author
John Hoyland
1750–1831
A Quaker writer from England, he is best remembered for an 1816 study of Romani life that tried to draw attention to the poverty he saw around him. His work reflects both genuine sympathy and the reforming attitudes of his time.
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About the author
Born in 1750, this English author was associated with the Quaker tradition and has been described in historical sources as being connected with Sheffield and formerly with York. He died at Northampton on August 30, 1831.
He is chiefly known for A Historical Survey of the Customs, Habits, and Present State of the Gypsies (1816). In it, he drew on his observations of Romani communities in Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, and Hertfordshire and tried to bring public attention to their harsh living conditions.
He also wrote on religious subjects, and his books show the moral and social concerns often linked with Quaker writing. Today he is remembered mainly as an early English writer on Romani life, though some of his proposed remedies clearly belong to the assumptions of his own era rather than modern views.