Hi Michael, Hope you are well
Interesting posts as ever.
I would like to find an original newspaper report of Daniel Boswell's death and burial but so far have been unsuccessful. The burial entry in the parish register is the only real bit of evidence dating from the time he died.
It looks to me as the later sources are confusing him with Louis Boswell, who was probably Daniel's son, as he did die at Bestwood Lane eight years later, and the newspaper reports mention the quart of gold guineas given to his daughter as her dowry:
‘Nottingham Journal 30th January 1835.—King or the Gipsies, Died last week, at the Royal encampment, Bestwood-lane, in the parish of Basford, near this town, after a lingering illness, Louis Boswell, King of the Gipsies, aged 42. A report being generally circulated that the ‘royal’ remains were lying in state, and that the funeral would take place on Sunday at' Basford, many thousand persons visited the encampment that day, so that the road was literally crowded for many hours. The funeral, however, did not take place, as a deputation from the Gipsies of Leicestershire was expected, which arrived that evening, when it was determined to inter the royal remains in the usual burying-place, ‘No Man’s Heath’, in Northamptonshire. The coffin was made of good oak, ornamented with black furniture, and had a breast-plate, with a plain inscription of the name and age. We are informed that on Sunday night, at eleven o’clock, a procession was formed, which set out with the royal corpse for ‘No Man’s Heath’ attended by the royal princess, and a considerable train, but that circumstances afterwards occurred that induced the procession to stay at Eastwood, where the funeral took place on Monday in the presence of a vast concourse of spectators. The deceased succeeded to the royal dignity on the death of his father, which took place a few years ago in Lincolnshire, and he has left his only daughter, a fine-looking personage, a quartern measure filled with gold for her fortune.’
Again like Dan the 'King of the Gypsies' title might have been an invention of the press or the local villagers imaginations, as he appears simply in the parish register as Louis Boswell ‘Traveller, aged 42’ buried at Eastwood, Nottinghamshire on 26th January 1835.
The father giving the bride a glass of guineas on her wedding day is also mentioned twenty years earlier when one of Henry Lock's daughters was married in Gloucestershire, though in her case it was a pint rather than a quarten (two pints):
Cheltenham Chronicle 25th May 1815 - Gipsy Wedding.—‘A correspondent observes, on the 16th instance, was married, at Doynton, in this County, by the Rev. Mr. Gunning, Mr. John Wilson, a resident near Stroud, Gloucestershire, to Sarah Lock, daughter of Henry Lock, a Gipsy, now living in tents near Doynton. After the ceremony the bells of Doynton and Dyrham rang melodiously; and the well known band of Dyrham and Hinton, followed by about 200 persons, attended to play the happy pair to the Bull at Hinton, where a good dinner was provided, after which a ball commenced, which was performed in a capital style by the Gipsies and the inhabitants for miles around, who attended. All was peaceful and quiet, and the punch, etc, flowed plenteously. The party broke up about 11 o’clock, the Gipsies retiring to their tents, and the rest of the company to their respective homes. Henry Lock gave his daughter for her marriage portion a pint of Guineas.’