THE HISTORY OF
WANDSWORTH COMMON

Added

IN PROGRESS — NOT FOR PUBLICATION

Refresh this page

Index

Wandsworth Common Gypsies and Travellers.[this site]

George Borrow Society: Wandsworth Gypsies [this site]

George Borrow: Wandsworth Gypsies [from Romany Lavo- Lil?]

Wikipedia: George Borrow (1803-1881).

Wikipedia: Charles Robert Leslie (1794-1859).

Wikipedia: Charles Godfrey Leland (1824-1903).

History of Wandsworth Common: Charlotte Cooper (dates?).

Jack Cooper (dates?)

Charles Robert Leslie RA, painter (1794-1859)

Notes to follow up about Charlotte Cooper

CHARLOTTE COOPER

[For her husband, the pugilist JACK COOPER [aka Thomas and "Gipsy" Cooper], see here.]

C.R. Leslie, "Charlotte Cooper" [c.1830?]. Said to be an engraving of an original painting (now lost?).

[PB: I have found a number of digital versions of engravings of this portrait, as shown here, but none of the original painting. Click to see another, higher-resolution version as printed to illustrate Charles Leland's article, "A Gypsy Beauty" in 1888 (below). The caption states that the painting was owned by his sister, Emma Leslie, living in New York. Incidentally, there is no reference to this painting in Tom Taylor's handlist of Leslie paintings.]

(Click on image to see an alternative version)

Some years ago I came across an image of a Gypsy encampment on Wandsworth Common, featuring a tall and very beautiful Charlotte Cooper [nee Lee].

Or did I? I now can't find it anywhere (and I've spent a long time trying). But there are numerous references to "the Gypsy Beauty" Charlotte Cooper in the literature, and to a fine portrait of her, by CR Leslie RA, from around 1830.

For example, most recently, the Survey of London volume on Battersea (2013) states:

Gypsies had long been present on Wandsworth Common, contributing to local folklore in the form of the gypsy wife of a boxer, Jack Cooper, famed for having 'knocked West Country Dick to pieces' and killing Paddy O'Leary the 'pot Boy'. She was the subject of a Romany song and a portrait by Constable's friend and biographer, C.R. Leslie, painted c.1830 [n.174].

[On Jack Cooper, see below.]

The Survey (which sadly does not show the picture) is following Sexby (Municipal Parks... (1898)) in locating Charlotte Cooper chiefly on Wandsworth Common, though George Borrow, Sexby's own source, writing 30 years earlier, says she lived in the "Great Metropolitan Gypsery" on a privately owned "no man's ground" of about two acres nearby - "the Plain".

So on the Common or not? Possibly first one, then the other. I have read that Gypsies were moved off the Common around 1870-71, when the Conservators took over management of the Common. It was only then that the Gypsies moved to the nearby "no man's ground". This would seem to fit the dates.

I must try to find references in contemporary newspapers etc. I believe I read about this in a summary of Raphael Samuel's essay on itinerant workers, "Comers and Goers", in the 2-volume Dyos and Wolff, The Victorian City: Images and Reality (1998) (vol.1, pp.123-160). [Extracts viewable here. I have downloaded the first few pages and made a pdf here. ]

"the Battersea gypsies kept very close to London, and a few of them remained encamped all the year round" (reference no.12, which I cannot view).

Frustratingly, the online pages stop (at p.129) just at the point it seems he might discuss Wandsworth/Battersea again, in a section on the location of "edge of town" encampments.

How I would love a copy of this essay - and indeed of the whole book, but it's currently £400+. I found the two volumes MUCH more cheaply, and bought them. ]

Other sources on Raphael Samuel:

Raphael Samuel (1934-1996): History in the Making [a collection of his HWJ articles, hence not of "Comers and Goers". What a shame.].

Incidentally, Wandsworth may not have been Charlotte Cooper's only home - Charles Leland, another student of Gypsy life who says he knew her well, says (in 1888?) that he visited Charlotte on Bow Common. (See below.)

George Borrow's "Grand Metropolitan Gypsyry" near the borders of Wandsworth and Battersea:

What may be called the grand Metropolitan Gypsyry is on the Surrey side of the Thames. Near the borders of Wandsworth and Battersea, about a quarter of a mile from the river, is an open piece of ground which may measure about two acres. To the south is a hill, at the foot of which is a railway, and it is skirted on the north by the Wandsworth and Battersea Road.

This place is what the Gypsies call a kekkeno mushes puv, a no man's ground; a place which has either no proprietor, or which the proprietor, for some reason, makes no use of for the present. The houses in the neighbourhood are mean and squalid, and are principally inhabited by artisans of the lowest description.

This spot, during a considerable portion of the year, is the principal place of residence of the Metropolitan Gypsies, and of other people whose manner of life more or less resembles theirs.

Where exactly was this? See this website's page on George Borrow and Wandsworth Gypsies.]

"The houses in the neighbourhood are mean and squalid, and are principally inhabited by artisans of the lowest description." Might this have been the area at the bottom of Plough Road, close to Price's Candle Works, marked dark purple/black on Booth's Poverty map of 1898 (admittedly somewhat later)? In which case, is the "Wandsworth and Battersea Road" to the north, York Road?

See: 49_introduction.pdf

[PB: n.174 = "LMA, OS/W/5/1: Sexby, pp.237-8". What is the LMA reference? It looks as though the author of the Survey chapter is merely paraphrasing Sexby (who is himself quoting Borrow, though possibly without crediting him?) - there is no independent source.]

If the site is "Donovan's Yard", this seems to have been where Cabul Road finishes near the railway/now Falcon Park. See Notes to follow up about Charlotte Cooper.

John James Sexby, Municipal Parks, Gardens, and Open Spaces of London(1898)

Sexby is quoting Borrow [does he credit him? No. Also this version appears to be even closer to Leland's version of 1888 in "A Gypsy Beauty", see below]. Sexby appears to know Leslie's painting of Charlotte Cooper, but is it as a portrait or (as the line "A gipsy encampment forms a romantic subject for a picture" suggests), or a larger view? In any case, she can't be the tall figure I recall.

One portion was the resort of gipsy vans and tents, one of whose occupants has been immortalized in a picture by C.R. Leslie, R.A., painted about 1830.

The following story is told about this gipsy beauty:

'There is a very small tent about the middle of Wandsworth Common; it belongs to a lone female whom one frequently meets wandering, seeking an opportunity to dukker (tell fortunes) to some credulous servant girl. It is hard that she should have to do so, as she is more than seventy-five years of age, but if she did not she would probably starve. She is very short of stature, being little more than five feet and an inch high, but she is wonderfully strong built. Her face is broad, with a good-humoured expression upon it, and in general with very little vivacity; at times, however, it lights up, and then all the gipsy beams forth. Old as she is, her hair, which is very long, is as black as the plumage of a crow, and she walks sturdily, and if requested would take up the heaviest man in Wandsworth and walk away with him. She is upon the whole the oddest gipsy woman ever seen; see her once and you will never forget her.

Who is she? Why, Mrs. Cooper the wife of Jack Cooper, the fighting gipsy, once the terror of all the lightweights of the English ring, who knocked West Country Dick to pieces and killed Paddy O'Leary, the "Pot Boy," Jack Randall's pet. Ah it would have been well for Jack if he had always stuck to his true lawful Romany wife, whom at one time he was very fond of, and whom he used to dress in silks and satins, and best scarlet cloth, purchased with the money gained in his fair, gallant battles in the ring.'

A characteristic song was written on her in the original Romany of which the translation runs:

Charlotte Cooper is my name,
I am a real old Lee;
My husband was Jack Cooper,
The fighting Romany.
He left me for a shameful girl
Who stole a purse, while he
Took all the blame, and all the shame,
And went beyond the sea.

A gipsy encampment forms a romantic subject for a picture, but the reality is quite a different thing, and Wandsworth is quite willing to sacrifice the romance in losing these unwelcome visitors.

George Borrow, Romano Lavo-Lil (1874).

As already stated, Sexby seems to have drawn directly on George Borrow writing a quarter of century earlier:

[Charlotte Cooper]

There is a very small tent about the middle of the place; it belongs to a lone female, whom one frequently meets wandering about Wandsworth or Battersea, seeking an opportunity to dukker some credulous servant-girl. It is hard that she should have to do so, as she is more than seventy-five years of age, but if she did not she would probably starve. She is very short of stature, being little more than five feet and an inch high, but she is wonderfully strongly built. Her head is very large, and seems to have been placed at once upon her shoulders without any interposition of neck. Her face is broad, with a good-humoured expression upon it, and in general with very little vivacity; at times, however, it lights up, and then all the Gypsy beams forth. Old as she is, her hair, which is very long, is as black as the plumage of a crow, and she walks sturdily, though with not much elasticity, on her short, thick legs, and, if requested, would take up the heaviest man in Wandsworth or Battersea and walk away with him. She is, upon the whole, the oddest Gypsy woman ever seen; see her once and you will never forget her.

Who is she? you ask. Who is she? Why, Mrs. Cooper, the wife of Jack Cooper, the fighting Gypsy, once the terror of all the Light Weights of the English Ring; who knocked West Country Dick to pieces, and killed Paddy O'Leary, the fighting pot-boy, Jack Randall's pet. Ah, it would have been well for Jack if he had always stuck to his true, lawful Romany wife, whom at one time he was very fond of, and whom he used to dress in silks and satins, and best scarlet cloth, purchased with the money gained in his fair, gallant battles in the Ring! But he did not stick to her, deserting her for a painted Jezebel, to support whom he sold his battles, by doing which he lost his friends and backers; then took from his poor wife all he had given her, and even plundered her of her own property, down to the very blankets which she lay upon; and who finally was so infatuated with love for his paramour that he bore the blame of a crime which she had committed, and in which he had no share, suffering ignominy and transportation in order to save her. Better had he never deserted his tatchie romadie, his own true Charlotte, who, when all deserted him, the painted Jezebel being the first to do so, stood by him, supporting him with money in prison, and feeing counsel on his trial from the scanty proceeds of her dukkering.

All that happened many years ago; Jack's term of transportation, a lengthy one, has long, long been expired, but he has not come back, though every year since the expiration of his servitude he has written her a letter, or caused one to be written to her, to say that he is coming, that he is coming; so that she is always expecting him, and is at all times willing, as she says, to re-invest him with all the privileges of a husband, and to beg and dukker to support him if necessary. A true wife she has been to him, a tatchie romadie, and has never taken up with any man since he left her, though many have been the tempting offers that she has had, connubial offers, notwithstanding the oddity of her appearance.

Only one wish she has now in this world, the wish that he may return; but her wish, it is to be feared, is a vain one, for Jack lingers and lingers in the Sonnakye Tem, golden Australia, teaching, it is said, the young Australians to box, tempted by certain shining nuggets, the produce of the golden region.

It is pleasant, though there is something mournful in it, to visit Mrs. Cooper after nightfall, to sit with her in her little tent after she has taken her cup of tea, and is warming her tired limbs at her little coke fire, and hear her talk of old times and things: how Jack courted her 'neath the trees of Loughton Forest, and how, when tired of courting, they would get up and box, and how he occasionally gave her a black eye, and how she invariably flung him at a close; and how they were lawfully married at church, and what a nice man the clergyman was, and what funny things he said both before and after he had united them; how stoutly West Country Dick contended against Jack, though always losing; how in Jack's battle with Paddy O'Leary the Irishman's head in the last round was truly frightful, not a feature being distinguishable, and one of his ears hanging down by a bit of skin; how Jack vanquished Hardy Scroggins, whom Jack Randall himself never dared fight.

Then, again, her anecdotes of Alec Reed, cool, swift-hitting Alec, who was always smiling, and whose father was a Scotchman, his mother an Irishwoman, and who was born in Guernsey; and of Oliver, old Tom Oliver, who seconded Jack in all his winning battles, and after whom he named his son, his only child, Oliver, begotten of her in lawful wedlock, a good and affectionate son enough, but unable to assist her, on account of his numerous family.

Farewell, Mrs. Cooper, true old Charlotte! here's a little bit of silver for you, and a little bit of a gillie to sing:

Charlotta is my nav,
I am a puro Purrun;
My romado was Jack,
The couring Vardomescro.
He muk'd me for a lubbeny,
Who chor'd a rawnie's kissi;
He penn'd 'twas he who lell'd it,
And so was bitched pawdel.

Old Charlotte I am called,
Of Lee I am a daughter;
I married Fighting Jack,
The famous Gypsy Cooper.
He left me for a harlot,
Who pick'd a lady's pocket;
He bore the blame to save her,
And so was sent to Bot'ny.

The American Charles Leland also records meetings with Charlotte Cooper [in The English Gypsies (1883?) and A Gypsy Beauty (1888?)]

CR Leslie's portrait of Charlotte Cooper

Strangely, although there are numerous references over the last 150 or so years to this "fine portrait", it proved difficult to find a copy anywhere, e.g. on the ArtUK site, where 81 paintings are attributed to Leslie.

There are other sources, too:

Leland:

Letter in response [?] to Leland

So did Leslie paint the whole scene or just the portrait?

Show engraving from Leland article in The Century...

Was Charlotte Cooper the model for Leslie's Dulcinea del Toboso (1839)?

Note the close similarity of Leslie's portrait of Charlotte Cooper to his depiction of Don Quixote's Dulcinea del Toboso of a few years later (1839), which suggests that Charlotte Cooper was his model.

(Click on image to enlarge)

V&A

The title of this painting comes from Cervantes' comic novel Don Quixote (1605). The fanciful aristocratic name 'Dulcinea Del Toboso' was given by Don Quixote to a pretty peasant woman. The eccentric Don believed that he was her protector and she was a 'great lady or Princess'. She was unaware of his fantasies.

[Source: Link. Also vanda-cis-O76302.pdf]

See also:

• ArtUK: Link
• Wikimedia: Link

"According to the anonymous reviewer of the Royal Academy show in 1839...the title of Charles Robert Leslie's Dulcinea del Toboso ... was a "a misnomer": "It is not a portrait of the inamorato [sic] of Don Quizote ... although a very carefully painted picture of a buxom country wench," the reviewer wrote, perhaps forgetting that Quixote's beloved, who is in fact only a country wench herself, never actually appears in the novel. [not 14] p131

[Source: Ruth Bernard Yeazell, Picture Titles: How and Why Western Paintings Acquired Their Names - Link

See AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL RECOLLECTION BY THE LATE CHARLES ROBERT LESLIE, R.A. EDITED, WITH A PREFATORY ESSAY ON LESLIE AS AN ARTIST, AND SELECTIONS FEOM HIS CORRESPONDENCE, By TOM TAYLOR, Esq. (1860?)

Check whether a portrait (or a scene of the encampment) is recorded in the catalogue of Leslie's paintings in Tom Taylor's edited version of Leslie's biography of Constable [title?]...

[Why did TT edit Leslie? Did he know him?]

Leslie's paintings of gypsies

There is no reference in Tom Taylor's listing of Leslie's paintings to his portrait of Charlotte Cooper, so far as I can see, But notice there are at least three references to "gipsies".

1820. Londoners Gipsying. (Exhibited) 1820.

1829: Sir Roger de Coverley and the Gipsies. Engraved.

1839: Dulcinea. Painted for J. Sheepshanks, Esq. In the National Collection"

Leslie's, 'Gipsying Party'

[Presumably this is the painting also known as Londoners Gypsying - or is it?]

Letter CRL to "Miss Leslie" [presumably his sister in New York - check], April 9, 1820:

"Since I last wrote I have completed my picture of the 'Gipsying Party,' and sent it to Somerset House [then home of the Royal Academy]. In a few days I hope to hear where it is placed, and how it is liked by the Academicians."

Letter CRL to Miss Leslie, April 9, 1820:

I have not yet sold my picture of the 'Gipsying Party,' and scarcely expect it now.

Tom Taylor [writing in 1860]: "I have not been able to ascertain where the 'Gipsying Party' now is, or anything of the way in which the subject is treated."

For a while I thought 'Londoners Gipsying' would depict a group of aristocrats coming out from London to remote semi-rural locations such as Wandsworth Common. I rather hoped Leslie had depicted something like this:

London Evening Standard, Monday 30 July 1827

The Gypsey Party pitch their tent on Wandsworth Common

(Click on image to enlarge)

The Gypsey Party on Friday last, pitched their tent among the cedars on Wandsworth common, at five p.m. The viands were brought by the Duchess of Leinster, Dowager Marchioness of Salisbury, Marchioness of Tavistock, Lady Caroline Stanhope, and Mrs. Parnther. The wines, by Lord Tullamore and a number of bachelors. They had a delightful day, enlivened by much wit and vivacity. At the hour of eight the carriages were ordered; at nine they were in town to attend the fete at Chesterfield House.

[Source: Link.]

But I was probably wrong. It seems the painting is now in the Geffrye Museum, with the title 'Londoners Gypsying (the Family Holiday Party, in Epping Forest, near London)':

CR Leslie, "Londoners Gypsying (the Family Holiday Party, in Epping Forest, neat London" (1830), Geffrye Museum

[ArtUK: Link]

(Click on image to enlarge)

[PB: That said, the dates don't coincide. The Geffrye image is dated 1830 in their catalogue, whereas TT's listing says

Wikipedia: Charles Robert Leslie

Survey of London [date?], vol 49, chapter 5:

Various nuisances were dealt with, notably clearing away rubbish, such as detritus dumped from the building trade and road-making, and removing unauthorized livestock and people, including 'encampments of gypsies, itinerant photographers and vendors of goods'. Gypsies had long been present on Wandsworth Common, contributing to local folklore in the form of the gypsy wife of a boxer, Jack Cooper, famed for having 'knocked West Country Dick to pieces' and killing Paddy O'Leary the 'pot Boy'. She was the subject of a Romany song and a portrait by Constable's friend and biographer, C.R. Leslie, painted c.1830. [n.174]

[Source: 49_references: ch.5 n.174. LMA, OS/W/5/1: Sexby, pp.237-8.]

[PB: Is the portrait shown?]

PB: I rather hoped Leslie had depicted something like this:

London Evening Standard, Monday 30 July 1827

The Gypsey Party pitch their tent on Wandsworth Common

(Click on image to enlarge)

The Gypsey Party on Friday last, pitched their tent among the cedars on Wandsworth common, at five p.m. The viands were brought by the Duchess of Leinster, Dowager Marchioness of Salisbury, Marchioness of Tavistock, Lady Caroline Stanhope, and Mrs. Parnther. The wines, by Lord Tullamore and a number of bachelors. They had a delightful day, enlivened by much wit and vivacity. At the hour of eight the carriages were ordered; at nine they were in town to attend the fete at Chesterfield House.

[Source: Link.]

Slightly longer account:

Globe, Monday 30 July 1827

(Click on image to enlarge)

The Party, Friday last, pitched their tent among the cedars [PB: cedars?] on Wandsworth Common, at five p.m. The viands were brought by the Duchess Leinster, Dowager Marchioness Salisbury. Marchioness of Tavistock, Lady Caroline Stanhope, and Mrs. Parnther. The wines by Lord Tullamore and a number of bachelors. At the hour of eight the carriages were ordered; at nine they were in town attend the fete at Chesterfield House. lhe supper was laid in the grand banqueting hail, with covers for between three and four hundred persons; all served off a new and massive service of plate. The dancing was kept up with great spirit till half-past five o'clock.

[Source: Link.]

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 46: "Leslie's "Dulcinea del Toboso" is capital; but is *the* character? Perhaps Mr Leslie's conception of it is right."

Link

Link

vanda-cis-O76302.pdf

Link

Link

"According to the anonymous reviewer of the Royal Academy show in 1839...the title of Charles Robert Leslie's Dulcinea del Toboso ... was a "a misnomer": "It is not a portrait of the inamorato [sic] of Don Quizote ... although a very carefully painted picture of a buxom country wench," the reviewer wrote, perhaps forgetting that Quixote's beloved, who is in fact only a country wench herself, never actually appears in the novel. [not 14] p131

Picture Titles: How and Why Western Paintings Acquired Their Names, Ruth Bernard Yeazell

Link

Check whether a portrait or a scene of the encampment is recorded in the catalogue of Leslie's paintings in Tom Taylor's edited version of Leslie's biography of Constable [title?]...Why did TT edit Leslie?

Link

BORROW on CHARLOTTE...

LELAND on CHARLOTTE: VISITING THE GYPSIES CHARLOTTE COOPER. [April 1882]

LELAND on CHARLOTTE: A GYPSY BEAUTY.. CHARLOTTE COOPER. [August 1888}

FIFTY or sixty years ago the gypsies in England were a much more remarkable race than they are at present. The railway had not come to break their habits, there were hundreds of lowly places in dell and dingle where they could hatch the tan or pitch the test, their blood had been little mixed with that of the Gorgio, or Gentile; they spoke their language with greater purity time than at present, and still kept their old characteristics unchanged. If they had the faults of Arabs, they had also many of their good qualities. If they stole horses and foraged on farmers, if their women told fortunes, lied, and sometimes cheated a man out of all his ready money by pretending to find a treasure in his cellar, on the other hand they were extremely grateful and honest to those who befriended them, and manifested in many ways a rough manliness which partially redeemed their petty vices. They were all, as are many of their sons at present, indomitable "rough riders; "of the horse horsey," and to a man boxers, so that many of them were distinguished in the prize-ring, the last of these being Jem Mace.

At this time there prevailed among the English Romany a strong, mutual faith, a tribal honesty, and steady faith, which at the present day are really becoming mythical. The gypsy in this, as in everything else, has been a continuation of the middle ages, or of the romance era.

Such a passion was inspired more than half a century ago by Jack Cooper, the Kurumen-gro Rom, or Fighting Gypsy, in a girl of his own tribe. Her name was Charlotte Lee, and it was about 1830 that Leslie, the Royal Academician, led by the fame of her beauty, painted the picture, now in New York in the possession of his sister Miss Emma Leslie, from which the engraving here given was taken. The fame of her charms still survives among her people, and when a few days ago as I write, I was talking of Charlotte to some gypsies of her kin, near Philadelphia, I was asked if I meant the Rinkeni; t that is, the Beautiful one. I have known her very well in her old age; at one time I saw her very frequently, when she lived at Bow Common. Once in conversing with Mr. George Borrow, the author of "Lavengro," I mentioned Charlotte, when he informed me that he believed she was the only one of her people in Great Britain of pure Romany blood. I doubt this very much; in fact I think I know of two or three of her kin camped within a half an hour of tramway from where I write, who are as united in blood, as they are assuredly much darker, than the Beauty every was. She is this described as she was in Mr. Borrow's "Lavo Lil," in a page which gives her whole story:

[BIT MISSING - FIND!]

There is a very small tent about the middle of Wandsworth Common [PB: !]; it belongs to a lone female, whom one frequently meets wandering, seeking an opportunity to dukker (tell fortunes to) some credulous servant-girl. It is hard that she should have to do so, as she is more than seventy-five years of age, but if she did not she would probably starve. She is very short of stature, being little more than five feet and an inch high, but she is wonderfully strongly built. Her face is broad with a good-humored expression on it, and in general with very little vivacity; at times, however, at times it lights up, and then all the gypsy beams forth. Old as she is, her hair, which is very long, is as black as the plumage of a crow, and she walks sturdily, and if requested, would take up the heaviest man in Wandsworth and walk away with him. She is upon the whole the oddest Gypsy woman ever seen; see her once and you will never forget her. Who is she? you ask. Who is she? Why, Mrs. Cooper, the wife of Jack Cooper, the fighting Gypsy, once the terror of all the light-weights of the English Ring, who knocked West Country Dick to pieces, and killed Paddy O'Leary the ' Pot-Boy ' - Jack Randall's pet. Ah, it would have been well for Jack if he had always stuck to his true lawful Romany wife, whom at one time he was very fond of, and whom he used to dress in silks and satins and best scarlet cloth, purchased with the money gained in his fair, gallant battles in the ring."

[new page...]

* See also "Visiting the Gypsies,", by the same author, in this magazine for April, 1883.

+ <>Rinkeni, pretty. In Hindoostani rangini, gayly colored.

But he did not stick to her. This was all in the early days of gypsydom, when fine scarlet cloth was sought by the Romany women, and much worn, and there was great faith in luck and the world wagged merrily on in its old way. Jack Cooper, like Samson, found a Delilah in a Gorgio or Gentile girl, who did not wear scarlet openly, yet was all the more openly a Scarlet woman, de la plus Aire espece. And then the un-luck began. To maintain her fine and gay " all that he got he valued not, but gave to her straightway." It was but little to the Painted Shame, - so he " sold his fights " for money, by doing which he lost his friends and backers, as the chronicle of the ring hath it, and even plundered his poor wife, the Rinkeni Romani, of all she had, even to her last blankets. And finally, out of sheer infatuation, when his mistress was accused of a theft, Jack assumed the guilt and declared himself to be the criminal.

All his friends left him, the Jezebel first of all; yet not quite all, for Charlotte remained true, supporting him while in prison and feeing a law-yer on the little money which she picked up by fortune-telling. All of this was long ago, when such devotion was a part of Romany life; yet even at the present day there is not a gypsy of the old tribes who cannot out of his own personal knowledge tell strange stories of the incredible efforts which wives have made to aid imprisoned husbands, who, however, treat them with great severity.

Jack was transported for a long time, and never returned. When her husband was bitcharde padel o kdlo pani, or sent across the ocean, Charlotte was young and beautiful as she was clever, but no one among the tribes ever said she had a lover since her Rom left her. She had a son Oliver, who was named after old Tom Oliver, who seconded Jack in all his win-ning battles, and was noted for having done so when his principal beat the famous Hardy Scroggins, whom Jack Randall himself never dared to fight. This son Oliver I have also known very well, a plump, old-fashioned gypsy, very good-natured and remarkably polite.

Mr. Borrow says that old Charlotte had very little vivacity, "save at times." It is, I trust, no disrespect to a great man to say that Mr. Borrow was not exactly the person to inspire vivacity or gayety in others. Those gypsies who have met him remember him chiefly as one who found fault with them for neglecting the language and ways of their fathers, and who informed them that they were all mere posh an posh, or half-breeds.

I always found old Charlotte remarkably vivacious, certainly the "brightest" woman of her years I ever met. She looked like a very old woman indeed, kept young by some incredible vitality - it always seemed to me that she was a witch without malice or mischief. It was very entertaining to talk with her in Romany about the "affairs of Egypt," of the great prize-fights and strange people, all long since passed away." Great people pass into poetry." Charlotte Cooper was great in her way among her people, as there is a song on her, which Mr. Borrow has preserved. It runs as follows in the original Romany:

" Charlotta se miro nav,

Shorn a puro Purun;

My romado was Jack,

The kuring Vardomescro.

"Mukkede me for a lubbeny

Who chored a rdnis kissi;

Yuv pende twas yuv so lelde

And so was bitchade pddel."

ENGLISH.

" Charlotte Cooper is my name,

I am a real old Lee;

My husband was Jack Cooper,

The fighting Romany.

"He left me for a shameful girl

Who stole a purse; while he

Took all the blame and all the shame

And went beyond the sea."

... In connection with what I have said of Charlotte Cooper, something remains to be said of the artist who painted her portrait. I trust that the reader will here pardon a slight digression illustrating the saying that " the world is not as large as it seems to be."

Miss Eliza Leslie, the elder sister of Charles, was one of the intimates of my youth, and I was accustomed to hear from her many anecdotes of her brother. Tom Taylor, who edited his "Life and Letters" (many of which were addressed to Eliza), was also a friend of mine. While a young man he, too, had been afiri-ondo, or gypsy-struck, and had made a MS. vocabulary of their language, which he permitted me to use, and from which I obtained several words new to me. I have not the least doubt that he too had known Charlotte, as it would be rather a wonder if he had not.

Leslie belonged to a school, now growing rare in these days of impressionism, of men who were dramatic artists on canvas. The stage, with all its accessories of dress and attitude, influenced him from childhood, as it did many of his contemporaries, but none so much as himself. There are two ways of using the word "theatrical," and Leslie's was entirely of the best. We may admit that, as, for example, in "The Duchess" and "Sancho or the Rivals," there was much use of dress and " properties," but it was well chosen and finely adapted; in "The Girl with the Locket " - which I cite at random - there is a studied pose, but it is well studied.

There are artists at the present day who blame this pose, yet who with all their naturalism produce nothing which will seem any more natural to the next generation, while it is certain that they create nothing as beautiful or as deserving to be called art. Leslie appears to have been himself a little "affected unto" the Romany, as is shown by his "Sir Roger de Coverly among the Gypsies " and by the truthfulness with which he has caught their expression.

There are many portraits of these people by great artists in which there is nothing to really distinguish them from Italians, and I have seen "A Gypsy Family " painted entirely after Jewish models. Morland, as might have been expected, was a man who could set forth the kV° foki, or dark people, to absolute perfection. I have seen a picture of his, entitled simply " A Cattle Dealer," in which the expression of the half-blood Romany was given with wonderful accuracy.

A few years ago there was a "M'liss" [? CHECK] in the annual exhibition of the Royal Academy which was apparently after a gypsy model, and in which, by chance or truth, the expression was to perfection Romany.

Charles G. Leland.

[Source: Leland C.G., "A Gypsy Beauty", Century Magazine, Vol.32 (1886), pp.539-42 (pdf here Find original and transcribe remainder. Also add image of CC. Incidentally, if the engraving of CC is as little like the oroginal painting as the engraving of Dlcinea os of its original (which we have)....]

And the later comment, appended to Leland's "Gypsy Beauty" article, picks up on his request in 1883 ("Visiting the Gypsies," THE CENTURY, April, 1883) for someone to seek Charlotte Cooper out:

Mr Leland's very interesting article entitled "Visiting the Gypsies," in THE CENTURY for April, 1883, led me to make some inquiries respecting Charlotte Cooper. A few days ago business led me to Limehouse, not far from the scene of the opening chapters of "Our Mutual Friend," and to my surprise, in a most singular situation, I discovered some trace of Charlotte. In a yard, to which access is had by going through a public-house, the gate of the yard being bolted and barred, as if to withstand a siege, I found a gypsy van. It was occupied, at the time of my visit, by a woman and three children, neither of whom bore the slightest physical resemblance to the "tribe," but one could not be long in their company without discovering true traits of the "wanderers." A happy thought occurred that I might find some clue to Charlotte, Iso casually mentioned her name. The woman at once said; "We called her Clementina. Her husband was transported to Western Australia. After some time he wrote home to say that if she were yet single she was not to remain so, as he did not see any chance of ever coming home. She did not follow his advice, but remained single till her death, which took place a few years ago. There are some of her people now on Wandsworth Flats (one of the London suburbs), if you go there you are sure to find them."

T.E.Kerrigan

South Hackney, London, April 18, 1883.

["Wandsworth Flats"?]

[PB: This is curious: a fine photograph of a Charlotte Lee, wife of Jack Cooper, photographed in the C20: Link

(Click on image to enlarge)

Images of Jack Cooper, dates and sources unknown. As seen on Epsom & Ewell History Explorer, "John (Jack) Cooper: the Fighting Gypsy, bare-knuckle fighting on Epsom Downs" (https://eehe.org.uk/?p=25590)

(Click on image to enlarge)

By strange chance I also knew very well, in England, old Charlotte Cooper of Bow Common [sic], whom the reader may find described in George Borrow's "Romano Lavo-Lil". Charlotte is dark, and is supposed by the people to be also a hundred years old; but when I asked her if this was the case, she, with the natural instinct of her sex to appear as young as possible, replied, "Indeed I'm not; I'm only ninety-four."

This was five or six years ago. Should any of the residents of London who read these lines take the pains to ascertain whether Charlotte be still alive, as I think she is, he may see not only a veritable centenarian, but also one whom George Borrow, as he told me, he believed to be the last Gypsy of absolutely pure blood in England. I think this is, however, very doubtful.

From their habits of intermarrying there are, I think, still many who are, in all probability, perfectly kalo-ratt, and of these the Queen seems to be a good specimen. That she is an accomplished fortune-teller, not without faith in her own powers to ban or bless, I was subsequently well assured.

As we sat in the tent by the smoldering fire, whose smoke gave a delicate chiaro-oscuro to the scene, and I looked at the old woman, so unlike anybody whom I meet in ordinary life, my mind wandered to the strange people and scenes which she must have lived among long, long ago.

She had known the chiefs of her people in the days when they were really fierce and law-defying men who died on the gallows-tree, or in some form of violent death - the days when the Rom was a leader in the prize-ring, or noted as a highwayman, and wore hunting-boots, and green coats with spade-guineas for buttons, and always carried the tremendous chuknee or jockey-whip, characteristic of his people. She was a living link with all that was wildest in England before the days of railroads and gas, steamboats and telegraphs.

It is a curious coincidence that, as I write, and since I wrote that last line, I have received a note from Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes in which he says: "I remember, by the way, that Cooper, the Gypsy, was one of the heroes and portraits of Boxiana. You may have known the very fellow in his old age."

[PB: "Dr", so presumably Oliver Wendell Holmes Senior (1809-1894), physician, poet, polymath. Boxiana

This was Jack Cooper, the husband of Charlotte, to whom I alluded. I did not know him, because he was sent lang syne as a convict to Australia. If still existing, he must be as old as his wife, but it is a strange thing that the Gypsies are all certain that he is yet alive. He abandoned his wife when young, and went off with another girl. But to the very last, old Charlotte always believed, as she still believes, if alive, that Jack will yet return to England and to her.

I shall never forget how truly touched I was when this old woman, well-nigh at the end of her century, spoke with trembling, loving tones of her long-lost husband, and said that she knew he was not dead - she had dreamed it so often - and that he would yet return. Even among the Lovels, when I visited the Gypsy Queen, I found that they believed that Jack was yet of this world.

I well remember my last visit to old Charlotte. I was accompanied by a lady who spoke Romany perfectly, and who took to the old woman a warm winter jacket for a present. After duly admiring it and uttering paraco tute, or " thank you," many times, the ancient Gypsy remarked to me roguishly: "It's a beautiful coat, rye [master], - but - how perfect it would be - if the pocket wasn't quite empty." As she said this her attention was diverted, and by a dexterous exertion of hanki panki, or legerdemain, I slipped a shilling into the empty putsi [pocket], and bade her search again. I think that she was as much pleased with the gypsy way in which the money was given as with the coin itself. After a most entertaining call, we took our departure.

[Source: C.G. Leland, "Visiting the Gypsies", Century Magazine, Vol.25 (1883), pp.905-12. [pdf here.]

Death in a Gipsy Tent

The death of "Barbara Lee...formerly the Gipsy Queen", but might it in fact describe the death of Charlotte? Or perhaps a relative? Notice reference to Wandsworth common, by implication her usual home.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Irish Times - Friday 26 August 1864

DEATH IN A GIPSY TENT.

On Tuesday evening Mr John Humphreys, the coroner for Middlesex, held an inquest at the Greyhound Tavern, Old Ford road, Victoria Park, respecting the death of Barbara Lee, aged 90 years, celebrated member of the gipsy tribe, who died in a tent under the following circumstances.

The jury having been sworn, proceeded with the coroner across a meadow to a low tent, which was protected from the weather by dwarf wall abutting on Sir George Duckett's Canal. When Mr Burrows, the summoning officer, had removed several wooden skewers from the dingy woollen covering, the body of the deceased was seen lying on turf, covered with a white sheet, and near the corpse lay a rough sheep dog. The body was in a good state of preservation, and it was stated that the deceased had formerly been the Gipsy Queen.

The first witness called was Keziah Lee, a young gipsy, who said that she was a "traveller," and had settled residences. She lived in a field near Mr. Bowen's, the Crown Hotel, Old Ford road. Witness was the wife of Benjamin Lee, a gipsy, who attended races and fain, and obtained livelihood by keeping "Old Aunt Sally" and "cockshies [?]".

The deceased was a widow, and witness was her daughter-in-law. She lived with witness, as she had no home nor friends to assist her. Sometimes they had six or seven in the same tent, but they never had any sickness, the air was so pure, and although the deceased was so aged she walked or tramped from the encampment on Wandsworth common. She was very weak and careworn, but was not ailing or in bad health. She could eat anything when she could get it.

On Saturday night the deceased ate a hearty sapper in the tent, and there wore several persons present who slept there all night. There was a fire burning until the morning. About eight o'clock witness awoke and heard the deceased making a gurgling noise in the throat. Witness got up and ran for Dr Davey, who immediately attended and pronounced life extinct. The deceased was then upon the earth, but well wrapped up.

Corona (to witness): Your tribe live longer in such places, do they not?

Witness (smiling): Ob, yes, sir. Why if she had gone to the workhouse she would have been dead years ago.

Coroner: I believe that, for a "gypsy's tent" is a palace to some of the overcrowded and pestilential dwellings at this part of the great metropolis.

Charlotte Lee, another gypsy, said that she lived in White's brickfield. Old Ford-road. She called to see the old lady," and stopped the tent all night Deceased was then very poorly, and could not get up. She could speak, and knew witness, who had travelled from Kingston to see her. The deceased never complained while witness was present, and she had what they could afford to give her. A surgeon not called, as deceased had never had a day's illness.

Coroner: Are you not related to the family the Gipsy Queen?

Witness: Yes, sir; but she is no more than our own humble tribe. Why, our queen is your Queen, and we bow to her as her loyal subjects.

Dr Davey, of Florence-villa, Old Ford-road, said that he was called to the deceased, and found her in a tent lying upon the ground. She was still warm, and had only been dead about a quarter of hour. He examined the body, which was pretty well nourished, and believed, as there were no marks of violence, that she had died from exhaustion through old age.

The Coroner then remarked the case, which, he observed, was one of unusual character, adding that he should not have troubled the jury had not the deceased died in such a sudden and strange manner. There was, however, no doubt that the habit of living in such open air places was beneficial, and had in this instance prolonged the life of the deceased, who had almost reached 100 years.

The jury returned the following verdict: "That the deceased was found dying and did die, in a certain tent erected in a field at Old Ford, Victoria-park; and the jurors farther say that the said death was from natural causes."

The body was afterwards buried by the gipsy tribe at the Victoria-park Cemetery, followed large crowd of persons.

[Source: Link.]

[PB: This is curious: a fine photograph of a Charlotte Lee, wife of Jack Cooper, photographed in the C20: Link

I downloaded an excellent article by Jeremy Harte from the Local Historian magazine in 2016 (includes refs to Charlotte Cooper (and an image) and much else). FOLLOW UP.

(Click on image to enlarge)

A Gypsy, as described by the missionary, the political reformer, the magistrate, and the bohemian belle-lettrist, hardly seems to be the same person at all.

When she was 20, Charlotte Lee struck a visitor to Epping Forest [PB: CR Leslie!] as 'the finest specimen I had ever seen of a gipsy young lady of high rank. Her glossy black hair was arranged with surpassing taste, and adorned with a silver filigree comb of curious form and workmanship'. When she was 62, the local court reporter found her 'a fat, frowsy, nutbrown gipsy' protesting vocally after she'd been caught shoplifting. Twenty years later Leland 'sat in the tent by the smoldering fire, whose smoke gave a delicate chiaro-oscuro to the scene, and I looked at the old woman, so unlike anybody whom I meet in ordinary life'.18 Where, in this medley of impressions, is the real Charlotte?

[JH's refs: "Charles Leslie, as 'A Resident in England', 'The gipsies: a slight sketch', 145-151 of The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's present for 1837 (E.L. Carey & A. Hart, 1836) at 148 [PB: pdf here; the journal was edited by CR Leslie's sister, Eliza]; Standard 14 January 1858; Charles Godfrey Leland, 'Visiting the Gypsies', The Century vol.25 (1882-3) 905-912, at 908."]

London Evening Standard - Thursday 14 January 1858

[Source: Link]

London Evening Standard - Thursday 14 January 1858

[Source: Link]

[PB, August 2023: Jeremy Harte has since published a book:

Travellers through Time: A Gypsy History

24 April 2023

9781789147162

242 mm x 165 mm | 320 pages

40 illustrations

Hardback | £20

World Rights: Reaktion

A vivid, unique portrayal of the Romany people, from the inside.

Romany Gypsies have been variously portrayed as exotic strangers or as crude, violent delinquents; this book is the first real history of the Romany people, from the inside. Jeremy Harte vividly portrays the hardships of the travelling life, the skills of woodland crafts, the colourful artistic traditions, the mysteries of a lost language and the flamboyant displays of weddings and funerals, which are all still present in this secretive culture.

Travellers through Time tells the dramatic story of life on the margin of society from Tudor times to today, offering vivid insights into the hidden world of England's large Gypsy population. It will appeal to those who are curious about other cultures, as well as those who want to understand the reality behind the prejudice.

See also:

An accessible history of the Roma people in England told from the inside.

The Romany people have been variously portrayed as exotic strangers or as crude, violent, delinquent "gypsies." For the first time, this book describes the real history of the Romany in England from the inside. Drawing on new archival and first-hand research, Jeremy Harte vividly describes the itinerant life of the Romany as well as their artistic traditions, unique language, and flamboyant ceremonies. Travelers through Time tells the dramatic story of Romany life on the British margins from Tudor times through today, filled with vivid insights into the world of England's large Romany population.

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/T/bo199165813.html