Weekly Meeting - Speaker John Putley - The History of Highwaymen

Wed, Jan 15th 2020 at 8:00 pm - 10:30 pm

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John Putlley - The History of Highwaymen

John Putley of Gloucestershire Archives delivered a rip-roaring talk on the history of Highwaymen.  John has always been fascinated by them and, being a Cheltenham man born and bred, has a particular interest in those who plied their trade in Gloucestershire.
Although references are to be found of robbers who stole from travellers as early as 1373, the true heyday of the highwayman was during the 1700s.  They robbed on horseback unlike the “footpads” who travelled and robbed on foot.  Highwaymen were considered socially superior to footpads.  

The 18th century brought the development of lighter and more reliable flintlock pistols, providing men on horseback the ability to ride and use their pistols.  The flintlock became more readily available and inexpensive, so it is not surprising that highway robbery became more common.  But, what really favoured the outlaws most was the lack of governance and the absence of a police force: parish constables were almost wholly ineffective and detection and arrest was very difficult.

The highwaymen mainly stole coins and tobacco.  They almost never stole notes or jewellery which could be recognised and traced.  The money was used to fund a lifestyle of drinking, womanising and gambling.  Perhaps, it is not surprising that the highwaymen where seen as romantic figures sometimes being referred to as “knights of the road” and “gentlemen of the road”.  

This was epitomised in William Powell Frith’s painting of the highwayman Claude Duval insisting that the young woman in the carriage being held-up dance with him as part of her ransom.  Duval’s memorial includes the line: “Reader, if male thou art, looks to thy purse; if female, to thy heart”.  However, not all highwaymen were like Claude Duval, most were violent, common thieves and murderers.  

Another gentlemen highwayman was (Captain) James MacLaine of Plunkett and MacLaine fame.  Highwaymen gained “superstar” status with songs, operas (The Beggar’s Opera) and poems being written about them.  Despite their, so called, status as gentlemen Duval and MacLaine were executed.  To discourage people from a life of crime execution was the penalty for highway robbery and violence to travellers.  However, thousands of people attended the executions.  It is recorded that James MacLaine entertained 3,000 guests while imprisoned at Newgate and Claude Duval drew a crowd of over 10,000 to his execution.  A further deterrent was the use of a gibbet from which the dead or dying bodies were hung on public display for all to see.  Although the penalty for highway robbery was severe many like William Plunkett evaded justice because of the lack of witnesses and experienced constables.

So, with the high risks, who was likely to become a highwayman?  In general they tended to be exiled Royalists (soldiers) who had the skills, servants wanting to get even, young men from wealthy families who had been disinherited and bankrupts who believed they had nothing to lose.  

Highwaymen generally worked in teams and relied on accomplices to pass on information about travellers they could rob.  Accomplices were servants, dishonest landlords and doxies (barmaids) who could make information available about the movements and wealth of the travellers they were serving - for a fee!

John then proceeded to debunk some of the myths surrounding Highwaymen.  Despite popular belief, highwaymen hardly ever held up stagecoaches.  Analysis of the period between 1654 and 1750 shows that only one stagecoach out of 258 was robbed.  They generally targeted small personal coaches and lone wealthy farmers returning from market.  Highwaymen didn’t wear masks as these could easily incriminate them if they were caught with one in their possession.  They tended instead to use a neckerchief to cover the lower half of the face.  

Also, highway robbers were not all men.  Some of the most famous were women, who often dressed as men.  Joan Bracey was the daughter of a wealthy Northamptonshire farmer who committed highway robbery with her common law partner Edward Bracey.  The Bonnie and Clyde of their time!  Another was Mary Frith, nicknamed “Moll Cutpurse” for the way she relieved travellers of their money.  She was an incredible woman of whom it was said “she was more man than the men”.  She once won a bet by riding from Charing Cross to Shoreditch dressed as a man - not only that, but she rode flaunting a banner and blowing a trumpet as well!  She appeared on the stage, and also worked as a pimp and a fence.  

Perhaps the most famous was Katherine Ferrers, an English gentlewoman and heiress, who according to popular legend was also the “Wicked Lady”.  Lady by day and highway robber by night she terrorised Hertfordshire until she died from gunshot wounds sustained during a robbery.  Women highway robbers were also subject to the punishment of death by hanging, if convicted.  Joan Bracey was executed in 1685 and Mary Frith only escaped Newgate gallows by paying a £2,000 bribe.

Obviously, most highwaymen operated around the rich capital of London or on the surrounding roads.  However, Gloucestershire was also a popular haunt; mainly on the routes to London, such as what is now the A40, the A417 joining the Bath to London route and south to Bristol to meet the Bristol to Bath and London road.

The Dunsdon Brothers; Tom, Dick and Harry (yes, that really was their names) were young gentry, related to Fulbrook Manor, who turned to crime.  They preyed on farmers going to market and travellers to Gloucester.  Although the authorities had their suspicions, they did not have enough evidence to arrest them until someone tipped off the constable that the brothers were planning a raid on Tangley Hall.  Dick smashed a window, but when he put his arm through, he was grabbed by a militiaman waiting for him.  The brothers acted quickly and chopped off Dick’s arm so they all could escape (brotherly love!).  Dick died of his injuries a few days later and his brothers were hanged in Gloucester in 1783.

Another Gloucestershire Highwayman was Daniel Neale who operated on the roads between Bath, Tetbury, Malmesbury and Cirencester.  Neale was seized when he stopped to have his horse shod at the blacksmith’s shop in Chalford Bottom and was found to have a brace of loaded pistols and 8 guineas in his pocket.  On his way to Gloucester Goal with the constable they stopped at the George Inn, Bisley where a crowd gather to see the highwayman.  One of the men he had robbed that morning recognised him and said he would give evidence against him.  On hearing this Neale tried to avoid the gallows by cutting his own throat.  He did not succeed in killing himself and was hanged at Over, near Gloucester, in 1763.  And, Gloucester has yet another claim to fame:  the last highwaymen in England to be hanged, Matthew and Henry Pinnell, were executed in Gloucester in 1828. 

By the mid-19th century highwaymen became a less popular profession.  Why was this?  Well, firstly the English countryside began to change.  Improved roads meant faster traffic, making prey more difficult to catch.  The Enclosure Acts produced more fences, making escape more difficult.  And, heavier traffic meant there were more witnesses making arrest more likely.

John finished his presentation with the tale of the highwayman Tom Long, known as the Crickley Hill highwayman.  However, the highwayman may not have been the origin of Tom Long’s Post on Minchinhampton Common. 

Long Tom is a title commonly used for standing stones.  Could Tom Long’s Post simply be a rural memory of a standing stone?  The story goes that Tom Long in trying to escape ran to the ground near the crossroads marked by the post.  Once captured, he was staked through the heart, hanged and then buried where he died.  People say that in the dead of the night you can still hear the ghostly running footsteps of someone gasping for their life.  Never let the facts get in the way of a good story!

This was a very entertaining presentation packed with information and thoroughly enjoyed by those present.


David Threlfall   


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