught in universities as well as in schools.

Dr Taylor defines what is meant by the terms 'Gypsy', 'Traveller' and 'Roma' by drawing upon the research that has taken place about origins, arrivals in Europe, the way attitudes have shifted over time, and how nomadic people have adapted to social and economic change - being separate but also an integral part of local economies. She explains that a problem with the written accounts is that they are mostly from the state and about problems, in this way her work shares a similarity with research about other less powerful groups of people, the noise and the silences in the archives need to be carefully thought about for what they reveal, oral histories are important, and a breadth of understanding of context is vital. Her explanations are rich in examples from across Europe that paint a complex and diverse picture that is not so well known as other histories.

1. Introduction: How did you get interested in researching Gypsy and Traveler history?
2. Why is Gypsy Traveler history not taught much at school or university?
3.What do we mean by Gypsies and Travelers?
4. What are the challenges when writing the histories of Gypsies and Travellers?

In order to access the full content of the podcasts please or

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British-Irish Gypsy Traveller History (Part 1)

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In this first of two podcasts Dr Becky Taylor, Reader in Modern History at the University of East Anglia and Editor-in-Chief of 'History: The Journal of the Historical Association' is asked questions by Helen Snelson, Chair of HA Secondary Committee. The questions in part one focus on how Dr Taylor came to research the history for Gypsies and Travellers herself.

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British-Irish Gypsy Traveller History (Part 2)

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British-Irish Gypsy Traveller History (Part 2)

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Dr Becky Taylor, published 18th June 2021

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British-Irish Gypsy Traveller History (Part 2)

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In this second of two podcasts Dr Becky Taylor, Reader in Modern History at the University of East Anglia and Editor-in-Chief of ‘History: The Journal of the Historical Association’ is once again asked questions by Helen Snelson, Chair of HA Secondary Committee. Part Two focuses on the big stories of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history in the last 200 years. Dr Taylor makes clear that these are also the big stories that affected Britain, and explains how traditionally nomadic people were affected by these huge events and changes. This includes the way the stereotypes about Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people changed quite considerably, and how increased state regulation of public space shaped their lives. As people were forced to adapt to lack of public space and made attempts to modernise, stereotyping fed negative reactions and in the 1960s there was a confluence of events that led to a rise in violence, racism and harassment against Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people. Partly as a result, there was a fight back and what Dr Taylor terms the ‘Gypsy Power’ movement began, with campaigns for education and fair treatment by the State. Finally, Dr Taylor reveals the answer to, and the remaining mysteries around, the question related to World War Two that first got her intrigued and engaged in her research.  

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Romani Gypsies in sixteenth-century Britain

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Romani Gypsies in sixteenth-century Britain

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The Egyptians Act 1530 was passed to expel people calling themselves 'Egyptians', and was not repealed until 1840.

Find below an extract from the original Egyptians Act 1530, followed by a translation:

'divers and many owtlandisshe people calling themselfes Egiptsions [who] using no craft nor faict of merchandise, have comen in to thys realme and goon from Shyre to Shyre and place to place in grete companye and used grete subtile and craftye meanys to deceyve the people bearing them in hande [persuading them] that they by palmestrye could tell menne and Womens Fortunes and soo many Tymes by craft and subtiltie hath deceyved the people of theyr Money & alsoo have comitted many haynous Felonyes and Robberyes to the grete hurt and Disceipt of the people that they have comyn among [...] the egipcians nowe being in this realme have maneag to departe w[ith]in xlii [fifteen] daies aftre proclamacion of this estatute among theam shalbe made upon payn of Imprisonnement '

[a diverse and foreign people, calling themselves Egyptians, using no craft nor evidence of selling goods, who have come into this realm, and gone from shire to shire, and place to place, in great company; and used great subtlety and crafty means to deceive the people and persuading them that they, by palmistry, could tell men's and women's fortunes; and so, many times, by craft and subtlety, have deceived the people for their money; and also have committed many heinous felonies and robberies, to the great hurt and deceit of the people that they move among... the Egyptians who are now in this realm, have to depart within sixteen days.... and from now no Egyptians may enter the King's realm and if they do, then they with all their possessions, shall forfeit to the King our Sovereign Lord all their goods and titles and then must leave the realm within fifteen days under pain of imprisonment]

(Source information: the image of the Egyptians Act 1530 is provided courtesy of The National Archives, ref. HLRO HL/PO/PU/1/1530/22H8n9 (1530) and can be found here).

The Egyptians Act 1530 was a response to the arrival of Romani Gypsies, known as 'Egyptians' at the time, in Britain in the sixteenth century. The first definite record of these peoples in Scotland was in 1505, and in England in 1513 or 1514.

'Egyptian' migration to western Europe

The movement of Romani Gypsies to Britain in the sixteenth century must be understood in the context of the general migration of these peoples to western Europe from the fifteenth century onwards.

'Egyptians' were thought to have come from 'little Egypt', which was the name given to a part of the Peloponnese peninsula in what is now Greece. However, research from the late eighteenth century has shown that Gypsies with Roma heritage actually originated in northwest India. These people migrated from India through Persia and by the twelfth century had reached the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. The movement of early Gypsy groups was tied to expansions of the Persian, Seljuk and then Byzantine empires. The fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453 was central to the establishment of Roma communities in what was to become one of their heartlands in Europe, the Balkans. In the Medieval period, 'Egyptians' became part of local life and culture right across the Balkans, and by the fifteenth century they started arriving in western Europe.

Right across Europe, when groups of Gypsies arrived in a new city, they were initially welcomed by the local gentry and royalty. They were paid for playing music or telling fortunes and were given permission to camp, often on the outskirts of towns or just outside city walls. In the Scottish court in April 1505 there is a record of Gypsies being paid £7 at the request of the King, possibly either for providing entertainment to the court, or because they were thought to be pilgrims. Reports suggest that these early groups of Romani Gypsies carried papers with them certifying that they were pilgrims carrying out penance and asking for a guarantee of safe passage across the realm.

Gypsies Fortune Telling, woodcut in the Cosmographie Universalle of Munster, 1552, Basle (Courtesy of Robert Dawson Romany Collection)
Migration as part of everyday life

Romani Gypsies were just one of many groups of 'strangers' who the inhabitants of Early Modern European cities would have encountered. In the rapidly growing towns of Europe, movement and migration were a normal part of everyday life. By the fifteenth century, the transportation of goods had become quicker and easier and generally safer. Trains of pack animals were replaced by two-wheeled and then four-wheeled wagons, which were run by professional carriers and organised from a network of inns that provided warehousing and packing facilities. These changes in transportation were driven by expanding trade, which led to improvements in the widths and surfaces of roads and the building of countless bridges. Improved travel networks benefited travellers other than merchants and traders. There was a medley of moving people, including wandering scholars, minstrels and travelling entertainers, knife-grinders, travelling healers, hawkers and tinkers. Of course travelling alongside, and sometimes with, these groups, were pilgrims following well-trodden national and international routes to sites of religious importance. So, Romani Gypsies were, on the one hand, an exotic novelty in western Europe, able to find work as entertainers, and drawing crowds and audiences at courts because they were different. On the other hand, they were also part of a much larger population of travelling peoples in western Europe at this time.

Internal migration and vagrancy in Britain and western Europe

The arrival of Romani Gypsies in western Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries took place in the context of a rise in vagrancy across Britain and Europe. This was caused by a combination of declining real incomes, population growth (during the reign of Elizabeth I, the population rose from three to four million people) and bad harvests. Together, these problems caused food shortages, acute poverty and unusual amounts of migration. People in western Europe began moving to towns or other areas in search of work, and family groups and individuals took to living on the road, picking up work as they went. This movement led to the expansion of cities, social disruption in the countryside and in towns, and fears among the wealthy classes that chaos and violent unrest were a very real threat.

At the same time as this economic disruption and increased migration within western Europe, attitudes to poverty and the poor began to change. Unlike today, there was no definite support for people who were living in poverty. Traditionally people had turned to their church for charity in times of need and begging was seen as an acceptable way of life. However, the increasing number of paupers in the early sixteenth century put the church charity system under strain. Distinctions between the 'true' or deserving poor and the undeserving poor began to emerge. Orphans, the sick, infirm, aged or widowed were considered to be deserving of support. All those who were unemployed and who begged, other than those who were physically incapable of earning a living, were considered to be the undeserving poor. For the dominant classes, beggars and vagrants presented a profound threat to the established social order. In a period when the able-bodied poor were supposed to have masters, vagrants were 'masterless'; they broke conventions of family, economic, religious and political life. Sixteenth-century vagrancy was about more than simply being poor, on the road and rootless. It is difficult to capture the meaning that terms like 'beggar' and 'rogue' held for contemporaries: today's equivalent might be 'terrorist', 'extremist' or 'anarchist'. Edmund Dudley, writing in England in 1509, stated that vagrants were 'the very mother of all vice...and the deadly enemy of the tree of commonwealth'.

The government tried to solve the problem of increased vagrancy in this period by attempting to outlaw vagabonds and 'masterless men'. The most severe piece of legislation was Edward VI's 'infamous' Act of 1547, which prohibited begging, sentenced vagrants to branding and two years' servitude for a first offence, and execution for a second offence. The Egyptians Act 1530 (see main source above), like a number of other sixteenth-century laws, wrestled with the problem of separating the deserving from the undeserving poor and of controlling a potentially dangerous section of the population. Laws against Egyptians and the wandering poor, as well as laws to give the deserving poor support from their parishes, were passed across the second half of the sixteenth century - in 1563, 1572, 1576, 1597 and 1601.

Among those who were formally identified as the undeserving poor in these laws were rogues, beggars, vagabonds and, a new category, 'counterfeit Egyptian', which included people who were thought to be pretending to be Gypsies. In fact, historians now understand this latter category to be a combination of those, who had newly taken to a nomadic lifestyle as a result of the economic developments of the sixteenth century, and of Romani Gypsies, who were born in Britain. Despite such legislation, Gypsies born in Britain were not 'foreign', but British-born, and here to stay.

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Our Migration Story: The Making of Britain

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The Egyptians Act 1530 was passed to expel people calling themselves 'Egyptians', and was not repealed until 1840.

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Oral History: English Gypsy & Irish Traveller Communities

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Oral History: English Gypsy & Irish Traveller Communities

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Oral History: English Gypsy and Irish Traveller Communities

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Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

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Travellers Times films - Realities Checked

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Travellers Times films - Realities Checked

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The six REALITIES CHECKED short films, scripted by Damian Le Bas using the anonymised words of Romany and Traveller people interviewed for the Realities Chec…

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In 1895 Rabbi Howell made history as the first Romany footballer to play for England, but 119 years on the pioneering player lies buried in an unmarked grave. Now as an appeal to raise funds for a headstone begins, what is the story behind Howell's ground-breaking career and have sporting attitudes to the Romany community changed?

Howell was born in 1867 in a Gypsy camp in Dore, Sheffield.

Steven Kay, who has written a book on Howell, said: "His birth certificate suggests he was born in a tent as there were no houses at the address given.

"He must have been an itinerant at the time."

Howell's family then moved to Ecclesfield, to the north of Sheffield, where he went on to earn a living as a miner and play football with the local amateur side, playing in central defence.

After a spell with Rotherham Swifts he signed his first professional contract with Sheffield United in 1889, before joining Liverpool in 1898, just days before United were crowned league champions.

His transfer to Merseyside is shrouded in controversy, with some claiming he was hurried out of the door because of match-fixing allegations.

However, Mr Kay said it was his belief Howell had left his wife and young family for another woman and Sheffield United were keen to hush up what would have been a "huge scandal" in Victorian England.

He then left Merseyside in 1901 to join Preston North End, where he played until 1903 when a broken leg ended his career.

Throughout his career Howell was known in the newspapers as "The Gypsy", a nickname Mr Kay said Howell would play up to, often saying he lived in a caravan in the woods.

But, he said: "He was just pulling their leg. He just let them think what they wanted to think."

Howell's background was also seized upon by teammates.

Ernest Needham, who played with Howell at Sheffield United and at national level, once wrote: "... a gypsy by birth, [he] perhaps owes some of his inexhaustible vitality to his lucky parentage."

However, Mr Kay said it was possible his "lucky parentage" may, in fact, have prevented him from making more than just two appearances for England.

Howell's first cap came in 1895, scoring in a 9-0 victory over Ireland, but he had to wait until 1899 to claim his second.

Mr Kay said one possible reason for his lack of England caps was that football had a "sentimental attitude to 'gentleman players'", adding that Howell was "anything but".

He said: "Class was a very strong thing and it might be more class than anything.

"Selection of the England team was clearly based on background and I think the fact that Rabbi only got two games for England must be down to background, whether that's race or class or attitude it is hard to say."

He said that though Howell's international career may have been limited by his background it was unclear whether he was subject to any abuse because of his Romany roots.

"There's no evidence for it, to say he got abuse, but then even if he had I do not think the newspapers would have said as they were too straight-laced to even discuss that," he said.

However, 119 years later Romany players clearly are abused as a result of their background.

'Proud to be Romany'

Earlier this year Portugal striker Ricardo Quaresma - also known as 'The Gypsy' - told Portuguese newspaper O Jogo racism was rife in the country.

He said: "When I hear people say there is no racism nowadays it makes me laugh. When something happens in Portugal it's always the fault of gypsies, blacks, immigrants. It's tough to live with this."

Quaresma is one of a number of high-profile players of Romany descent, including Eric Cantona, Andrea Pirlo, Hristo Stoichkov, and former Southend United and Coventry City player Freddy Eastwood.

However, their achievements appear to have done little to stop the abuse directed at players with Romany heritage.

Lizz Bennett, a community education worker for Show Racism the Red Card, said racism towards the Gypsy, Roma and Travelling community was "widespread and strongly felt".

She said: "The stereotypes of people from Gypsy, Roma and Travelling communities are stark, crude and fixed.

"Whether in a classroom in Sunderland or south London, gypsies are thought of by many as violent, aggressive, dirty thieves who live in caravans, have horses and don't pay tax.

"Freddy Eastwood, a Traveller born in 1983, and a successful professional footballer, is proud of his Traveller heritage.

"However he has sadly had to deal with racism from football fans, who have made comments about him living in a caravan and being a Gypsy.

"So, it is difficult to say whether Rabbi Howell would have had an easier or more difficult time, it is certain to say that racism has formed a significant part of our past, and continues to remain a real and persistent problem in contemporary Britain, so the fight is by no means over."

Mr Kay said that evidence of professional Romany footballers was not easy to come by.

He said: "Only very recently have people started admitting it.

"I do not think it is something that people admit to. It is only recently with Riccardo Quaresma, Andre Pirlo, and Freddy Eastwood who are coming out and saying they are proud to be Romany. Before that it was almost as if people did not want to talk about it.

"There must have been players in between... but there's not much written about it."

Now, Mr Kay is behind a campaign to raise £1,000 to buy a headstone for Howell's grave.

He said: "We need a headstone for Rab.

"No-one who has played for their country should be buried in an unmarked grave.

"We need to recognise him as a pioneer - the first professional Romany footballer."

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

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England team's first Romany footballer 'deserves recognition'

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In 1895 Rabbi Howell made history as the first Romany footballer to play for England, but 119 years on the pioneering player lies buried in an unmarked grave. Now as an appeal to raise funds for a headstone begins, what is the story behind Howell's ground-breaking career and have sporting attitudes to the Romany community changed?