Egyptians Act 1530

In 1530 Henry VIII signed this off, giving the "Egyptians" (gipsies) 16 days to leave the English realm. Wales was independent until 1535 and Scotland wasn't annexed on paper until 1657 and it wasn't until 1800 that we got the proper United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

In 1840 the act was repealed by Queen Victoria, the so-called "Grandmother of Europe". It was probably a result of a wide vision given by her mother who was a member of the German Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld family and Albert, her husband from the German Saxe-Coburg and Gotha family. So Victoria was an earlier version of Merkel and Henry VIII of Boris.

On Wednesday, a "caravan" of caravans occupied a field next to the lakes outside the village. They seem to be mainly from France and no doubt part of the Romani people who are very numerous there. Apparently, the largest block is actually in the USA (1m) and followed by Brazil (800,000). The UK is at 10th place with around 225,000 and Germany 14th with 120,000.

As almost always, met the local hunter and village personality "Bello" on the dog walk and he was a little upset by the occupation. He rents the field from the parish council and had only half mown the grass. Although he had been offered "compensation" from them, he rejected it. The parish council and police are unwilling to do anything but at least a mobile WC and rubbish container have now been organised.

Apparently, they stopped by two years ago but I don't know how long they stayed. Perhaps it's dependent on the weather and how long the field holds out before turning to mud. It didn't rain much today but just before taking this photo I had done the evening dog walk and we had to hold out a 10-minute hail storm, luckily from the safety of the car.

The rumours of locking garages are of course doing the rounds. As Henry VIII put it " by craft and subtlety, have deceived the people for their money; and also have committed many heinous felonies and robberies".

However the Act was not a great success in getting them to leave and as Queen Mary I observed in 1554, they were still:
"plying their devilish and naughty practices and devices" and passed a new Egyptians Act which allowed the Gypsies to escape prosecution so long as they abandoned their nomadic lifestyle, or as the act put it, their "naughty, idle and ungodly life and company".

Thought though the Blip might interest the Eccles and Maidstone West Caravanning Club's events organising committee, to see a potential site for their final EU tour in 2019 or could it be 2018. I can arrange special terms with Bello, the parish council will no doubt in addition to the above mentioned, provide translation services (we have an English speaking club in the parish). The village band will no doubt provide a farewell concert but I won't get them practising "Auld Lang Syne" as the Scots may not agree to the song, like the country, being annexed. So will wind up the concert with "Jerusalem". And although I get a lump myself watching the video, I fear Boris may soon re-enact his hero's 1530 work and similar deeds.