Harringay Gypsies, 1910

Comment by Ruth on March 4, 2010 at 21:54

This is intriguing. I only have questions....
Do we know for sure that these women were all Roma and not just dressed up for some reason? What evidence is there that there were Roma in the vicinity at the time? Maybe for some festival in the park? Roma were usually associated with travelling fairs and selling things (yes it is true about the pegs) but cant see anyone selling anything here. They look to be in their 'best' clothes. Why would the SA take them to a photo studio and not have photos taken in their encampments, in everyday situations.
The Sally Army were usually trying to save someone from something or other and interesting its only women in the photo.

Comment by Hugh on March 4, 2010 at 23:06

I'm afraid I know nothing about the photo other than what we see.

Comment by Ruth on March 5, 2010 at 0:01

well it's all very fascinating.... one picture can hold so much history and so many stories but we will probably never know.

Comment by Ruth on March 1, 2011 at 20:13

Yes, I am sure these were non-Roma residents of Harringay performing some sort of play somewhere.

Comment by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on March 1, 2011 at 21:10

They may well be related to the Salvation Army's 'Gypsy Outreach' dating from the conversion of Rodney Gipsy Smith and his recruitment by William Booth for work with gypsies in the South-East between 1877 and 1882. Gipsy Smith was born in a tent in Epping Forest. Apparently a parting of the ways in 1882 was caused when Smith accepted a gift of £20 from a grateful congregation, breaking SA rules for preachers so Booth dropped him. He continued in Christian preaching into old age on both sides of the Atlantic. 

No reason why the group above might not be SA gypsy converts dressed in their 'Sunday best' for their formal photo for a special occasion. Maybe.

Comment by Hugh on November 13, 2020 at 18:23

I was reminded of this image earlier when someone 'liked' it.

Since I last commented, I'm pretty sure that I've seen a newspaper article from the first decade of the 20th century about gypsies on the former potteries site (yet-to-be Stadium site). I couldn't put my hands to it. But I did find another nearby reference telling us that there were gypsies in the area at the time of the photo.

Tottenham and Edmonton Weekly Herald - 22 January 1904

Derek Reynolds who gave me such great info on the Redvers Road area, told me that gypsies were still camping up there in the 1920s.

Add a Comment