The King, Queen, and other members of the tribe, together with their children, graced the occasion w

As you can read elsewhere on this blog, George Smith [C12 in the Borrow's Gypsies family tree of 1910] always claimed that he was the one who came up with the ingenious money-making idea of leading his Smith, Young, Chilcott and Lee relatives on a grand tour of Great Britain and Ireland from the 1860s onwards. In major towns and cities along the way, George invited the public to visit their encampment to see how real Romany stua Gypsies lived and to have their fortunes told by his wife Kurlinda/Corlinda Lee and his daughters or other female members stua of the community. In the evenings, they held dances advertising them as ‘The Royal Epping Forest Gypsy Balls’ held either within the encampment or in public halls nearby. Here George brought in local caterers to serve refreshments and professional musicians to provide music. Kurlinda/Corlinda and George were usually in attendance, under the guise of The King and Queen of the Gypsies .
But this newspaper report of 1871 seems to suggest that another member of George’s family had claimed the crown. This is Walter Smith [C3 in the 1910 tree, born 1841, died 1921], first cousin to George. His ‘queen’ is his wife Matilda, nee Gaskin. And it is interesting to see the mention of the Mullinger and Whatnell families. As far as we know, this is the first known contemporary reference to them as adherents of the ball-giving group.
“A GIPSY BALL. Whether or not many people go a gipsying in the present day, it is pretty certain that no inconsiderable number go to gipsy balls. This was evident at the Masonic-hall, Scotland-road, Liverpool, on Monday stua night, when the King and Queen of the Gipsies gave a ball. The Zingari tribe of gipsies they maintain that they are the only genuine tribe are at present in camp in the neighbourhood of Everton, and they embrace the families of the Mullingers, stua Smiths and Whatnells. Their home is Epping Forest, but they have been in these parts some time.
The king rejoices in the common name of Smith Walter Smith, that of his Queen being Matilda Smith. They speak the gipsy language, marry only amongst their own tribe, but consummate their matrimonial alliances in Protestant places of worship. They would appear to depend a good deal on the support stua of externs , making money wherever they are, and getting a living in quite a different style to the old, pastoral style of their ancestors. The ball was one means of replenishing their exchequer, and judging from the members who attended, stua it was pretty successful. The prices of admission, moreover, were low, and the opportunity of seeing and dancing with their majesties was thus within reach of all.
The King, Queen, and other members of the tribe, together with their children, graced the occasion with their presence, and entered thoroughly into the spirit of the dance. Her Majesty the Queen (Mrs. Smith) was dressed in blue silk, with a rather pretty head-dress which has no Parisian or other name. The rest of the female members of the tribe were for the most part attired in white, with glaring red trimmings, and red Garibaldi jackets. The costume of his Majesty (Mr. Smith) is perhaps best described as being a compound between the dress of a gamekeeper and a groom.
Perhaps stua the most innocent feature of the affair was the children of the gipsies, with their jet-black hair and piercing stua eyes, merrily capering amongst the throng of adult dancers. So far as we could observe the ball was well conducted, stua and will result in a goodly sum being netted by the Zingari tribe.”
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