George Borrow Society conference comes to Peterborough - Cambridgeshire

From Peterborough Today

The George Borrow Society will be meeting for their Easter Conference at the Bull Hotel in Peterborough in April.

Members of the public would be very welcome to attend what promises to be an interesting and informative event.

There will be three talks on the Saturday morning of the event, which takes place on 12 and 13 April:

* George Borrow, local poet John Clare and their interest in Gypsies.

* An incident concerning a Gypsy and a snake at nearby Norman Cross.

* How the Nazis might have misused Borrow’s views on Gypsies.

On the Sunday there will be a coach trip, visiting Norman Cross and the site of a prisoner of war camp during the Napoleonic war, Holm Fen Posts and Whittlesea Mere Nature Reserve and the Romany Museum at Spalding.

George Borrow was a 19th Century writer, whose work hovers between autobiography, fiction and travel – he does not fit neatly into any category!

He had a talent for languages from a young age, translating an amazing 47 languages.

His interest in Gypsies and their way of life threads through his work and travels. He visited places as far apart as Hungary, Russia, and Spain.

His best-known books are probably “Lavengro”, “Wild Wales” and the “Bible in Spain”, his visits to Peterborough being described in the first two.

Borrow was born in 1803 at Dereham in Norfolk.His father was a recruiting sergeant for the Norfolk Militia and so the family travelled all over the British Isles until finally settling at Borrow House in Norwich, a place of interest for tourists to this day.

Although George was apprenticed to a local solicitor, he deserted a conventional career for a life of travel, writing and study of poetry. In later life he married a local widow and lived near Yarmouth, regularly visiting his mother at Borrow House. He died in 1881 and is buried at Brompton Cemetery .

The George Borrow Society has about 130 members from all walks of life and all parts of the United Kingdom and beyond, publishes the George Borrow Bulletin twice a year, and members meet once or twice a year in places associated with Borrow to hear papers and to follow in his footsteps.

To attend all or part of the conference contact secretary Tim Lannon at timlannon@talktalk.net or visit the registration desk at 9.30 at the Bull Hotel on Saturday, 12 April.