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Gypsies and Tinkers, Travellers and Itinerants
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Scottish Travellers, or the people in Scotland loosely termed gypsies or
travellers, consist of a number of diverse, unrelated communities that
speak a variety of different languages and dialects that pertain to
distinct customs, histories, and traditions.
There are three distinct communities that identify themselves as
Gypsies/Travellers in Scotland: Indigenous Highland Travellers, Romani
Lowland Gypsies and Showman (Funfair Travellers).
The lowland gypsies had a 'Royal' family, from an early date. The Faa
family occupied this role until 1847 when it passed to the Blyths,
commonly called Faa-Blyths. The last 'king' died in 1902 and there has
been no more recent claimants (but see below). Besides the Faas and Blyths, common
Border Gypsy surnames include Baillie, Tait, Douglas, Gordon, McDonald,
Ruthven, Young and Fleckie.
In Scottish Gaelic they are known as the "Ceàrdannan" ("the Craftsmen"),
or less controversially, "luchd siubhail" (people of travel) for
travellers in general. Poetically known as the "Summer Walkers",
Highland Travellers are a distinct ethnic group and may be referred to
as "traivellers", "traivellin fowk'", in Scots, "tinkers", originating
from the Gaelic "tinceard" or (tinsmith) or "Black Tinkers". Mistakenly
the settled Scottish population may call all travelling and Romani
groups tinkers, which is usually regarded as pejorative, and
contemptuously as "tinks" or "tinkies". Highland Travellers are closely
tied to the native Highlands, and many traveller families carry clan
names like Macfie, Stewart, MacDonald, Cameron, Williamson and
Macmillan.
Best known was Charlie Douglas (best known to me, anyway) who revelled
in the title "King of the Gypsies", but there are other families.
The Stewarts were a well-known Traveller family with strong ties to
Wigtownshire.
Shown, from left to right, are: Thomasina; Thomasina (wife of Jack
Douglas from the Borders); Janey (daughter of Thomasina and Jack);
Isabella; Maggy; unknown girl; Jack Stewart of Stranraer and his son
John.
Jack Douglas would appear to be from Kirk Yetholm, conveniently less
than 1 mile west of the border for folk who need to hide for a while.
The Yetholm Gypsies
The Yetholm Gypsies have made the village famous throughout the world.
The Faa and Blythe groupings were the dominant families in British Gypsy
culture throughout the past three hundred years. Although gypsy blood
still courses through many local veins, the discreet family links have
died out as the members have intermarried with the locals. The Baillie,
Tait, Douglas, Young, Gordon and Blyth families all have blood links
with the gypsy families of the past. The former 'Gypsy Palace' is just
off Kirk Yetholm Green, on the road to Halterburn. Once the home of the
King of the Gypsies, it is now a private house.
A fascinating insight into the life of the gypsy is given in Rowena
Farre's 'A Time from the World' in which she describes the time she
spent with the gypsies and her relationship with them. From her name, it
seems likely that she, herself, was originally from the Faa tribe. She
is most famous, of course, for 'Seal Morning'.
In her book Rowena Farre describes in detail the use of the stew pot,
into which whatever game or fowl 'came to hand' disappeared, along with
'self-harvesting' root vegetables, to become the evening meal.
Many family names are associated with the Yetholm Gypsy families, but it
would seem that the earliest were the Youngs, followed by the Taits,
Gordons, Fleckie, Blyth, Baillie and Douglas. Because so many bore the
same family name, the use of nicknames to differentiate those with a
similar Christian name was common,
By about 1830, the families had begun to split, with groups moving into
the surrounding areas to live. The main reason was probably the shortage
of food in winter in the Yetholm area. So we find Douglasses and Youngs
appearing in numbers in the Bongate in Jedburgh, with others in Hawick
and Redpath. Some went over the border into the Wooler area.
Gypsies have always been thought of as being dark-skinned, with dark
eyes and white gleaming teeth, but this is only true of some of the
Yetholm gypsy families. It is generally held to be true of the Young,
Faa and Douglas families, but the Blythes and Baillies, mostly, were
fair haired and had a rather ruddy complexion.
As with all gypsies their dress tended to be of two extremes. When out
and about in what could be called day-to-day clothes, they were scruffy
and appeared to be needing a good scrub. Partly, this might have been
part of the image, as if they appeared poor and needy, the local
population might be more willing to buy from them. All the stories
written by those who have lived with the gypsies refer to the ablutions
being carried out daily, usually, admittedly, in cold water. When
dressed in their finery they radiated colour and joi-de-vivre. They
loved the bright colours, particularly red and green, and the contrast
with the gleaming white of the ladies' aprons was a sight to see. They
were fond of jewellery which they wore on every possible occasion. It is
rare to see a photograph of them without their gold and silver
ear-rings, bangles etc.
Each of the gypsy families would have at least one donkey or pony, and
most had a cart to carry their wordly goods. These animals were grazed
on the Kirk Yetholm Common Land which lay between the village and the
English Border.
When Jeffrey was writing in 1836, the strength of the gypsies in Kirk
Yetholm was about 80, consisting of the Blythes, Ruthvens, Taits and
Douglases. The Faa family had died out in name, with the death of Will
Faa. The kings brother-in-law, Charles Blythe, who was married to Etty
Faa seized the throne. So poor had the Faas become, that, for a time,
Will had been forced to take a 'real' job. He worked as a gamekeeper for
the Marquis of Tweeddale, and is described as 'an excellent fisher, well
acquainted with every pool and stream in the Beaumont, Cayle and
Colledge waters'
•
Thomas Douglas, Tinker, thief. Resident of. Bannockburn, Stirlingshire
was transported to America in 1754.
Residents of Yetholm who
fought in World War 1 - with crosses † denoting those who died:
† Andrew Douglas; Scots Guards
• Andrew Douglas; Royal Garrison Artillery
• John
Douglas; Reserve Supply Personnel.
• Robert Douglas; Reserve Supply Personnel
† Walter Douglas; Army Veterinary Corps.
† William Douglas; Scots Guards
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Source
Sources for this article include:
The Scottish Gypsies of Scotland
Further reading:
Last of the Tinkers, by Sheila Douglas, 2006 - A
collection of stories, songs and anecdotes from Willie MacPhee providing
a link between the ancient history of his people and their situation in
present-day Scotland.
Any contributions will be
gratefully accepted
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