irish traveller vs romani

9 myths and the truth about Gypsies and Travellers

For starters, only a small number of travellers camp illegally

• 00:01, 25 OCT 2019
• Updated 15:20, 25 OCT 2019

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Travellers and Gypsies are one of the most misunderstood minority groups in the UK.

To combat this  the Travellers' Times website has created a guide, which aims to promote positive images of the Traveller and Gypsy community.

It has been written in response to hate crime and racist language directed towards their communities.

Cambridgeshire has seen tensions between the Traveller and settled communities in recent years, with caravans pitching on unauthorised sites across including Fulbourn, Papworth, Cambourne and at Cambridge Business and Research Park.

As well as causing disruption to residential communities, there can often be a hefty clean-up bill as some groups leave behind piles of rubbish.

Cambridge police say they are committed to working with local councils to tackle the problem and has previously used powers under Section 61 of the Crime and Disorder Act to order unlawful encampments to disperse.

But, as the Travellers' Times points out, a only a small number of Travellers camp illegally.

While tensions can run high at times many people hold misconceptions, which Travellers' Times hopes to dispell.

Things you should know about gypsies and travellers according to Travellers' Times

There are nine reoccurring myths and misconceptions about their culture and origins.

1) Who are the UK’s Gypsies and Travellers?

Travellers and Gypsies have a rich and varied history.

Romany Gypsies are the descendants of a migration of peoples from Northern India in the 10-12AD, who spread across Eastern and Western Europe, reaching Great Britain in around the 1600’s.

Irish Travellers – or Pavee – and Scottish Travellers - are the descendants of a nomadic people who have traditionally inhabited Ireland and mainland Britain.

Roma usually refers to the descendants of the migration of various groups of peoples from Northern India in the 10th to 12th century who settled in Eastern and Western Europe.

2) Should we use a capital letter to start ‘gypsy and/or traveller’?

Romany Gypsies, Scottish, Welsh and Irish Travellers are all ethnic minorities, recognised under UK law and the Irish government.

Therefore it is customary to capitalise ‘G’ and ‘T’ for Gypsies and Travellers.

3) Lifestyle, ethnic group or ‘community’?

Research shows Gypsies, Roma and Travellers (GRT) should be seen as ethnic groups rather than ‘lifestyles’.

All the different GRT groups in the UK have a shared language or dialect, some shared cultural practices, most will identify as an ethnic group, and all individuals from all groups are legally recognised as ethnic minorities under the Equalities Act 2010.

4) How many Travellers live in the UK?

In the 2011 Census, 58,000 people identified themselves as Gypsy or Irish Traveller, accounting for just 0.1 per cent of the resident population of England and Wales. However the figure is likely to be much higher.

5) Traveller politics

There is a cross-party parliamentary group called the All Party Parliamentary Group for Gypsies, Roma and Travellers.

This is currently led by the charity Friends, Families and Travellers and the co-Chairs are Kate Green, MP for Stretford and Urmston, and Baroness Janet Whitaker.

6) Where do Travellers live?

The number of Gypsy and Traveller caravans in England and Wales is recorded twice yearly.

The vast majority of Gypsies and Travellers living in caravans stay on permanent public and private sites which have planning permission, waste collection and are subject to rent (unless of course the site is privately owned by the occupier), council tax and utility bills.

7) A small minority pitch on unauthorised land

A small minority of Gypsies and Traveller caravans are classed as unauthorised and staying on land they do not own, such as roadside camps.

This minority, which will include Gypsies and Travellers with no other place to stay and also Gypsies and Travellers moving off authorised sites to go ‘travelling’ during the summer, receives the vast majority of local news coverage.

7) Criminal Justice System

Far too many Gypsies and Travellers are in prison, as many as five per cent of the population according to Government research.

Meanwhile 0.13 per cent of the general UK population are in prision.

The Irish Chaplaincy in Britain works with Gypsies and Travellers in custody. Some prisons have their own GRT Prisoner Groups. The Travellers’ Times Magazine is delivered free to many UK HMP’s and the editor receives many letters from prisoners.

8) Nomadism

Nomadism is a shared heritage of Gypsies and Travellers and not a present reality.

Not all Gypsies and Irish and Scottish Travellers ‘travel’ – or may only ‘travel’ to traditional cultural events like Appleby Horse Fair.

9) Prejudice, oppression and the Holocaust

Many Gypsies, Roma and Travellers face daily prejudice based on negative stereotyping and misunderstanding.

This is because people generalise from the anti-social actions of a few and protect that onto the whole population.

Prejudice against them is longstanding.

In some Eastern and even Western European countries, Roma are segregated and live in camps and slums isolated from the rest of the population.

Alongside the Jewish population Roma were specifically singled out for extermination by Nazi racial policy.

Historians estimate the number murdered by Nazi and axis regimes during the Second World War to be around 500,000, although some historians say it is closer to a million.

• Most Recent

Romani (Gypsy), Roma and Irish Traveller History and Culture

Romani (Gypsy), Roma and Irish Traveller people belong to minority ethnic groups that have contributed to British society for centuries. Their distinctive way of life and traditions manifest themselves in nomadism, the centrality of their extended family, unique languages and entrepreneurial economy. It is reported that there are around 300,000 Travellers in the UK and they are one of the most disadvantaged groups. The real population may be different as some members of these communities do not participate in the census .

The Traveller Movement works predominantly with ethnic Romani (Gypsy), Roma, and Irish Traveller Communities.

Irish Travellers and Romany Gypsies

Irish Travellers

Traditionally, Irish Travellers are a nomadic group of people from Ireland but have a separate identity, heritage and culture to the community in general. An Irish Traveller presence can be traced back to 12th century Ireland, with migrations to Great Britain in the early 19th century. The Irish Traveller community is categorised as an ethnic minority group under the Race Relations Act, 1976 (amended 2000); the Human Rights Act 1998; and the Equality Act 2010. Some Travellers of Irish heritage identify as Pavee or Minceir, which are words from the Irish Traveller language, Shelta.

Romany Gypsies

Romany Gypsies have been in Britain since at least 1515 after migrating from continental Europe during the Roma migration from India. The term Gypsy comes from “Egyptian” which is what the settled population perceived them to be because of their dark complexion. In reality, linguistic analysis of the Romani language proves that Romany Gypsies, like the European Roma, originally came from Northern India, probably around the 12th century. French Manush Gypsies have a similar origin and culture to Romany Gypsies.

There are other groups of Travellers who may travel through Britain, such as Scottish Travellers, Welsh Travellers and English Travellers, many of whom can trace a nomadic heritage back for many generations and who may have married into or outside of more traditional Irish Traveller and Romany Gypsy families. There were already indigenous nomadic people in Britain when the Romany Gypsies first arrived hundreds of years ago and the different cultures/ethnicities have to some extent merged.

Number of Gypsies and Travellers in Britain

This year, the 2021 Census included a “Roma” category for the first time, following in the footsteps of the 2011 Census which included a “Gypsy and Irish Traveller” category. The 2021 Census statistics have not yet been released but the 2011 Census put the combined Gypsy and Irish Traveller population in England and Wales as 57,680. This was recognised by many as an underestimate for various reasons. For instance, it varies greatly with data collected locally such as from the Gypsy Traveller Accommodation Needs Assessments, which total the Traveller population at just over 120,000, according to our research.

Other academic estimates of the combined Gypsy, Irish Traveller and other Traveller population range from 120,000 to 300,000. Ethnic monitoring data of the Gypsy Traveller population is rarely collected by key service providers in health, employment, planning and criminal justice.

Where Gypsies and Travellers Live

Although most Gypsies and Travellers see travelling as part of their identity, they can choose to live in different ways including:

• moving regularly around the country from site to site and being ‘on the road’
• living permanently in caravans or mobile homes, on sites provided by the council, or on private sites
• living in settled accommodation during winter or school term-time, travelling during the summer months
• living in ‘bricks and mortar’ housing, settled together, but still retaining a strong commitment to Gypsy/Traveller culture and traditions

Currently, their nomadic life is being threatened by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, that is currently being deliberated in Parliament, To find out more or get involved with opposing this bill, please visit here

Although Travellers speak English in most situations, they often speak to each other in their own language; for Irish Travellers this is called Cant or Gammon* and Gypsies speak Romani, which is the only indigenous language in the UK with Indic roots.

*Sometimes referred to as “Shelta” by linguists and academics

New Travellers and Show People

There are also Traveller groups which are known as ‘cultural’ rather than ‘ethnic’ Travellers. These include ‘new’ Travellers and Showmen. Most of the information on this page relates to ethnic Travellers but ‘Showmen’ do share many cultural traits with ethnic Travellers.

Show People are a cultural minority that have owned and operated funfairs and circuses for many generations and their identity is connected to their family businesses. They operate rides and attractions that can be seen throughout the summer months at funfairs. They generally have winter quarters where the family settles to repair the machinery that they operate and prepare for the next travelling season. Most Show People belong to the Showmen’s Guild which is an organisation that provides economic and social regulation and advocacy for Show People. The Showman’s Guild works with both central and local governments to protect the economic interests of its members.

The term New Travellers refers to people sometimes referred to as “New Age Travellers”. They are generally people who have taken to life ‘on the road’ in their own lifetime, though some New Traveller families claim to have been on the road for three consecutive generations. The New Traveller culture grew out of the hippie and free-festival movements of the 1960s and 1970s.

Barge Travellers are similar to New Travellers but live on the UK’s 2,200 miles of canals. They form a distinct group in the canal network and many are former ‘new’ Travellers who moved onto the canals after changes to the law made the free festival circuit and a life on the road almost untenable. Many New Travellers have also settled into private sites or rural communes although a few groups are still travelling.

If you are a new age Traveller and require support please contact Friends, Families, and Travellers (FFT) .

Differences and Values

Differences Between Romani (Gypsies), Roma and Irish Travellers.

Romani (Gypsies), Roma and Irish Travellers are often categorised together under the “Roma” definition in Europe and under the acronym “GRT” in Britain. These communities and other nomadic groups, such as Scottish and English Travellers, Show People and New Travellers, share a number of characteristics in common: the importance of family and/or community networks; the nomadic way of life, a tendency toward self-employment, experience of disadvantage and having the poorest health outcomes in the United Kingdom.

The Roma communities also originated from India from around the 10th/ 12th centuries and have historically faced persecution, including slavery and genocide. They are still marginalised and ghettoised in many Eastern European countries (Greece, Bulgaria, Romania etc) where they are often the largest and most visible ethnic minority group, sometimes making up 10% of the total population. However, ‘Roma’ is a political term and a self-identification of many Roma activists. In reality, European Roma populations are made up of various subgroups, some with their own form of Romani, who often identify as that group rather than by the all-encompassing Roma identity.

Travellers and Roma each have very different customs, religion, language and heritage. For instance, Gypsies are said to have originated in India and the Romani language (also spoken by Roma) is considered to consist of at least seven varieties, each a language in their own right.

Values and Culture of GRT Communities

Family, extended family bonds and networks are very important to the Gypsy and Traveller way of life, as is a distinct identity from the settled ‘Gorja’ or ‘country’ population. Family anniversaries, births, weddings and funerals are usually marked by extended family or community gatherings with strong religious ceremonial content. Gypsies and Travellers generally marry young and respect their older generation. Contrary to frequent media depiction, Traveller communities value cleanliness and tidiness.

Many Irish Travellers are practising Catholics, while some Gypsies and Travellers are part of a growing Christian Evangelical movement.

Gypsy and Traveller culture has always adapted to survive and continues to do so today. Rapid economic change, recession and the gradual dismantling of the ‘grey’ economy have driven many Gypsy and Traveller families into hard times. The criminalisation of ‘travelling’ and the dire shortage of authorised private or council sites have added to this. Some Travellers describe the effect that this is having as “a crisis in the community” . A study in Ireland put the suicide rate of Irish Traveller men as 3-5 times higher than the wider population. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the same phenomenon is happening amongst Traveller communities in the UK.

Gypsies and Travellers are also adapting to new ways, as they have always done. Most of the younger generation and some of the older generation use social network platforms to stay in touch and there is a growing recognition that reading and writing are useful tools to have. Many Gypsies and Travellers utilise their often remarkable array of skills and trades as part of the formal economy. Some Gypsies and Travellers, many supported by their families, are entering further and higher education and becoming solicitors, teachers, accountants, journalists and other professionals.

There have always been successful Gypsy and Traveller businesses, some of which are household names within their sectors, although the ethnicity of the owners is often concealed. Gypsies and Travellers have always been represented in the fields of sport and entertainment.

How Gypsies and Travellers Are Disadvantaged

The Romani (Gypsy), Roma and Irish Traveller communities are widely considered to be among the most socially excluded communities in the UK. They have a much lower life expectancy than the general population, with Traveller men and women living 10-12 years less than the wider population.

Travellers have higher rates of infant mortality, maternal death and stillbirths than the general population. They experience racist sentiment in the media and elsewhere, which would be socially unacceptable if directed at any other minority community. Ofsted consider young Travellers to be one of the groups most at risk of low attainment in education.

Government services rarely include Traveller views in the planning and delivery of services.

In recent years, there has been increased political networking between the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller activists and campaign organisations.

Watch this video by Travellers Times made for Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month 2021:

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• Ethnicity facts and figures homepage Home

Gypsy, Roma and Irish Traveller ethnicity summary

Updated 29 March 2022

1. About this page

2. the gypsy, roma and traveller group, 3. classifications, 4. improving data availability and quality, 5. population data, 6. education data, 7. economic activity and employment data.

• 8. Home ownership data data
• 9. Health data

This is a summary of statistics about people from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller ethnic groups living in England and Wales.

It is part of a series of summaries about different ethnic groups .

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) is a term used to describe people from a range of ethnicities who are believed to face similar challenges. These groups are distinct, but are often reported together.

This page includes:

• information about GRT data and its reliability
• some statistics from the 2011 Census
• other statistics on the experiences of people from the GRT groups in topics including education, housing and health

This is an overview based on a selection of data published on Ethnicity facts and figures or analyses of other sources. Some published data (for example, on higher education) is only available for the aggregated White ethnic group, and is not included here.

Through this report, we sometimes make comparisons with national averages. While in other reports we might compare with another ethnic group (usually White British), we have made this decision here because of the relatively small impact the GRT group has on the overall national average.

The term Gypsy, Roma and Traveller has been used to describe a range of ethnic groups or people with nomadic ways of life who are not from a specific ethnicity.

In the UK, it is common in data collections to differentiate between:

• Gypsies (including English Gypsies, Scottish Gypsies or Travellers, Welsh Gypsies and other Romany people)
• Irish Travellers (who have specific Irish roots)
• Roma, understood to be more recent migrants from Central and Eastern Europe

The term Traveller can also encompass groups that travel. This includes, but is not limited to, New Travellers, Boaters, Bargees and Showpeople. (See the House of Commons Committee report on Tackling inequalities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities .)

For the first time, the 2011 Census ethnic group question included a tick box for the ethnic group ‘Gypsy or Irish Traveller’. This was not intended for people who identify as Roma because they are a distinct group with different needs to Gypsy or Irish Travellers.

The 2021 Census had a ‘Gypsy or Irish Traveller’ category, and a new ‘Roma’ category.

A 2018 YouGov poll found that 66% of people in the UK wrongly viewed GRT not to be an ethnic group, with many mistaking them as a single group (PDF). It is therefore important that GRT communities are categorised correctly on data forms, using separate tick boxes when possible to reflect this.

The 2011 Census figures used in this report and on Ethnicity facts and figures are based on respondents who chose to identify with the Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group. People who chose to write in Roma as their ethnicity were allocated to the White Other group, and data for them is not included here. Other data, such as that from the Department for Education, includes Roma as a category combined with Gypsy, with Irish Traveller shown separately.

The commentary in this report uses the specific classifications in each dataset. Users should exercise caution when comparing different datasets, for example between education data (which uses Gypsy/Roma, and Irish Traveller in 2 separate categories) and the Census (which uses Gypsy and Irish Traveller together, but excludes data for people who identify as Roma).

Finally, it should be noted that there is also a distinction that the government makes, for the purposes of planning policy, between those who travel and the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller ethnicities. The Department for Communities and Local Government (at the time, now the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) planning policy for traveller sites (PDF) defines "gypsies and travellers" as:

"Persons of nomadic habit of life whatever their race or origin, including such persons who on grounds only of their own or their family’s or dependants’ educational or health needs or old age have ceased to travel temporarily, but excluding members of an organised group of travelling showpeople or circus people travelling together as such."

This definition for planning purposes includes any person with a nomadic habit, whether or not they might have identified as Gypsy, Roma or Traveller in a data collection.

The April 2019 House of Commons Women and Equalities Select Committee report on inequalities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities noted that there was a lack of data on these groups.

The next section highlights some of the problems associated with collecting data on these groups, and what is available. Some of the points made about surveys, sample sizes and administrative data are generally applicable to any group with a small population.

Improving data for the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller populations, as well as other under-represented groups in the population is part of the recommendations in the Inclusive Data Taskforce report and the key activities described in the ONS response to them. For example, in response to recommendation 3 of the report, ONS, RDU and others will "build on existing work and develop new collaborative initiatives and action plans to improve inclusion of under-represented population groups in UK data in partnership with others across government and more widely".

Also, the ONS response to recommendation 4 notes the development of a range of strategies to improve the UK data infrastructure and fill data gaps to provide more granular data through new or boosted surveys and data linkage. Recommendation 6 notes that research will be undertaken using innovative methods best suited to the research question and prospective participants, to understand more about the lived experiences of several groups under-represented in UK data and evidence, such as people from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller groups.

4.1 Classifications

In some data collections, the option for people to identify as Gypsy, Roma or Traveller is not available. Any data grouped to the 5 aggregated ethnic groups does not show the groups separately. Data based on the 2001 Census does not show them separately as there was no category for people identifying as Gypsy, Roma or Traveller. As part of our Quality Improvement Plan, the Race Disparity Unit (RDU) has committed to working with government departments to maintain a harmonised approach to collecting data about Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people using the GSS harmonised classification. The harmonised classification is currently based on the 2011 Census, and an update is currently being considered by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

In particular, RDU has identified working with DHSC and NHS Digital colleagues as a priority – the NHS classification is based on 2001 Census classifications and does not capture information on any of the GRT groups separately (they were categorised as White Other in the 2001 Census). Some of these issues have been outlined in the quarterly reports on progress to address COVID-19 health inequalities .

Research into how similar or different the aggregate ethnic groups are shows how many datasets are available for the GRT group.

Further information on the importance of harmonisation is also available.

4.2 Census data

A main source of data on the Gypsy and Irish Traveller groups is the 2011 Census. This will be replaced by the 2021 Census when results are published by the ONS. The statistics in this summary use information from Ethnicity facts and figures and the Census section of ONS’s NOMIS website.

4.3 Survey data

It is often difficult to conclude at any one point in time whether a disparity is significant for the GRT population, as the population is so small in comparison to other ethnic groups.

Even a large sample survey like the Annual Population Survey (APS) has a small number of responses from the Gypsy and Irish Traveller ethnic group each year. Analysis of 3 years of combined data for 2016, 2017 and 2018 showed there were 62 people in the sample (out of around 500,000 sampled cases in total over those 3 years) in England and Wales. Another large survey, the Department for Transport’s National Travel Survey, recorded 58 people identifying as Gypsy or Traveller out of 157,000 people surveyed between 2011 and 2019.

Small sample sizes need not be a barrier to presenting data if confidence intervals are provided to help the user. But smaller sample sizes will mean wider confidence intervals, and these will provide limited analytical value. For the 2016 to 2018 APS dataset – and using the standard error approximation method given in the LFS User Guide volume 6 with a fixed design factor of 1.6 (the formula is 1.6 * √p(1 − p)/n where p is the proportion in employment and n is the sample size.) – the employment rate of 35% for working age people in the Gypsy and Traveller group in England and Wales would be between 16% and 54% (based on a 95% confidence interval). This uses the same methodology as the ONS’s Sampling variability estimates for labour market status by ethnicity .

A further reason for smaller sample sizes might be lower response rates. The Women and Select Committee report on the inequalities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities noted that people in these groups may be reluctant to self-identify, even where the option is available to them. This is because Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people might mistrust the intent behind data collection.

The RDU recently published a method and quality report on working out significant differences between estimates for small groups using different analytical techniques.

4.4 Administrative data

While administrative data does not suffer from the same issues of sampling variability, small numbers of respondents can mean that data is either disclosive and needs to be suppressed to protect the identity of individuals, or results can fluctuate over time.

An example of this is the measure of students getting 3 A grades or better at A level . In 2019 to 2020, no Irish Traveller students achieved this (there were 6 students in the cohort). In 2017 to 2018, 2 out of 7 Irish Traveller students achieved 3 A grades, or 28.6% – the highest percentage of all ethnic groups.

Aggregating time periods might help with this, although data collected in administrative datasets can change over time to reflect the information that needs to be collected for the administrative process. The data collected would not necessarily be governed by trying to maintain a consistent time series in the same way that data collected through surveys sometimes are.

4.5 Data linkage

Linking datasets together provides a way of producing more robust data for the GRT groups, or in fact, any ethnic group. This might improve the quality of the ethnicity coding in the dataset being analysed if an ethnicity classification that is known to be more reliable is linked from another dataset.

Data linkage does not always increase the sample size or the number of records available in the dataset to be analysed, but it might do if records that have missing ethnicity are replaced by a known ethnicity classification from a linked dataset.

An example is the linking of the Census data to Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data and death registrations by the ONS. The ethnicity classifications for GRT groups are not included in the HES data, and are not collected in the death registrations process at the moment. So this data linking gives a way to provide some information for Gypsy and Irish Travellers and other smaller groups. The report with data up to 15 May 2020 noted 16 Gypsy or Irish Traveller deaths from COVID-19.

RDU will be working with ONS and others to explore the potential for using data linking to get more information for the GRT groups.

4.6 Bespoke surveys and sample boosts

A country-wide, or even local authority, boost of a sample survey is unlikely to make estimates for the GRT groups substantially more robust. This is because of the relatively small number in the groups to begin with.

Bespoke surveys can be used to get specific information about these groups. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities list of traveller sites available through their Traveller caravan count statistics can help target sampling for surveys, for example. Bespoke surveys might be limited in geographical coverage, and more suitable for understanding GRT views in a local area and then developing local policy responses. An example of a bespoke survey is the Roma and Travellers in 6 countries survey .

Another method that could be useful is snowball sampling. Snowball sampling (or chain-referral sampling) is a sampling technique in which the respondents have traits that are rare to find. In snowball sampling, existing survey respondents provide referrals to recruit further people for the survey, which helps the survey grow larger.

There are advantages to snowball sampling. It can target hidden or difficult to reach populations. It can be a good way to sample hesitant respondents, as a person might be more likely to participate in a survey if they have been referred by a friend or family member. It can also be quick and cost effective. Snowball sampling may also be facilitated with a GRT community lead or cultural mediator. This would help bridge the gap between the GRT communities and the commissioning department to encourage respondent participation.

However, one statistical disadvantage is that the sampling is non-random. This reduces the knowledge of whether the sample is representative, and can invalidate some of the usual statistical tests for statistical significance, for example.

All data in this section comes from the 2011 Census of England and Wales, unless stated otherwise.

In 2011, there were 57,680 people from the Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group in England and Wales, making up 0.1% of the total population. In terms of population, it is the smallest of the 18 groups used in the 2011 Census.

Further ONS analysis of write-in responses in the Census estimated the Roma population as 730, and 1,712 people as Gypsy/Romany.

Table A: Gypsy, Roma and Traveller write-in ethnicity responses on the 2011 Census

Source: Census - Ethnic group (write-in response) Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, GypsyRomany - national to county (ONS). The figures do not add to the 57,680 classified as White: Gypsy/Traveller because Roma is included as White Other, and some people in the other categories shown will have classified themselves in an ethnic group other than White.

An ONS report in 2014 noted that variations in the definitions used for this ethnic group has made comparisons between estimates difficult. For example, some previous estimates for Gypsy or Irish Travellers have included Roma or have been derived from counts of caravans rather than people's own self-identity. It noted that other sources of data estimate the UK’s Gypsy, Roma and Traveller population to be in the region of 150,000 to 300,000 , or as high as 500,000 (PDF).

5.1 Where Gypsy and Irish Traveller people live

There were 348 local authorities in England and Wales in 2011. The Gypsy or Irish Traveller population was evenly spread throughout them. The 10 local authorities with the largest Gypsy or Irish Traveller populations constituted 11.9% of the total population.

Figure 1: Percentage of the Gypsy or Irish Traveller population of England and Wales living in each local authority area (top 10 areas labelled)

Basildon was home to the largest Gypsy or Irish Traveller population, with 1.5% of all Gypsy or Irish Traveller people living there, followed by Maidstone (also 1.5%, although it had a smaller population).

Table 1: Percentage of the Gypsy or Irish Traveller population of England and Wales living in each local authority area (top 10)

28 local authorities had fewer than 20 Gypsy or Irish Traveller residents each. This is around 1 in 12 of all local authorities.

11.7% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller people lived in the most deprived 10% of neighbourhoods , higher than the national average of 9.9% (England, 2019 Indices of Multiple Deprivation).

81.6% of people from the Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group were born in England, and 6.1% in the other countries of the UK. 3.0% were born in Ireland and 8.3% were born somewhere else in Europe (other than the UK and Ireland). Less than 1.0% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller people were born outside of Europe.

5.2 Age profile

The Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group had a younger age profile than the national average in England and Wales in 2011.

People aged under 18 made up over a third (36%) of the Gypsy or Irish Traveller population, higher than the national average of 21%.

18.0% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller people were aged 50 and above , lower than the national average of 35.0%.

Figure 2: Age profile of Gypsy or Irish Traveller and the England and Wales average

Table 2: age profile of gypsy or irish traveller and the england and wales average, 5.3 families and households.

20.4% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller households were made up of lone parents with dependent children , compared with 7.2% on average for England and Wales.

Across all household types, 44.9% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller households had dependent children, compared with an average of 29.1%.

8.4% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller households were made up of pensioners (either couples, single pensioners, or other households where everyone was aged 65 and over), compared with 20.9% on average.

All data in this section covers pupil performance in state-funded mainstream schools in England.

At all key stages, Gypsy, Roma and Irish Traveller pupils’ attainment was below the national average.

Figure 3: Educational attainment among Gypsy, Roma, Irish Traveller and pupils from all ethnic groups

Table 3: educational attainment among gypsy, roma, irish traveller and pupils from all ethnic groups.

Source: England, Key Stage 2 Statistics, 2018/19; Key Stage 4 Statistics, 2019/20; and A Level and other 16 to 18 results, 2020/21. Ethnicity facts and figures and Department for Education (DfE). Figures for Key Stage 2 are rounded to whole numbers by DfE.

6.1 Primary education

In the 2018 to 2019 school year, 19% of White Gypsy or Roma pupils, and 26% of Irish Traveller pupils met the expected standard in key stage 2 reading, writing and maths . These were the 2 lowest percentages out of all ethnic groups.

6.2 Secondary education

In the 2019 to 2020 school year, 8.1% of White Gypsy or Roma pupils in state-funded schools in England got a grade 5 or above in GCSE English and maths, the lowest percentage of all ethnic groups.

Gypsy or Roma (58%) and Irish Traveller (59%) pupils were the least likely to stay in education after GCSEs (and equivalent qualifications). They were the most likely to go into employment (8% and 9% respectively) – however, it is not possible to draw firm conclusions about these groups due to the small number of pupils in key stage 4.

6.3 Further education

Gypsy or Roma students were least likely to get at least 3 A grades at A level, with 10.8% of students doing so in the 2020 to 2021 school year. 20.0% of Irish Traveller students achieved at least 3 A grades, compared to the national average of 28.9%. The figures for Gypsy or Roma (61) and Irish Traveller (19) students are based on small numbers, so any generalisations are unreliable.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the summer exam series was cancelled in 2021, and alternative processes were set up to award grades. In 2020/21 attainment is higher than would be expected in a typical year. This likely reflects the changes to the way A/AS level grades were awarded rather than improvements in student performance.

6.4 School exclusions

In the 2019 to 2020 school year, the suspension rates were 15.28% for Gypsy or Roma pupils, and 10.12% for Irish Traveller pupils – the highest rates out of all ethnic groups.

Also, the highest permanent exclusion rates were among Gypsy or Roma pupils (0.23%, or 23 exclusions for every 10,000 pupils). Irish Traveller pupils were permanently excluded at a rate of 0.14%, or 14 exclusions for every 10,000 pupils.

6.5 School absence

In the autumn term of the 2020 to 2021 school year, 52.6% of Gypsy or Roma pupils, and 56.7% of Irish Traveller pupils were persistently absent from school . Pupils from these ethnic groups had the highest rates of overall absence and persistent absence.

For the 2020 to 2021 school year, not attending in circumstances related to coronavirus (COVID-19) was not counted toward the overall absence rate and persistent absence rates.

Data in this section is from the 2011 Census for England and Wales, and for people aged 16 and over. Economic activity and employment rates might vary from other published figures that are based on people of working age.

47% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller people aged 16 and over were economically active, compared to an average of 63% in England and Wales.

Of economically active people, 51% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller people were employees, and 26% were self-employed. 20% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller people were unemployed, compared to an average for all ethnic groups of 7%.

7.1 Socio-economic group

Figure 4: socio-economic group of gypsy or irish traveller and average for all ethnic groups for people aged 16 and over, table 4: socio-economic group of gypsy or irish traveller and average for all ethnic groups for people aged 16 and over.

Source: 2011 Census

31.2% of people in the Gypsy or Irish Traveller group were in the socio-economic group of ‘never worked or long-term unemployed’. This was the highest percentage of all ethnic groups.

The Gypsy or Irish Traveller group had the smallest percentage of people in the highest socio-economic groups. 2.5% were in the ‘higher, managerial, administrative, professional’ group.

15.1% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller people were small employers and own account workers. These are people who are generally self-employed and have responsibility for a small number of workers.

For Gypsy or Irish Travellers, who were 16 and over and in employment, the largest group worked in elementary occupations (22%). This can include occupations such as farm workers, process plant workers, cleaners, or service staff (for example, bar or cleaning staff).

The second highest occupation group was skilled trades (19%), which can include farmers, electrical and building trades. The Gypsy or Irish Traveller group had the highest percentage of elementary and skilled trade workers out of all ethnic groups.

7.2 Employment gender gap

The gender gap in employment rates for the Gypsy or Irish Traveller group aged 16 and over was nearly twice as large as for all ethnic groups combined. In the Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group, 46% of men and 29% of women were employed, a gap of 17%. For all ethnic groups combined, 64% of men and 54% of women were employed, a gap of 10%.

This is likely to be due to the fact that Gypsy or Irish Traveller women (63%) were about 1.5 times as likely as Gypsy or Irish Traveller men (43%) to be economically inactive, which means they were out of work and not looking for work.

7.3 Economic inactivity

There are a range of reasons why people can be economically inactive. The most common reason for Gypsy or Irish Travellers being economically inactive was looking after the home or family (27%). This is higher than the average for England and Wales (11%). The second most common reason was being long term sick or disabled (26%) – the highest percentage out of all ethnic groups.

8. Home ownership data

Figure 5: home ownership and renting among gypsy or irish traveller households and all households, table 5: home ownership and renting among gypsy or irish traveller households and all households.

Source: England, 2011 Census

In 2011, 34% of Gypsy or Irish Traveller households owned their own home, compared with a national average of 64%. 42% lived in social rented accommodation, compared with a national average of 18%.

In 2016 to 2017, 0.1% of new social housing lettings went to people from Gypsy or Irish Traveller backgrounds (429 lettings).

In 2011, a whole house or bungalow was the most common type of accommodation for Gypsy or Irish Traveller households (61%). This was lower than for all usual residents in England and Wales (84%).

Caravans or other mobile or temporary homes accounted for 24% of Gypsy or Irish Travellers accommodation, a far higher percentage than for the whole of England and Wales (0.3%).

The percentage of people living in a flat, maisonette or apartment was 15% for both Gypsy or Irish Travellers and all usual residents in England and Wales.

In 2011, 14.1% of Gypsy and Irish Traveller people in England and Wales rated their health as bad or very bad, compared with 5.6% on average for all ethnic groups.

In 2016 to 2017, Gypsy or Irish Traveller people aged 65 and over had the lowest health-related quality of life of all ethnic groups (average score of 0.509 out of 1). The quality of life scores for the White Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group are based on a small number of responses (around 35 each year) and are less reliable as a result.

Ethnicity facts and figures has information on satisfaction of different health services for different ethnic groups. For the results presented below, the Gypsy or Irish Traveller figures are based on a relatively small number of respondents, and are less reliable than figures for other ethnic groups.

In 2014 to 2015 (the most recent data available), these groups were the most satisfied with their experience of GP-out-of-hours service , with 75.2% reporting a positive experience.

In 2018 to 2019, they were less satisfied with their experience of GP services than most ethnic groups – 73.0% reported a positive experience.

They were also among the groups that had least success when booking an NHS dentist appointment – 89.0% reported successfully booking an appointment in 2018 to 2019.

The Gypsy or Irish Traveller group were also less satisfied with their access to GP services in 2018 to 2019 – 56.9% reported a positive experience of making a GP appointment, compared to an average of 67.4% for all respondents.

Publication release date: 31 January 2022

Updated: 29 March 2022

29 March 2022: Corrected A-level data in Table 3, and All ethnic groups data in Table 4. Corrected the legend in Figure 1 (map).

31 January 2022: Initial publication.

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Irish Travelers and Roma: Exploring the Differences in Culture, Social Norms, and Economic Status

By Happy Sharer

Introduction

Irish Travelers and Roma are two distinct ethnic groups with a shared history and experience of marginalization in Europe. Although they have faced similar forms of discrimination, there are significant cultural and social differences between them. This article will explore these differences in more detail, as well as examining the impact of discrimination on Irish Travelers and Roma in modern society.

A Historical Perspective on Irish Travelers and Roma

The origins of Irish Travelers and Roma are intertwined. Both groups trace their roots back to 16th century India, where their ancestors were nomadic traders and entertainers. Over time, these groups began to migrate westward, eventually settling in different parts of Europe.

The Irish Travelers primarily settled in Ireland and the United Kingdom, while the Roma spread out across Europe. Despite their different settlement patterns, both groups experienced similar forms of discrimination, often being treated as second-class citizens or even outlaws. This was exacerbated by events such as the Irish Famine and World War II, which caused further displacement and hardship for both communities.

Exploring the Cultural Differences Between Irish Travelers and Roma

The Irish Travelers and Roma have developed distinct cultures over the centuries. Language is one of the most obvious differences between the two groups. The Irish Travelers speak a dialect of English known as Shelta, while the Roma have their own language called Romani.

Clothing and adornment also vary significantly between the two groups. The Irish Travelers tend to dress in bright colors, often wearing skirts and dresses. They also decorate their clothing with intricate embroidery and beading. In contrast, the Roma typically dress in dark colors and favor loose-fitting garments such as trousers or tunics.

Music and dance are important aspects of both cultures, though the styles differ. Irish Travelers are known for their traditional folk songs and jigs, while the Roma are renowned for their lively Gypsy music. Both groups also share a love of storytelling, which is an integral part of their oral traditions.

Differences in Social Norms and Customs of Irish Travelers and Roma

The Irish Travelers and Roma have distinct social customs and norms. Marriage and family structure vary between the two groups. For example, Irish Travelers practice arranged marriage, while the Roma prefer to marry within the same clan. Similarly, the gender roles of Irish Travelers and Roma are distinct. In Irish Traveler culture, women are responsible for domestic duties, while men work outside the home. In contrast, Roma women are expected to contribute to the household income, while men are responsible for protecting the family.

Social interaction is another area where the two groups differ. Irish Travelers tend to be more open and welcoming to outsiders, while the Roma are more guarded and suspicious. This can make it difficult for non-Roma people to gain acceptance into a Roma community.

Impact of Discrimination Against Irish Travelers and Roma in Modern Society

Despite the progress made in recent years, both Irish Travelers and Roma continue to face discrimination in many areas of society. Education is one area where this is particularly evident. Irish Travelers and Roma often experience difficulty in accessing quality education due to poverty and prejudice. This can limit their employment opportunities, leading to higher levels of unemployment.

Discrimination in housing is another issue faced by both communities. Irish Travelers and Roma are often denied access to public housing due to negative stereotypes and prejudice. This can lead to overcrowding and poor living conditions, further exacerbating existing problems.

Examining the Role of Education for Irish Travelers and Roma

Education can play a key role in improving the lives of Irish Travelers and Roma. Access to quality education is essential for both groups, as it can provide valuable skills and knowledge that can help them escape poverty and discrimination. However, there are still many challenges that need to be overcome. These include low levels of literacy, lack of access to resources, and limited teacher training.

It is also important to ensure that educational materials and curricula accurately reflect the experiences of Irish Travelers and Roma. This can help to challenge negative stereotypes and create a more inclusive learning environment. Additionally, providing support and mentorship to young Irish Travelers and Roma can help to nurture their talents and ambitions.

Investigating the Economic Status of Irish Travelers and Roma

The economic status of Irish Travelers and Roma is often precarious. Both groups rely heavily on informal sources of income, such as trading and manual labor. This can make them vulnerable to exploitation, as they are often unable to access mainstream sources of employment due to prejudice and discrimination.

In addition, Irish Travelers and Roma often struggle to obtain credit and loans from banks, making it difficult for them to start businesses or purchase property. This has led to high levels of poverty amongst both communities, which in turn can lead to other issues such as poor health and homelessness.

Exploring the Religious Beliefs and Practices of Irish Travelers and Roma

Religion is an important part of both Irish Traveler and Roma culture. Both groups hold traditional beliefs in addition to Christianity. For example, Irish Travelers believe in fairies and other supernatural beings, while the Roma practice a form of animism that involves venerating nature spirits.

Christianity has had a profound influence on both cultures. Many Irish Travelers and Roma have adopted Christian values and practices, while still retaining elements of their traditional beliefs. This process of syncretism has resulted in a unique blend of religious beliefs and practices.

Irish Travelers and Roma have much in common, yet there are also significant differences between them. These differences can be seen in their cultures, social norms, and economic status. Unfortunately, both communities continue to face discrimination and prejudice in modern society, which has had a detrimental effect on their lives.

Education is one way to address this problem. By ensuring that Irish Travelers and Roma have access to quality education and challenging negative stereotypes, we can create a more inclusive and equitable society. Additionally, providing economic opportunities and support to both communities can help to improve their lives and reduce poverty.

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Hi, I'm Happy Sharer and I love sharing interesting and useful knowledge with others. I have a passion for learning and enjoy explaining complex concepts in a simple way.

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The Picture Show

Daily picture show, documenting the irish travellers: a nomadic culture of yore.

Lauren Rock

Throughout my life I have regularly traveled to my mother's home city of Dublin. During these trips I would regularly see groups of people living in caravans on the sides of the road, and I always wondered who they were and what their lives were like.

I later found out they belonged to a small ethnic minority called "Travellers" — nomads who spend most of their life, literally on the road. While their history has been hard to document — they have no written records — they are thought to have separated from the settled Irish community at least 1,000 years ago.

The Travellers (until recently also called "tinkers" or "gypsies") often live in ad hoc encampments, in direct contrast to "settled" people in Ireland. They are thought to be descended from a group of nomadic craftsman, with the name "tinker" a reference to the sound of a hammer hitting an anvil. (The reference is now considered derogatory.)

In 1965 Dublin-born photographer Alen MacWeeney stumbled across a Travellers' encampment and became fascinated with their way of life. He spent the next six years making photographs and recording their stories and music. Despite shooting the photos in the late '60s, it wasn't until 2007 that he found a publisher for his work.

Bernie Ward, Cherry Orchard Courtesy of Alen MacWeeney hide caption

Bernie Ward, Cherry Orchard

In his book, Irish Travellers: Tinkers No More — which also comes with a CD of Traveller music recordings — MacWeeny shows us a gritty, intimate portrait of the people he eventually came to call friends. He compares the Travellers to the migrant farmers of the American Depression: "poor, white, and dispossessed."

"Theirs was a bigger way of life than mine, with its daily struggle for survival, compared to my struggle to find images symbolic and representative of that life," he said in his book.

MacWeeney got his start at age 20 as an assistant for Richard Avedon in Paris and has since made a career as a portrait and fashion photographer. But his images of the Travellers reveal a raw and intimate side to his work.

"Traveller families have always been very close-knit, held together in a tight unspoken knot, with lifelong bonds and sometimes varying a lifelong set of troubles," he said.

Today, however, the Traveller lifestyle has changed dramatically from even a few decades ago. Many have embraced modern culture and become "settled," no longer living apart from the mainstream. There is even a reality TV show, My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding , which showcases Traveller girls and their theatrical, over-the-top weddings.

But MacWeeney believes that the Travellers are "reluctant as settled and envy the other life of travelling." His book stands as a document of an era, and a way of life that is slowly fading into the past.

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GYPSIES IN IRELAND—A HIBERNO-ROMANY COMMUNITY

By David Joyce

Above: A mid-nineteenth-century colour plate of ‘Epping Forest Gypsies’, a noted group of Romani who travelled around Britain and began ‘opening’ their campsites to visitors sometime in the early 1860s.

‘Travelling community’ is used as an all-encompassing term in Ireland to describe a traditionally nomadic community that has a significant degree of internal diversity. Encompassed within the term are distinct groups, namely Mincéirí or Pavee and Romani travellers. Mincéirí or Pavee are used interchangeably as a self-descriptive term by Irish Travellers; Romany/Romani is a self-descriptive term used by English Gypsies. What are the origins in Ireland of the small but distinct Hiberno-Romany community?

Romani history in Britain has been widely studied and there is a growing body of study in relation to Mincéirí in Ireland and Britain, but the study of Romani in Ireland has been neglected. When writing about the ‘Travelling community’ in Ireland, many writers repetitively cite limited sources that suggest that Romani never lived or travelled in Ireland until appearing briefly at the outbreak of the First World War, suggesting that they migrated to Ireland to avoid military conscription in Britain. While some families did move to Ireland during the Great War, Romani families had already developed travel circuits within Ireland from the late 1860s. By the early 1940s many of these families had been connected to Ireland for at least two or three generations and began to form a distinct Hiberno-Romany community.

THE ORIGINS OF THE ROMANY COMMUNITY IN IRELAND

The first explicit reference to the presence of Romani in Ireland dates from the early sixteenth century. The Fiants of Henry VIII in 1541 record ‘Safe conduct, for 40 days, for John Naune and his company, Egyptians, driven from Scotland by stress of weather’. ‘Egyptian’ was a term for Romani in the sixteenth century, based on the unfounded belief that the wanderers then arriving in Western Europe were ‘pilgrims’ originating from Egypt. The word ‘Gypsy’ derives from the various spellings used— Egipcian , Egypcian , ’ gypcian . This record of Romani in Ireland in 1541 is contemporaneous with the first records of Romani in Scotland and England in the early sixteenth century and coincides with the introduction of punitive laws designed to deter Gypsies from entering or remaining in Scotland ‘on pain of death’.

Above: The Gentles—seen here on the road near Kinsale, Co. Cork, in the 1950s—were Welsh Romani who had travelled in Ireland since the 1890s. (University of Liverpool)

It is suggested that the appearance of Romani in Ireland in the 1540s was almost certainly an aberration and they did not establish a permanent presence. There is little reference or evidence of Romani in Ireland in the succeeding centuries. It is not until the nineteenth century that verifiable records of Romani in Ireland appear.

THE ROMANY COMMUNITY IN IRELAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

One such record of a transitory family of Romani is from 1866, when a group of families temporarily disembarked from a steamship in Queenstown (Cobh). The ship was bound for the United States but docked in Queenstown for repairs. The families were said to be emigrating because the enclosure of commonage in England made nomadism increasingly difficult. They families stated that ‘the prejudice which is gradually rising against them’ was another reason they were leaving England. Unfortunately, the prejudice experienced in England was repeated in Cork. When they sought to set up a campsite on the outskirts of Cobh, a large crowd of locals prevented them from doing so. It was reported that locals had gathered ‘en masse’ and hunted them for a couple of miles around the countryside, not allowing them to pitch their tents anywhere. The families were forced back into Queenstown, where they slept on the streets until the ship departed.

The first appearance of Romani living in a ‘gypsy caravan or vardo’ dates from 1868 in Belfast. A group of families calling themselves ‘the Original Norwood and Epping Forest Gipsies’ are described as ‘causing a great attraction in the city’. The camp was recorded as having three ‘caravans’ and a number of tents. The same group later moved to Dublin, where their camp at the Rotunda Gardens was open to the public, who were charged sixpence for admission. 

The ‘gipsy caravan’, or vardo in the Romani language, as a form of accommodation dates from the early 1840s. The first living vans were large transport wagons that combined storage and living space into one vehicle pulled by a team of horses and used as living accommodation in France in the 1810s by non-Romani circus troupes. By the mid-1800s they had become smaller, pulled by a single horse. In the mid-1840s Romani in Britain started using vardos, adding their own characteristic style of decoration.

Above: Harry Kernoff’s woodcut ‘Dolphin’s Barn, Dublin, 1933’, a regular Romany campsite.

The Epping Forest Gypsies were a noted group of Romani who travelled around Britain and began ‘opening’ their campsites to visitors sometime in the early 1860s. Many of them were musicians and put on shows and dances as well as engaging in fortune-telling and selling their handmade wickerwork products from their campsites. George ‘Lazzy’ Smith, an entrepreneurial Romany, claimed to have originated the idea of charging members of the public to see inside their tents and attend the dances. When he noticed the interest in the arrival of Romani in towns around England, to ‘the extent that onlookers would not keep out of their tents even at meal-times’ , he decided to profit from this curiosity.

The arrival of the group in Belfast was clearly a ‘commercial operation’ with an element of carnival attached. The Epping families returned to Ireland in March 1870, visiting Cork and Limerick. In a lengthy report in the Freeman’s Journal on the arrival of the group in Dublin in September 1868 entitled ‘The Gipsies in Ireland’, it was stated ‘that we now have a veritable gipsy encampment in Ireland, the first, according to certain statements, that ever visited this kingdom’. The writer questioned the veracity of the claim and drew a comparison between the way of life of Romani and ‘tinkers’, and the article colourfully ponders whether ‘gipsies’ were present in Ireland from an earlier era. The writer stated that an ‘examination of the habits and manners of the tinkers’ then travelling around Ireland as tinsmiths and horse-dealers suggested ‘that the race had, in common with more objectionable ones, made a settlement in our midst. They took kindly to the soil, and learned the use of the blackthorn, adopting also the native patois—Indeed they became what the English call “more Irish than the Irish”.’ The direct comparison between ‘tinkers’ and Romani suggests that Irish Travellers had been living in distinct campsites using tents for many years prior to the arrival of the ‘Gipsies’.    

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A HIBERNO-ROMANY COMMUNITY, 1870s–1900

Apart from his connections to the Epping Forest group, Lazzy Smith frequently travelled around Ireland as a horse-dealer, and several of his children were born in Ireland. Other Romani families also came to Ireland to pursue economic opportunities. By the late 1860s Romani hawkers and horse-dealers in single families or small family groups with horse-drawn caravans and tents became a presence on the roads of Ireland. Families recorded around that time included Smiths, Lees, Palmers and Reynoldses.

One significant record of Romani hawkers in Ireland comes from a court case in 1874. This case is an early example of Travellers, either Romani or Mincéirí, resorting to the superior courts to assert a legal right. It is also an example of holding Travellers collectively responsible for the actions of an individual from within the community.

The case was taken by William Smith and his mother Eliza against Robert Talbot, a draper from Westport, Co. Mayo. The Smiths were described in court records as ‘English gipsies’. Talbot had the previous November obtained a court order allowing the county sheriff to seize the property of the Smiths in satisfaction of a debt run up by the Smiths’ in-law John Lee. The property consisted of the family’s caravan, tent, cart, harness, horse, clothes and other personal property. The Smiths had been camped at Temple Road, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, when their property was seized. The court heard that William Smith and his mother, together with other family members, had previously been camping in Westport, where John Lee had become indebted to Talbot for £40 for blankets that he had bought to sell on as a hawker. Lee had married William Smith’s sister sometime previously and had been unsuccessful as a horse-dealer. The Lees returned to the Smiths’ camp and were allowed to reside there but had no property in it. The Smiths argued that ‘the transaction between Lee and Talbot was entirely unconnected with them and imposed no liability on the Smiths’. The jury held in favour of the Smiths and the court ordered the return of their property.

In July 1876 possibly the same John Lee was involved in an incident in Portadown, Co. Armagh. Lee, the head of a ‘Gipsy encampment’, was the victim of an assault when five men entered his camp and severely beat him. It appeared that a horse belonging to Lee had somehow torn the coat of one of the men earlier in the day at a nearby water pump; during this incident he exchanged words with Lee, before returning later with four other men. The group were convicted and fined.

By the 1890s Romani travelling in vardos were a common sight. One of the first fatal accidents involving a vardo is recorded in County Cork in 1897, where the death of teenager Charlotte Jones occurred. Charlotte was the niece of William Gentle, a Welsh Romany who had been travelling with his family in Ireland from around 1890. On the evening of 12 March 1897 they were encamped near Kinsale when strong winds overturned one of the caravans and crushed the unfortunate Charlotte to death. The extended Gentle family were recorded later in 1897 in occupation of three caravans at Rathkeale, Co. Limerick.

THE ROMANY COMMUNITY IN IRELAND, 1900–1960s

Above: Members of the Taylor family in front of their vardo in Gardiner Street in 1952. (Historical Picture Archive)

The Gentles, Smiths, Lees, Wilsons, Webbs, Reis, Boswells and Brasils, among other families, had established routes and stopping places around Ireland by the beginning of the twentieth century. Most of these families are recorded in the 1901 and 1911 censuses. Members of the Webb, Wilson and Smith families were among the few travelling families recorded in occupation of a ‘Gipsy wagon’ or vardo in the 1911 census.

It is widely accepted that Mincéirí did not use horse-drawn wagons as living accommodation until the mid-1910s. Just as the Romani had adapted the wagon from circus folk, it is suggested that Mincéirí adapted the wagon from Romani who had begun travelling with them in Ireland during the Great War. Given, however, that Romani vardos had a presence in Ireland for much of the previous 40 years, it is likely that some Mincéirí, particularly wealthier families, may have been using them from an earlier period. 

Irish Travellers almost exclusively opted for the canvas-covered bow-top wagon rather than the square-sided Reading- or Burton-type vardo, a style of van more evocative of the Romani community. The bow-top had a number of advantages over other types of van in terms of cost and weight; in addition, because of its simpler design it was easier to construct than the more elaborate and ornate vardos.

Many of the campsites of Romani, particularly during the wintertime, were in urban areas. Parts of Dublin from Dolphin’s Barn inwards toward the Liberties and stretching across the river to Gardiner Street, Dorset Street and Ballybough were well-known stopping places. One of the better known of these campsites was at Dolphin’s Barn Bridge, where the death of two little Romany girls, Eileen and Kathleen Riley, was recorded in March 1915, when the bender tent they were living in caught fire. The stopping place at Dolphin’s Barn was later depicted by the artist Harry Kernoff in his evocative woodcut ‘Dolphin’s Barn, Dublin, 1933’.

The presence of a significant number of Romany families in Dublin during the 1930s and 1940s was recorded by the Irish Press and Irish Times respectively. In 1936 the Irish Press reported on a number of families in Gardiner Street, where nine caravans were on a campsite. In 1945 the Irish Times met and identified a number of families and campsites, including Taylors, Bolands, Scotts and Dalys on Gardiner Street, O’Neills on Dorset Street, Webbs at Thomas Street, and the Riley and Sturgeon families in Harold’s Cross. It was noted that the Taylor family had been living on the site in Gardiner Street for more than fourteen years.

The stopping places of the Romany families in the environs of Dublin city and other parts of the country are now forgotten, and many of the families who lived and travelled in Ireland from about the 1870s until the 1950s appear to have migrated to Britain during the 1950s and ’60s, a migration in which many Mincéirí also took part. Some, however, married into non-Romany families in the parts of Dublin and other parts of the country in which they lived and became assimilated into those neighbourhoods. A number of families remain in Ireland, north and south, and proudly identify as Irish Romany.

David Joyce is a solicitor and a member of the Irish Traveller community.

Further reading A. Bhreatnach, Becoming conspicuous: Irish Travellers, society and the state 1922–70 (Dublin, 2007). J. Helleiner, Irish Travellers: racism and the politics of culture (Toronto, 2000). M. McCann, S. Ó Síocháin & J. Ruane (eds), Irish Travellers, culture and ethnicity (Belfast, 1994). S. ní Shuinéar, ‘Apocrypha to canon: inventing Irish Traveller history’, History Ireland 12 (4) (2004). G. Power, ‘Gypsies and sixteenth-century Ireland’, Romani Studies 24 (2) (2014).

Personal Histories

On this day.

• 1940 Three women were killed when a German bomb struck a creamery at Campile, Co. Wexford.

September 02

• 1666 The Great Fire of London, which destroyed 400 acres of the city but cost just nine lives, began in a bakehouse in Pudding Lane.
• 1022 Malachy the Great (Máel-Sechnaill), High King of Ireland since c. 980, died on Lough Ennell, Co. Westmeath.
• 1945 Japanese representatives sign the official ‘Instrument of surrender’ on board the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, thus confirming the formal end of the Second World War.

September 13

• 1919 Detective John Hoey, who identified Seán MacDiarmada for the military in 1916, was shot dead outside police HQ in Brunswick Street, Dublin.
• 1819 James Hack Tuke, Quaker, best remembered for his philanthropic work in Ireland during the Great Famine, born in York.
• 1968 The first Merriman Summer School opened in Ennis, Co. Clare.
• 1916 Roald Dahl, novelist, poet and short-story writer, renowned for his darkly comic children’s books, born in Wales to Norwegian parents.
• 1868 Richard Rothwell (67), Athlone-born romantic painter, died in Rome. His funeral and burial beside the poet John Keats in the city’s Protestant Cemetery were arranged by the painter Joseph Severn.
• 1860 John ‘Black Jack’ Pershing, leader of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I who was regarded as a mentor by the generation of US generals who led US forces in Europe during World War II, was born in Laclede, Missouri. He was the only person to be promoted in his own lifetime to the highest rank ever held in the United States Army—General of the Armies.
• 1803 County Wexford-born Commodore John Barry, ‘Father of the American Navy’, died in Philadelphia.
• 1803 Death of John Barry in Philadelphia. Born in Wexford in 1745, he had emigrated there and embarked on a career as a merchant and naval mariner that led to his becoming the first commander of the US Navy after its establishment in 1794.
• 1967 Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara (39), Argentine Marxist revolutionary, was captured and summarily executed by CIA-backed Bolivian forces.
• 1966 David Cameron, Conservative MP for Witney since 2001 and prime minister of the United Kingdom (2010–16), born in Marylebone, London, the son of a stockbroker.
• 1958 Pope Pius XII (82), head of the Catholic Church during the Second World War, died.
• 1932 A Cumann na nGaedheal meeting in Kilmallock, Co. Limerick, was attacked by hundreds of republicans who were beaten back by members of the Army Comrades’ Association (Blueshirts).
• 1940 Birth of John Lennon, future Beatle, in Liverpool.

• A Brief History Of Irish...

A Brief History of Irish Travellers, Ireland’s Only Indigenous Minority

After a long battle, Irish Travellers were finally officially recognised as an indigenous ethnic minority by Ireland’s government in early March 2017. Here, Culture Trip takes a look at the origins of the Irish Travelling community and how the historic ruling came about. At the time of the 2011 census , there were around 29,500 Irish Travellers in the Irish Republic , making up 0.6% of the population. The community was found to be unevenly distributed across the country, with the highest number living in County Galway and South Dublin. Although – as the name suggests – Irish Travellers have historically been a nomadic people, the census showed a majority living in private dwellings.

Throughout Irish history, the Travelling community has been markedly separated from the general Irish population, resulting in widespread stereotyping and discrimination. The same year as the census, a survey conducted by Ireland’s Economic and Social Research Institute found that Irish Travellers suffer widespread ostracism; this and other factors have been shown to contribute to high levels of mental health problems among Irish Travellers. Indeed, the 2010 All Ireland Traveller Health Study found their suicide rate to be six times the national average, accounting for a shocking 11% of Traveller deaths.

Through the 2011 census, members of the Travelling community were also found to have poorer general health, higher rates of disability and significantly lower levels of education as compared to the general population, with seven out of 10 Irish Travellers educated only to primary level or lower.

Because of a lack of written history, the exact origins of the Irish Travelling Community have been difficult to clarify. Although it had been hypothesised, until relatively recently, that Irish Travellers may be linked to the Romani people, a genetic study released in February of this year revealed this connection to be false.

The study found that Travellers are of Irish ancestral origin, but split off from the general population sometime around the mid-1600s – much earlier than had been thought previously. In one widely quoted finding, the DNA comparisons conducted in the course of the research found that while Irish Travellers originated in Ireland, they are genetically different from ‘settled’ Irish people, to the same degree as people from Spain.

The results of the study, conducted by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, University College Dublin, the University of Edinburgh and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, contributed significantly to Irish Travellers being officially designated an ethnic minority, defined as a group within a community with different national or cultural traditions from the main population.

Speaking to RTE on the day of the ruling, former director of the Irish Traveller Movement Brigid Quilligan said, ‘We want every Traveller in Ireland to be proud of who they are and to say that we’re not a failed set of people. We have our own unique identity, and we shouldn’t take on all of the negative aspects of what people think about us. We should be able to be proud and for that to happen our State needed to acknowledge our identity and our ethnicity, and they’re doing that today.’

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Gene study reveals Irish Travellers' ancestry

Irish Travellers are of Irish ancestral origin and have no particular genetic ties to European Roma groups, a DNA study has found.

The research offers the first estimates of when the community split from the settled Irish population, giving a rare glimpse into their history and heritage.

Researchers led by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and the University of Edinburgh analysed genetic information from 42 people who identified as Irish Travellers.

The team compared variations in their DNA code with that of 143 European Roma, 2,232 settled Irish, 2,039 British and 6,255 European or worldwide individuals.

Irish ancestry

They found that Travellers are of Irish ancestral origin but have significant differences in their genetic make-up compared with the settled community.

These differences have arisen because of hundreds of years of isolation combined with a decreasing Traveller population, the researchers say.

The findings confirm that the Irish Traveller population has an Irish ancestry and this comes at a time where the ethnicity of Travellers is being considered by the Irish State. Professor Gianpiero Cavalleri Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

The team estimates the group began to separate from the settled population at least 360 years ago.

Their findings dispute the theory that Travellers were displaced by the Great Famine, which struck Ireland in 1845.

It is exciting to find that the Irish Travellers have been genetically isolated for such a considerable time. They hold great potential for understanding common diseases, not just within their own community but also more generally. I hope very much that further funding will allow us to study the genetics of the Travellers in more detail. Professor Jim Wilson Usher Institute for Population Health Sciences and Informatics

Tight community

There are estimated to be up to 40,000 Travellers living in Ireland, which represents less than one per cent of the population.

Little is known about the group's heritage and there is scant documentary evidence of their history.

The study is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Related links

Journal article in Scientific Reports

RCSI press release

Jim Wilson's profile on Edinburgh Research Explorer

Gianpiero Cavalleri's profile at  RSCI

The Traveller and Roma communities share a history of nomadism and similar lifestyles, and have a shared experience of social exclusion and racism.

Within the European context, Roma policy and integration strategies are now inclusive of Irish Travellers. Over recent years the Donegal Travellers’ Project has been exploring how best to develop work with the Roma community in Donegal.

While no empirical evidence exists, estimates of the Roma community indicate that there are between 3,000 and 5,000 Roma living in Ireland. In Donegal the initial work with the community has engaged directly with just over twenty families and exploratory research indicates that there are a minimum of forty families living in the county.

Both Traveller and Roma face many of the same challenges: limited access to accommodation, poor access to services, and poverty.

The Roma community however also faces distinct challenges, including language and migrant issues. DTP hope to work to build trust between the organisation and members of the Roma community and the wider community.

The core objective is to work with national stakeholders on the strategic needs assessment for the Roma community and to develop appropriate community and rights-based responses to the needs identified at a local level.

Donegal Travellers’ Project works to challenge racism and discrimination against the Roma community wherever it is encountered and also works to address discrimination at the institutional level.

The national Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy 2017-2021 features a roadmap for Traveller and Roma inclusion in every aspect of Irish society. The strategy also includes positive commitments by national departments and agencies to participate in specific actions which support Traveller and Roma inclusion.

Hugh Friel, DTP accommodation and men’s health worker, participated in development of the strategy.

The national strategy details a total of 149 specific actions in areas including accommodation, antidiscrimination, cultural identity, education, employment, and health. The commitment by the Department of Justice and Equality to support and value Traveller culture, identity, and heritage was particularly welcomed by Traveller and Roma rights organisations, and commitments by the Department of Health and the HSE to improve Traveller and Roma health outcomes have also been welcomed.

Under the Department of Justice and Equality, Donegal Travellers’ Project has now employed a community development and advocacy worker to work full-time with the Roma community. Joleen Kuyper is working in the DTP Letterkenny offices from 9.30am to 5.30pm Mondays and Tuesdays; and from 9.30am to 1pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Joleen is available to support members of the Roma community on a broad range of issues, including but not limited to accommodation, health visits, and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission.

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• Published: 16 February 2017

Genomic insights into the population structure and history of the Irish Travellers

• Edmund Gilbert 1 ,
• Shai Carmi 2 ,
• Sean Ennis 3 ,
• James F. Wilson 4 , 5   na1 &
• Gianpiero L. Cavalleri 1   na1  

Scientific Reports volume  7 , Article number:  42187 ( 2017 ) Cite this article

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• Consanguinity
• Population genetics

The Irish Travellers are a population with a history of nomadism; consanguineous unions are common and they are socially isolated from the surrounding, ‘settled’ Irish people. Low-resolution genetic analysis suggests a common Irish origin between the settled and the Traveller populations. What is not known, however, is the extent of population structure within the Irish Travellers, the time of divergence from the general Irish population, or the extent of autozygosity. Using a sample of 50 Irish Travellers, 143 European Roma, 2232 settled Irish, 2039 British and 6255 European or world-wide individuals, we demonstrate evidence for population substructure within the Irish Traveller population, and estimate a time of divergence before the Great Famine of 1845–1852. We quantify the high levels of autozygosity, which are comparable to levels previously described in Orcadian 1 st /2 nd cousin offspring, and finally show the Irish Traveller population has no particular genetic links to the European Roma. The levels of autozygosity and distinct Irish origins have implications for disease mapping within Ireland, while the population structure and divergence inform on social history.

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Introduction.

The Irish Travellers are a community within Ireland, consisting of between 29,000–40,000 individuals, representing 0.6% of the Irish population as a whole 1 . They are traditionally nomadic, moving around rural Ireland and providing seasonal labour, as well as participating in horse-trading and tin-smithing 2 . Since the 1950’s the need for such traditional services has declined 3 , and the population has become increasingly urban, with the majority living within a fixed abode 1 . Despite this change in lifestyle, the Traveller community remains tight-knit but also socially isolated. The population has its own language 4 , known as Shelta, of which Cant and Gammon are dialects.

There is a lack of documentary evidence informing on the history of the Irish Traveller population 5 , 6 . As a result, their origins are a source of considerable debate, with no single origin explanation being widely accepted. It has been suggested that the Irish Travellers are a hybrid population between settled Irish and Romani gypsies, due to the similarities in their nomadic lifestyle. Other, “Irish Origin”, hypothesised sources of the Irish Travellers include; displacement from times of famine (such as between 1740–1741, or the Great Famine of 1845–1852), or displacement from the time of Cromwellian (1649–53) or the Anglo-Norman conquests (1169 to 1240). The Irish Traveller population may even pre-date these events, and represent Celtic or pre-Celtic isolates 4 . These models of ethnogenesis are not necessarily mutually exclusive, and the Irish Traveller population may have multiple sources of origin with a shared culture.

Consanguineous marriages are common within the Irish Traveller community 7 , 8 . Small, isolated and endogamous populations such as the Travellers are also more prone to the effects of genetic drift. The isolation and consanguinity have in turn led to an increased prevalence of recessive diseases 7 , 9 , 10 , with higher incidences of diseases such as transferase-deficient galactosaemia 11 , 12 , and Hurler syndrome 13 observed in the Traveller population relative to the settled Irish. However, the extent of autozygosity within the population has yet to be quantified; as a result it is unknown how homozygous the population is compared to other, better-studied, isolated European populations.

Previous work into the genetics of the Irish Traveller population has been conducted on datasets of relatively low genetic resolution. A recent study used blood groups to investigate the population history of the Irish Travellers 2 . Multivariate analysis of genotype data across 12 red blood cell loci in 119 Irish Travellers suggested that the population clustered closely with the settled Irish to the exclusion of the Roma. They did, however, appear divergent from the settled Irish. The authors attributed the source of such divergence to genetic drift - but were unable to determine whether any such drift was due to a founder effect, or sustained endogamy. Studies of Mendelian diseases suggest that pathogenic mutations in the settled Irish population are often the same as those observed in the Traveller population such is the case for tranferase-deficient galactosaemia (Q118R in the GALT gene 11 ) and Hurlers Syndrome (W402X, in the α-l-iduronidase gene 13 ).

Using dense, genome-wide, SNP datasets which provide much greater resolution than genetic systems studied in the Travellers to date, we set out to i) describe the genetic structure within the Traveller population, ii) the relationship between the Irish Travellers and other European populations, iii) estimate the time of divergence between the Travellers and settled Irish, and iv) the levels of autozygosity within the Irish Traveller population.

Population Structure of the Irish Travellers

In order to investigate the genetic relationship between the Irish Travellers and neighbouring populations we performed fineStructure analysis on Irish Travellers, settled Irish from a subset of the Trinity Student dataset 14 , and British from a subset of the POBI dataset 15 . A subset of the datasets were used in this analysis as we were primarily interested in the placing of the Irish Travellers within the context of Britain and Ireland, not the full structure found within Britain and Ireland. The results are presented in Fig. 1 in the form of a principal component analysis of fineStructure’s haplotype-based co-ancestry matrix (1A) and a dendrogram of the fineStructure clusters (1B).

( A ) The first and second components of principal component analysis of the haplotype-based co-ancestry matrix produced by fineStructure analysis. Individual clusters are indicated by colour and shape. Individual Irish Travellers are indicated with black bordered shapes, with cluster shown in Legend. ( B ) The full fineStructure tree with the highest posterior probability, with cluster size and name, and broad branches shown.

We observe that 31 of 34 of the Irish Travellers cluster on the Irish branch, indicating a strong affinity with an Irish population ancestral to the current day “Traveller” and “settled” populations ( Fig. 1B ). One “Irish Traveller” is found within the Borders 1 cluster, and two are found within the Borders 2 cluster. These three individuals report full, or partial, English gypsie ancestry, a distinct and separate travelling population in Britain. One individual is found within the Ireland 1 cluster, and two are found within the Ireland 2 cluster. Traveller individuals within the Ireland 2 cluster report recent settled ancestry, and we have no such genealogical data on the individual grouped within the Ireland 1 cluster. Given their mixed ancestry, these individuals were excluded from subsequent F st , f 3 , and divergence estimate work.

The remaining 28 Irish Travellers in the fineStructure analysis were arranged into four clusters. These clusters were grouped on two separate branches ( Fig. 1B ), with Traveller 1 (n = 7) and Traveller 2 (n = 5) on the same branch, and Traveller 3 (n = 5) and Traveller 4 (n = 11) on a separate branch. The branch with clusters Traveller 3 and 4 , forms an outgroup to the rest of the settled Irish and Irish Traveller clusters. These two branches of Irish Traveller clusters align closely with the split of Irish Travellers observed through PCA ( Fig. S1 ). All the individuals who separate on the first principal component (henceforth “PCA group B”) are found in clusters Traveller 3 and 4 ( Fig. S2A ), and nearly all the individuals who remain grouped with the settled Irish on principle component 1 (henceforth “PCA group A”) are found in clusters Traveller 1 and 2 ( Fig. S2A ). The remaining PCA group A individuals are those Irish Travellers found in the aforementioned settled Irish or British clusters. This pattern is also repeated in the PCA ( Fig. 1A ), where members of Traveller 1 and 2 cluster with the settled Irish, where Traveller 3 and 4 individuals cluster separately.

Having identified distinct genetic groups of Irish Travellers, we investigated the correlation with Irish Traveller sociolinguistic features, specifically Shelta dialect, and Rathkeale residence ( Fig. S2B ,C, respectively). The majority of the Gammon speakers were members of clusters Traveller 1 and 2. All of Traveller 1 consisted of Gammon speakers. The majority of clusters Traveller 3 and 4 consisted of Cant speakers, where all but one individual, for whom language identity is unknown, of Traveller 4 were Cant speakers. We found that only clusters Traveller 1 and 2 contain any Rathkeale Travellers, where 4 out of 5 individuals in Traveller 2 are Rathkeale Travellers.

We next investigated population structure using the maximum-likelihood estimation of individual ancestries using ADMIXTURE ( Figs 2 and S3). For this analysis we used a subset of the European Multiple Sclerosis dataset consisting of three northern European (Norway, Finland and Germany), two southern European (Italy and Spain), and a neighbouring population (France). We categorised the POBI British as English, Scottish, Welsh, and Orcadian. We further separated out the Irish Travellers to those in PCA group A and those in PCA group B.

Shown are the ancestry components per individual for the two groups of Irish Travellers (Group A and Group B), settled Irish, British, and European populations; modelling for 4 to 6 ancestral populations.

At k  = 4–6 ( Fig. 2 ), we observe the well-described north-south divide in the European populations ( k  = 4), as well as Finland and Orkney ( k  = 5) differentiating due to their respective populations’ bottleneck and isolation. Although at lower values of k the Irish Travellers generally resemble the settled Irish profile ( Fig. S3 ), at higher values of k two components are found to be enriched within the population. Each of these components is enriched in one of the two Irish Traveller PCA groups. Individuals with more than 20% of the “red” component when k = 5 belong to PCA group B and individuals with near 100% of “blue” component all belong to PCA group A ( Fig. 2 ). The fact that even at k  = 3 PCA group B gains its own ancestral component ( Fig. S3 ) suggests strong group-specific genetic drift.

In order to investigate a possible Roma Gyspie origin of the Irish Travellers, we compared the Irish Travellers, and settled Irish to a dataset of Roma populations found within Europe 16 using PCA and ADMIXTURE. The results broadly agree, with the Irish Travellers clustering with the settled Irish in the PCA plot, and resembling the settled Irish profile in ADMIXTURE analysis (see Fig. 3 ). There was no evidence for a recent ancestral component between the Irish Traveller and Roma populations. In addition, we formally tested evidence of admixture with f 3 statistics in the form of f 3 (Irish Traveller; Settled Irish, Roma). We found no evidence of admixture either when considering all the Roma as one population, or in each individual Roma population’s case (all f3 estimates were positive).

( A ) The first and second components from principal component analysis using gcta64. ( B ) The ancestry profiles using ADMIXTURE, assuming 2 to 4 ancestral populations.

Given the apparent structure between the Travellers and the settled Irish populations, we quantified genetic distance using F st and “outgroup” f 3 statistics. F st analysis reveals a considerable genetic distance between the settled Irish and the Irish Traveller population (F st  = 0.0034, Table S1 ) which is comparable to values observed between German and Italian, or Scotland and Spain.

In order to further investigate sub-structure within the Irish Travellers, we performed F st analysis on the Irish Traveller PCA (n = 2) and fineStructure (n = 4) groups, comparing them to the settled Irish (see also Table S1 ). The individuals belonging to cluster PCA group B are considerably more genetically distant from the settled Irish (F st  = 0.0086), relative to PCA group A (F st  = 0.0036). This could be explained by distinct founder events for PCA groups A and B, or that PCA group B has experienced greater genetic drift. The F st estimates of the Irish Traveller clusters are higher than the PCA groups. The estimates of clusters Traveller 1, 2 , and 3 range from 0.0052 to 0.0054. However, Traveller 4 shows the highest F st value (F st  = 0.0104), suggesting this cluster of individuals is responsible for the inflation of the PCA group B’s estimate. Generally, however, these results suggest that the general Irish Traveller population does not have a very recent source, i.e. within 5 generations or so. If we perform the same F st analysis on two random groups of settled Irish see observe a F st value < 1∙10 −5 .

To inform on whether lineage-specific drift is influencing the observed genetic distances between the Irish Travellers, the settled Irish and other neighbouring populations, we performed outgroup f 3 analysis, using HGDP Yorubans as the outgroup. Such analysis can inform on whether PCA group B and Traveller 4 do indeed represent an older Irish Traveller group, or a sub-group that has experienced more intense drift. When we compare PCA groups A/B to the settled Irish we see no significant difference between the two groups (see Table S2 , A:settled f 3  = 0.1694 (stderr = 0.0013), B:settled f 3  = 0.1698 (stdrr = 0.0013), A:B f 3  = 0.1700 (stderr = 0.0013)); with similar results for the fineStructure clusters ( Table S2 ). These results suggest that PCA group B has experienced more drift than PCA group A, inflating the F st statistic, which in turn has inflated the Irish Traveller population F st . We note however that f 3 statistics may not be sensitive enough to detect differences from settled Irish to Traveller PCA groups A and B should the difference between A and B be a relatively limited number of generations.

A key question in the history of the Travellers is the period of time for which the population has been isolated from the settled Irish. In order to address this we utilized two methods, one based on linkage disequilibrium patterns and F st (which we call T F ), and one based on Identity-by-Descent (IBD) patterns (which we call T IBD ).

The T F method estimates the divergence to be 40 (±2 std.dev – obtained via bootstrapping) generations. Assuming an average generation time of 30 years the T F method estimates that the divergence occurred 1200 (±60 – std.dev) years ago. The method also estimates the harmonic mean N e for the two populations over the last 2000 years. The Irish Traveller estimate (1395, std.dev = 16 – obtained via bootstrapping) is considerably lower than the settled Irish estimate (6162, std.err = 122 – obtained via bootstrapping). However, the isolation of the Irish Travellers will artificially increase the F st value and consequently inflate the T F divergence estimate. We therefore estimated the divergence time with a different IBD-based method; as such an approach can accommodate genetic drift.

We first identified IBD segment sharing within and between the Irish Travellers and our settled Irish subset. The Irish Travellers were found to share 35-fold more genetic material IBD (in cM per pair) than the settled population ( Fig. 4A ). Specifically, a pair of Travellers share, on average, 5.0 segments of mean length 12.9 cM, compared to 0.4 segments of mean length 4.9 cM for the settled population ( Fig. 4A ; segments with length >3 cM). Additionally we compared IBD sharing within and between the two PCA groups; A and B ( Fig. 4B ). We observe a greater amount of IBD segments shared within PCA group B than PCA group A. These sharing patterns are not due to familial sharing, as we have previously removed individuals with close kinship (see Supplementary Methods 1.3 ). Sharing between settled and Traveller Irish was of similar extent to that within the settled group ( Fig. 4A ), with no significant difference between the PCA groups A and B (p = 0.12, using permutations, for the difference in the number of segments shared with the settled) ( Fig. S4 ). We used the number and lengths of segments shared within settled, within Travellers, and between the groups to estimate the demographic history of those populations, and in particular, the split time between these two groups.

( A ) The number and lengths of shared segments within Settled Irish, within Traveller Irish, and between the groups. Left panel: The mean segment length; middle panel: the mean number of shared segments; right panel: the mean total sequence length (in cM) shared between each pair of individuals. ( B ) The number and lengths of shared segments within Traveller Group A, Traveller Group B, and between the groups. The format of the figure is as in ( A ).

Briefly, we used the method developed in Palamara et al . 17 (see also Zidan et al . 18 ). We assumed a demographic model for the two populations ( Fig. 5A ), in which an ancestral Irish population has entered a period of exponential expansion before the ancestors of the present day settled Irish and Irish Travellers split. After this split, the settled Irish continued the exponential expansion, whilst the Irish Travellers experienced an exponential population contraction. We then computed the expected proportion of the genome found in shared segments of different length intervals using the theory of ref. 17 , and found the parameters of the demographic model that best fitted the data (see Supplementary Data 1.3 , Fig. 5B , and Table 1 ).

( A ) The model used for demographic inference. The two populations were one ancestral population, with size N e , T G generations ago. At this point the ancestral population started to grow exponentially until T S generations ago, where the ancestral Traveller and settled populations split from each other, with N S,T being the initial starting population size of the Traveller population. The settled population experienced continued exponential growth until the present, with a population size of N C,S . The Traveller population experienced a period of exponential contraction until the present, with a population of N C,T . ( B ) The proportion of the genome in IBD segments vs the IBD segments length. The total genome size and the sum of segment lengths were computed in cM. Left: sharing between pairs of settled Irish; middle: sharing between pairs of one settled and one Traveller individuals; right: sharing between pairs of Traveller Irish. Each data point is located at the harmonic mean of the boundaries of the length interval it represents.

The results of the model suggest the Irish Travellers and settled Irish separation occurred 12 generations ago (95% CI: 8–14). The results also support opposite trends in the effective population sizes (N e ) of the settled and Traveller Irish since that split: while the settled population has expanded rapidly, the Irish Travellers have contracted (see Table 1 ). When restricting to the 12 members of PCA group A, the split time was estimated to be 15 generations ago (95% CI: 13–18) ( Table 2 ). When restricting to the 16 members of PCA group B, the split time was 10 generations ago (95% CI: 3–14). We stress these results should be seen as the best fitting projection of the true history into a simplified demographic model, in particular given the limited sample sizes.

Runs of Homozygosity

Consanguinity is common within the Irish Traveller population, and in this context we quantified the levels of homozygosity compared to settled Irish and world-wide populations 19 . We calculated the average total extent of homozygosity of each population using four categories of minimum length of Runs of Homozygosity (ROH) (1/5/10/16 Mb). Elevated ROH levels between 1 and 5 Mb are indicative of a historical smaller population size. Elevated ROH levels over 10 Mb, on the other hand, are reflective of more recent consanguinity in an individuals’ ancestry 10 . We also include average figures for the European Roma in the Irish Traveller – European analysis. Full European Roma ROH profiles are shown in Figure S5 .

As expected, the Irish Travellers present a significantly higher amount of homozygosity compared to the other outbred populations and to the European isolates the French Basque and Sardinian, which is sustained through to the larger cutoff categories of 10–16 Mb (see Fig. 6 ). Our results for the other world-wide populations agree with previous estimates 10 , with the Native American Karitiana showing the most autozygosity, and the Papuan population showing an excess of short ROHs. Two other consanguineous populations, the Balochi and Druze show slightly more homozygosity than the Irish Travellers, and the European Roma are most similar to the Travellers for both shorter and longer ROH.

Shown, across four minimum lengths of runs of homozygosity (ROH), are the average lengths of ROH in each population. The average ROH burdens for the European Roma are the mean of means across the 13 Roma populations studied. These values are from a separate analysis, and collated with the wider European ROH values for reasons of SNP coverage between the different datasets.

These results indicate a higher level of background relatedness in the Irish Traveller population history. The high levels of ROH larger than 10 Mb in length reflect recent parental relatedness within the population. This is supported by the average F ROH5 in the Irish Travellers (F ROH5  = 0.015), which is slightly lower but comparable to the F ROH5 score found among Orcadian offspring of 1 st /2 nd cousins (F ROH5  = 0.017) 20 .

Finally, in order to explore the potential of the Irish Traveller population for studying rare, functional variation for disease purposes, we tested minor allele frequency (MAF) differences between the settled Irish and the Irish Travellers from a common dataset of 560,256 common SNPs for 36 Traveller, and 2232 settled Irish individuals. We observed 24,670 SNPs with a MAF between 0.02–0.05 in the settled Irish population. We found that 3.29% of these SNPs had a MAF >0.1 in the Irish Traveller population. We tested the significance of this observation by calculating the same percentage, but taking a random 36 settled Irish sample instead of 36 Irish Travellers. We repeated this 1000 times and found no samples (p =< 0.001) with a greater percentage than 3.29 (mean = 1.3, std.dev = 0.11). This has additional implications for disease mapping within Ireland, as a proportion of the functional variants in the settled Irish population will be observed at a higher frequency in the Traveller population.

We have, using high-density genome-wide SNP data on 42 Irish Traveller individuals, investigated the genetic relationship between the Travellers and neighbouring populations and another nomadic European population, the Roma. For the first time we have estimated a time of divergence of the Irish Travellers from the general Irish population, and have also quantified the extent of autozygosity within the population.

We report that the Irish Traveller population has an ancestral Irish origin, closely resembling the wider Irish population in the context of other European cohorts. This is consistent with previous observations made using a limited number of classical markers 2 , 4 . In both our fineStructure and ADMIXTURE analyses, the Traveller population clusters predominantly with the settled Irish. Our fineStructure tree qualitatively agrees with the topology presented by Leslie et al . 21 , although there are some differences. For example, in the tree presented here, the Irish and individuals from south-west Scotland are grouped on one branch, with the rest of Scotland and England placed on a separate branch. fineStructure tree building is sensitive to the sample size, and due to the larger proportion of Irish genomes in our analysis, compared to Leslie et al .’s analysis (300 versus 44), it is not surprising that the Irish branch is placed differently.

We observe substructure within the Irish Traveller population, identifying (via fineStructure) four genetic clusters occupied only by Irish Travellers ( Fig. 1B ). These clusters align with the broad two way split in the Irish Traveller population we observe via allele frequency based PCA ( Fig. S1 ). In addition, our fineStructure clusters reflect sociolinguistic affinities of the population, membership of the Rathkeale group ( Traveller 2), and speakers of the Cant ( Traveller 4 ) or Gammon ( Traveller1 ) dialects of Shelta ( Fig. S2 ). Our results, therefore, suggest that these groups represent genuine structure within the Irish Traveller population, rather than having by chance sampled broad family groups.

Several Irish Traveller individuals in the fineStructure analysis show an affinity either with British or settled Irish, demonstrating some genetic heterogeneity within the Irish Traveller population. This heterogeneity can be explained by recent settled ancestry or ancestry with other Travelling groups within Britain and Ireland. However, the existence of sole Irish Traveller genetic clusters suggest that there is some sub-structure within the population, and a larger follow up study is warranted to elucidate the extent of this structure, and the representative nature of the observed clusters.

It appears that the Traveller population has experienced lineage-specific drift, as demonstrated by the discordant F st and f 3 estimates between the Travellers and the settled Irish. F st estimates of Traveller to Settled Irish genetic distance are comparable to that we observed between the Ireland and Spain ( Table S1 ). However, when we estimate using f 3 statistics (which is less sensitive to lineage-specific drift) the genetic distance, is reduced, and comparable to that observed between Irish and Scots. The theory of lineage-specific drift is also supported by the IBD analysis, which demonstrates very high levels of haplotype sharing within the Traveller population. Indeed, much of the overall genetic differentiation of the Travellers from the settled Irish is driven by the high F st distance between the Irish Traveller PCA group B (specifically the Traveller 4 cluster), and the settled Irish. This suggests that some subgroups within the Irish Travellers may have experienced greater genetic drift than others.

The dating of the origin of the Irish Travellers is of considerable interest, but this is distinct from the origins of each population. We have estimated the point of divergence between the Traveller and the settled Irish population using two different methods. Our LD-based (T F ) method estimates a split 40 (±2 std.err) generations ago, or 1200 (±60 – std.err) years ago (assuming a generation time of 30 years). Our IBD-based method (T IBD ) estimates 12 (8–14) generations, or 360 (240–420) years ago. However both estimates suggest that the Irish Travellers split from the settled population at least 200 years ago. The Irish Great Famine (1845–1852) is often proposed as a/the source of the Irish Traveller population, but results presented here are not supportive of this particular interpretation. The T IBD method suggested differences between the PCA groups; whilst PCA group A seems to have split relatively early and remained relatively large, PCA group B seems to have split off more recently and quickly decline in size ( Table 2 ). This might explain the higher degrees of genetic differentiation we see in PCA group B in our F st and f 3 analyses.

An important limitation of our dating analysis is that both the T IBD and T F approaches assume a single origin source, but there may have been multiple founding events contributing to the population present today. Both methods are further limited in that they do not model for subsequent gene flow in to the population. We would also consider the T F date to be inflated, given the lineage-specific drift we and others have illustrated in the Traveller population, and its corresponding impact on F st calculation. In the case of the T IBD method, the sample size of the Irish Traveller cohort was too small to infer more complex demographic models (e.g. post-split gene flow or multiple epochs of growth/contraction for each group), due to the risk of over-fitting. A larger dataset is required to explore the possibility of dating distinct events for the Traveller clusters our analysis has resolved.

One of the hypothesised sources of the Irish Travellers is that they are a hybrid population between the settled Irish and the Roma. The results of our ADMIXTURE analysis would not support such a hypothesis, with none of the self-identified Irish Travellers showing ancestry components specific to the Roma populations. We did however detect one individual showing a significant proportion of a Roma-specific ancestral component. This individual self-reported Gypsie ancestry, and did not cluster with the clusters of sole Irish Traveller membership.

We have presented the first population-based assessment of autozygosity within the Irish Traveller population. Compared to other cosmopolitan populations, we observe within the Irish Travellers an excess of ROH and IBD segments. The ROH profile of the Irish Travellers is comparable to other consanguineous populations such as the Balochi of Pakistan and Druze of the Levant. However, of the populations we tested for ROH, the Irish Travellers were most similar to the European Roma, who are also an endogamous nomadic community. This, and the F ROH5 statistic for the Irish Travellers, agrees with previous observations of endogamy within the Irish Travellers 7 , 8 . Our homozygosity results would account for the well-documented higher prevalence of recessive disease within the Irish Traveller community 11 , 13 , 22 . The levels of homozygosity have clear importance in the medical genetics of the Irish Traveller population and together with the drift of rarer variants to higher frequencies in the Irish Travellers may greatly aid in the identification of rarer variants contributing to the risk of common disease within Ireland 23 , both for the settled and the travelling populations.

In summary, we confirm an ancestral Irish origin for the Irish Traveller population, and describe for the first time the genetics of the population using high-density genome-wide genotype data. We observe substructure within the population, a high degree of homozygosity and evidence of the “jackpot effect” of otherwise rare variants drifting to higher frequencies, both of which are of interest to disease mapping and complex trait genetics in Ireland. Finally we provide important insight to the demographic history of the Irish Traveller population, where we have estimated a divergence time for the Irish Travellers from the settled Irish to be at least 8 generations ago.

Materials and Methods

Study populations.

We assembled five distinct datasets; the Irish Travellers (n = 50), the Irish Trinity Student Controls 14 (n = 2232), the People of the British Isles dataset 15 (n = 2039), a dataset of individuals with European ancestry 24 (n = 5964), individuals with Roma ancestry 16 (n = 143), and a dataset of world-wide populations 19 (n = 931). For more details of each dataset, see Supplementary Data 1.1 .

The Irish Traveller cohort and data presented here were analysed within the guidelines and regulations put forward by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Research Committee, and approved by the same Committee (reference number REC 1069). A waive of informed consent was granted by this Committee under an amendment of the same ethics reference number.

Quality Control of Genotype Data

Each of the five cohorts was individually processed through a number of quality control steps using the software PLINK 1.9 25 , 26 . Only autosomal SNPs were included in the analysis. Individuals or SNPs that had >5% missing genotypes, SNPs with a minor allele frequency (MAF) <2%, and SNPs failing the HWE at significance of <0.001 were discounted from further analysis. Identity-by-Descent (IBD) was calculated between all pairs of individuals in each of the five datasets using the—genome function in plink, and one individual from any pairs that showed 3 rd degree kinship or closer (a pihat score ≥0.09) was removed from further analysis. Amongst the Irish Traveller cohort eight cryptic pairings closer than second-degree cousins were found, leaving 42 individuals for further analysis.

Individuals included from the European ancestry dataset 24 were genotyped as part of a study of multiple sclerosis (MS), which included cases. As the HLA region contains loci strongly associated with multiple sclerosis (MS) 24 , for any analyses that included the European individuals from this MS study we omitted SNPs from a 15 Mb region around the HLA gene region, starting at 22,915,594 to 37,945,593. In order to restrict the MS cohort to individuals of European ancestry, we conducted principal component analysis (PCA) with gcta64 (v1.24.1) 27 and outliers from each of the MS populations were also removed. This left the final 5964 individuals included in the MS European Cohort.

Population Structure

FineStructure 28 analysis was carried out on a combined dataset of Irish Travellers, Trinity Student Irish, and POBI British. As fineStructure is more sensitive to relatedness, instead of the previously described IBD threshold we removed one from each pair with a pihat score >0.06. Additionally we removed SNPs that were either A/T or G/C. This left a combined dataset of 34 Irish Travellers, 300 randomly chosen Irish from the Trinity Student dataset, and 828 British from the POBI dataset. The POBI samples were selected as follows; 500 individuals were chosen from England, and all 131 from Wales, 101 from Scotland, and 96 from Orkney. In order for the English individuals to be as representative as possible of English clusters identified previously 21 , the 500 consisted of; 200 randomly chosen from Central/South England, 50 randomly chosen from each of Devon and Cornwall, and 200 randomly chosen from the north of England. This final combined dataset had a total coverage of 431,048 common SNPs. Further details of the fineStructure analysis pipeline and its parameters are described in Supplementary Data 1.2 .

In order to compare to other population structure visualisation methods we also performed allele frequency-based PCA using the software gcta64 (v1.24.1) 27 . Detailed methods are provided in Supplementary Data 3 . This was applied to the same dataset as the fineStructure analysis, with the exception that we first pruned the dataset with regards to LD using plink 1.9 25 , 26 with the—indep-pairwise command, using a window of 1000 SNPs moving every 50 SNPs, with an r 2 threshold of 0.2. We also removed common SNPs that were either A/T or G/C, leaving 75,214 common SNPs.

Maximum likelihood estimation of individual ancestries was carried out using ADMIXTURE version 1.23 29 and a dataset that had been pruned with respect to LD, as recommended by the authors 29 . This was achieved using plink 1.9 25 , 26 with the—indep-pairwise command, using a window of 1000 SNPs moving every 50 SNPs, with an r 2 threshold of 0.2. For this analysis we used a combined dataset of 42 Irish Travellers, 40 randomly selected Irish individuals from the Trinity Irish cohort, 160 individuals from the POBI dataset (40 randomly chosen English, Welsh, Orcadian, and Scottish individuals), and 40 random individuals from each of the following populations within the MS European dataset; France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Finland, and Spain. The combined dataset consisted of 83,759 SNPs (after the removal of A/T or G/C variants), and 476 individuals.

ADMIXTURE analysis was carried out on k  = 2–7 populations, with 50 iterations of each k value. The iteration with the highest log-likelihood and lowest cross validation score was used for further analysis.

Inter-population fixation indexes between the populations were studied using the Weir and Cockerham method 30 and the combined dataset used in ADMIXTURE analysis. The dataset was pruned with respect to LD using the same parameters as described above, leaving 83,759 common SNPs.

Due to the suspected lineage-specific drift in the Irish Traveller population history, we additionally calculated genetic distance using “outgroup” f 3 -statistics 31 , an extension of the f-statistics framework 32 . f 3 is proportional to the shared genetic drift between two test populations and an outgroup population, and should therefore be less sensitive to the Irish Travellers lineage-specific drift than the F st statistic. We performed this analysis on the same combined dataset used in F st analysis, with the additional inclusion of 21 Yorubans from the HGDP dataset in order to act as an outgroup to the pair-wise comparisons. The combined dataset consisted of 245,594 common SNPs (after the removal of A/T or G/C variants). The outgroup f 3 statistic was calculated using the software within the admixtools package 32 using default settings.

In order to estimate a time of divergence between the Irish Travellers and the settled Irish we utilised two methods. The first, the T F method, is based on a method first described by McEvoy et al . 33 and uses linkage disequilibrium patterns between markers in discrete bins of recombination distances, and genetic distance measured by F st in order to estimate a divergence time. The second, the T IBD method, uses the sharing of Identical by Descent (IBD) segments and demographic modelling using this sharing data to estimate a time of divergence and is based on the methodology previously described in Palamara et al . 17 and applied in Zidan et al . 18 . For more details of both methods, see Supplementary Data 1.3 .

Runs of Homozygosity Analysis

ROH analysis was carried out on a merged dataset of all individuals within the Irish Traveller, Trinity Student, and POBI cohorts, and a subset of the populations found within the Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP) dataset. The HGDP populations were chosen to be i) representative of world-wide diversity of autozygosity, and ii) to compare the levels of autozygosity of the Irish Travellers to known endogamous populations such as the Balochi and Karitiana. The combined dataset had an overlap of 193,508 common markers.

With the exception of one parameter (the gap between consecutive SNPs, see below), we followed McQuillan et al .’s methodology 20 for the ROH analysis; the window was defined as 1000 kb, moving every 50 SNPs, with 1 heterozygous position allowed and 5 missing positions allowed within the window. The run of homozygosity call criteria were defined as; 1/5/10/16 Mb minimum in length, 100 SNPs minimum within the window, the minimum marker density greater than 50 Kb/SNP. Due to the reduced SNP coverage in this dataset compared to previous analyses 10 , 20 the largest gap between consecutive SNPs before ending a run of homozygosity call was changed to 500 Kb. We calculated F ROH5 as it had previously been shown to strongly correlate with the inbreeding coefficient F PED 20 . F ROH5 was estimated for the 17 populations, as per the equation below.

where S ROH5 is the total length of ROH found in an individual where runs are >5 Mb and L auto is the total length of the autosomal genome (called as 2,673,768 kb here). The F ROH5 was averaged across the individuals to find the population mean of F ROH5 .

Relationship to European Roma

We performed several analyses in order to investigate the relationship between Irish Travellers and European Roma. Firstly, we assembled a merged dataset that included the full Irish Traveller, Trinity Student, and European Roma datasets. We additionally removed any variants that were A/T or G/C. For subsequent PCA and ADMIXTURE analysis the combined Roma dataset was pruned for LD, using a window of 1000 SNPs, moving every 50 SNPs with a r 2 inclusion threshold of 0.2 in PLINK, leaving 66,099 common SNPs.

Secondly, PCA was performed using gcta64 v1.24.1 27 , creating a genetic relationship matrix, and then generating the first 10 principal components. Thirdly we applied ADMIXTURE on a reduced combined dataset that included all Irish Traveller and European Roma individuals, but only 40 of the Trinity Student Irish. ADMIXTURE was used with the same parameters as above, modelling for 2–4 ancestral populations. Finally, we compared the levels of homozygosity between the Irish Travellers, Trinity Student Irish, and European Roma - using the full combined Roma dataset, with 148,362 common SNPs and using the parameters described above.

Thirdly, we formally tested evidence for admixture using admixture f 3 statistics 32 in the form f 3 (Traveller; Settled, Roma) using the full Trinity Irish dataset, a reduced European Roma dataset excluding the Welsh Roma (due to their outlier status in the rest of the dataset 16 ), and a reduced dataset of Irish Travellers belonging to Irish Traveller clusters identified in fineStructure analysis (see Results). This combined dataset consisted of 148,914 SNPs.

Additional Information

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the members of the Irish Traveller population who participated in this study. The work was part funded by a Career Development Award (13/CDA/2223) from Science Foundation Ireland. We would also like to thank, Eoghan O’Halloran for help with data formatting, the Irish Center for High-End Computing (ICHEC) for the provision of computing facilities and support, Dan Lawson for advice and help with fineStructure, Michael McDonagh for helpful comments and insights into linguistic groups with the Irish Travellers, and Sinead Ní Shuinéar for inquiries on groups within the Irish Travellers. SC thanks a private donation from the Barouh and Channah Berkovits Foundation. We thank Liam McGrath and Scratch Films for their support in developing this project. We thank the reviewers for their helpful comments. This study makes use of data 24 generated by the Wellcome Trust Case-Control Consortium. A full list of the investigators who contributed to the generation of the data is available from www.wtccc.org.uk . Funding for the project was provided by the Wellcome Trust under award 76113, 085475 and 090355.

Author information

James F. Wilson and Gianpiero L. Cavalleri: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin, 2, Ireland

Edmund Gilbert & Gianpiero L. Cavalleri

Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

School of Medicine and Medical Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Centre for Global Health Research, Usher Institute for Population Health Sciences and Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Teviot Place, Edinburgh, Scotland

• James F. Wilson

MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Crewe Road, Edinburgh, Scotland

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Contributions

E.G., S.C., J.F.W., and G.L.C., wrote the main manuscript, E.G. ran the analysis, with exception of TIBD, which was run by S.C. S.E. contributed to supervision of E.G. J.F.W. and G.L.C. designed the study. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Gianpiero L. Cavalleri .

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Gilbert, E., Carmi, S., Ennis, S. et al. Genomic insights into the population structure and history of the Irish Travellers. Sci Rep 7 , 42187 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep42187

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• Researching Irish Traveller Ancestors

Tracing Irish Traveller family history can be extra challenging due to the lack of written records. However, there are clues to be found that can point to Irish Traveller ancestry, and a number of resources to help people discover more.

​ This resource is a work in progress; please feel free to add recommendations and suggestions to this message board thread .

An Lucht Siúil  ( Traveling Folk  lit. the Walking People) or Travellers can refer to a variety of people who lived life on the road. Irish Travellers aka Mincéir aka Pavee are a distinct Irish ethnic group with their own customs, language and traditions. Many live in the UK for all or part of the year. They are a recognised ethnic minority group.

Irish Traveller culture and ancestry

Irish Travellers are a separate cultural group that started migrating to Britain in the early 19th century and can be traced back to 12th century Ireland. 

Population structure & History of Irish travellers

Genetic research found that Irish Travellers are of Irish origin and have significant genetic makeup compared to their settled community. An estimated 40,000 Travellers (less than 1% of the population) are living in Ireland today. Although sometimes called gypsies, they have no genetic relation to  Romani . 

Gene study reveals Irish Travellers' ancestry

The Celtic Travellers DNA project is for descendants and members and of  Irish Travellers , Highland Scottish Travellers, Lowland Scottish Travellers, Fairground Travellers and other  Non-Romani  travelling families. However, Roma or mixed Traveller heritage are also welcome to join.

Celtic Travellers DNA Project

Searching Census & Vital Records for clues

Clues that can suggest Traveller ancestry include:

Occupations: tinker, tinman, tinsmith, whitesmith, dealer, pedlar, horse dealer, basket maker,  peg maker , knife grinder/ sharpener, hawker , musician , and sometimes labourer.

Place of Birth : All the children in the family being born in different places is also a big clue. 

Residence : Unusual residences such as "tent on common"

Irish Gypsies and Irish Travellers are distinct ethnic groups often referred to in parish registers as 'Pavees' or 'Minceir'. 

Irish Traveller Genealogy Resources

Here is a list of useful resources to help you trace Irish Traveller or Mincéir ancestors:

TravellerHeritage.ie

https://www.paveepoint.ie/ PaveePoint.ie

The Romany & Traveller Family History Society

Travellers Times

RomaHeritage.co.uk  |  GypsyWagons.co.uk  |  Gypsy Genealogy

Special Collections:  Liverpool  |  Leeds  |  Reading  |  Surrey  |  Sussex 

IrelandXO Message Board

The IrelandXO message board can be a great resource for finding out more about Irish Traveller family histories and connecting with other descendants. Click on the links to read some interesting message board threads:

Need Information on "Tinkers", "Travelers"

McDonough/McDonagh family from Killedan

O'Brien/O'Leary

Doran in Galway

IrelandXO Traveller Timelines

• Traveling Folk in the 1930s

Irish Traveller Buildings & Places

• St Nicholas of Myra, Francis St, DUBLIN
• Long Mile Road WALKINSTOWN

Irish Traveller Photo Collections

UCD Digital Collection

Common Irish Traveller Family Names

Berry, Brown, Cash , Carmody, Carthy, Casey, Cassidy, Cawley , Clark, Collins, Connors , Conroy, Corcoran, Cunningham, Delaney, Doherty , Donoghue/ O’Donoghue, Donovan , Doran, Dunne , Flynn, Furey , Gallagher, Green, Hanafin/ Hannifin , Hand, Hanley, Hanrahan, Harper, Hennessey, Joyce , Keating, Keenan, Kerrigan, Kiely, Lawrence, Lee, Lynch, Maguire, Malone, Maloney, Maughan , Mongan, Moorehouse McCarthy , MacDonald, McDonagh , MacDonnell, MacAleer, McCann, McDonnell, McGinley, McInerney, MacLoughlin, McRea, Nevin, Nolan, O’Donnell, O’Reilly / Reilly, Power, Purcell, Price, Quinn, Stokes , Sweeney, Ward , Wall, Windrum.

​Famous Irish Traveller Ancestors 

Sean Connery's ancestor: James Connery born circa 1840

Margaret Barry born 1917

The Duchás Folklore Collection

Between 1937 and 1939, primary school pupils across the Republic of Ireland interviewed the elderly in their neighborhood to collect and record local stories and folklore from the 19th century. "The Schools Collection" as it became known is held by the Dúchas Folklore Collection in UCD and is and has been digitized online at duchas.ie. One of the topics schoolchildren were asked to write about were "Travelling Folk" or An Lucht Siúil. Click here  to read a selection of what "settled" children wrote about travelers in the late 1930s.

Are you descended from Irish Travellers? Add their story to the IrelandXO website and connect with other descendants living all around the world. 

Additional Advice from our IrelandXO Community

My great-grandmother was from Galway Travellers, it took me years to put together the best family history I could manage.  If you are not sure the name you are looking for is a Traveling People name you might go to the Pavee Point site and search other sites under Traveller History, names, etc.   There are different groups of people who seem to come under the category of "Traveller", Irish, English,  UK, Scotland & Wales),  Roma, Romania & South Eastern European, Carnival & Show Travelers, and I'm sure others. Families often marry within particular other families, I saw an online list of which families marry into which other name families and first names are repeated thru generations like the Irish naming pattern used to be, these lists are usually individual observations and quite old.  In addition to the name on UK census records you might find the address listed as "in Tents",  "in Lanes", etc.  The occupation might be listed, such as it was for my great grandfather, as Tinman , as the Traveling people used to do pot mending and such things as they moved from place to place.  Location can be difficult because of moving from place to place,  often within a particular area, such as only Munster,  or Scotland to Ireland, I spent years finding a family member who had gone to Wales.  Then of course someone you are searching may have gotten Transportation to Australia or be in prison in England, sometimes waiting several years there before transportation. This might be a bit of luck for you as records for prison and transportation are online.   Of course you can always search the parish registers in a particular area you are interested in, as Traveling People are likely to be Roman Catholic and very likely to have their children baptized which would be recorded along with other church sacramental records, marriage etc.  Also consider that many people with Irish Travelling people heritage were settled and maybe had not been going from place to place for years, if not generations.   As far as DNA sites I recommend My Heritage , this site has more Irish, UK, English than any other I have seen.  If your DNA is on another site you probably can transfer it to My Heritage for free, its very worthwhile.  Make good use of your higher number DNA matches by checking the shared matches for repeat names. 

Elaine Walsh

** originally published in 2022

We hope you have found the information we have shared helpful. While you are here, we have a small favour to ask. Ireland Reaching Out is a non-profit organisation that relies on public funding and donations to ensure a completely free family history advisory service to anyone of Irish heritage who needs help connecting with their Irish place of origin. If you would like to support our mission, please click on the donate button and make a contribution. Any amount, big or small, is appreciated and makes a difference. 

Centuries of prejudice means Gypsies and Travellers are still political targets today

Reader in English Literature, University of Huddersfield

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Jodie Matthews has previously received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

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The Conservative Party’s manifesto commitments to “tackle unauthorised traveller camps” and give police new powers to seize Travellers’ property and vehicles play to an age-old view of travelling people as criminals. The manifesto argues this is “to protect our communities”, resolutely placing Travellers outside a Tory concept of “community”, and playing to centuries-old suspicions and prejudices .

British Romani and Traveller people are wearyingly familiar with this political rhetoric as repeated in newspapers, on television and in the playground. In his magisterial The Stopping Places from 2018, Damian Le Bas described his relationship with travelling, with being a Traveller and to Britain. From a young age, he realised that “the land I lived in would never allow me to forget that it saw the Gypsies as a people apart”. The Romani academic Ken Lee has pointed out that no matter when or where, Romanies have been seen as strangers.

The word “Gypsy” is an exonym derived from “Egyptian”, which is how Romani people were described when the diaspora was first noted in Britain. The first record of Romanies in England is sometimes given as an inquest in 1514 that mentions an Egyptian woman, though there is also evidence for a much earlier presence. A 10th-century skeleton unearthed in Norwich has a DNA sequence matching a rare modern Romani lineage.

Read more: Gypsies and Travellers 'clampdown' is less dog whistle, more political fog-horn

As well as being called Gypsies, British Romani people are often referred to (or refer to themselves) as Travellers. Irish Travellers in Britain and other travelling groups have a separate community history to Romani people, although laws, politics and attitudes have led them to share many experiences.

The stereotype of the Gypsy criminal is neither new, nor exclusive to Britain. Yet it has a disturbingly pernicious cultural power. As a document signifying attitudes and aspirations, the Conservative Party manifesto of 2019 joins a long list of representations – in law, the media, visual arts and fiction – that contribute to the false impression of Romanies or Travellers en masse as criminal outsiders.

Different century, same attitude

Almost from the outset, Gypsies were subject to the force of the law. The Egyptians Act of 1554 introduced the death penalty for “Egyptians” who refused to leave the country. The Tudors wanted real control over who was coming in and out.

Almost two centuries later, on New Year’s Day 1753, a teenage maidservant called Elizabeth Canning was apparently kidnapped from the City of London to be forced into prostitution in Enfield, some miles away. She claimed that, after several weeks in starving captivity, she escaped through a window. The woman who owned the brothel was sentenced to branding of the thumb, and Mary Squires, a Gypsy, who was said to have assisted, was sentenced to death by hanging.

The sensational media reporting of the time was sure of Squires’s guilt because she was a Gypsy. But their stereotyping was wrong: Squires had an alibi and received a full pardon. Another story about the case mentioned a street-seller supposedly beaten and robbed by Gypsies as “a further instance of their Barbarity to our Subjects, which shews the immediate Necessity of rooting these Villains out of their Dens”. In 1753 as in 2019, the easy line for the press to take was that “our” communities needed protecting from these criminal outsiders.

A century later, and an 1865 painting by Thomas George Webster called The Gypsy hangs in the Smith Art Gallery in Brighouse, West Yorkshire. Webster’s image portrays a dark-haired, sharp-faced Gypsy woman emerging from the foliage outside an open window, besides which a pale girl sits sewing. A small white pot on the windowsill is easily reachable through the window. The painted scene implies that the Gypsy woman will steal from the other, and the girl’s expression suggests that the wide-open window suddenly seems a mistake.

This minor moment in art history may seem innocuous, but it is part of the steady drip, drip of cultural references in which Gypsies and Travellers are painted, metaphorically or literally, in a particular light. Throughout the 19th century, novels, poems and books for children portrayed Gypsies as suspect and to be feared.

Each century has its Gypsy and Traveller suspects, across all cultural forms and varied audiences. It is no surprise that, with this cultural history, politicians claim again and again to want to take action against these groups’ perceived criminality. The opposition of police forces to the Home Office’s proposed policy on unauthorised encampments shows how much the Conservative’s manifesto pledge is about image rather than well-researched policy. It is the same image that has been informed by centuries of fictional but powerful representation.

The British state does not need special protection from Romani and Traveller communities. With their social and cultural contributions to British life ignored or deemed worthless, it is Romani and Traveller people that need protecting from an over-zealous state.

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Nomadism and Equality: The Irish Traveller and Gypsy Women

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• Madalina Armie 7 &
• Verónica Membrive 7  

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ((ENUNSDG))

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Itinerants ; Knackers ; Tinkers ; Pikeys

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When writing the story of the Irish Traveller and Gypsy women is important to specify that in the Irish Republic, the Irish Travellers, New Age Travellers, Irish Romani Gypsies, and Roma from Central and Eastern Europe minorities present broad internal subdivisions. Each of these groups attain different cultural traits and behavioral patterns, although it is true that they have more things in common – and this is one of the reasons why they are frequently and erroneously confused – rather than characteristics which distinguish them. The overlapping of experiences of Roma and Traveller minorities, then, would make impossible at times to treat them as separate cases of study. The Travellers are Ireland’s native ethnic minority. The New Age Travellers, on the other hand, do not form a distinct ethnic group according to the Irish law, and the creation of this nomadic group has as a backdrop the free festivals, therefore their...

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Armie, M., Membrive, V. (2020). Nomadism and Equality: The Irish Traveller and Gypsy Women. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Lange Salvia, A., Wall, T. (eds) Gender Equality. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70060-1_131-1

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