Can anyone shed any light on the origins of this song?

I believe it's a music hall number romanticising the gypsy lifestyle, rather than trad; despite subsequently being taken up by many Gypsy & Traveller singers, including Phoebe Smith's tour-de-force.

Does anyone know who wrote it, when, if it was part of a particular performance etc?

It's difficult to Google, as most hits return the excellent Shirley Collins/Topic/Voice of the People compilation by the same name.

The lyric that I know, from Smith, is:


I was borned in an old Gypsy's wagon
Out there on the Commons, you know
And our troubles began in the winter
That's when we've nowhere to go

But I'm intermined (determined) to marry the girl that I love
Take a wagon and horse on my own

I'm a Romany rai
Just a poor diddakoi
Born in a tent underneath the blue sky
I want no gilded mansion
That life would not suit me
You give to me the open sky
And the song of the lark
As it flies so high

Roaming around the country
That life would just suit me
For I am a Romany
Everyone knows
And a Romany I shall be


Thanks for any/all pointers!