Romanichal

Gypsies

Introduction

The Romanichal also known as Romany Gypsies or English Gypsies are a Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom. Many Romanichal speak Angloromani, a mixed language that blends Romani vocabulary with English syntax. Romanichal residing in England, Scotland, and Wales are considered part of the (Romani) Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller community.

Genetic, cultural, and linguistic findings indicate that the Romani people trace their origins to South Asia, likely in the regions of present-day Punjab, Rajasthan, and Sindh.

Etymology

The word "Romanichal" is derived from Romani chal, where chal is Angloromani for "fellow".

Distribution

Nearly all Romanichal in Great Britain live in England, with smaller communities in South Wales, Northeast Wales, and the Scottish Borders.

In Great Britain, there is a sharp north–south divide among Romanichal. Southern Romanichal live in the South East, South West, Midlands, East Anglia, and South Wales; Northern Romanichal live in the North West, Yorkshire, Scottish Borders, and northeastern Wales. The two groups' dialects differ in accent and vocabulary.

Language

The Romani people in England spoke traditional Romanes—an Indo-Aryan language—until it was largely replaced by English and Angloromani in the 19th century. The variant of Romanes spoken in England closely resembled those of Romani communities in continental Europe. Notable lexical influences included Persian, Armenian, Byzantine Greek, Slavic, and Romanian. Angloromani is a mixed language that combines the syntax and grammar of English with the Romani lexicon. Today, many Romanichal speak both English and Angloromani, with a small minority believed to speak the traditional Romani language.

There are two dialects of Angloromani: Southern Angloromani (spoken in the Southeast, Southwest, Midlands, East Anglia, and South Wales) and Northern Angloromani (spoken in the Northeast, Northwest, Yorkshire, Scottish Borders, and Northeast of Wales). These two dialects, along with the accents that accompany them, have led to two regional Romanichal identities forming, these being the Southern Romanichal identity and the Northern Romanichal identity.

Many Angloromani words, e.g., pal have been incorporated into English, particularly in the form of British slang.

History

The Romani people have origins in South Asia, likely in the regions of present-day Punjab, Rajasthan, and Sindh. 19thThey are believed to have migrated westwards in waves beginning in the 5th century.

Travelling through West Asia, they settled for a time in Persia and Armenia, before crossing Anatolia and entering Europe via the Balkans in the 9th century, during the Byzantine period. Due to conflicts in the Balkans, particularly Ottoman wars, they continued their migration farther north and west in the 15th century, arriving in England by the early 16th century, with the earliest arrival recorded in 1512.

During the reign of Henry VIII, the Egyptians Act 1530 banned Romanis from entering the country and required those already living there to leave within sixteen days. Failure to do so could result in confiscation of property, imprisonment, and deportation. During the reign of Mary I, the Act was amended by the Egyptians Act 1554, which removed the threat of punishment if Romani people abandoned their "naughty, idle and ungodly life and company" and adopted a sedentary lifestyle, but increased the penalty for non-compliance to death.

In 1562, a new law offered Romanis born in England and Wales the possibility of becoming English subjects if they assimilated into the local population. Despite this new option, the Romani were forced into a marginal lifestyle and subjected to discrimination by the authorities and by many non-Romani. In 1596, 106 men and women were condemned to death at York for being Romani, and nine were executed. Samuel Rid wrote two books about them in the early 17th century.

From the 1780s onwards, the anti-Romani laws were gradually repealed. The identity of the Romanichal was formed between 1660 and 1800, as a Romani group living in Britain.

Deportations

The authorities began to deport Romanichal, principally to Norway, as early as 1544.[31][32] The process was continued and encouraged by Elizabeth I and James I.

The Kaale, a Romani subgroup in Finland, maintain that their ancestors migrated through Scotland, supporting the idea that the etymological origin of their subgroup's name—and possibly that of the Romanisael in Scandinavia—may derive from the Kale and Romanichal subgroups in the United Kingdom.

In the years following the American War of Independence, Australia was the preferred destination for penal transportation of Romanichal. The exact number of Romanichal deported to Australia is unknown. It has been suggested that three Romanichal were carried by the First Fleet,[36] one of whom is thought to have been James Squire, who founded Australia's first commercial brewery in 1798, and whose grandson, James Farnell, became the first native-born premier of New South Wales in 1877. The total Romani population of Australia seems to have been extremely low, reflecting the fact that Romanichal probably made up just 0.01 per cent of the original convict population of 162,000. However, it has been suggested that they were discriminated against under the transportation laws and may well have been undercounted.

Fragmentary records suggest that at least fifty Romani people may have been transported from Britain to Australia.

At least one Romani returned from Australia to England: Henry Lavello (or Lovell) was repatriated with a full pardon and was accompanied to England by a son born to an Aboriginal woman.

Indentured labour and slavery

In the 17th century, Oliver Cromwell's government shipped Romanichal as indentured labourers to plantations in North America. From a later period, there is documentation of English Romanichal being enslaved by freed blacks in Jamaica, Barbados, Cuba and Louisiana. -‐--

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