"Highwayman A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually traveled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to footpads. Such criminals operated in Great Britain from the Elizabethan era until the early 19th century. In many other countries, they persisted for a few decades longer, until the mid or late 19th century. The first attestation of the word ""highwayman"" is from 1617. Euphemisms such as ""knights of the road"" and ""gentlemen of the road"" were sometimes used"
"Gilpin loses control of his horse, and is carried ten miles farther to the town of Ware. A number of sites commemorate the exploits of John Gilpin, most notably Gilpin's Gallop, a street in the village of Stanstead St Margarets. This was said to have been on the original route taken by the horse and his unfortunate rider. The ""John Gilpin"" clipper of 1852 was also named after him. A sculpture by Angela Godfrey, which was inspired by William Cowper's poem about Gilpin now sits in Fore Street, Edmonton, London. John Gilpin John Gilpin (18th century) was featured as the"
"Edinburgh. Graham spent the next eighteen years as a quiet country gentleman, spending his time on riding and sports, studying the classics and making occasional visits to London and Edinburgh. When his carriage was stopped in Park Lane, London by a highwayman demanding money, jewels, and watches at gunpoint, while two accomplices seized the horses’ heads, Graham, who was on the opposite side of the carriage, leapt across the ladies to the carriage-door, and collaring the assailant, threw him to the ground. Then, drawing his sword, which at the time formed part of a dress suit, he threatened to run"
"simple police force: the Bow Street Horse Patrol patrolled the high road from Highgate to Barnet between 1805 and 1851. It was this patrol rather than enclosure that terminated the age of the highwayman on Finchley Common, but enclosure was generally held as responsible at the time. The last recognisable highwaymen are George Hurt and Enoch Roberts, who robbed Charles Locke in 1807 which is also the first case in which a member of the patrol (Wiliam Pickering) is mentioned (9). Sir John Sinclair, President of the Board of Agriculture during the Napoleonic Wars, made a call for the enclosure"
"STRAYED or STOLEN from the Pasture of Stanley Bagg, Mile End Tavern, on or about the end of June last, a Bay HORSE about ten years old, white face, and some white about the feet. Any person who will give information where the Thief or Horse may be found shall receive a reward of TEN DOLLARS and all reasonable charges paid. STANLEY BAGG. Montreal, Mile End, August 4, 1815. A photograph of 1859 shows members of the Montreal Hunt Club at the Mile End tavern. The road variously known as ""Chemin des Tanneries"" (Tannery Road), ""Chemin des Carrières"" (Quarry Road),"
"Jesse James and many old ""Wild West"" bank robbers and train robbers of the 19th century used horses to get way from the scene of their larceny. The etymology of two common terms for peace officers in premodern times indicates that their major role may have been to prevent horse theft—or escape by horse. These are constable (from the Latin ""comes stabuli"" -- attendant to the stables), and marshall, a loanword from Old Norman French, which in turn is borrowed from Old Frankish *""marhskalk"" ""stable boy, keeper, servant"", cognate with Germanic ""*marha-"" ""horse"" (cf. Engl. ""mare"") and ""skalk-"" ""servant"" (cf."
"60 at the time of the highway robberies on Hounslow Heath, and almost 85 when commanding the Northumberland Militia. The facts can be reconciled if the estimate of his age at death is exaggerated. William Plunkett (highwayman) William Plunkett was a highwayman and accomplice of the famed ""Gentleman Highwayman"", James MacLaine. Plunkett lived during the mid-eighteenth century in London, on Jermyn Street, and was said to have been an apothecary who was also presumed to be a gentleman. With stolen pistols and horses, and their faces hidden by Venetian masks, Plunkett and MacLaine had a short but highly successful career"
"Henry Simms Henry Simms (c. 1717 – 17 June 1747), known as Young Gentlemen Harry, was a thief and highwayman in 18th-century England who was transported to Maryland for theft, but escaped and returned to England, where he was eventually executed for highway robbery. Simms was born around 1717, in St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, and was orphaned at a young age. He was sent to live with his grandmother who had him educated at an academy in St James's parish. He was a good scholar, and as well as learning to read and write he picked up some measure of French"
"Going up to the gallows he saw a man who had been arrested as a result of Simms' fictitious assassination plot, and asked his forgiveness. As they were about to be hanged, he joined hands with Mary Allen. Henry Simms Henry Simms (c. 1717 – 17 June 1747), known as Young Gentlemen Harry, was a thief and highwayman in 18th-century England who was transported to Maryland for theft, but escaped and returned to England, where he was eventually executed for highway robbery. Simms was born around 1717, in St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, and was orphaned at a young age. He was"
"the bank of the brook. The owner was Saint Catherine of Ledbury who prayed for their safe return and, upon examining the bed of the brook, saw hoofprints clearly visible in the rocky bottom. These were followed and the thief caught, the horses being safely recovered. The nearby Hoar Stone is said to be the thief petrified for his crimes. A local pastime was once the creation of fake hoofprints for visitors; the original petrosomatoglyphs are visible in the brook to this day, attributed by experts to archaeology. Ledbury Ledbury is a Herefordshire market town, lying east of Hereford, and"
"highway robbers as heroes. Originally they were admired by many as bold men who confronted their victims face-to-face and were ready to fight for what they wanted. The most famous English robber hero is the legendary medieval outlaw Robin Hood. Later robber heroes included the Cavalier highwayman James Hind, the French-born gentleman highwayman Claude Du Vall, John Nevison, Dick Turpin, Sixteen String Jack, William Plunkett and his partner the ""Gentleman Highwayman"" James MacLaine, the Slovak Juraj Jánošík, and Indians including Kayamkulam Kochunni, Veerappan and Phoolan Devi. In 17th- through early-19th-century Ireland, acts of robbery were often part of a tradition"
"highwayman who stole from him six leather bags containing bank notes, promissory notes and letters. The highwayman took the money, of a value of £80, and discarded the unwanted letters and bags, leaving them strewn across the moor. It was revealed in the London Chronicle of 11 March 1802, that the highwayman had also discarded his saddle with a broken girth strap on the moor, a mistake that would subsequently lead to the identification of the culprit. The day after the theft, Postmaster and High Constable John Page (of the Kings Arms in nearby Berkhamsted) initiated investigations into the crime,"
"fines of up to three times the value of the horse if the animal had been sold. The term horse thief came into great popularity in the United States during the 19th century. During that time the Great Plains states, Texas, and other western states were sparsely populated and negligibly policed. As farmers tilled the land and migrants headed west through the Great Plains, their horses became subject to theft. Since these farmers and migrants depended on their horses, horse thieves garnered a particularly pernicious reputation because they left their victims helpless or greatly handicapped by the loss of their"
"even though if the offender was convicted they would have had the right to receive a financial compensation from the court. Later, as a response to the numerous reports of attacks by footpads and highwaymen, Fielding decided to send some men to patrol the squares of Westminster and the highways leading into the city, also on horseback from 1756, though by 1766–67 horseback patrolling had been sharply curtailed, due to the excessive costs. Nevertheless, two 'pursuit horses' were maintained to send officers to patrol roads from time to time. The patrol activity of the Bow Street officers is an indicator"
"Richard Ferguson Richard ""Galloping Dick"" Ferguson (died 26 March 1800) was an English highwayman who, with partner Jerry Abershawe, raided the area around London during the late 18th century. Born the son of a gentleman servant in Herefordshire, England, Ferguson became involved in juvenile crime as the ringleader of local teenage pranksters while his father was often away from home traveling with his master to London, Bath and other cities. At the age of 15, his father was able to obtain a position for him as a stable boy. As his skill in managing horses improved, he was sent to"
"Isaac Darkin Isaac Darkin (also rendered as Darking), who also used the alias Dumas, was a notorious highwayman in the eighteenth century. Darkin was born on 2 April 1740, the son of a cork-cutter. He was born in the Eastcheap district of London, and according to the ""London Chronicle"", attended a boarding school in Kent. After the death of his father in 1754, Darkin, along with his sister, took over the running of the family business. Within a few years they had closed down the business and this is when Darkin was drawn to a life of crime. Operating successfully"
"as Turpin in the 1974 Carry On film ""Carry On Dick"" and LWT cast Richard O'Sullivan as Turpin in their eponymous series ""Dick Turpin"". Footnotes Notes Bibliography Dick Turpin Richard Turpin (bapt. 21 September 1705 – 7 April 1739) was an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticised following his execution in York for horse theft. Turpin may have followed his father's trade as a butcher early in his life but, by the early 1730s, he had joined a gang of deer thieves and, later, became a poacher, burglar, horse thief and killer. He is also known for a fictional overnight"
"at the bank of the brook. The owner prayed for their safe return and, upon examining the bed of the brook, saw hoof-prints clearly visible in the rocky bottom. These hoof-prints were followed and, the thief caught, the horses being safely recovered. The nearby Hoar Stone is said to be the horse thief petrified for his crimes. A later version involves Saint Catherine of Ledbury as the owner of the horses. In Asia A winged horse named El-Buraq, which had the face and breasts of a woman and the tail of a peacock, was tethered for a period of time"
"on poles, along the Natchez Trace. Peter Alston Peter Alston (after 1765 - February 8, 1804) was the late 18th Century and early 19th Century counterfeiter, horse thief, highwayman, and river pirate, who was believed to be the associate of serial-killer, Little Harpe and partner, in the murder of notorious outlaw, leader Samuel Mason in 1803. Alston was also, the son of the colonial-era counterfeiter, Philip Alston, associated with Cave-in-Rock, Illinois, and Natchez, Mississippi. Peter Alston was born the son of the notorious counterfeiter. His mother was one of the three wives of his father: Temperance Smith, Mary Molly Temple,"
"horse, and finds valuables in the highwayman's saddlebags. The Crafty Farmer The Crafty Farmer is Child ballad 283, existing in several variants. A farmer is traveling with a sum of money—sometimes because he must pay his rent for a long period of time, sometimes because he has sold a cow—when he falls in with a highwayman. He either admits to the money, or the highwayman has overheard where he keeps it. The highwayman demands it and the farmer throws the money (in saddlebags or sewed in coat) off the road. The highwayman goes after it, and finds it empty, or"
"thousand before he would be taken"". On the 13 January 1721 session at the Old Bailey Court, William Spiggot and Thomas Phillips (alias Cross) were judged for highway robberies and violent thefts. But as they were brought to the bar, they refused to plead. They declared that until their belongings, money and horses were given back to them, they would remain silent. The court reminded them of William and Mary 1692's act untitled ""An Act for encourageing the apprehending of Highway Men"". Part IV of this act stipulates clearly that when highwaymen are arrested, the apprehender can take the horses,"
"frontier"" after ""an exciting chase"". Sheriff Alexander Ramsey (1847-1875), who like Wild Bill Hickock shortly before him, had been first a city marshal of notorious Hays City, Kansas in Ellis County and later sheriff of the county, had prior killed a total nine men while discharging his duties. He had ""broke up"" several bands of horse thieves about Hays City, gaining a local reputation. Joseph McNulty was later permanently disabled (source says ""crippled"") when his horse fell over on him. McNulty, who had served with the Union Army to the rank of Quartermaster Sergeant during the U.S. Civil War, survived"
"to be a respected warrior and an expert horse thief. In 1869 he led a small party of Pawnee into a village of Cheyenne camped near the Arkansas River. They entered the village itself and untied the horses tied to the lodges, getting the best horses, then ran off the rest of the herd and set off for home with 600 horses. (One source states 150 horses). It was winter and the raiders were caught in a blizzard and suffered frostbite, but arrived at the Pawnee village with the herd intact. Raiding for horses had been concealed from the Indian"
"newspaper report in April of the same year, records the story of a smartly dressed gentleman asking the stableman at the Half Moon to clean his shoes, and the stableman receiving the princely payment of a half sovereign in return. While cleaning the shoes, the gentleman told the stableman that he had just lost £1,800 on the Grand National, and was later seen in the act of committing suicide on the track near Herne Hill railway station. 19th century English author, poet and artist John Ruskin refers to walking """"between the hostelry of the Half-moon at the bottom of Herne"
"related to ""path."" This would indicate a robber who is on foot, as opposed to his equestrian counterpart. Footpads always operated on foot and robbed people by first putting them in fear. Social and economic conditions, the high cost of horses, and their precarious state led them to commit robberies in the streets. Criminals found it safer and advantageous to move in darkness so as to put the victim in fear, escape and diminish the possibility of being recognised by witnesses. Violence was perpetrated as a means to ensure a rapid escape from the crime scene. This was the reason"
"it is generally agreed that Parrott was more of a run-of-the-mill horse thief and highwayman. His gang enjoyed a successful run of robbing pay wagons and stagecoaches of cash in the late 1870s, but a yearning for bigger profits led to the attempted train robbery and his hanging. Big Nose George George Parrott, also known as Big Nose George, Big beak Parrott, George Manuse and George Warden, was a cattle rustler and highwayman in the American Wild West in the late 19th century. His skin was made into a pair of shoes after his lynching and part of his skull"
"with Abershawe. Although admittedly inexperienced, he showed great potential as an expert horseman earning him the moniker ""Galloping Dick"". Following Abershawe's execution in 1795, Ferguson continued on his own with a successful career as a highwayman himself for five more years until his eventual capture by the Bow Street Runners in 1800. He was publicly executed soon after his trial at the Aylesbury Lent Assizes. Richard Ferguson Richard ""Galloping Dick"" Ferguson (died 26 March 1800) was an English highwayman who, with partner Jerry Abershawe, raided the area around London during the late 18th century. Born the son of a gentleman"
"his mules to feed a group of starving Vanyumes. Garces established a trail across the Mojave to the Colorado River passing through the Apple Valley area. The area was explored by various Spanish gold seekers in the 18th and 19th centuries. Jedediah Smith established the Old Spanish Trail through the southern Mojave and Cajon Pass. Smith was in the area in 1826 and again in 1827. Throughout the 19th century, Apple Valley became a thoroughfare of people traveling to Southern California for various reasons. Ute horse thieves, led by Chief Walkara, brought through an estimated 100,000 horses from their raids"
"by an instigating Sheriff Alexander Ramsey of neighboring Ellis County, Kansas rode up heavily armed on the remaining man and announced that the ponies were stolen and ordered him to surrender. The suspected horse thief instead jumped behind his horse and drew his gun. Both Sheriff Ramsey and the suspected thief fired their pin guns simultaneously, killing each other. The other suspected horse thief was hunted and shot in the jaw but escaped. The ponies were recovered. Just some year earlier Sheriff Ramsey had wounded and captured Henry Born (1849-1921), ""Dutch Henry"", the most notorious ""horse thief on the prairie"
"highwaymen in the vicinity of Sutton and Banstead Downs seem to have peaked in the 1730s. In one account of a robbery which took place on Saturday 27 May 1738, quite possibly on the highway at the time through Sutton Common: One Surrey folk-rhyme refers to the area's popular reputation during the 18th century for both agriculture and criminality: Proximity to London provided readily accessible targets for Metropolitan criminals travelling outwards, and to 'local' thieves who were attracted to crime by the ease with which stolen items could be liquidated in the nearby capital. Many highwaymen resided in the capital"
"the way to the California Gold Rush, along the California Road. The Comanche had stolen many of the horses from other tribes and settlers; they earned their reputation as formidable horse thieves, later extending their rustling to cattle. Their stealing of livestock from Spanish and American settlers, as well as the other Plains tribes, often led to war. The Comanche also had access to vast numbers of feral horses, which numbered about 2,000,000 in and around Comancheria, and which the tribe was particularly skilled at breaking to saddle. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Comanche lifestyle required"
"included some of the privately farmed fields between them. Like many other Surrey commons and heaths, during the 17th century the area became associated with highwaymen, who took advantage of the difficult terrain and distance from the centre of law enforcement in London to plunder wealthy travellers going to and from the horse races at Banstead Downs or the fashionable spa town of Epsom and, later in the 18th century, Brighton. The word 'highwayman' first appeared in the English language in 1617, not long before Epsom became a spa in 1620 and the first recorded horse race took place at"
"opposed to pouches or bags hanging outside their clothes"". These external pockets were still in fashion until the mid 19th century. Pickpocketing in the 18th century was committed by both men and many women (looking at prosecuted cases of pickpocketing, it even seems to appear that there were more female defendants than male). Alongside with shoplifting, pickpocketing was the only type of crime committed by more women than men. It seems that in the 18th century, most pickpockets stole out of economic needs: they were often poor and did not have any economic support (see Shoemaker), and unemployment was ""the"