“They have formed one of the greatest and most picturesque attractions to South Shore… They have earned, spent, attracted and induced others to spend more money than any other one class of people in Blackpool.
“Though they are not obnoxious to their landlord or the public, though they are sober, respectable citizens of long standing and no nuisance, the Corporation would evict them from their ancient tents.”
"Our tents were the first things on the show ground, and now they want to get rid of us…"
By March 1909 many had left but some held fast – namely the Boswell descendants who sought an exemption because they were born on the sands. In the November, one South Shore fortune-teller, Eva Franklin, sought help from King Edward VII, writing to him about their plight.
“We have been resident here for the past forty years, and have always been encamped on one plot of ground,” wrote Franklin, who Heppell describes as a feisty and articulate woman – the half sister of her great-great-grandmother, Lementeni Smith.
“We all pay £20 to £25 for the season, and also pay rates and taxes. Our tents were the first things on the show ground, and now they want to get rid of us…
“It is very hard for us all. It is driving us from our homes after being here for so many years. Most of our children have been born, christened, and educated here… We are English Gipsies, and we look to our King for justice.”
But by February 1910 they were defeated when Blackpool magistrates granted an ejectment order to the last of the South Shore Romany, 54-year-old Alma Boswell, who had lived on the same plot of land his whole life.
Over the years Boswell, son of Sarah and Ned, had complied, “at great expense”, with requests to fence his quarters and install water. It was stated that he had been a good tenant but the bench saw no alternative. His removal, he said, would come at great personal loss. The Boswells’ generations-long encampment in Blackpool was over. As University of Liverpool academic Tamara West points out, they had been central to the growth and founding myths of Blackpool, and simultaneously marginalised from it.
“They had been there for generations and it was all they knew,” says Petulengro. “It was a shame what happened and I wouldn’t like it if it happened to me… It’s right there should be recognition of them.”
In its promotional material around its 125th anniversary in 2021, despite Romany tents being clearly visible in early images used, the Pleasure Beach makes no reference to the South Shore Gypsies, who journalist Sidney Moorhouse referred to as the real “founders of the Pleasure Beach” in his 1950s guide to Blackpool. When asked if it recognised the Romany contribution to the development of the Pleasure Beach and if it would consider honouring that heritage, the Pleasure Beach said it is unable to comment, a response Bowers said is “burying their heads in their own sand”.