Francis Hindes Groome (30 August 1851 – 24 January 1902), son of Robert Hindes Groome, Archdeacon of Suffolk, was a writer and foremost commentator of his time on the

Romani people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...

, their

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

, life, history, customs, beliefs, and lore.

Life

Groome was born at his father's rectory in

Monk Soham Monk Soham is a village in Suffolk, eastern England, four miles (6.4 km) northeast of Debenham and six miles (10 km) northwest of Framlingham. The neighbouring villages are Bedfield, Ashfield cum Thorpe, Kenton, Suffolk, Kenton and Bedi ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, on 30 August 1851. He was educated at

Ipswich School Ipswich School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils aged 3 to 18 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. North of the town centre, Ipswich School has four parts on three adjacent sites. The Pre-Prep and Nursery ...

, where his lifelong interest in Romanies was sparked, and continued at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. He left Oxford without taking a degree, spent some time at

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

, and then for 6 years lived with Romani at home and abroad. He married a woman of Romani blood, Esmeralda Locke, in 1876 and settled down to regular literary work in Edinburgh. Francis Hindes Groome

Groome contributed generously and on a variety of subjects to such publications as the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...

'', the ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', ''

Blackwood's Magazine ''Blackwood's Magazine'' was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by the publisher William Blackwood and was originally called the ''Edinburgh Monthly Magazine''. The first number appeared in April 1817 ...

'', the ''Athenaeum'', ''Johnson's Universal Cyclopedia'', ''The Bookman'', ''Chambers' Biographical Dictionary'', the ''Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland'', and as joint editor, with his father and poet Edward Fitzgerald, of "Suffolk Notes and Queries" for the ''Ipswich Journal''. His article on 'Gipsies', in the ninth edition of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', made him known to the world as a "gypsyologist". In 1899 he published his most significant book for folklorists, Gypsy Folk-Tales. These well-annotated collections are a significant addition to the comparative study of the world's folktales. He also co-edited the first three volumes of

Gypsy Lore Society The Gypsy Lore Society was founded in Great Britain in 1888 to unite persons interested in the history and lore of Gypsies and rovers and to establish closer contacts among scholars studying aspects of such cultures. History David MacRitchie w ...

's Journal, and wrote nineteen brief articles and collections of folktales for it. He wrote a number of books including a novel of Romani life, an English-Scottish border history, a sketch of his father and Fitzgerald, and an autobiographical account of his six years with the Romani. F.H. Groome was a sub-editor of ''

Chambers's Encyclopaedia ''Chambers's Encyclopaedia'' was founded in 1859Chambers, W. & R"Concluding Notice"in ''Chambers's Encyclopaedia''. London: W. & R. Chambers, 1868, Vol. 10, pp. v–viii. by William and Robert Chambers of Edinburgh and became one of the most ...

''; joint-editor of the 1897 edition of ''Chamber's Dictionary of Biography''. He is also well remembered for his six volume ''Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland'' which appears in full at the ''

Gazetteer for Scotland The ''Gazetteer for Scotland'' is a gazetteer covering the geography, history and people of Scotland. It was conceived in 1995 by Bruce Gittings of the University of Edinburgh and David Munro of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and cont ...

'' website. It also appears as part o
The Gazetteer for Scotland
produced by the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, and is directly searchable within "

A Vision of Britain through Time The Great Britain Historical GIS (or GBHGIS) is a spatially enabled database that documents and visualises the changing human geography of the British Isles, although is primarily focussed on the subdivisions of the United Kingdom mainly over the ...

". A singularly alert, swift, and eager intellect, he was unwearied in research, impatient of anything less than precision, a frank and fearless critic; thoroughly at home in wide fields of historical and philological research, and in some of them a master. He was nicknamed the “Tarno Rye”. Groome died on 24 January 1902, aged 50, in London. He was buried at Monk Soham, Suffolk.

Legacy

In October 1901, Francis Hindes Groome's library of books, letters, and manuscripts bearing upon the study of the Romani was purchased by the

Boston Athenæum The Boston Athenaeum is one of the oldest independent libraries in the United States. It is also one of a number of subscription library, membership libraries, for which patrons pay a yearly subscription fee to use Athenaeum services. The instit ...

. The collection comprises over one hundred volumes, some which are rare, and others contain rare tracts and magazine articles. There are also Mr. Groome's own books with his marginal additions, over thirty volumes of manuscript notes, lectures, and his correspondence with M. Paul Bataillard, the eminent French student of the Romani, covering the years 1872-1880.

Works

Books and articles written on the Romani People: * ''The Gipsies: Reminiscences and Social Life of this Extraordinary Race'' (1881
Google Books
* ''In Gipsy Tents'' (1881
Google Books
* Gipsy folk-tales : A Missing Link (1888
Athenaeum catalog
* The Influence of the Gypsies on the Superstitions of the English folk. (1892
Boston Athenaeum catalog
* Tobit and Jack the Giant-Killer (1898
Boston Athenaeum catalog
* ''Gypsy Folk-tales'' (1899
Internet Archive
* Antonio de Solario (undated
Boston Athenaeum catalog
Other Non-Fiction: * The Only Darter: a Suffolk clergyman's reminiscence (186-?
Boston Athenaeum catalog
* ''Two Suffolk Friends'' (1895
Google Books
* ''Edward FitzGerald: an Aftermath'' (1902
Google Books
* ''A Short Border History'' 188
Google Books
Fiction: * ''Kriegspiel: The War Game'' (1896
Internet Archive
Editor:
''Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: a Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical, and Historical''
*

Lavengro ''Lavengro: The Scholar, the Gypsy, the Priest'' (1851) is a work by George Borrow, falling somewhere between the genres of memoir and novel, which has long been considered a classic of 19th-century English literature. According to the author, i ...

(1901 edition) *

Journal Volume 1-3 * ''Chamber's Dictionary of Biography'' 1897 edition

Notes

References

* *

External links

Biography
at the

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Groome, Francis Hindes 1851 births 1902 deaths People from Mid Suffolk District Romani English folklorists English lexicographers Academic journal editors People educated at Ipswich School 19th-century lexicographers