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Date:17th of October 1807
Description:There have been Romany travellers or ‘gypsies’ in Britain since the 1500s, and from the beginning they were suspected and persecuted. The first evidence we have of a travelling family in Birmingham comes from a baptism register of 1705/6. Although people associate travellers with images of colourful caravans, travelling homes were often the tent-like structures shown in the photographs and painting here. By 1900 there were about 300 Romany people living on land known as the ‘Black Patch’ near Handsworth. In July 1905 they were made homeless without compensation when their homes and possessions were destroyed during an eviction.