author
Cornelius Smith
Born into a travelling Romani family in Cambridgeshire, Cornelius Smith transformed a life of hardship, music, and itinerant work into a story of Christian conversion and service. His memoir offers a vivid first-person window into nineteenth-century Romani life and religious revival.
1 Audiobook
The life story of gipsy Cornelius Smith
by Cornelius Smith
About the author
Cornelius Smith was born on May 8, 1831, in a Romani tent at Burwell Nest, Cambridgeshire. The son of chair caners and basket makers, he grew up travelling through eastern England, working as a hawker, chair mender, farm laborer, and violinist. His memoir recalls poverty, family tragedy, imprisonment for a crime he maintained he did not commit, and the challenges of raising a family on the road.
After a powerful religious conversion, Smith began preaching among Romani communities and working with churches. He taught himself to read so he could study the Bible, and his faith became the center of his later life. In 1890, he published The Life Story of Gipsy Cornelius Smith, a deeply personal account of his early years, conversion, and evangelistic work. He was also the father of the celebrated evangelist Rodney “Gipsy” Smith.