Rab Howell
was born in a gypsy encampment on Knoll Green Lane in Dore, now part of
Sheffield, in 1867. His father was
listed as a besom maker. Family history passed
down the generations tells how Rab’s mother’s caravan was later burnt at her
funeral, a custom for a gypsy Queen. Census
and other records confirm that Selina, Rab's wife was undoubtedly a Romany. Rab started out as a miner, and played for
Ecclesfield and Rotherham Swifts before signing as a professional for Sheffield
United in 1890. Rab was a mainstay of
Sheffield United during the development of what was to be the Club's best ever
run and was a vital part of their English First Division winning side in 1898. He then transferred to Liverpool where his
experience was key to Tom Watson's building of their first
championship winning side. However, the reason for Rab's departure from Sheffield remained somewhat unclear...
‘What
happened to Rabbi Howell, Romany footballing pioneer, has intrigued me for over
20 years’ says Steve. ‘Sheffield United’s
official history hints at a scandal of match fixing as the reason he left just
before winning the title in 1898 and says that when he was transferred to
Liverpool he simply hitched his caravan to his horse and crossed the Pennines.
It didn’t make any sense: why would the club’s most loyal servant betray them
just as he was about to achieve glory and the pinnacle of his career? There was
no evidence to support match fixing. Then my research revealed he left behind a
wife and four children, one of whom a newborn - for another woman. Something
that would have been a huge scandal at the time. A bit of genealogy later and a lot of research at the Local Studies Library
and the story started to form.’
Steve
spent many months poring over old newspapers, match reports, photographs and
other documents at the Local Studies Library to help him piece together the
story. The outcome was his first book – The Evergreen in Red and White, the story
of Rabbi Howell of Sheffield United, Preston and Liverpool, the first Romani
professional and the first Romani international player. It is a story about a man who happened to be
a footballer: his loves, dilemmas, and choices as he struggles with the morals
of Victorian society, class, prejudice, and an ageing body. The book charts Rab’s final turbulent year in
Sheffield. The story is set against the
backdrop of nineteenth century industrial Sheffield, atmospherically recounted
using sources from both the Local Studies Library and Archives.
Rab
later moved to Preston North End playing for a couple more seasons before breaking
his leg during a match. He was by this
time 36 years old, but he had been at the top level of English football for 13
years, a remarkable achievement for a player back then. He died in Preston in 1937.
It
was whilst Steve was researching the book that he got in touch with Rab's
granddaughter and his great grandson, Nicholas Pomfret, in Preston. Together they discovered where Rab was buried
and that he didn't have a headstone. ‘That
was something we needed to put right,’ said Steve. ‘No one who played for
England should be buried in an unmarked grave. He was a great player and should
be remembered. Ricardo Andrade Quaresma, Christo Stoičkov, Gheorghe Hagi,
Andrea Pirlo, Dani Güiza, Freddy Eastwood and Eric Cantona walk in Rab's
footsteps.’ The campaign to get a
headstone for Rabbi Howell, the first Romani professional footballer and the
first Romani international, succeeded and the headstone was unveiled in November 2015.
What began as a research project at the Local Studies Library became something
much bigger. ‘Raising his profile may
help underline that Romani people have a long history in Britain and have been
contributing to our culture since the Middle Ages’ said Steve, and certainly
his research adds to what we already know about gypsy and traveller communities
in Sheffield from the earliest known reference at Sheffield Archives dating
from 1595 when the Town Trustees paid the town’s watchmen 2 shillings ‘when the
Gipsees were in the towne’, to the present day.
For
more information on Rab’s story see: http://www.theevergreen.co.uk/
For
more information on historical sources relating to gypsy and traveller communities
in Sheffield see our Research Guide: https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/home/libraries-archives/access-archives-local-studies-library/research-guides/gypsy-traveller-communities.html
Pictured above: Photograph of Sheffield United, 1891-92, Rab pictured middle row (Picture Sheffield: s00125); Rab Howell's birth certificate (courtesy of Steve Kay); Newspaper cutting detailing Thomas Howell's prosecution for failing to send Rab to school, The Sheffield and
Rotherham Independent, Wednesday 5 June 1878 (Sheffield Local Studies Library); Photograph of Sheffield United, 1891-92, Rab is on the back row of players on the left (Picture Sheffield: s03921); the earliest known reference to gypsies in Sheffield, 1595 (Sheffield Archives: TT4/1/1).
