Research Guides


AVAILABLE AGAIN! A Surrey Gypsy Bibliography: Sources for family and social history

By Jeremy Harte

The author has made many years of special study of the Romany families who lived in and travelled through Surrey. This book is a distillation of that knowledge. It’s in the form of an essential checklist of books, magazine and newspaper articles and items from the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society and Romany Routes (the journal of the Romany and Traveller Family History Society) that contain references to the county’s travelling people. It includes photos of families and encampments at Epsom, taken in the inter-war years, 1919-1939. A4 60 pages with 24 black-and-white photographs.

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My Ancestors Were Gypsies

By Sharon Sillers Floate

Third Edition – 2010
Published by the Society of Genealogists

A comprehensive guide to the sources available – and the techniques to use – to help you research your Gypsy family tree. This updated edition includes additional sections on the 1911 census and emigration, plus details of the many useful websites and publications that have appeared since the last edition in 2005. A5, 112 pages.

“This up-to-date edition … will be invaluable to all those who have encountered Gypsy ‘brickwalls’.”
Family Tree Magazine, January 2011

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On The Gypsy Trail – Sources for the Family History of Gypsies: currently out-of-print

By the late Alan McGowan

Based on the author’s own research into Gypsy families in Hampshire and Surrey, this book advises the researcher how to locate entries for Gypsies, and how to overcome problems arising from Gypsies’ frequent avoidance of birth registration, marriage, and other formalities. Subjects covered include birth and baptism, names and occupations, marriage, death and burial, Poor Law records, census returns, court and police records, hawkers’ and pedlars’ licences, missions and schools, fairs and fairgrounds, printed sources, military records, special collections, indexes, personal recollection and family legend. Includes ten illustrations of original documents. A5, 32 pages.

“This is an excellent guide to the consultation of miscellaneous source material which may result in the discovery of a Gypsy ancestor.”
Family Tree Magazine, November 1998

 

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 This page last updated: 2 September 2023.