Travellers through Time: A Gypsy History

Romany Gypsies have been variously portrayed as exotic strangers or as crude, violent delinquents; this book is the first real history of the Romany people, from the inside. Jeremy Harte vividly portrays the hardships of the travelling life, the skills of woodland crafts, the colourful artistic traditions, the mysteries of a lost language and the flamboyant displays of weddings and funerals, which are all still present in this secretive culture. Travellers through Time tells the dramatic story of life on the margin of society from Tudor times to today, offering vivid insights into the hidden world of England’s large Gypsy population. It will appeal to those who are curious about other cultures, as well as those who want to understand the reality behind the prejudice.

About the Author :
Jeremy Harte is curator of the Bourne Hall Museum at Epsom and Ewell. He is secretary of the Romany & Traveller Family History Society and created the Surrey Gypsy Archive. His previous books include Cloven Country: The Devil in the English Landscape, also published by Reaktion Books.

Review :
Jeremy Harte’s Travellers Through Time focuses on Romanies in England . . . Harte has spent many years in close conversation with Romani families, in the position of both participant observer and, more importantly, old friend. As such, he is an excellent guide to the history of Britain’s Gypsies. His knowledge of the Anglo-Romani language and its connection to both continental and older British forms of Romani is sound. There’s many a good tune played on an old fiddle. This enthusiastic revival of romantic historiography, blissfully innocent of any economic, social or critical theory, will appeal to traditionalists. At the same time, the clear referencing of sources of a much wider range of historical anecdotes than usual means that the reader can check and follow up the plethora of details of English Gypsy life. Using a wide array of resources, Jeremy Harte introduces us to a 1,000-year journey that began in India but has yet to culminate in a network of safe stopping places for Romany Gypsies still travelling the UK’s roads and byways. Suspicion and open hostility tend to follow them everywhere they go, but Britain’s Romanies have managed to adapt and move with the times, bringing with them a language and culture that has, in many ways, survived to the present day. In this well-researched account that reaches beyond the stereotype, Harte writes of Gypsy history without sentiment or bias, but always with respect. Progressing chronologically from Tudor times when Gypsies first appear in the English written record up to the present day, [Harte] gives an in-depth description of how Romani life, culture and language have developed and adapted through the centuries . . . Harte handles their history with respect; the details of his description, his wry sense of humour and the use of telling quotes are all evidence of his enthusiasm for his subject.