Travelling as I have in nearly every town of note in Great Britain, it is only natural I should know and be known, I am pleased to say, in all. I have met and left many friends whom it is not easy to forget. The Press of the several places have very kindly expressed an interest in us; so many, in fact, to repeat would take up too much space in a little book of this description. Suffice it to say the remarks of the Liverpool press alone, as attached to these lines will be readily taken by the reader as the expressions of all, and I here thank them for the kindly interest they have displayed in me and my family. Many articles have been written in papers by clever writers who have made our people a subject of thought as to our origin, yet it seems to me an unanswered question and a mystery.
During our travels in Scotland, I hired a field near Arthur’s Seat, Newington, Edinburgh, wherein I gave a Gipsy’s fete and gala. During my three weeks stay there the amount of admission money came to £700. Many of the elite of Edinburgh visited us, amongst others the Duke of Buccleugh and party. At Aberdeen a great success attended us. In fact in every Scottish town we visited we were the recipients of many favours, gratefully remembered. At Dunbar the highest honour ever accorded us was the visit of our most gracious Sovereign Queen Victoria to our tents.
Whilst at Oxford, when giving our galas in the field in Binsey Lane, near the Perch, we were patronised by many of the Collegians, amongst whom we had a frequent visitor in the person of the son of the Khedive of Egypt, who evinced great curiosity as to our people and their habits. At Leeds our galas at the Cremorne Gardens in 1865, during the Whit Week, brought in over 70,000 persons; in the same year we exhibited at the Royal Oak Park, Manchester. Our procession of the entire tribes filled thirty conveyances, many thousands witnessing our procession lining the streets as they did from Newton Heath to Cheadle, both going and returning. In Manchester we remained one month, our tents being crowded day after day. In Dublin for some months we held levees in the famous Rotunda Gardens.
Dr. J. Guinness Beatty, of the Exhibition Staff, well remembers our success there, he being then Assistant Master of the Rotunda Hospital; so successful were we, that Mr. James Dillon, the Dublin Advertising Contractor, offered us £500 for the gate receipts during the latter portion of our stay, which offer I must add, as with others, was very respectfully declined. Whilst in Ireland my time was fully occupied by purchasing horses for the French and Belgian Armies, an occupation now followed by my eldest son and my brother, who visit every large fair held there. After travelling Ireland for over five years, so contented was my brother with the reception accorded us, that he decided to remain, and is now permanently settled in his encampment on the Circular Road, Dublin, carrying out his calling as a Horse Dealer. Among many of our patrons and visitors, I may mention Lady Butler, Lords Mayo and Clonmel, who always exhibited towards us a genial and kindly interest. During my stay in Ireland I must mention the pleasure I feel at the advancement in their education my children received by visiting the Marlboro’ Street Schools in Dublin. Many times have I in England extended my stay in various towns for the sake of educating them, and it is with pleasure I feel in having done so, it will assuredly be to their interest and welfare. Knowing as I do that when a boy, all we of the Gipsy tribe read from and of was “Nature’s own book.”
During the years I have travelled I have held conversations with many wishful of learning our language. Some have gained a slight knowledge of our lore, but, I am pleased to say, not from my family. In many instances when they (the would be learners) have spoken to me, I have heard them use terms clearly showing them to be the most gullible of the gulled.
Seeing the announcements of the International Exhibition of Liverpool, stating it was the intention of the Executive Council to present originals and models of the different means of travelling as used in past and present times, I ventured to address a letter, asking to become an exhibitor of my caravan and tent, within which I and my family have travelled the greater portion of the United Kingdom. Thanks to their consideration, permission was kindly given me to erect my encampment on the south east corner, through their General Superintendent, Samuel Lee Bapty, Esq.
Soon after our entry on the ground, we had the distinguished honour of a visit from the Mayor and Mayoress (Sir David and Lady Radcliffe), and several members of the Executive Council, all of whom expressed the warmest satisfaction with their reception.
During our stay at the Exhibition I was honoured by a visit from His Royal Highness Prince Victor of Hohenlohe, who, in company with Sir A. B. Walker, Bart., and a select party from Gateacre Grange, visited my tent, and had his fortune predicted by my wife. The Prince professed himself delighted with the glimpse afforded him of tent life, and on his return to St. James’s Palace, was kind enough to write me an autograph letter, assuring me of the deep gratification which his reception had afforded him, and giving me a most pressing invitation to visit him at his estate of St. Brino, near Ascot, whenever I found myself in that neighbourhood.
Among other interesting momentoes which I preserve, not so much for their intrinsic value as for their pleasing associations, is a half-crown presented to me by the Earl of Lathom, on visiting my tent. It bears the following inscription:
“Earl of Lathom,
Lord High Chamberlain,
September 25, 1886.”