Scottish Travellers

Scottish Travellers, or the people in Scotland loosely termed gypsies or tinkers, 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 four distinct communities that identify themselves as Gypsies or Travellers in Scotland: Indigenous Highland Travellers; Funfair Travellers, or Showmen; Romanichals (a subgroup of the Romani people); and Lowland Gypsies.

The ethnic origins of Scottish lowland Gypsy/Travellers are not clear, but can be categorised into three main theories: i) those of indigenous origin to the British Isles, like the Scottish Highland and Irish traveller communities; ii) they are of Indian origin and have a common ancestry with the English Romanichal, and continental Romani groups; iii) or a fusion or mix of Romani and indigenous traveller groups. Regardless of the accepted theories, there has been a certain degree of socio-biological fusion historically between Romani groups and indigenous Scottish Gypsy/Travellers, perhaps from the outset of Romani groups arriving in Scotland in the early 16th century and there are Scottish travellers with at least some degree of Romani including Romanichal ancestry. This is not uncommon and can be seen in other groups throughout Europe including the Yeniche people and Norwegian and Swedish Travellers (the latter Romanisæl who are themselves descended from Romani groups from Scotland).

Lowland Gypsy/Travellers share many cultural features with European Gypsy communities such as a belief in the importance of family and family descent, a strong valuing and involvement with extended family and family events, a preference for self-employment, purity taboos (among the Romani people the purity taboos are part of the Romanipen) and a strong commitment to a nomadic lifestyle.

There is written evidence for the presence of Roma travellers in the Scottish Lowlands as early as 1505, when – during the reign of James IV – an entry in a book kept by the Lord High Treasurer records a payment of four shillings to a Peter Ker to take a letter from the king at Hunthall, to the "King of Rowmais". Two days later, the King authorised a payment of £20 to a messenger from the "King of Rowmais". In 1530, a group of Romanies danced before the Scottish king at the Holyrood Palace and a Romani herbalist called Baptista cured the king of an ailment. Romany migration to Scotland continued during the 16th century and several groups of Romanies were accepted there after being expelled from England. Records in Dundee from 1651 note the migrations of small groups of people called "Egyptians" in the Highlands, and are noted to be of the same nature as the English Gypsies. By 1612, communities of Romanies were recorded to exist as far north as Scalloway in the Shetland islands. The Finnish Kale, a Romani group in Finland, maintain that their ancestors were originally a Romani group who travelled to Finland from Scotland, which supports the idea that they and the Scandinavian Travellers are distantly related to present-day Scottish gypsies and Romanichals. Romani people in the south of Scotland enjoyed the protection of the Roslyn family and made an encampment within the Roslyn castle grounds. However, as with its neighbour England, the Scottish parliament passed an act in 1609 against Romani groups known as the “Act against the Egyptians”; which made it lawful to condemn, detain and execute Gypsies if they were known or reputed to be ethnically Romani.

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