Author Topic: Gtgtgtgt Grandpa a Smuggler !  (Read 4439 times)

Offline Thisty

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Gtgtgtgt Grandpa a Smuggler !
« on: Saturday 21 July 07 19:37 BST (UK) »
I've just found out that my 4x gt grandfather William Balmer was also known as "Blind Wull Balmer" who along with Wull Faa II (the Gypsy King) was a notorious smuggler lol.

He was listed on his daughter's death certificate as a travelling musician and on his son's death certificate as a Fiddler ...in more ways than one it appears.  Given the gypsy connection and the fact he was a travelling musician, is it a fair assumption that he was probably a gypsy himself?

And does anyone else have a connection to or any knowledge about William?


Offline toni*

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Re: Gtgtgtgt Grandpa a Smuggler !
« Reply #1 on: Saturday 21 July 07 21:53 BST (UK) »
 SMUGGLING AT BOULMER

The coast becomes increasingly rocky to the north of Alnmouth, near the village of Boulmer, which was once the smuggling `capital' of Northumberland. Contrabanders came from all over Northumberland and the Scottish borders to Boulmer, to deal in illicit goods during the smuggling heyday of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The smuggling fraternity included Isaac `the Smuggler' Addison, landlord of Boulmer's Fishing Boat Inn and the Scottish smugglers Wull Faa, the gypsy king of Kirk Yetholm and Wull Balmer of Jedburgh;

" Blind Wull Bawmer o' Jethart His grips are no guid to come in;

He felled all the gaugers i' Jethart When comin' frae Boomer wi' gin."

Many of the smugglers would make their way to Boulmer, from the wilds of Coquetdale and other border valleys, where numerous camoflagued distilleries were hidden in the hillsides out of the sight of the excisemen. Smuggling was a highly profitable business and many of the participants, became local folk heroes, but it should be remembered that the activity could be of a highly dangerous nature. Those caught in the act would almost certainly face a sentence of death.William Weaver Tomlinson's Guide to Northumberland of 1888 claims that smuggled goods such as silks and casks of spirit were still occasionally dug up on the coast at Boulmer in the late nineteenth century. Today Boulmer is best known as the site of an RAF station.



this is taken from the Northumberland Coast History website.

Toni

one of my relations was a smuggler too!
Holman & Vinton- Cornwall, Wojciechowskyj & Hussak- Bukowiec & Zahutyn, Bentley & Richards- Leicester, Taylor-Kent/Sussex  Punnett-Sussex,  Bear/e- Monkleigh Gazey-Warwicks

UK Census information is Crown Copyright from www.nationalarchive

Offline IanB

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Re: Gtgtgtgt Grandpa a Smuggler !
« Reply #2 on: Saturday 21 July 07 23:16 BST (UK) »
William (Wull) Faa II, who succeeded his father as King of the gypsies, was single and his sister, Esther or Etty, married Charles Blythe who became King on the death of Wull II. Their daughter, Esther Faa Blythe, became queen when her older brother, David, declined the throne. Esther Faa Blythe came to be known as the last Queen of the gypsies. There are still a few Faas or Falls in various parts of the world but there are many more Blythes or Blyths.

Ian Morrison
Morrison, MacKay, MacCulloch, Sutherland, Dingwall, MacLeod, Donn, Calder,Blyth/Blythe; Baxter; Woodburn;Fleming;Hobkirk

Offline Karen.y

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Re: Gtgtgtgt Grandpa a Smuggler !
« Reply #3 on: Monday 04 September 17 13:48 BST (UK) »
Hi, hope you're still interested in blind Wull Balmer as I am also related to him - 5x Grt Grandfather.  Would you please be able to tell me the names and dates of his son and daughter so I can research them for my family tree.  I have found information about other direct relatives to Wull if you're interested...