Why did highwaymen stop

Dick Turpin was widely glamorised. In a poem written years after his death told of Turpin riding his horse, Black Bess, from London to York in record time to provide himself with an alibi for a crime. Later the poem was turned into a musical and comic books.

John Rann was a highwayman who was arrested six times for highway robbery but was not convicted. However, in he robbed a Chaplain and was hanged. He is known as the Welsh Robin Hood as he allegedly stole from the rich and gave to the poor in Cardiganshire. However, it is likely that not much of what he stole got to the poor. It declined in the late 18th century mainly due to:. However, from the end of the 18th century policing of the highways greatly improved and by the s the age of the highwayman was over.

The most infamous highwayman is Dick Turpin. Although he is sometimes depicted as a dashing figure Turpin was actually a callous thug. He was born in in Essex. Turpin served an apprenticeship as a butcher but he soon turned to crime. At first, Turpin tried smuggling and rustling livestock.

Later Turpin joined a gang of robbers north of London. They robbed people in their homes. Later he became a highwayman in the same area. Many stagecoaches carried armed guards and some passengers carried pistols. There were also large rewards for anyone who could capture a highwayman and bring him to justice. Most highwaymen were eventually caught and hanged. Afterward, their body was sometimes hanged on a frame called a gibbet as a warning to others.

The penalty for robbery with violence was hanging, and most notorious English highwaymen ended on the gallows. They often targeted coaches because they did not have much defence, stealing money, jewellery and other valuable items. The penalty for robbery with violence was to be executed by hanging. Quite a few highwaymen took to the road after their small businesses went bankrupt, or to satisfy gaming debts.

Men who robbed coaches had a history of more genteel occupations than common street robbers. Though their social and educational backgrounds were higher than that of most other sorts of thieves and criminals, they seldom came from the highest social stations.

He and a companion, his brother-in-law, not captured, had been accustomed to staying at the stable where they kept their horses, and riding out about 8 p.

A highwayman apprehended for a robbery near Finchley was said to be the son of a gentleman of fortune. As an attorney, Wreathock was skilled in assembling evidence to defend any gang members who were brought to trial.

A month later, however, Maccray was found guilty of another highway robbery and sentenced to death. Around the time of that trial, Wreathock had lain in wait in Leicester Fields to ambush and murder Colonel Thomas de Veil the Court Justice equivalent to the Commissioner of Metropolitan Police , but failed, and de Veil succeeded in breaking up the gang by the end of the year.

Several of the men had earlier given evidence on behalf of other thieves, so by an examination of recurrent names in otherwise unrelated trials, one can see that the gang consisted of about twelve men. After exhausting his income on mistresses, he was himself supported by the procuress Elizabeth Hawkins, under whose guidance he learned the art of cheating at gaming houses. He then joined two men, Spicket and Lindsay, in highway robbery, and together with his gambling managed to take enough to live in some grandeur, dressing in velvet and supporting two servants, plus three mistresses and their children.

He frequently robbed mercers by trickery or con tricks, and often ran into debt buying fine clothes and wigs. He would stop at inns with his servant, don his silk damask nightgown and cap and slippers, and order fowls to be dressed for supper and a pint of Old Malaga, while his servant bragged of his pedigree and the famous noblemen he was related to so the host would be proud of entertaining him. He had three other accomplices who came to the inn to wait upon him.

He gathered useful information from the innkeeper about his wealthy customers or neighbours. He would con the innkeeper to give him bonds by way of an investment, then cash the bonds and disappear. His earlier accomplices Lindsey and Spicket were arrested for divers robberies. Accordingly Lindsey informed against several others, but not against Child.

Together with his servant Wade, Child took up robbing mail coaches as an easy option, as they contained many bills of exchange that were easily portable. But both men were arrested on information from someone else and committed to Salisbury Gaol. Wade, to save himself, turned evidence against Child, who was capitally convicted at the assizes in Aylesbury.

Child distributed large sums of money to his fellow prisoners, and to objects of charity just before his execution. At the place of execution he handed out a paper saying that he died in communion with the Church of England and apologizing for his crimes. Many highwaymen were trained as butchers; many ran pubs or their parents ran pubs; and many were unemployed. When released, they agreed to go on the highway, and swore fidelity to each other.

Despite innumerable successful highway robberies in Dartford, Surrey, Kent, Camberwell, Barnes Common, Epping Forest and the bye lanes in Essex, they only just made shift to pay for their horses and their whores Keys had three women, Russell had two , and to maintain themselves like gentlemen, in gaudy clothes, laced waistcoats and good linen.

In the commission of their robberies, Russell appeared as a gentleman, attended by Keys as his servant, in livery, with a portmanteau behind him. They often wished the passengers good night as they rode off with their booty, and on one occasion they generously returned a diamond ring to a military man who said it had sentimental value. Their spree together lasted for less than a year. Russell was apprehended late March , but Keys escaped.

Russell was tried, convicted and hanged in June , aged about Keys carried on alone, but was captured and convicted in August Many of the most honourable and substantial Roman Catholic families in Essex appeared as character witnesses on his behalf, but the Judge sentenced him to death. Nevertheless his respectable friends managed to obtain a pardon from the King, on condition that Keys transport himself to the East Indies.

But he returned after a short spell, and was captured and hanged on Kennington Common in September Just before this last trial, several people lurking around the court-house were taken into custody for threatening to shoot those persons involved in the prosecution.

The proverbial good manners of the highwayman are illustrated by an incident that happened on the evening of December Just as the Stratford coach from Whitechapel reached the appropriately named Cut-Throat Lane near Mile End, it was stopped by a lone highwayman on horseback. He took 20 shillings and a Coronation Medal from the passenger, who begged him to return the medal because he had a special regard for it.

The alleged highwayman, William Williams, was acquitted at his trial in January , for lack of firm identification. Highwaymen may have had a stronger sense of fairness than ordinary robbers, for this was emphasized in later accounts of their exploits. But perhaps it is best to say that their reputation was mixed. He swore plentifully, gave me a great deal of opprobrious language, and told me that he would take all he could get.

His reign as a highwayman had lasted for the unusually long period of about twelve years. He usually robbed alone though a one-time accomplice was hanged earlier , and always carried a pistol. He once stopped a coach full of passengers, clapt a pistol to the gentlemen sitting nearest to the window, said.

Sir, now your person and whatever you have about you is in my power.