Rominche - History and Cultural Relations

The Rominche appear to have arrived in Britain in the early sixteenth century, and from the start they were associated with exotic occupations such as fortune-telling. As was the case elsewhere in Europe, deportations began soon after their arrival, at least by mid-century, where it was decreed lawful that those who would not leave the British Isles could be imprisoned or executed. They were prosecuted as vagrants, with punishments ranging from forced labor (to cure them of their supposed "idleness") to the death penalty until as late as 1783. Even those who associated with Gypsies were subject to punishment, up to and including imprisonment. Banishment policies on the part of the British government resurfaced in strength in the twentieth century.