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Fig 1: James MacLaine and Plunkett robbing Lord Eglington on Hounslow Heath, etching by Charles Mosley
The Eighteenth-Century Highwayman
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines a 'highwayman' as "a man who holds up travellers on a highway at gunpoint in order to rob them; esp. one who does this on horseback, as distinguished from a footpad".
Although 'highwayman' is the principle term used for a criminal who threatened the lives of those travelling in carriages or coaches along the King's highway (as any public road is referred to in 18th Century criminal trials) there are a variety of other terms detailed by the OED to describe this type of felon. The term 'highway robber' is defined by the OED as "a person who commits robbery on a public road; a highwayman", an historic term, as well as a term that may be used nowadays to describe "a person who blatantly and unfairly overcharges or swindles someone". Other terms pertaining to the robbing of travellers on a public highway include 'highway thief', 'highway rogue' and the female equivalent of 'highwaywoman'.
The OED's Historical Thesaurus also provides the following synonyms for the term 'highwayman' and its common variants as explained above, a number of which will be found in literary texts involving highwaymen in the section 'Highwaymen in Literature and Art':
‘Pad’: Slang. A robber, a highwayman.
‘Rum-padder’: A highwayman; esp. a well-equipped one.
‘Paddist’: A highwayman.
‘Pad-thief’: A highwayman.
‘Gentleman/Squire of the pad’: A highwayman.
‘Gentleman of the road’: A highwayman in humorous or slang phrases.
‘Scamp’:A highway robber.
‘Scampsman’: A highwayman.
Highwaymen seized control of the roads with considerable ease in the 18th Century, as Frank McLynn illustrates in his Crime and Punishment in Eighteenth-century England. With the absence of a professional police force to patrol the roads, the robbers on horseback had free reign of travelling territory confident that their targets would be unable to escape. "There was no question of stage-coaches being able to outrun their assailants. The atrocious eighteenth-century roads did not permit this" (McLynn 58) and with stage-coaches only able to traverse the perilous roads at a trot the highway proved a bountiful place for the highwaymen to prey.
The actions of a highwayman were considered to be far more noble and gallant than the petty thievery of the common 'footpad'; a term described simply by the OED as "a highwayman who robs on foot". This was in large part due to the fact that highwaymen infrequently resorted to the violence that they threatened. Mounted on horseback, highwaymen were able to flee the scene of the crime with relative ease as opposed to a footpad who "was unable to leave the scene of the crime quickly and was tempted to reduce the chances of being caught by killing all witnesses" (McLynn 60). Samuel Rid asserts the differing societal opinion of highwaymen and footpads, writing that those who "rob on horseback were called high lawyers, and those who robbed on foot... padders. The difference of these two sort of villains is this: The first sort are called gentleman robbers, or thieves, and these ride on horses well appointed, and go in show like honest men. The other rob on foot, and have no other help but a pair of light heels and a thick wood" (Rid 415-416).
Although Rid was writing in the 17th Century and referring to highwaymen as 'high lawyers', his description of the 'honest', 'gentleman' thieves very much applies to the way highwaymen in the 18th Century were viewed. It is the case that "almost without exception highwaymen were men who had fallen from a high social station through bankruptcy or gambling debts or were members of the aspiring artisan class" (McLynn 59) and therefore largely behaved more like men accepted into polite society than their pick-pocketing counterparts. In an excerpt from John Fielding's 1776 A Brief Description of the Cities of London and Westminster, one is able to see how the highwaymen of the capital city were viewed; as criminals with class and manners whose guns were almost exclusively for show and who would only take a life if forced by circumstance:
Fig 2: From John Fielding's A Brief Description of the Cities of London and Westminster
Rid's description of the elevated status enjoyed by highwayman was to extend to the 18th Century. Highwaymen rode horses, an image that rendered the highwayman as mythic as the American cowboy was to become in the following century (McLynn 60), and they announced their presence as they approached travellers on the road with gun in hand. As a result of the danger associated with the nature of their crime, highwaymen were ascribed a glamorous reputation. Gregory J Durston writes on the celebrity status of highwaymen, considered to be "prominent eighteenth-century criminals", describing their appeal to the public as "a phenomenon that was at its peak in the 1720s". He goes on to write that "for the half century after 1720, the concept of the polite and gallant “gentleman” highwayman was widespread" (Durston 105), once again stressing the positive public opinion of these mysterious figures on horseback.One particular highwayman by the name of James MacLaine was even referred to as 'the Gentleman Highwayman' in accounts of his life and etchings of his trial, as explored further in the section 'Famous Highwaymen'.
Horace Walpole, the youngest son of the British Prime Minister Robert Walpole from 1721 to 1742, provides an elucidating account of an encounter with a highwayman to the Countess of Upper Ossory, as published in Vol. 33 of his correspondence. From his description it is possible to understand not only how the 18th Century public regarded "the highwayman as chivalrous Robin Hood" (McLynn 57) but also how highway robbery was deemed a necessary evil of road travel and something to acquaint oneself with as a frequent passenger:
"Lady Browne and I were as usual going to the Duchess of Montrose at seven o'clock. The evening was very dark. In the close lane under her park pale, and within twenty yards of the gate, a black figure on horseback pushed by between the chaise and the hedge on my side. I suspected it was a highwayman, and so I found did Lady Browne, for she was speaking and stopped. To divert her fears, I was just going to say, 'Is not that the apothecary going to the Duchess?' when I heard a voice cry, 'Stop!' and the figure came back to the chaise. I had the presence of mind, before I let down the glass, to take out my watch and stuff it within my waistcoat under my arm. He said, 'Your purses and watches!' I replied, 'I have no watch.' 'Then your purse!' I gave it to him; it had nine guineas. It was so dark, that I could not see his hand, but felt him take it. He then asked for Lady Browne's purse, and said, 'Don't be frightened, I will not hurt you.' I said, 'No, you won't frighten the lady?'—He replied, 'No, I give you my word I will do you no hurt.' Lady Browne gave him her purse, and was going to add her watch, but he said, 'I am much obliged to you, I wish you good night,' pulled off his hat and rode away. 'Well,' said I, 'Lady Browne, you will not be afraid of being robbed another time, for you see there is nothing in it" (Walpole 295-296).
Your money or your life!
The phrase "your money or your life!" is widely known to have been the phrase shouted by a highwayman as he draws his gun on travellers, demanding passengers in the carriage hand over their money and other valuables on their person. The OED describes the phrase as "a formula attributed to highwaymen, etc., used as a threat to force a person to hand over money". It is interesting to note, therefore, that the famous threat as it is most widely understood to have been worded can only be traced in trials and literature in the latter part of the 18th Century, despite the celebrity-like status of a number of highwaymen throughout the 1700s.
The earliest allusion to the use of the threat "your money or your life!" in a criminal trial that took place at the Old Bailey was in 1781, when highwaymen John Buckley and Thomas Shenton "feloniously did make an assault" on cheese seller John Mawson. Mawson's testimony below states that he and his friend Mr. Andrews were accosted by the two men and that the man who attacked him "clapped a bayonet to my breast, and said, with an oath, Your money, or your life!":
Fig 3: Account of the highway robbery committed by John Buckley and Thomas Shenton, 12th September 1781
In much the same way as Walpole's account of his encounter with a highwayman, here the highwayman who attacked Mawson, believed to be Shenton, "wished (Mawson) a good night" having received the money he demanded. This trial offers at once an insight into the mannerly conduct of the highwayman and their fearsome reputation should they be denied goods by their targeted travellers, as once Mawson attempted escape threats were issued to "run (him) through" with a bayonet.
The earliest known reference to the famous phrase in literature came right at the end of the 18th Century, in 1798, in the edition of August von Kotzebue's play Natural Son that was translated by Anne Plumptre. This play was adapted a number of times, most famously by Elizabeth Inchbald whose 1798 adaptation, Lover's Vows, featured in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. It is only in Kotzebue and Plumptre's version, however, that one can find the phrase "your money or your life", which occurs during Act III, Scene II when Frederick draws his sword on the Baron:
Fig 4: August von Kotzebue's Natural Son, trans. by Anne Plumpte. Act III, Scene II
So synonymous is the phrase "your money or your life!" with the figure of the 18th Century highwayman that this is reflected famously in new wave band Adam and the Ants' 1981 number one hit Stand and Deliver. The lyrics reflect the notoriety of the historical figure on horseback and their reputation as being glamorous and dangerous men for whom the open highway was their playground. The aesthetic of the band's music video evokes the stylish and handsome attire attributed to these criminals, with Adam Ant as a highwayman dressed in the "soldier's waistcoat and breeches" detailed in John Mawson's testimony of his assault (Fig 3) with added 1980s flare. Adam Ant waves a pistol at the unsuspecting occupants of a passing carriage and later manages to escape the hangman, the fate of most apprehended highwaymen, perhaps in itself an allusion to the corruption of the justice system at the time that enabled numerous criminals to remain at large if someone was financially benefitting (see Crime and Punishment).
I'm the dandy highwayman
Whom you're too scared to mention
I spend my cash
On looking flash
And grabbing your attention...
Stand and deliver
Your money or your life!
Video 1: Adam and the Ants official music video for 'Stand and Deliver', 1981
Highwaymen in Literature and Art
Highwaymen generally appear in 18th Century literature and art under two guises; as the mysterious and alluring figure of the female protagonist's desire or as a means of criticising the judicial system of the time and a vehicle with which to highlight the blurred lines between gentlemen and criminals. As is written in the introduction to John Gay in Volume C of The Norton Anthology of English Literature, "Spectators saw a picture of their own times on the stage: a society driven by greed, where everything, including love and justice, was for sale" (Noggle and Lipking 2788). Highwaymen were the ideal figures for such narratives; with their elevated public status at odds with the morality of their occupation it was possible for educated audiences to see the backwardness of a society that placed more emphasis on bribes and rewards to catch highway thieves (see Act for Suppressing Highwaymen (1692) in Crime and Punishment) than on the bribery and corruption happening within their own government.
Highwaymen appear in the following works of literature and art as roguish and sexually appealing, as part of a wider network of criminals who answer to a master and as, in many ways, no worse morally than any other profession.
The Beggar's Opera by John Gay (1728)
Fig 5: A 1790 print made of William Hogarth's painting illustrating Act III of Gay's The Beggar's Opera being performed on stage
Let us take to the road.
Hark I hear the sound of coaches!
The hour of attack approaches,
To your arms, brave boys, and load.
See the ball I hold!
Let the chemists toil like asses,
Our fire their fire surpasses,
And turns all our lead to gold.
The chorus of the highwaymen, Act 2 Scene 2 (Gay 2805).
"The contrast between the fuss made over a highway robbery involving ten pounds and the insouciance with which society regarded the bribery and speculation of Sir Robert Walpole, involving hundreds of thousands of pounds, was a staple comment of the day, and appears explicitly in The Beggar's Opera", writes Frank McLynn (57). Here he stresses the way in which Gay's opera, saturated in high irony, uses the figure of Captain Macheath and his gang of highwaymen to make a statement about their similarity to Britain's heads of state and uses the essentially small-time criminality of the highwaymen to draw attention to the broader corruption at the heart of government.
The narrative of The Beggar's Opera revolves around the 1692 Act for Suppressing Highwaymen, a law through which the character of Peachum is able to provide evidence against members of his gang of criminals on his 'blacklist' in return for a £40 reward from the government. We see through the greed of Peachum the ways in which a highwayman was profitable to the head of a gang; either in his spoils or in his death. As Peachum says to Lockit in Act 2 Scene 10, "like great statesmen, we encourage those who betray their friends" (Gay 2813); an explicit reference to the way in which reward was used to catch criminals in 18th Century society and an open attack on the corrupt government who, largely, paid up.
Every character in the opera, regardless of social standing, looks out for their own interests and is not above corruption to achieve them. Peachum, enraged that his daughter Polly's potential earnings as a seductress may now go to her new husband, the highwayman Captain Macheath, advises Polly in Act 1 Scene 10 to secure her claim to Macheath's property and then betray him at the next round of court sessions to reap the reward and secure "the comfortable estate of widowhood" (Gay 2799). Corruption is at the heart of the narrative and so, too, is Robert Walpole; a figure who can be seen in part in each of the criminals on stage. His nickname, 'Bob Booty', is even mentioned in Act 1 Scene 4 as Peachum decides to hang a blacklisted criminal by the same name before someone else turns Booty in "and there's forty pounds lost to us forever" (Gay 2792).
As the Beggar says to the Player in Act 3 Scene 16, by way of a framing device to replace the prologue and epilogue, "Through the whole piece you may observe such a similitude of manners in high and low life, that it is difficult to determine whether (in the fashionable vices) the fine gentlemen imitate the gentlemen of the road, or the gentlemen of the road the fine gentlemen” (Gay 2832). This moment not only provides an interesting use of the synonym for the highwayman, "gentleman of the road", as previously presented by the OED's historical thesaurus, but also the central message of the play; that the highwaymen are no more criminal than anyone else. As criminal Jemmy Twitcher ponders in Act 2 Scene 1, "Why are the laws levelled at us? Are we more dishonest than the rest of man-kind?" (Gay 2803).
The Beggar's Opera is also useful in exposing the lives and fate of the 18th Century highwayman. McLynn's assertion that highwaymen were men of high social station who had fallen due to gambling is confirmed by Macheath in Act 2 Scene 4 when he confesses to Jenny, one of the many prostitutes that he spends his cash on, "The road, indeed, hath done me justice, but the gaming table hath been my ruin" (Gay 2808). Gay's opera paints a picture of the criminal underworld of the highwaymen, showing Captain Macheath in the common haunts of a highwayman (in the company of ladies and in shackles at Newgate prison) but interestingly never presenting the gallant figure robbing on the open highway. In addition the character of the Beggar in the opera's closing scene, addressing the audience and the Player as to the fate of the highwayman protagonist, states "Macheath is to be hanged; and for the other personages of the drama, the audience must have supposed they were all either hanged or transported", (Gay 2832), presenting the two most common sentences for highwaymen at the time, as detailed in the section 'Crime and Punishment'.
The Beaux Stratagem by George Farquhar (1707)
George Farquhar's The Beaux Stratagem features the character of Gibbet, a highwayman, named with overt awareness that most highwaymen meet their inevitable fate at the gallows. Much like Captain Macheath, Gibbet also has his own 'Peachum'; a landlord named Bonniface and gang leader whom he must answer to and to whom he turns over his spoils from his work on the road.
When Gibbet first makes his entrance in Act 2 Scene 2, he details the items he has managed to acquire on his latest robbery, an insight into what items were of value to highwaymen, and also shows himself to be a man of conscience who cannot leave a female victim entirely vulnerable:
"Gibbet:
Two hundred Sterling Pounds as good as any that ever hang'd or sav'd a Rogue; lay 'em by with the rest, and here - Three wedding or mourning Rings, 'tis much the same you know - Here, two Silver-hilted Swords; I took those from Fellows that never shew any part of their Swords but the hilts: Here is a Diamond Necklace which the Lady hid in the privatest place in the Coach, but I found it out: This Gold Watch I took from a Pawn-broker's Wife; it was left in her Hands by a Person of Quality, there's the Arms upon the case.
Cherry:
But who had you the Money from?
Gibbet:
Ah! poor Woman! I pitied her;- From a poor Lady just elop'd from her Husband, she had made up her Cargo, and was bound for Ireland, as hard as she cou'd drive; she told me of her Husband's barbarous Usage, and so I left her half a Crown" (Farquhar 42-43).
In addition to exhibiting the gentlemanly conduct of the 18th Century highwaymen, the play also features an interesting synonym for the highwayman when Bonniface enquires of Gibbet: "D'ye know of any other Gentleman o'the Pad on this Road?" (Farquhar 43).
A Harlot's Progress by William Hogarth (1732)
Fig 6: Plate 3 of William Hogarth's A Harlot's Progress
The 3rd plate of William Hogarth's famous 6-plate set of engravings named A Harlot's Progress contains allusions to highwaymen. Following the tale of the young Mary 'Moll' Hackabout's destruction after she arrives in London, Plate 3 provides an interesting glimpse into the life of a woman who has fallen from the position of a kept mistress to that of a prostitute in a Drury Lane slum (Shesgreen, Plates with Commentary 20). From the trunk of wigs kept above her bed marked 'James Dalton Wigg Box' it is made clear that Moll's principle lover is - or perhaps only just recently was - the notorious highway and street robber James Dalton. Dalton was a name that many people would have been familiar with around the time that Hogarth's engravings were published, with publications such as that shown in Fig 7 having been on sale prior to Dalton's execution in May 1730, and so it is clear that an association is being made between highwaymen and the use of prostitutes.
Hanging beside Moll's bed is also the figure of Captain Macheath from John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, asserting the position of the highwayman as the desirable 18th Century 'heart throb' whom the protagonist of the engravings admires and whose actions and handsome presentation could be revered by displaying posters of their fictional counterparts on one's bedroom wall.
Fig 7: J. Roberts publication of the street robberies of James Dalton
Crime and Punishment
The 18th Century saw "more emphasis... placed on effective prevention and prosecution, less on fear and the public spectacle of punishment"; focusing more attention on rewards and bribes for people who turned over criminals than effective policing to crack down on the criminals before they were able to act (Durston 534).
Kronenberger argues that "the steady progress England had been slowly achieving in so many other directions is barely if at all reflected in her criminal system before 1740. Almost everything that we would confidently associate with the Middle Ages and the bloodier passages of the Reformation was still, if on a diminished scale, part of the majesty of the law... A harsh retributive system, from which there was almost no appeal, still prevailed" (Kronenberger 103). Here it is possible to understand the perils of being a highwayman, as whilst "murder in the course of instrumental crime, such as robbery, was particularly rare" (Durston 82), highway robbery was still an offence that could, and in most cases would, receive a life sentence from an unforgiving jury. The Proceedings of the Old Bailey's description of highway robbery elucidates why being a highwayman was a crime that frequently received a heavy sentence, citing that "because such crimes interfered with the freedom to travel, they were viewed as particularly serious".
Act for Suppressing Highwaymen (1692)
In 1692 an Act came into effect that attempted to quash the activity of highwaymen. The Act for Suppressing Highwaymen did not focus, however, on the active policing of the King's highway but rather placed its emphasis on financial reward for members of the public and criminals alike who informed on highwaymen. The Act enforced two key laws:
1. A £40 reward would be offered to those who apprehended and prosecuted a highwayman to conviction. The person who alerted authorities to the criminal would also receive the defendant's goods, provided they were not the proceeds of theft. The streets of London and Westminster were also deemed highways for the purposes of these rewards.
2. Any robber who was still escaping justice could claim a royal pardon if they provided accomplice evidence. This involved coming forward and identifying two or more robbers who were then prosecuted to conviction.
(Durston 436)
For the 18th Century highwayman the noose was viewed as an inevitability; a reality that is heavily stressed in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera and George Farquhar's The Beaux Stratagem. It is therefore important to consider what highwaymen were willing to risk their lives for.
The Highwayman's Booty
Taking the 1726 robbery of William Halton, Esq. by the highwaymen Samuel Sells and John Mattocks as a case study, one can understand the kind of goods sought out by highwaymen. The Proceedings of the Old Bailey provides the following report of the highway robbery, followed by the testimony of Halton, listing the spoils stolen by the pair:
Fig 8: Account of the highway robbery committed by Samuel Sells and John Mattocks, 14th January 1726
The National Archives Currency Converter is able to calculate the value of the items stolen by Sells and Mattocks to their 2005 value, which is as follows:
Watch (inside silver case, outside seal case, silver studded): £169.50
Cornelian seal (a semi-precious gemstone) set in gold: £84.75
Cash money: £42.38
Total: £296.63
Whilst this total does not seem a sum to risk ones life for, it is important to consider the frequency with which highwaymen would approach carriages looking for goods and the confidence that a lack of policing and an easy means of escape would have given the rogue on horseback.
As can be seen from this case, the fictional spoils of Gibbet in The Beaux Stratagem and the numerous cases of highway robbery available from The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, the most commonly stolen items on the highway were small, valuable and easy to ride away with; cash, jewellery and Pocket Watches. William Hogarth even plays on this understanding of the goods stolen by highwaymen in his etching Cruelty in Perfection, part of his 1751 series of engravings named The Four Stages of Cruelty in which he depicts the life of Tom Nero, a fictional man who turns to torture and murder. In his plate Cruelty in Perfection (Fig 9), Nero's pockets are found to contain pistols and pocket watches, some of which are strewn at his feet, the implication being that he has turned to highway robbery.
Fig 9: Cruelty in Perfection by William Hogarth
Sentencing Highwaymen
The Proceedings of the Old Baileywebsite offers a comprehensive insight into the sentencing of criminals in the 18th Century; a quick process with "few of the protections against wrongful convictions which exist today". With the lack of a professional police force until 1829, it was the responsibility of the victim to come forward. For the 18th Century highwayman, this would be followed by arrest and, once a magistrate had assessed the case in question and deemed it worthy of the court's attention, the highwayman was then committed to prison to await trial.
The trials themselves involved a direct confrontation between the prosecutor, often the victim, with their account of the highway robbery, and the defendant who was expected to explain away the evidence placed against them. Witnesses could testify on both sides but with a positive identification of the highwayman from the prosecutor and no lawyer present, as was common, it was usually an open and shut case, with the judge and jurors enjoying far more power and liberty than in present day British courts.
Highwaymen were often sentenced to death by hanging, the most common and least barbaric death sentence, a reality played upon in art and literature of the period. Those that managed to escape the noose, however, fell under the The 1718 Transportation Act which saw a number of highwaymen transported to America for a seven year period, the early return from which was a capital offence. From the numerous cases of highway robbery available to view from The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, it is clear that transportation was offered to criminals that were convicted of highway robbery only and were not excessively threatening or violent in their conduct. The case of highwaymen John Buckley and Thomas Shenton who held a bayonet to John Mawson (Fig 3) saw a verdict of death, which can be understood when compared with the reasoning for transportation in the case of highwayman William Ingledeau (Fig 10), who was sentenced for his thievery alone and his crime considered to be non-violent by the jury:
Fig 10: Account of the trial of William Ingledeau, 13th January 1721
Famous Highwaymen
Fig 11: Turpin hiding in his cave, from Richard Bayes' 1739 biography
Richard 'Dick' Turpin, 1705-1739
Dick Turpin is perhaps the most famous 18th Century highwayman, due in part to author William Harrison Ainsworth's 1834 novel Rockwood which featured a fictionalised version of Turpin as its protagonist. Turpin's notoriety stemmed from a series of robberies he committed when he was part of what was later referred to as the 'Essex gang'; a group of smugglers and deer thieves who turned to breaking into houses:
"Whenever they knew a house had anything of value in it one knocked at the door, and as soon as it was opened the others rushed in and commenced plundering" (G. T. Crook 89).
Among the most vicious of these robberies, in which Turpin and his gang frequently bound their victims, was the ransacking of an old woman's house whom Turpin believed to have "had seven or eight hundred pounds by her". The old woman denied having large sums of money in the house, to which Turpin threatened "If you won't tell us I will set you on the grate", which he proceeded to do following her silence before escaping with "upwards of four hundred pounds" (G. T. Crook 89-90).
Turpin is famously associated with King, a highwayman whom he attempted to threaten once the Essex Gang had been apprehended and he had made a successful escape. King was reported to have responded to Turpin's signature highwayman-style threat with, "What! Dog eat dog! Come, come, brother Turpin, if you don't know me, I know you, and should be glad of your company" (G. T. Crook 92) before the pair became partners in crime. The astonishing persistence of the authority-eluding Turpin played a part in his legend, with the story of he and King's highway robberies from their hand-made cave in Epping Forest (see Fig 11) advertised on the cover of Richard Bayes' biography of Turpin published in 1739 (Fig 12):
Fig 12: Richard Bayes' 1739 biography of Richard Turpin
Richard Bayes, the landlord of the Green Man public house, had discovered the identities of King and Turpin and it was in his establishment that King was fatally wounded when Turpin fired at Bayes to protect his criminal partner (G. T. Crook 94). The account that Bayes published of Turpin's life documents his numerous highway robberies with King and alone in Lincolnshire under the name of John Palmer until his execution in York on 7th April 1739, an occasion at which he received a celebrity's welcome, or rather farewell. "Turpin... had rendered himself so notorious for his robberies in the southern parts of England [that an] abundance of people from all parts resorted daily to see him" before his hanging, where "he behaved himself with amazing assurance and bowed to the spectators as he passed (G. T. Crook 97).
James MacLaine, 1724-1750
James MacLaine is also referred to in 18th Century publications and art as James 'McLean', 'Macleane', 'McLaine' and 'Maclean'. The inconsistency of the spelling of his surname is highlighted in the search result for the image of 'James Macleane', Fig 13, from The British Museum's collection, who despite the spelling of the famous highwayman's name in the portrait refer to the figure in their description as 'James McLaine'. Regardless of how his name is spelled, however, it is clear if the document is referring to the famous robber on horseback if he is referred to by the title attributed to him around the time of his sentencing and death in 1750; The Gentleman Highwayman.
Fig 13: 1756 print of a drawing of James MacLaine by L. P. Boitard
MacLaine is described by Gregory J Durston as the epitome of the 'gentleman' highwayman (Durston 105) whilst Louis Kronenberger notes that "the highwayman McLean... [wore] fine clothes, sport[ed] fine manners, and liv[ed] in fashionable St James's Street" (Kronenberger 101), setting him aside from the other rogues of the road. In the account of MacLaine's case provided by G. T. Crook he describes MacLaine as "the unfortunate subject" of the narrative of his robberies and execution that the Newgate Calendar provides, a man who "was equally remarkable for his learning and the goodness of his heart" (G. T. Crook 181).
Widowed only three years after marrying, MacLaine "assumed the character of a fine gentleman, in the hope of engaging the attention of some lady of fortune, to which he thought himself entitled by the gracefulness of his person and the elegance of his appearance" (G. T. Crook 181). Spending frivolously in an attempt to marry well and avoid servitude, MacLaine found himself penniless until the Irish apothecary who had attended his ailing wife, a man named Plunkett, suggested that the pair become partners in highway robbery. An account of this conversation is provided by the 1750 publication Memoirs of the Life of Mr. James Maclean, a vitriolic swipe at Plunkett for having enticed the vulnerable MacLaine into his new life of crime:
Fig 14: From the 1750 Memoirs of the Life of Mr. James Maclean
MacLaine passed off his sudden wealth in the wake of his new criminal career by "asserting that he had an estate in Ireland which produced seven hundred pounds a year" (G. T. Crook 182) and it is likely the result of his presence in high society and the knowledge of his good breeding that he was so fondly regarded. Apprehended shortly after he and Plunkett encountered the Earl of Eglinton on the highway (as depicted in Fig 1), from which MacLaine procured money, a surtout coat and the Earl's blunderbuss (G. T. Crook 183), MacLaine was sentenced to hang at Tyburn. The Reverend Dr. Allen, who attended MacLaine prior to his execution, wrote in his account of the gentleman highwayman's final days that MacLaine openly admitted to his crimes and confessed that "he never had enjoyed a calm and easy Moment" in his life as a highwayman (Allen 5). Allen noted in his account that MacLaine "had associated with licentious young People of Figure and Fortune" (Allen 4) and it was such people that came forward in defense of him at his trial (Fig 15) and who visited with him in his prison cell to mourn his fate (Fig 16). Meanwhile, the public mourned the passing of James MacLaine the Gentleman Highwayman at the gallows and through reading accounts of his life as a man of great standing.
Fig: 15 James McLeane, the Gentleman Highwayman at the Bar published by T Fox
Fig 16: 1750 etching of the ladies' last farewell to James MacLaine in his prison cell
Annotated Bibliography
Primary sources
F. Allen, An Account of the Behaviour of Mr. James Maclaine… (London: For J. Noon and A. Millar, 1750).
This account of James MacLaine's final days was helpful in confirming the high society that MacLaine had kept prior to his incarceration and is a tragic insight into the mind of a condemned man. MacLaine is conveyed by Allen as being, indeed, a gentleman and full of repentance.
Richard Bayes, The Genuine History of the Life of Richard Turpin (London: For J. Standen, 1739).
This publication provides a useful chronological account of Richard Turpin's actions from a Bayes himself; the landlord involved in the altercation at the Green Man public house and therefore a key witness to the death of Turpin's criminal partner King. It also provides the image of Turpin in hiding in his cave in Epping Forest, one of the only I was able to find that depicts his infamous hide-out.
George Farquhar, The Beaux Stratagem, ed. A. Norman Jeffares (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1972).
Farquhar's character Gibbet is a fantastic example of a fictional highwayman with the play depicting his relationship with a gang leader figure, Bonniface, discussion of his spoils and also his sense of morality. His name is also an overt reference to the punishment of highwaymen which led me to research death by hanging and how common it was for highwaymen to befall this fate.
John Fielding, A Brief Description of the Cities of London and Westminster (London: For J. Wilkie, 1776).
The excerpt I looked at regarding highwayman in London was very illuminating; it reaffirms the 18th Century public's tolerance of 'gentleman' highwaymen and I was surprised to learn that highwaymen in London did not have a reputation for killing which, later reading Frank McLynn's Crime and Punishment in Eighteenth-century England, I learned was the case more broadly.
John Gay, ‘The Beggar’s Opera’, in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Ninth Edition: Volume C, The Restoration and Eighteenth-Century, ed. by James Noggle and Lawrence Lipking (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2012).
It is tempting to write an entire essay on the depiction of highwaymen in The Beggar's Opera as the text is saturated with allusions to these criminals, the laws in place against their conduct, overt references to the flaws in these laws and the public opinion of highwaymen. The figure of Macheath provides a very helpful example of a 'gentlemen' highwayman and the celebrity status they received.
William Hogarth, Cruelty in Perfection (London: 1751).
I struggled initially to find a primary source to help assert that highwaymen were associated with the stealing of pocket watches; something I gleaned from scrolling through several case reports from The Proceedings of the Old Bailey. This images was a great find, with Hogarth using the possession of pistols and pocket watches to allude to Tom Nero's activity as a highway robber.
William Hogarth, A Harlot's Progress, Plate 3(London: 1732).
Hogarth's engraving helps stress the celebrity status of highwaymen, with the character of Macheath's poster hanging in Moll's bedroom, and also offers an interesting link between the work of highwaymen and the reason why they perhaps had to turn to such a career; the compulsion to use prostitutes (and gamble, as McLynn's piece explains).
August von Kotzebue, Natural Son, trans. Anne Plumptre (London: For R. Phillips, 1798).
Having read Elizabeth Inchbald's Lover's Vows I was aware of the narrative but fascinated to discover one of the first literary utterances of "your money or your life!" in the original Natural Son.
Anonymous, Memoirs of the Life of Mr. James Maclean (London: For Charles Corbett, 1750).
It was very useful to find an account of James MacLaine's life that was so fervently defensive of all of MacLaine's actions. He is painted like a saint in this text, likely reflecting the views of the public who were to purchase and read this.
This 1781 case is the first example of the use of the phrase "your money or your life!" in a case from The Old Bailey, which points to the phrase potentially being more prevalent in the 19th Century. In addition to its inclusion of the infamous phrase, it proved a great example later on for the distinction between violent and non-violent conduct and its effect on sentencing, this being an example of violent conduct that led to a death sentence for both highwaymen involved.
This case was an ideal example to illustrate why some highwaymen received death sentences and others were sentenced to transportation. Pitted against the Buckley and Shenton case above, the conduct of Ingledeau as described in this document demonstrates restraint; it is essentially just a sudden robbery. This helped support my comparison so I was not solely relying on information read from secondary sources.
The Sells and Mattocks case offered me an opportunity to illustrate the kinds of items stolen by highwaymen and their monetary value as lifted directly from an 18th Century source.
Samuel Rid, ‘Martin Markall, Beadle of Bridewell’, in The Elizabethan Underworld: A Collection of Tudor and early Stuart tracts and ballads telling of the lives and misdoings of vagabonds, thieves, rogues and cozeners, and giving some account of the operation of the criminal law, ed. by A. V. Judges (London: Routledge, 1930).
Rid's piece was the first I found that made distinctions between highwaymen and footpads and the fact that it was written in the 17th Century stresses that this criminal hierarchy was already well established by the 18th Century.
This account of Walpole's encounter with a highwayman is hilarious and indicative of the times in equal measure, usefully demonstrating the ritualistic manner of a highwayman's robbery: approach, demand/threaten, steal and thank! The description of the highwayman's reassuring words to Lady Browne also assisted my presentation of the 'gentleman' highwayman figure.
Secondary sources
Adam and the Ants, Stand and Deliver (CBS Records, 1981).
When I talked about my Wiki project to anyone they responded by mentioning one of two things; the phrase "your money or your life!" or the Adam and the Ants song Stand and Deliver. The lyrics to this song are so iconic, with the use of the infamous phrase, that it could not have been a comprehensive Wiki page on the figure of the Eighteenth-Century highwayman without an allusion to Adam Ant's popular portrayal of the criminal.
The music video for Stand and Deliver features all of the key iconography of a highwayman; the smart attire, the gun, the horse and carriage and the gallows. It makes for a great 20th Century example of how infamous the highwayman was and still remains.
The Complete Newgate Calendar, ed. G. T. Crook (London: Navarre Society Limited, 1926).
Crook offers chronological accounts of the exploits of criminals, prefaced with their date and place of execution. This source was invaluable when researching Richard Turpin and James MacLaine's lives and crimes and led me to look for sources that would depict more specific events in the men's lives, for example Turpin's accidental shooting of King at the Green Man.
Gregory J Durston, Whores and Highwaymen: Crime and Justice in the Eighteenth-Century Metropolis (Hampshire: Waterside Press Ltd., 2012).
Durston's work gave me an introduction to the concept of the 'gentleman' highwayman and provided a really useful picture of the state of the criminal justice system before and during the 18th Century. This source was my principle source for the terms of the Act for Suppressing Highwaymen and also helpfully led me to John Fielding's piece on highwaymen in London.
Louis Kronenberger, Kings and Desperate Men: Life in Eighteenth-Century England (New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 2010).
This book did not have a great deal on highwaymen but it offered a useful look into the lives of the poor and the backward justice system of the 18th Century.
Frank McLynn, Crime and Punishment in Eighteenth-century England (London: Routledge, 1989).
This book is a fantastic resource for the research of highwaymen, with an entire chapter dedicated to the figure of the highwayman and insightful passages on 18th Century roads, the social standing of highwaymen, their gallant reputation and their depiction in The Beggar's Opera.
This is great tool that helped me calculate roughly how much an example of a highwayman's spoils were worth (using the case of Samuel Sells and John Mattocks). It also helped me understand just how important the £40 reward money for turning in a highwayman was worth and why it is a business to Peachum, with it roughly equating to £3,400 in today's money. I do, however, wish that this website's 'present day' conversion year could be updated as I am sure our money today is worth less than it was in 2005!
A great resource for providing alternative terms used when referring to highwaymen in the 18th Centurythat I later came across in literature from the period.
The Old Bailey's description of highway robbery was the first I read and a helpful, basic overview of the crime. It is also the only source I have found that stresses the severity of restricting freedom of travel in the course of highway robbery; other sources focus their attention on the violence and theft associated with highwaymen.
This page on trial procedures offers a comprehensive overview of the passage of a criminal through the 18th Century justice system, stressing the difference of their courts to present-day British courts. This source provides the basis of my description of the procedures of the court in the section 'Sentencing Highwaymen'.
Engravings by Hogarth, ed. Sean Shesgreen(Toronto: Dover Publications, Inc., 1973).
Shesgreen was extremely helpful in explaining and situating Plate 3 of William Hogarth's A Harlot's Progress. His description explains that Moll is now in a slum working as a prostitute and from this I was able to read the allusions to highwaymen in this image with more confidence.
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