‘Stand and Deliver’: Highwaymen and Highway Robbery
Volume 2 | Issue 5 - Money
Article by Tom Moult. Edited by Ellie Veryard. Additional Research by Helen Midgely.
Highwayman, amongst other figures such as smugglers, rogues and pirates are amongst the brand of historical characters that are fondly remembered for infamous reasons. Fascinating to us today as those who defied the authorities and often, in the case of smugglers and highwaymen, seen as ‘honest thieves,’ the former of course, only putting the revenue man out of pocket and benefiting the poor with tobacco, silk and other exotic products. Hence, depending on the lens used to view these figures, from a certain point of view, they were ‘good guys’ and as such have found their way into grassroots popular folklore ever since.
With the theme of ‘money’ in mind therefore, it seems that highwaymen would be an apt topic to dedicate this article to. What is it about these cutthroats that generates the reaction it does in today’s society and culture? If I were to stop somebody on the street and ask for ‘their views’ on eighteenth century highwaymen I would surely meet a barrage of comments along the lines of ‘thieves’, ‘bandits’ and ‘your money or your life!’ The fact is, that nearly everyone will know what highwaymen were.
Yet beneath the stereotypical image of the highwayman as a rugged rogue steeped in romanticism, lies a deeper sense of social and cultural history that reflected the woes of contemporary life. The highwayman as represented in literature, such as the image painted by Dicken’s in Barnaby Rudge and A Tale of Two Cities presents a vivid, sinister setting whereby travellers sally forth into London in groups like a herd of African fauna avoiding the lion, for fear of making an easy lone target. Indeed the opening pages of A Tale of Two Cities shows us the extent to which coaches, in this instance the mail coach, were heavily armed and carried passengers in groups. Anyone met upon the road (and indeed anyone travelling with a group) was viewed with suspicion and contempt. To quote Charles Dickens:
The guard suspected the passengers, the passengers suspected one another and the guard, they all suspected everybody else, and the coachman was sure of nothing else but the horses.
Of course, highwaymen themselves were predominantly mounted thieves; operating on horseback, and distinguished from other contemporary ruffians, such as those who lurked on foot (footpads), pickpockets and various other brands of robber. At once however, one conjures up images of a lone horseman on the desolate road, shrouded in a dark cloak brandishing a brace of pistols as a coach is held up, its terrified occupant frantically handing over his coin. (If any reader has visited the famous Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall you can imagine the setting!).
In contemporary society, there were certainly some aspects amongst the poorer classes that held the highway robbers as almost ‘justifiable’ in their actions- their intended targets were often wealthy, coach-travelling, well-to-do gentlemen who lived a world away from the wretched creatures of the London slums. Robbing from the rich was largely seen as ‘fair game’ from the point of view of a starving, destitute man living in and around St. Giles.
In reality however, highwaymen were opportunistic hunters and generally targeted anyone on horseback they encountered on His Majesty’s highways. They were not averse to more cunning tactics either; an account of a William Page (executed in 1758) describes how he would operate from a phaeton, whereupon he could obtain a disguise, ride forth on a horse and rob a gentleman, then return to his carriage, dispense with his costume and ride on into town looking quite the respectable well-to-do.
The intense population and urban explosion of London from the 17th century increasingly saw the rise of urban poor slums; labyrinths of wretchedness, rife with crime, poverty, prostitution and gin. Hogarth’s ‘Gin Lane’ highlights the bigger picture of what the urban poor were enduring on a daily basis. Faced with little prospect, in social terms, to better themselves (at least in the legal sense of the word!), many found themselves turning to crime as a means to survive. Consequently, crime in this period was not surprisingly common, and highway robbery was merely another means by which to obtain money or other valuable goods. Jack Addison, a highwayman executed at Tyburn in 1711, racked up an impressive fifty-six highway robberies.
Highwaymen were often synonymous with heroic robbers in the sense that they varied from the criminals that lurked in the urban slums; these cutthroats would prey upon anyone and anything of opportunity. Highwaymen would, according to popular legend, gallantly confront their victim, at the risk of pistol or blunderbuss. Ultimately, highwaymen were in many ways not accustomed to the cowardice associated with back-street robbery. However, as in the case of William Page, they were devious and not entirely ‘gallant’ thieves. Our perception of them today is largely governed by our perception of the age they lived in.
John Gay’s Macheath in The Beggar’s Opera portrays the somewhat honourable rogue whilst also highlighting the satirical outlook assumed by the poor against the rich and ‘old corruption’. Wealth and money is forever in the background and has undertones throughout the story. In many ways, wealth and money, and their somewhat lacking presence in urban poor society, was the overseer of societies’ workings; goods would be stolen, fenced, sold – the thieves paid, the victim out of pocket. All motivated by the need and desire for money.
Many notable highwaymen ended their runs at Newgate and Tyburn. It is interesting to note, given the incongruous relationship with the poor, that Dick Turpin, before having a friendly discussion with his executioner prior to his death, had paid a number of beggars to follow the procession as ‘mourners’. There was certainly a bizarre relationship between highwayman and urban poor.
Popular culture more often than not remembers the highwayman as a romantic rogue, and figures such as Dick Turpin have found themselves acquiring a somewhat legendary status, representing aspects of an age that is affectionately remembered. By 1846 Dick Turpin had found himself in Madame Tussauds (yes, even the Victorians were fascinated by highwaymen!), and today, the images and stories of highwaymen rarely fail to excite fascination and interest.
By your leave, sir!
*****
Crime in the eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century is notable for its urban and rural distinction. Rural crimes could include theft of farm crops and produce, theft of animals (especially horse stealing) and highway robbery.
Highway robbery were robberies that “took place on or near the King’s Highway”.
The literary world often depicts a polite horseman who in a romantic style committed highway robbery but in practice this depiction is rather fantastical.
Highwaymen have experienced a long literary tradition, from William Harrison Ainsworth’s depiction of Dick Turpin in the novel Rookwood published in 1834 to Alfred Noyes’ poem The Highwayman published in 1906. In these stories, the highwayman is shown as a heroic, lovable, courteous and chivalrous rouge. They are given a dramatic flare and flounce that makes them the protagonists, not antagonists, of the early modern world.
The reality is far more brutal – Dick Turpin, by all reliable accounts, was a thuggish gang member who commenced his life of criminality by poaching deer.
The website, Famous Outlaws claims that Turpin’s “gang brutalised many members of the households they chose to rob.
On at least two occasions, Turpin forced servants to disclose where their employers’ valuables were kept by callously holding them over the household fire.”
Further Reading:
http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/static/Crimes.jsp#highwayrobbery