Essex
Motto of County Council: Essex Works. For a better quality of life
Geography
Status	Ceremonial and (smaller) non-metropolitan county
Origin	Historic
Region	East of England
Area - Total - Admin. council - Admin. area	Ranked 11th 3,670 km2 (1,420 sq mi) Ranked 11th 3,465 km2 (1,338 sq mi)
Admin HQ	Chelmsford
ISO 3166-2	GB-ESS
ONS code	22
NUTS 3	UKH33
Demography
Population - Total (2010 est.) - Density - Admin. council - Admin. pop.	Ranked 6th 1,737,900 474 /km2 (1,230 /sq mi) Ranked 2nd 1,412,900
Ethnicity	96.8% White 1.2% S. Asian
Politics
Essex County Council http://www.essex.gov.uk/
Executive	Conservative
Members of Parliament	David Amess (C) John Baron (C) Simon Burns (C) Douglas Carswell (C) Jackie Doyle-Price (C) James Duddridge (C) Mark Francois (C) Robert Halfon (C) Rebecca Harris (C) Alan Haselhurst (C) Bernard Jenkin (C) Eleanor Laing (C) Stephen Metcalfe (C) Brooks Newmark (C) Priti Patel (C) Eric Pickles (C) Bob Russell (LD) John Whittingdale (C)
Districts
Harlow Epping Forest Brentwood Basildon Castle Point Rochford Maldon Chelmsford Uttlesford Braintree Colchester Tendring Thurrock (Unitary) Southend-on-Sea (Unitary)

Essex ( /ˈɛsɨks/) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west. Essex County Council is the principal local authority for much of the county, sharing functions with twelve district councils. The county town is Chelmsford. The southern Essex boroughs of Thurrock and Southend-on-Sea are governed separately as unitary authorities. It was established in antiquity and formed the eastern portion of the Kingdom of Essex. Sections of the county closer to London are part of the Metropolitan Green Belt, which prohibits development. It is the location of the regionally significant Lakeside Shopping Centre and London Stansted Airport; and the new towns of Basildon and Harlow.

History[link]

The name Essex originates in the Anglo-Saxon period of the Early Middle Ages and has its root in the Old English Ēastseaxe (i.e. the "East Saxons"), the eastern kingdom of the Saxons. Originally (in 527 AD) it occupied territory to the north of the River Thames, incorporating all of what later became Middlesex and most of what later became Hertfordshire, though its territory was later restricted to lands east of the River Lea.^[1] Colchester in the north east of the county is Britain's oldest recorded town, dating back to before the Roman conquest, when it was known as Camulodunum and was sufficiently well-developed to have its own mint. Subsequently the Kingdom of Essex was subsumed into the Kingdom of England and Essex eventually became a county.

Essex County Council was formed in 1889. However the County Borough of West Ham and, from 1915, the County Borough of East Ham formed part of the county but were not under county council control.^[2] A few Essex parishes were transferred to other counties. In earlier times, parts were transferred to Hertfordshire near Bishops Stortford and Sawbridgeworth. At the time of the main changes around the turn of the 19th/20th centuries; parts of Helions Bumpstead and Sturmer were transferred to Haverhill Suffolk, Kedington and Ballingdon-with-Brundon both went to Suffolk, and Great Chishill, Little Chishill and Heydon to Cambridgeshire. Southend-on-Sea also formed a county borough from 1914 to 1974.^[3] Later still, part of Hadstock was transferred to Linton, Cambridgeshire, part of Ashdon to Bartlow, Cambridgeshire, part of Chrishall to Cambridgeshire, part of Great Horkesley to Nayland in Suffolk, and several other small territories were transferred to all of those three counties.

The boundary with Greater London was established in 1965 when East Ham and West Ham county boroughs and the Barking, Chingford, Dagenham, Hornchurch, Ilford, Leyton, Romford, Walthamstow and Wanstead and Woodford districts^[2] were transferred to form the London boroughs of Barking, Havering, Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest. Essex became part of the East of England Government Office Region in 1994 and was statistically counted as part of that region from 1999, having previously been part of the South East England region. In 1998, the boroughs of Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock were separated from the shire county of Essex becoming unitary boroughs.

The county of Essex is divided into a number of local government districts. They are Harlow, Epping Forest, Brentwood, Basildon, Castle Point, Rochford, Maldon, Chelmsford, Uttlesford, Braintree, Colchester, Tendring, Thurrock, and Southend-on-Sea.^[4] The last two boroughs are unitary authorities which form part of the county but are not administered by the county council.^[5] Essex Police also covers the two unitary authorities.^[6]

The county council meets at the County Hall, in Chelmsford. Before 1938, it regularly met in London near Moorgate, which had been more convenient than any place in the county. It currently has 75 elected councillors. Before 1965, the number of councillors reached over 100. The County Hall, which dates largely from the mid-1930s, and is decorated with fine artworks of that period, mostly the gift of the family who owned the textile firm, Courtaulds, was made a listed building in 2007.

Geography[link]

The plaza of the new town of Basildon

The highest point of the county of Essex is Chrishall Common near the village of Langley, close to the Hertfordshire border, which reaches 482 feet (147 m). The ceremonial county of Essex is bounded to the south by the River Thames and its estuary (a boundary shared with Kent); to the southwest by Greater London; to the west by Hertfordshire with the boundary largely defined by the River Lea and the Stort; to the northwest by Cambridgeshire; to the north by Suffolk, a boundary mainly defined by the River Stour; and to the east by the North Sea.

The pattern of settlement in the county is diverse. The Metropolitan Green Belt has effectively prevented the further sprawl of London into the county, although it contains the new towns of Basildon and Harlow, originally developed to resettle Londoners following the destruction of London housing in World War II but since much expanded. Epping Forest also acts as a protected barrier to the further spread of London. Because of its proximity to London and the economic magnetism which that city exerts, many of Essex's settlements, particularly those on or within driving distance of railway stations, function as dormitory towns or villages where London workers raise their families.

The village of Finchingfield in north Essex

Skyline of Southend-on-Sea

Part of the south east of the county, already containing the major population centres of Basildon, Southend and Thurrock, is within the Thames Gateway and designated for further development. Parts of the south west of the county such as Buckhurst Hill and Chigwell are contiguous with Greater London and are included in the Greater London Urban Area. A small part of the south west of the county (Sewardstone), is the only settlement outside Greater London to be covered by a postcode district of the London post town (E4 ). To the north of the green belt, with the exception of major towns such as Colchester and Chelmsford, the county is rural, with many small towns, villages and hamlets largely built in the traditional materials of timber and brick, with clay tile or thatched roofs.

Economy[link]

Industry is largely limited to the south of the county, with the majority of the land elsewhere being given over to agriculture. Harlow is a centre for electronics, science and pharmaceutical companies, while Chelmsford is the home of Marconi (now called telent plc and owned by Ericsson of Sweden since 2005), Basildon home to New Holland Agriculture's European headquarters and Brentwood home to the Ford Motor Company's European HQ. Loughton is home to a production facility for British and foreign banknotes. Chelmsford has been an important location for electronics companies since the industry was born, is also the location for a number of insurance and financial services organisations, and is the home of the soft drinks producer Britvic. Other businesses in the county are dominated by light engineering and the service sector. Colchester is a garrison town, and the local economy is helped by the Army's personnel living there. Basildon is the location of State Street Corporation's United Kingdom HQ International Financial Data Services, and remains heavily dependent on London for employment, due to its close proximity and direct transport routes. Southend-on-Sea is home to the Adventure Island theme park and is one of the few still growing British Seaside resorts, benefiting from direct, modern rail links from Fenchurch Street railway station and Liverpool Street station (placing housing in high demand, especially for financial services commuters), which thereby maintains the town's commercial and general economy.

Parts of Eastern Essex suffer from high levels of deprivation, with one of the most highly deprived wards being in Clacton.^[7] In the Indices of deprivation 2007, Jaywick was identified as the most deprived Lower Super Output Area in Southern England.^[8] Unemployment was estimated at 44% and many homes were found to severely lack basic amenities. The Brooklands and Grasslands area of Jaywick were found to be the third most deprived area in England; only Liverpool and Manchester rated higher. In contrast, however, South West Essex is a mostly affluent part of Eastern England, forming part of the London commuter belt. South West Essex has a large middle class and the area is widely known for its Independent schools. In 2008, The Daily Telegraph found Brentwood and Ingatestone to be the 19th and 14th richest towns in the UK respectively.^[9]

Transport[link]

London Stansted Airport, in the north west of the county

The main airport in Essex is London Stansted Airport, serving destinations in Europe and Asia. The Lib-Con coalition government formed in May 2010 has agreed to resist an additional runway at Stansted, so curtailing the operator's ambitions for expansion. London Southend Airport, once one of Britain's busiest airports, opened a new runway extension, terminal building and railway station in March 2012.^[10] The station is on the Shenfield to Southend Line, with a direct link to the capital. Currently the airport offers scheduled flights to Ireland, the Channel Islands and multiple destinations in Europe. There are several smaller airfields, some of which owe their origins to military bases built during World War I or World War II. These are popular for pleasure flights or flying lessons; examples include Clacton Airfield, Earls Colne Airfield, and Stapleford Aerodrome.

The Port of Tilbury is one of Britain's three major ports, while the port of Harwich links the county to the Hook of Holland and Esbjerg (a service to Cuxhaven Having discontinued in December 2005). Plans have been approved to build the UK's largest container terminal at Shell Haven in Thurrock and although opposed by the local authority and environmental and wildlife organisations, it now seems increasingly likely to be developed.^[11][12][13]

Queen Elizabeth II Bridge spanning the Thames from West Thurrock, Essex, to Dartford, Kent

Despite the existence of the Dartford Road Crossing to Dartford, Kent, across the Thames River, a ferry for pedestrians to Gravesend, Kent, still operates from Tilbury during limited daily hours, and ferries for pedestrians operate across some of Essex's rivers and estuaries during spring and summer. The M25 and M11 motorway both cross the county in the extreme south and west, linking those parts of the county with Kent, Hertfordshire and Cambridge. The A127 and A13 trunk roads are important radial routes connecting London and the M25 to the south of Essex. The A12 runs across the county from the south west to the north east and not only carries traffic within Essex but also traffic between London and Suffolk, east Norfolk and the ports of Felixstowe and Harwich.

There is an extensive public transport network. The main railway routes in Essex include two lines from the City of London to Southend-on-Sea, operated by c2c from Fenchurch Street railway station (including a route via Tilbury) and by Greater Anglia from Liverpool Street station; the Great Eastern Main Line from Liverpool Street connecting to Harwich and onwards into Suffolk and Norfolk; and the West Anglia Main Line from Liverpool Street linking to Stansted and onwards into Cambridgeshire. The Epping Forest district is served by the London Underground Central Line. The routes operated by Greater Anglia were formerly operated by National Express East Anglia and have been previously branded as 'one'. There are also a number of branch lines including the Sunshine Coast Line linking Colchester to the seaside resorts of Clacton-on-Sea and Walton-on-the-Naze via the picturesque towns of Wivenhoe and Great Bentley. The Crouch Valley Line, another branch line, links Wickford to a number of riverside communities via South Woodham Ferrers and Burnham-on-Crouch to Southminster.

South Essex Rapid Transit is a proposed public transport scheme which would provide a fast, reliable public transport service in, and between, Thurrock, Basildon and Southend.^[14]

Education[link]

Education in Essex is substantially provided by three authorities being Essex County Council and the two unitary authorities, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock. In all there are some 90 state secondary schools provided by these authorities, the majority of which are comprehensive, although one in Uttlesford, two in Chelmsford, two in Colchester and four in Southend-on-Sea are selective. There are also various Independent Schools providing education in Essex.^[15][16]

The University of Essex, which was established in 1963, is located just outside Colchester, with two further campuses in Loughton and Southend-on-Sea. University Campus Suffolk, with a main campus in Ipswich and five centres in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, is a joint venture between University of Essex and University of East Anglia. Anglia Ruskin University was awarded university status in 1992 and has campuses in Chelmsford and Cambridge.

Culture[link]

Depiction of the first king of the East Saxons, Æscwine, his shield showing the three seaxes emblem attributed to him (from John Speed's 1611 Saxon Heptarchy).

The County's coat of arms comprises three Saxon seax knives (although looking rather more like scimitars) arranged on a red background; the three-seax device is also used as the official logo of Essex County Council having been granted as such in 1932.^[17] The emblem was attributed to Anglo-Saxon Essex in Early Modern historiography. The earliest reference the arms of the East Saxon kings was by Richard Verstegan, the author of A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence (Antwerp, 1605), claiming that "Erkenwyne king of the East-Saxons did beare for his armes, three [seaxes] argent, in a field gules". There is no earlier evidence substantiating Verstegan's claim, which is an anachronism for the Anglo-Saxon period seeing that heraldry only evolved in the 12th century, well after the Norman conquest. John Speed in his Historie of Great Britaine (1611) follows Verstegan in his descriptions of the arms of Erkenwyne, but he qualifies the statement by adding "as some or our heralds have emblazed".^[17]

The Hay Wain by John Constable shows the Essex landscape on the right bank

Essex is also home to the Dunmow Flitch Trials, a traditional ceremony that takes place every four years and consists of a test of a married couple's devotion to one another. A common claim of the origin of the Dunmow Flitch dates back to 1104 and the Augustinian Priory of Little Dunmow, founded by Lady Juga Baynard. Lord of the Manor Reginald Fitzwalter and his wife dressed themselves as humble folk and begged blessing of the Prior a year and a day after marriage. The Prior, impressed by their devotion bestowed upon them a Flitch of Bacon. Upon revealing his true identity, Fitzwalter gave his land to the Priory on the condition a Flitch should be awarded to any couple who could claim they were similarly devoted. By the 14th century, the Dunmow Flitch Trials appear to have achieved a significant reputation outside the local area. The author William Langland, who lived on the Welsh borders, mentions it in his 1362 book The Vision of Piers Plowman in a manner that implies general knowledge of the custom among his readers.^[18]

Landmarks[link]

Over 14,000 buildings have listed status in the county, and around 1000 of those are recognised as of Grade I or II* importance.^[19] The buildings range from the 7th century Saxon church of St Peter-on-the-Wall, to the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club which was the United Kingdom's entry in the "International Exhibition of Modern Architecture" held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1932.

• 

  The church of St Peter-on-the-Wall, Bradwell-on-Sea.

• 

  The Grade I listed Hedingham Castle.

• 

  Thaxted Guildhall dating from around 1450.

• 

  The 17th century Audley End House in Saffron Walden.

• 

  The Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham-on-Crouch.

• 

  Colchester Castle

• 

  Hylands House

• 

  Southend Pier

Places of interest[link]

Key
	Abbey/Priory/Cathedral
	Accessible open space
	Amusement/Theme Park
	Castle
	Country Park
	English Heritage
	Forestry Commission
	Heritage railway
	Historic House
	Museum (free/not free)
	National Trust
	Theatre
	Zoo

Notable persons[link]

• See Category:People from Essex.

Sister counties and regions[link]

• Jiangsu, China
• Picardy, France
• Thuringia, Germany
• Henrico County, Virginia
• Accra, Ghana

See also[link]

• The Earl of Essex
• List of Lord Lieutenants of Essex
• List of High Sheriffs of Essex
• Custos Rotulorum of Essex - Keepers of the Rolls
• Historical list of MPs of Essex constituency
• Q Camp: WWII camp in Essex
• List of civil parishes in England

Notes and references[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Essex

• Essex at the Open Directory Project
• Visit Essex
• Essex County Council
• Seax – Essex Archives Online

Neighbouring counties

	Cambridgeshire	Cambridgeshire / Suffolk	Suffolk
	Hertfordshire		North Sea
		Essex    East
	Greater London	Kent	Thames Estuary

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (December 2011)

Kirk Norcross (born 21 April 1988 ^[1]) is a British promoter for Sugar Hut, a nightclub in Brentwood, Essex. He rose to fame in 2010 after appearing in the television series The Only Way Is Essex^[2] before leaving the show after the third series was screened.

Norcross was on the front cover of the March 2011 issue of Attitude Magazine.^[3]

Kirk was a housemate on Celebrity Big Brother 2012 alongside Romeo Dunn, Gareth Thomas and Denise Welch. He was evicted from the house on day 16 after being up against other housemates (except for Gareth Thomas).

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

This biographical article related to British television is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Thomas Neill Pearce OBE (November 3, 1905 - April 11, 1994) was an English cricketer and Rugby Union official. He was primarily a batsman for Essex and was captain for nearly 20 years. He also acted as secretary, chairman and president of Essex, and was also a Test selector for England.

Cricket career[link]

Pearce made his first-class debut against Sussex at Leyton in 1929. He opened the batting, however number 6 was to become his usual position in the batting order. His selection was based on his high scoring in club cricket, at a time when Essex relied greatly on amateurs. During his first few years as an Essex player, he worked as a banker, however after two seasons he gave it up and started work in the wine trade.

His first season as captain in 1933; a role he shared until 1938 with Denys Wilcox, saw Essex rise from 13th to 4th in the County Championship. The Wisden Cricketers Almanack of 1934 reported that "Pearce captained with tactical judgment and enjoyed no little success as a batsman". A change of job ensured that Pearce could remain Essex's full-time captain until 1950, when he retired.

His most prolific season was in 1948, when he scored 1,487 runs at an average of 49.56. He also hit his highest score of his career in the same season, an unbeaten 211 against Leicestershire.

Immediately after retiring, Pearce became a Test selector for England. He was also manager of the MCC's tour of India, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Pakistan, during the winter of 1961-2. He also selected his own T. N. Pearce's XI, which played against the touring Test side annually between 1951 and 1976.

Rugby Union career[link]

Pearce was also described as a "top-class" referee, and took charge of 10 international matches.

References[link]

Tom Pearce from Cricinfo

An Essex girl is a pejorative stereotype in the United Kingdom of a female who is said to be promiscuous and unintelligent, characteristics jocularly attributed to women from Essex. It is applied widely throughout the country and has gained popularity over time, dating from the 1980s and 1990s. Unlike Essex man, which became aspirational stereotype for working class voters in the south and east of England who voted for Margaret Thatcher, Essex girl does not carry positive political connotations.

Image[link]

The stereotypical image was formed as a variation of the dumb blonde/bimbo persona, with references to the Estuary English accent, white stiletto heels, silicone enhanced breasts, peroxide blonde hair, over-indulgent use of fake tan (lending an orange appearance), promiscuity, loud verbal vulgarity and to socialising at downmarket nightclubs.

Time magazine has written:

In the typology of the British, there is a special place reserved for Essex Girl, a lady from London's eastern suburbs who dresses in white strappy sandals and suntan oil, streaks her hair blond, has a command of Spanish that runs only to the word Ibiza, and perfects an air of tarty prettiness. Victoria Beckham – Posh Spice, as she was – is the acknowledged queen of that realm ...^[1]

The term initially became synonymous with the lead characters of Sharon and Tracey in the BBC sitcom Birds of a Feather.^{[citation needed]} These brash, uninhibited women had escaped working class backgrounds in London and moved to a large house in Chigwell. The image has since been epitomised in celebrity culture with the likes of Denise van Outen, Jade Goody, Jodie Marsh, Chantelle Houghton and Amy Childs all rising to some degree of fame with the help of their Essex Girl image.^{[citation needed]}

Essex girl jokes[link]

Essex girl jokes are primarily variations of dumb blonde jokes, though often sexually explicit. In 2004, Bob Russell, Liberal Democrat MP for Colchester in Essex, appealed for debate in the House of Commons on the issue, encouraging a boycott of The People tabloid, which has printed several derogatory references to girls from Essex.^[2]

See also[link]

• Valley girl
• Trixie
• The Only Way Is Essex

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Christie Davies (1998), Jokes and Their Relation to Society, Walter de Gruyter, pp. 186–189, ISBN 3-11-016104-4 

David Essex OBE (born David Albert Cook on 23 July 1947)^[1] is an English musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Since the 1970s, Essex has attained nineteen Top 40 singles in the UK (including two number ones), and sixteen Top 40 albums.^[1] He has also had an extensive career as an actor performing on stage and screen.

Biography[link]

Essex was born in Plaistow, which was at that time in Essex (hence his stage name), but now falls within the borders of Greater London.^[2] His father, Albert, was an East End dock worker and his mother, Olive (née Kemp), was a self-taught pianist and an Irish Traveller. His grandfather, Thomas Kemp, was named 'Philimore' which was the anglicised version of 'Philly Mor' - being Irish for 'Big Philly'. Essex was two years old when his parents moved out of the overcrowded home the family was sharing with relatives, to Canning Town where he grew up. Essex attended Star Lane Primary School, he loved playing football and did not answer any of the questions in the Eleven plus exam for entry into a Grammar School, so that he could ensure he attended Shipman County Secondary School where he knew they played the game.^[3] He was also a member of West Ham United Juniors for a while and dreamed of one day being a professional player.^[4] He then also became interested in music and played drums with a local band, before becoming a singer.

Early career[link]

He made his first record entitled "And The Tears Came Tumblin' Down" for the Fontana label^[5] in 1963. He then toured with a band called 'David Essex and the Mood Indigo' for two years. His first notable acting role aside from small appearances in the films Assault and All Coppers Are... was the lead in the stage musical, Godspell^[6] in 1971 at the age of 23. Two years later, he starred in the film That'll Be The Day (1973)^[7] and recorded his only international hit single, the self penned "Rock On", in the same year. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in March 1974.^[8] A second single, "Lamplight", also reached the Top 10 in the UK Singles Chart.

In the 1970s, Essex emerged as a performer of some note. His biggest hits during this decade included two UK Number One singles: "Gonna Make You a Star" (1974), and "Hold Me Close" (1975). He also appeared in Stardust, a 1974 sequel to That'll Be The Day;^[9] the title song was another Top 10 hit. In 1976, Essex covered the Beatles song, “Yesterday”, for the musical documentary All This and World War II.

Essex's pop idol looks gave him a strong female fan base and his British tours created scenes of hysteria reminiscent of Beatlemania. According to The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles^[10], he was voted the number one British male vocalist in 1974, and was a teen idol for more than a decade.

Musical roles[link]

In December 1973, Essex appeared in the stage version of Tommy at London's Rainbow Theatre.^[11]

In 1978, he appeared on Jeff Wayne's concept album, a musical version of The War of the Worlds, as the Artilleryman. In the UK the two-record set remains a bestseller.^[12]

In the same year, Essex played the character Che, loosely based on Che Guevara, in the original production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Evita,^[13] and his recording of the show's "Oh What a Circus"^[14] reached Number 3. Two years later, he starred in the film Silver Dream Racer; and the soundtrack song "Silver Dream Machine" was yet another Top 10 hit in the UK Singles Chart.

In 1985, he co-wrote and starred as Fletcher Christian in the West End musical Mutiny!, based on the novel Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. The score produced two more hit singles, including "Tahiti," his tenth Top 10 success.^[15]

Essex continued to perform in all areas of show business, to varying degrees of success. A 1988 sitcom, "The River", achieved good ratings. In 1991, a compilation entitled His Greatest Hits reached Number 13; a 1993 album, Cover Shot, featuring a cover version of the Buzz Cason/Mac Gayden song "Everlasting Love", peaked at Number 3. His autobiography, A Charmed Life, was published in 2002, and became a bestseller.

In 1999, Essex was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. He still tours the UK every year and releases albums through his website. Despite his long and successful British career, he remains largely unknown in the United States. "Rock On" reached Number 5 in 1974, and was his only US Billboard Top 40 hit single.

Essex, who comes from a family of Irish Travellers, played a kind-hearted nomad in one episode of ITV1's 1960s Yorkshire-based drama Heartbeat in 2000.^[16] Essex told Jake Bowers of the BBC's Rokker Radio, a programme for Gypsies and Travellers, on 30 July 2006, that he has always been openly proud of his Traveller roots, but that having moved to the US, Essex has said he feels it inappropriate for him to continue as Patron of Britain's National Gypsy Council, which works for equal rights, education, and services for Romany and Irish Travellers.^[6]