Charlie
Douglas MBE
“Jesus was also a traveller” - Charlie Douglas
Charlie Douglas, MBE, was born in Tuphall Road, Hamilton, on
November 6, 1929. He revelled in the title "King of the Gypsies",
awarded him by his own Romany people for his many achievements.
Indeed, Charlie and his two boxing sons loathed the modern,
politically correct term "travelling people" to describe the Romany
people – for whom Charlie was both a charismatic leader and
spokesman. He was the youngest child of David Douglas, known as big Jack
Salts, and Margaret-Ann. Charlie was only six when his mother died.
He had three brothers Davie, Joe and Walter and two sisters
Margaret-Ann and Janet.
From an early age, Charlie's two main passions were pugilism and
horse dealing and breeding, two areas at which Romany people have
long excelled.
However, Charlie's father believed firmly in
education and from an early age he developed an avid interest in
philosophy and literature. Consequently, it was with some amusement
that Charlie considered an offer from a well-meaning civil servant
to help him fill in his expenses forms for meetings he attended at
the Scottish Office while representing his Romany peers as an
adviser to the Scottish Government – the implication being that, as
a gypsy, Charlie would be illiterate.
However, such incidents
were in the future when, as a young man Charlie effortlessly
combined his bibliophilia with shrewd horse dealing and breeding and
fighting many bareknuckle battles in Romany boxing tournaments –
where he excelled. His reputation as a breeder became
international as he often traded horses as far afield as Canada and
Australia.
Similarly, given his early bareknuckle boxing
exploits it was no surprise when his sons, David and Charlie, took
up boxing under Queensberry rules. Both won a clutch of amateur
titles, while David became the Scottish welterweight champion in the
early 1990s. Charlie's grandson Alex also carried on the family
tradition by winning an amateur title.
David said: "From an
early age, my brother and I were taught the boxing basics and beyond
by legendary Larkhall club coach Dave Barry, who had defeated world
flyweight champion from Hamilton Walter McGowan's Dad Joe Gans three
times in the in the amateurs. "My father had a great talent for
motivating and inspiring me from ringside, as was proved when I
fought Liverpool's Joey Frost and won, despite being an underdog."
Charlie's equal ability to inspire his gypsy peers led in
1974 to him being invited by the government to act as an adviser on
Romany affairs. The post brought Charlie into contact with legal
lord Lord Birsay, who became a fast friend of the "King of the
Gypsies" and a regular visitor to his family home in Larkhall.
So valuable was Charlie's input and so highly was his advice valued
by the Scottish Office that he was created a Member of the British
Empire in 1974.
Similarly, so highly was Charlie rated as a
referee, ringside judge and timekeeper at Scottish amateur boxing
championships that he was asked at the age of 78 to make a comeback
in that role.
His son David said: "My Dad's title of 'King of
the Gypsies' was one no other gypsy person ever disputed and he was
a king – not just of Romany folk but also as a husband and
much-loved father, grandfather and great-grandfather.''
Charlie died 13 September, 2009, in Larkhall, Lanarkshire, aged 79.
He is survived by his wife Margaret (b.c. 1936, married 1954), three
sons, David (the Scottish Welterweight champion and the first for
about 50 years to successfully defend the title), Charlie and Alex
(owner of South Lanarkshire Builders in Larkhall’s Carlisle Road),
four grandchildren and five great grandchildren.
He was
buried at Hamilton’s Bent Cemetery.
