- 3 months ago
Documentary, Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues, part 1, Knights of the Road- The Highwayman's Story
Dr. Sam Willis narrates and presents this 3 part documentary series about Highwaymen, Pirates and Roques of a bygone era in Britain. We visit some actual sites along the way.
Dr. Sam Willis narrates and presents this 3 part documentary series about Highwaymen, Pirates and Roques of a bygone era in Britain. We visit some actual sites along the way.
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LearningTranscript
00:00For a period in the 17th and 18th centuries, crime was endemic.
00:21On the open roads, robbers robbed with impunity.
00:24On the high seas, pirates roamed.
00:27Felons robbed, burgled and cheated.
00:33Across the country, there was no established police force.
00:36And although the ultimate penalty was death, who was there to enforce it?
00:42In this series, I want to explore the world of the British outlaw.
00:48The original anti-hero in an age of swashbuckle, daring and style.
00:55And no outlaw was more glamorous, romantic and glorified than the highwayman.
01:02The masked horseback robber who stole hard cash and admirers' hearts.
01:07In pursuit of a merry life and a short one.
01:11Most people think of the highwayman as an underworld figure.
01:27Perhaps an 18th century rogue like Dick Turpin.
01:30But their origins lie much earlier, with the fall from grace of the king's men
01:39and the rise of gentleman robbers in the English Civil War.
01:43The brutal conflict that erupted in the 1640s.
01:47As the country tore itself apart, a maelstrom of violence, disorder and distrust
01:55created the perfect conditions for outlaws to thrive.
01:59The royalists had lost.
02:03King Charles was executed.
02:06Great houses were devastated in battle.
02:09Suddenly, thousands of experienced military men were unemployed and angry.
02:14Some decided their best chance of survival was to take to the roads,
02:18as what we would now call highwaymen.
02:21Under Cromwell's rule, reports began to emerge of lawlessness on the roads
02:27on a scale never before seen.
02:29Fantastical stories appeared of outlaws,
02:33men whose political beliefs had failed them
02:35and who now sought glory in a life of crime.
02:40These were military-trained sharpshooters
02:43who found themselves on the losing side.
02:46There had been highway robbery for as long as there had been roads.
02:51But this, well, this was something different.
02:54It became a menace that marked the age
02:58and lent a new air of romance to crime.
03:03For these outlaws were motivated by principles as much as money.
03:09Former soldiers who clung to a broken sense of honour mixed with thievery.
03:15Men like Captain James Hynde.
03:18In 1651, Hynde was dragged out from a London barbershop
03:24and arrested by heavily armed soldiers.
03:27A wanted man, he had been living under an alias for months
03:31until his hiding place was betrayed.
03:33He was taken to Newgate Prison and clapped in irons.
03:40Hynde was a passionate royalist
03:42and he had already fought and lost in the name of the crown.
03:46But he was already well-known for a very different reason.
03:50Because Hynde was the most notorious outlaw highwayman in Britain
03:55and his fame was about to explode.
03:59Described as the unparalleled thief,
04:02the stories about him were almost unbelievable.
04:07Hynde was born in Oxfordshire in 1616.
04:09He wasn't a nobleman, but his family were respected and comfortably well-off.
04:15For the young James, education held little appeal.
04:18So eventually his father apprenticed him to a butcher,
04:22hoping he would take to an honest trade.
04:24After falling foul of his master's violent temper once too often,
04:30the teenager decided to run away
04:32and he headed to London to seek his fortune.
04:35Now, in the eyes of some,
04:37the capital was a place that corrupted with vice and sin.
04:41But for a man like Hynde,
04:43it simply offered the best entertainment around.
04:45It wasn't long before the young Hynde fell into bad company.
04:51He was arrested whilst drunk in the arms of a prostitute
04:54and thrown into a jail called the Poultry Comptor.
04:58In this grim and filthy dungeon,
05:00one inmate stood out from all the rest,
05:03Thomas Allen, an experienced highwayman and gang leader.
05:08After their release, the two decided to join forces.
05:11But first, the inexperienced Hynde
05:15needed to prove himself a worthy partner.
05:19As the gang hid, he was sent out on his first robbery.
05:27They chose an ambush site at Shooter's Hill
05:29on the outskirts of London and waited
05:31until a gentleman and his servant came by travelling alone.
05:36If Hynde was nervous, he didn't show it.
05:39With pistols drawn, he demanded money
05:42and the gentleman, in fear of his life,
05:44handed over ten pounds,
05:46a healthy sum for a first attempt.
05:50But then something unusual happened.
05:53It was said that Hynde took pity on the man he had just robbed.
05:57He put his hand back in the purse,
05:59took out twenty shillings and gave it back to the man,
06:02saying it was for his travel expenses.
06:05It was an act that marked him out as something different.
06:08Handing back money was a calculated display of gallantry
06:13and it piqued Alan's interest.
06:16Hynde quickly became his second-in-command.
06:19His reputation was set as a principled and gentlemanly robber.
06:23Hynde had star quality.
06:26But the politics of civil war were never far away.
06:30Hynde and Alan's gang had sworn oaths as royalists
06:33and began to single out parliamentarians.
06:35The list of Hynde's supposed victims
06:38reads like a who's who of the Roundhead regime.
06:42One day, as he travelled through Dorset,
06:44Hynde spotted a chance to ambush John Bradshaw,
06:47the judge who had actually condemned King Charles to death.
06:51Knowing that his name now struck fear into the hearts of men,
06:55Hynde put his pistol to Bradshaw's head
06:57and demanded his money with particular venom.
07:01I fear neither you nor any king-killing son of a whore alive.
07:05I have now as much power over you as you lately had over the king.
07:10Judge Bradshaw placed a trembling hand into his pocket
07:13and drew out a mere forty shillings in silver.
07:16The highwayman was distinctly unimpressed
07:19and swore that he'd shoot him through the heart there and then
07:22if he didn't find coin of another species.
07:25With his life hanging in the balance,
07:28the judge handed over a purse full of gold instead.
07:32After a lecture on the immorality of parliament's cause,
07:36Hynde shot all six of the coach horses dead.
07:40Stories like these, whether real or imagined,
07:43were used by writers to question the legitimacy of parliament's authority.
07:48But there's more.
07:50Because while these robberies of the great and the good
07:52burnished his reputation,
07:54he also became known as something of a Robin Hood figure,
07:59a highwayman with a conscience.
08:03After running short of money,
08:05Hynde held up a farmer who was on his way to market
08:08to buy his wife and ten children a cow.
08:11The farmer begged him not to take his meagre forty shillings,
08:15as it was all he had,
08:16and had taken him two years to scrimp together.
08:20Hynde was desperate and took it anyway,
08:22but the farmer was repaid double and extra a week later,
08:26when, true to his word,
08:28the highwayman returned to pay him back.
08:31It was all good PR,
08:32but simple farmers weren't enough to make a legend.
08:37Hynde craved infamy.
08:39In several accounts of his life,
08:41there's a story of an attack
08:43that proved to be the Hynde gang's undoing
08:45on Oliver Cromwell himself.
08:48They launched their assault
08:49as Cromwell's coach left Huntington.
08:52It's unclear if it was meant to be a simple robbery
08:54or an assassination,
08:56but he was heavily guarded
08:57and the attack went horribly wrong.
08:59Thomas Allen and several of his men
09:02were captured and executed,
09:04and Hynde barely managed to escape with his life.
09:08He went on the run,
09:10riding his horse until it dropped
09:12and eventually returning to the anonymity
09:14of his old haunts in London.
09:17In the end, Hynde was betrayed
09:19by one of his fellow royalists.
09:21A former soldier recognised him
09:23and reported him to the Speaker of the House of Commons.
09:27Hynde by now had some very powerful enemies.
09:29He was already well-known,
09:32but now something extraordinary happened.
09:35He became a celebrity
09:36the length and breadth of the country.
09:41During the Civil War,
09:43there was a boom in the production of printed material.
09:46Hynde's exploits were published
09:48in a rich tapestry of pamphlets,
09:50ballad songs, chapbooks, poems and broadsheets,
09:53published at a prodigious rate
09:54and all claiming to relate his true words and story.
09:59Hynde is the first figure, to my knowledge,
10:02who becomes a celebrated criminal.
10:05The political changes and the war
10:08were accompanied by a massive upsurge in print.
10:11So what we're looking at with Hynde is two things.
10:14It's the historical circumstances
10:16that make a high woman like Hynde possible
10:19and it's also the emergence of print culture
10:23to a greater degree than before.
10:24These printed works were something like early tabloids.
10:31Their authors were untroubled with journalistic accuracy
10:35and the readers didn't really care either.
10:38These weren't just morality tales
10:40nor were they bland official accounts.
10:43These stories were colourful.
10:44They were exciting.
10:45They were designed to entertain.
10:47In the press, Hynde embodied the idea
10:52of the jovial cavalier resisting against the dour Puritans.
10:57While the regime was busy banning Christmas,
11:00he's out there enjoying himself.
11:02It's not through prayer and hard work.
11:04He's drinking, carousing and having adventures.
11:08Now, in the imagination, the highwayman is gallant,
11:11he's principled and he's damn good fun.
11:14From his jail cell, Hynde actually denied
11:18many of the stories attributed to him in the pulp press.
11:21When asked about some of the pamphlets written about him,
11:24he answered that they were fictions,
11:26before adding,
11:27but some merry pranks and revels I have played.
11:31That I deny not.
11:34But none of that mattered.
11:37The regime simply could not let Hynde
11:39become a rallying point for royalist sympathisers.
11:43They wanted him dead.
11:44The authorities were having none of it.
11:49Hynde wasn't just any royalist soldier.
11:52He'd fought alongside the future Charles II,
11:55right to the end.
11:57He was taken to Worcester,
11:59the scene of Charles II's last battle,
12:01where he was tried and convicted for treason.
12:05Hynde would suffer a traitor's death.
12:07He was hung, drawn and quartered,
12:12his head displayed on a spike above the bridge over the severn.
12:18Despite Hynde's gruesome end, the horse had already bolted.
12:22Highwaymen were a menace on the roads,
12:25but their stories were bestsellers.
12:27Technology was on the highwaymen's side.
12:31The printing press made them famous,
12:34and the Civil War flooded the country with a revolutionary invention
12:38that allowed them to flourish.
12:40The Flintlock pistol.
12:41This weapon made the highwayman's signature surprise attack much easier.
12:48What were the advantages of this type of weapon for the highwayman?
12:51The Flintlock gave the highwayman the chance to have his weapon
12:55all primed and ready to go, and then in his coat.
13:00The best way to really understand the advantages of the Flintlock
13:03is to look what had to be used before.
13:06This is a matchlock, and this is the match, hence the matchlock.
13:11And for this to be ready to fire, that has to be glowing red.
13:14There's no way you could load this
13:16and then go about your business with it ready to use.
13:19It's as powerful as anything that came later,
13:22but if you like, it's fire by appointment.
13:26How does the Flintlock work?
13:28Well, three key components in a Flintlock.
13:31The cock, which is this piece here, which holds the flint.
13:34The frisson, which is what the spark comes from, and the pan.
13:39So to make this work, you would go back to half cock,
13:43which is where we are there.
13:44You would pour powder in the pan
13:47and then close the frisson.
13:51And then the final thing to make it go,
13:53you go back to full cock,
13:55and when you pull the trigger,
13:56that piece of flint flies forward,
13:59drags down the frisson,
14:01scraping off little bits of metal as red-hot sparks,
14:04and then a few sparks and flame from the pan
14:06goes into the barrel and sets off the main charge.
14:08What sort of range did they fire over?
14:11The pistols particularly would have been effective over a short range.
14:14They were designed to hit a man-sized target
14:17at a range perhaps not that much greater
14:20than an arm's length plus a sword.
14:27Yay!
14:27He'll be staggering around now, wouldn't he?
14:36After the Civil War, amidst a flood of weapons
14:40and desperate men roaming the nation,
14:42highway robbery became an epidemic.
14:45Each infamous figure took the myth to a new level
14:50and the state wasn't ready.
14:52The age of the highwayman had arrived.
14:56On the lonely 17th century roads,
14:59you never knew who was lurking in the shadows.
15:02Just outside of the cities, towns and villages,
15:06England was like the Wild West.
15:09Vast swathes of countryside stretched across the landscape.
15:12There was no police force, and out here,
15:16law and order of any description had very little reach.
15:20People and possessions could simply vanish.
15:30Highwaymen swarmed around wealth.
15:33Their main hunting grounds were the arterial King's Rose
15:36that headed out from the major cities, especially London,
15:39carrying the richest members of society.
15:42A few miles from the capital, and you were a sitting duck.
15:46Highwaymen lay in wait around areas like Hounslow Heath,
15:50Shooters Hill and the Great North Road,
15:52which all became notorious robbery hotspots.
15:56Travel was expensive.
15:58Coach passengers, by definition, were wealthy,
16:01and so they were frequently targeted.
16:03But highwaymen saw everyone on the road as fair game.
16:06To make matters worse, the roads of the period were terrible,
16:15deep-rutted in summer and impassable quagmires in winter.
16:19They were little more than trackways,
16:21badly maintained and cursed by those who travelled on them.
16:25The rough countryside terrain worked to the highwaymen's advantage.
16:32Coaches plodded along at around five miles per hour on a good road,
16:38slower on a poor one.
16:40Hills were particularly dangerous because coaches were forced to slow down,
16:46which made them an ideal location for ambush.
16:50Heathland and forests provided plenty of cover for robbers to hide,
16:54and urban centres were an ideal location to lie low.
16:58After the death of Cromwell, the English Republic fell apart,
17:12and in 1660, Charles II was brought to England to take the throne.
17:17The time of disgruntled royalist highwaymen running riot around the countryside
17:22came to an end.
17:25They had been valiant losers in the new order,
17:27but the monarchy was back.
17:31Jubilant royalists returned home triumphant with the new king.
17:35They were extravagant and hedonistic,
17:37and they brought someone with them.
17:39Claude Duval, the man who gave highwaymen sex appeal.
17:43He was from Normandy and worked as a footman to an exiled English aristocrat.
17:49Footmen were expected to be good shots and keen horsemen,
17:52with a reputation for hauteur and insolence.
17:55Being a footman was a great training for being a highwayman,
17:59because you were essentially an armed guard to protect the noble family that you worked for.
18:04You were chosen for your height and good looks,
18:07so the kind of glamour was written into it.
18:09Very fast runners, sure shots because they were trained to fire.
18:13I mean, it was almost like training someone to be a highwayman.
18:16Restoration aristocrats were a bunch of dissolute hedonists.
18:20Their French-style fashion was elaborately decadent,
18:24and debauchery was positively encouraged,
18:26all of which rubbed off on their entourage.
18:29Duval would have been described as a pop-in-jay for his fashionable French clothes,
18:34and he soon gained a reputation for fine living.
18:37He was an insatiable drinker, womaniser and gambler,
18:41but this was a lifestyle that he simply couldn't afford.
18:44Now, for a man with an ego like Duval's,
18:47getting a proper job was simply out of the question.
18:49So instead, he turned highwayman.
18:51Unlike Hind, Duval wasn't interested in politics.
19:01He robbed simply to keep the party going.
19:04He became a thief with style to match his daring.
19:08With Duval, panache was added to the highwayman legend.
19:14Soon enough, Duval found his way to the top of the nation's wanted list,
19:18with a reward of £20 offered for his capture.
19:21He robbed travellers and royal officials,
19:24anyone with money that came his way.
19:27This was a highwayman with no pretense to any social mission.
19:32He doesn't seem to have had any scruples about robbing from the poor.
19:36Robin Hood, he was not.
19:38On one occasion, Duval and an accomplice
19:41came across two gentlemen and their servants.
19:44Engaging them in conversation,
19:45they then robbed every penny from the servants,
19:49without even bothering to search their wealthy employers.
19:57But there was a particular theme in the tales of Duval's career
20:00that really made his name,
20:02and that was his pursuit of women.
20:05He gained a reputation for gallantry,
20:07particularly for returning keepsakes or trinkets to women
20:10after he'd robbed them.
20:12He was as keen on stealing their heart as their money.
20:18This persona is perfectly captured
20:20in an 1860 painting by William Frith
20:23of an encounter on Hounslow Heath.
20:26With Duval, it was your money or your wife.
20:29Duval's gang held up a coach
20:31carrying a gentleman and his wife
20:32with the enormous sum of £400 on board.
20:36As the gang approached,
20:38the lady played a tune on her flageolet
20:40to show she wasn't scared.
20:42Duval was intrigued.
20:45After complimenting the man on his wife's musical skills,
20:48he asked if she danced as well as she played
20:50and if the gent would allow her to dance with him.
20:54Surrounded by pistols,
20:55it's perhaps unsurprising that the husband promptly agreed.
20:59Leaping down from his horse,
21:01Duval and the lady danced a courant together
21:03while his cronies play music to accompany them.
21:07Of course, Duval is as skilled with his feet
21:09as he is with his blade
21:10and when the dance is over,
21:12he hands his dancing partner back into the coach.
21:15Duval then takes £100 from her husband
21:18as payment for the music
21:19but excuses him from the remaining £300
21:22for being a good sport.
21:24The incident really sums up what Duval's all about.
21:28There's swashbuckle and ladies going weak at the knees
21:31when Duval's around.
21:32But that's exactly what he brought to the idea of the highwayman,
21:35romance, a bit of dash and sexual frisson.
21:43In the end, it was Duval's hedonistic lifestyle
21:46that brought him down.
21:47To celebrate a successful robbery,
21:49he stopped off at the pub.
21:51The Frenchman had a reputation
21:53for being handy with sword and pistol
21:55but by the time a bailiff arrived to arrest him,
21:58he was legless.
21:59Too drunk to resist,
22:00he was thrown into Newgate jail to await his fate.
22:05At his trial,
22:06well-placed ladies of the court
22:07tried to intervene for a reprieve
22:10but it was to no avail.
22:12Claude Duval was found guilty
22:13and sentenced to hang.
22:16Duval rode to the gallows in 1670
22:18watched by thousands of women,
22:21from duchesses to prostitutes.
22:23He was 27.
22:29For the poor,
22:30he was an iconic figure,
22:31a rock star criminal,
22:33a glamorous gangster.
22:35Through Duval,
22:35they could escape the status of their birth,
22:38even if in fantasy.
22:40For the nobility,
22:41he added a touch of danger
22:42and excitement to their world.
22:45It would have been a thrill
22:46to have been robbed by him.
22:47Writers recounting Duval's adventures
22:51often did so to express concern
22:53about the Restoration elite,
22:55that they were dissolute
22:56and robbing the public
22:57to pay for their excess.
22:59Some thought they were less interested in ruling
23:01than womanising and gambling.
23:04There was also the feeling
23:05that courtly manners were becoming feminised
23:07and, even worse, French.
23:10All of which was a nasty foreign corruption
23:13of good old English morality.
23:16One of the interesting things
23:17about Claude Duval
23:17is that he kind of reflects
23:18the society that produced him.
23:21He likes women and gambling
23:23and dancing
23:23and presumably all the other vices
23:26of the court of Charles II.
23:28And so he's a focus
23:31for criticism of Charles II's court.
23:34Frith's painting of Duval
23:35captures the moment of a hold-up
23:37in a way that instantly mythologises it.
23:40Duval is at the centre
23:41being all gallant,
23:42whilst his less respectable sidekicks
23:44do the rest.
23:45He's got the clothes,
23:47the style
23:47and the mask.
23:58Highwaymen were noted for dressing
23:59like the wealthy gentlemen of the day.
24:02This was partly out of vanity
24:03but partly to blend in
24:05with the well-to-do passengers.
24:08Crime was considered
24:09the province of the poor
24:10so dressing this way
24:12was intended to allay suspicion.
24:18Every highwayman
24:20had a different approach
24:21to disguise.
24:24Some accounts mention
24:26that some highwaymen
24:27pulled their periwigs down
24:28to cover their eyes
24:29or, more bizarrely,
24:31tucked their tails
24:32into their mouths.
24:34Others wore their hats
24:35pulled down low,
24:36wore false beards
24:37or simply did nothing at all
24:38a risky and cocky approach.
24:47The famous tricorn hat
24:49arrived around 1700
24:50but what about
24:52that iconic black mask?
24:54Well, we know that
24:55some highwaymen
24:56did wear a mask
24:57but before the most common disguise
24:59was a simple scarf.
25:01As important as choosing
25:08their disguise
25:09was selecting
25:10the right victims.
25:12The best operators
25:13carefully gathered intelligence
25:15on prime targets.
25:17In 1674,
25:19an obscure highwayman
25:20named Francis Jackson
25:22recorded his adventures
25:23in a confessional pamphlet.
25:25If Jackson hoped
25:26it would give him a reprieve,
25:27he was wrong
25:28and he was hanged.
25:29But it's valued to us today
25:31is that he's left us
25:32a kind of highwayman's manual,
25:34a how-to guide
25:35for robbery on the road.
25:41In his book,
25:43Jackson explains
25:43how highwaymen
25:44had a spy network
25:45working throughout
25:46the coaching inns
25:47and taverns
25:48that dotted the landscape.
25:49Everyone was involved
25:50from the landlords
25:51to the stable hands,
25:53each getting a cut
25:54of the profits
25:54for a good tip-off.
25:58He also explained
26:00how highwaymen
26:00employed deception
26:02and confidence tricks,
26:04building false familiarity
26:05with potential victims,
26:07ingratiating themselves
26:08into fellow travellers' company
26:10before attacking.
26:15And Jackson also had advice
26:17for those who got caught.
26:18to procure mercy from the bench,
26:21there must be a plausible account
26:23given how you fell
26:24into this course of life,
26:26fetching a deep sigh,
26:27saying that you were well-born,
26:29but by reason of your family
26:31falling into decay,
26:33you were exposed
26:33to great want,
26:35and rather than shamefully beg,
26:37for you knew not
26:38how to labour,
26:39you were constrained
26:40to take this course
26:41for a subsistence,
26:43that it is your first fault
26:44which you are heartily sorry for,
26:46and will never attempt
26:47the like again.
26:50Most interestingly of all,
26:52I think,
26:53he also has advice
26:54for travellers.
26:55Never say goodbye
26:56and never reveal
26:57your destination
26:58in case a highwayman
27:00is listening.
27:01Also,
27:01never travel on a Sunday
27:03because the roads
27:04are deserted
27:04and the authorities
27:06won't help.
27:07Then there was
27:12the robbery itself,
27:13the riskiest part
27:14of the venture
27:15for all concerned.
27:17To minimise the risks,
27:18highwaymen often worked
27:19in gangs
27:20and they developed strategies
27:22to make robberies
27:23go smoothly.
27:25Sometimes,
27:25they simply chatted
27:26to the driver
27:27before pulling a gun,
27:28but if that wasn't an option,
27:30there was the direct approach,
27:32an ambush.
27:32One of the gang
27:35would approach
27:36directly from the front
27:37with pistol drawn
27:38to hold up the driver.
27:41Attacking head-on
27:41shielded him
27:42from the passengers inside
27:44who might be armed
27:45and it allowed him
27:46to make sure
27:46the driver surrendered.
27:50A second highwayman
27:51would head
27:52for the passengers.
27:53He might approach
27:54from directly
27:55behind the coach,
27:56minimising the chance
27:57of getting shot.
28:00From the rear
28:01or side window,
28:02he would then threaten
28:03or charm the passengers.
28:05Guttural threats
28:06of violence,
28:07alternating with
28:07witty provocations,
28:09both intended
28:10to coerce victims
28:11into handing over
28:12their goods
28:12without resistance.
28:15Then,
28:16the gang made
28:17their escape.
28:18To prevent pursuit
28:19or out of spite,
28:20they would sometimes
28:21cut the bridles
28:22or kill the horses.
28:25Finally,
28:26they would flee
28:26into a busy city
28:27or head to a friendly inn
28:29and establish an alibi.
28:32escape and evading
28:37the law
28:37were vital skills
28:38in highway robbery.
28:40In highwayman legend,
28:42the greatest of all
28:43escape tales
28:44belonged to the robbers
28:45of the Great North Road
28:46and they don't come
28:47any more sensational
28:48than those
28:49of John Neverson.
28:51Years before
28:52Dick Turpin,
28:53he became famous
28:54for his ingenious
28:55and daring escapes.
28:56This is the peak district
28:59in Derbyshire,
29:00John Neverson's
29:01stomping ground.
29:02It's the ideal environment
29:04for highwaymen.
29:10In reality,
29:12Neverson was a bit
29:13of a thug.
29:13He operated protection
29:15rackets on the routes
29:16to the markets
29:16down south.
29:18He took money
29:18not from wealthy
29:19aristocrats,
29:21but from drovers,
29:22from butchers,
29:23from shopkeepers.
29:23He was also
29:25a horse thief
29:26and a murderer,
29:28killing a parish constable
29:29sent to arrest him.
29:31Neverson was a hard man.
29:33He was also
29:34a survivor.
29:37Like many highwayman stories,
29:40it's unclear what's true
29:41and what is just a good yarn,
29:43but Neverson's legend
29:44was full of incredible
29:45escape routines.
29:48In 1674,
29:49he broke out of Wakefield Jail
29:51before charges could be brought
29:53out.
29:54A few years later,
29:55he was sentenced
29:56to transportation
29:56and hopped ship
29:58before it left the docks.
29:59But he wasn't done yet.
30:02According to the Newgate calendar,
30:04in 1681,
30:05the law caught up
30:06with him again
30:06and he was sent
30:07to Leicester Jail.
30:08But this time,
30:09escape seemed impossible.
30:11His escapades
30:12were well known
30:13and it was reported
30:14that he was so
30:15elaborately shackled
30:16that he could
30:17scarcely move.
30:19To get out of this one,
30:20he'd need a plan
30:21with a new level
30:22of cunning
30:22and a little bit
30:23of help
30:24from his friends.
30:27The first step
30:29was to get out
30:29of the closely guarded cell.
30:32He did this
30:32by feigning
30:33a deadly sickness
30:34and calling for his friends
30:35to pay their last respects,
30:37one of whom
30:38was a physician.
30:39On his arrival,
30:41his friend declared
30:41that Neverson
30:42had the plague
30:43and he would infect
30:44the whole prison,
30:45wardens included,
30:46if he was not isolated.
30:50Neverson was moved
30:51and unshackled
30:52and the guards
30:52kept their distance.
30:54Then he brought in
30:55an artist
30:55who set about
30:56painting the fatal
30:57symptoms of plague
30:58all over his body.
31:00His physician friend
31:01then gave him
31:02a sleeping draft
31:03and they claimed
31:04he was dead.
31:09After a cursory examination
31:11from his jailers
31:12who were too scared
31:13to get close,
31:14his friends were allowed
31:15to come and claim his body
31:17and take it away
31:18in a coffin.
31:19He was soon
31:20up on his feet,
31:21however,
31:22only this time
31:23as a highwayman
31:24robbing as his own ghost,
31:26which made him
31:27even more terrifying
31:28to his victims.
31:30But there was another
31:32highwayman on the north road
31:33with an escape story
31:34that became even more famous,
31:36known as Swift Nix,
31:39a shadowy figure
31:40nicknamed for being
31:41as fast as the devil himself.
31:43The story goes
31:46that he relieved
31:46a debt collector
31:47of £500
31:48near Rochester
31:49one morning,
31:50but he was worried
31:51that the victim
31:52would be able
31:52to identify him
31:53in court.
31:54Now,
31:55a lesser man
31:55might have killed
31:56the collector,
31:57but Swift Nix
31:58decided on a more
31:59elaborate alibi.
32:01He decided
32:02to ride the 230 miles
32:04to York
32:05in one day,
32:06a feat
32:07then considered impossible.
32:08After hatching his plan,
32:12he sped off,
32:13tearing through Chelmsford
32:14and Cambridge
32:14before herring up
32:15the Great North Road.
32:17Riding several horses
32:19into the ground,
32:19he arrived in York
32:20around 7.30,
32:22and changing
32:23into his finest clothes,
32:25he finally arrived,
32:26breathless,
32:27at his destination.
32:28A bowling green.
32:33Swift Nix
32:33stepped onto the green
32:35and exchanged pleasantries
32:36with the mayor,
32:37who would later swear
32:38that he'd been his guest
32:39that evening
32:39and couldn't possibly
32:40have been in Kent
32:41that very morning.
32:43This story
32:44was later attributed
32:45to Dick Turpin
32:46riding Black Bess,
32:47but the original
32:48was Swift Nix.
32:49But all of these stories,
32:57whether true or not,
32:58tell us what people
32:59wanted to see
33:00in their highwaymen.
33:01They needed to be charming,
33:03generous
33:03and clever.
33:05Who would have thought
33:06that a game of bowls
33:07was a way
33:08of staying out of jail?
33:12There was little
33:13to actually stop
33:14highwaymen
33:15plying their trade.
33:17The state was small
33:18and its ability
33:19to control
33:20the population
33:20was limited,
33:22which meant
33:22it reacted to crimes
33:24but did not try
33:24to prevent them.
33:26Fear of brutal punishment
33:28was supposed
33:28to keep criminals
33:29in check.
33:31Law enforcement
33:32was a localised affair.
33:36Constables
33:36were unpaid amateurs
33:38whose job it was
33:38to keep the peace
33:39and occasionally
33:40arrest villains
33:41if they didn't look
33:42too dangerous.
33:44In London,
33:45watchmen were tasked
33:46with keeping
33:46some sense of peace
33:48in the disorderly
33:49city.
33:50Watchmen were hired
33:51by the parish
33:52to walk round
33:53at night.
33:54Like the constables,
33:55they're seen
33:56as pretty ineffectual,
33:57quite often paid off,
33:58quite often old men,
34:00you know,
34:00it's a job you give
34:01to someone who's
34:01retiring kind of thing.
34:02So they're all,
34:04in most cases,
34:05they're seen
34:05as laughably inefficient.
34:08Perhaps the main
34:09hindrance
34:10to a highwayman
34:11early on
34:11seems to have been
34:12the hue and cry.
34:14a potty of regular
34:16citizens gathered
34:17by their victims
34:18to hunt them down.
34:21Eventually,
34:21though,
34:22it was a change
34:22in the law
34:23that posed
34:24the biggest threat
34:25to highwaymen
34:25as the 18th century
34:27dawned.
34:28By this time,
34:29it was acknowledged
34:30that things had got
34:31completely out of control,
34:33but the aristocracy
34:34who ran the state
34:35had no interest
34:36in founding
34:37a police force.
34:38It had more than
34:39a little whiff
34:39of French tyranny
34:41and expense about it.
34:43Justice was about
34:44making the legal
34:45penalties stronger
34:46rather than prevention.
34:48They wanted to use
34:49the law
34:50to bring down
34:50the knights of the road.
34:54The High Women's Act
34:56came into force
34:57in 1693,
34:59and you've got
35:00relatively wealthy people
35:01being robbed
35:03in inaccessible places
35:05by men on horseback.
35:07So the getaway
35:07was pretty easy
35:09and the detection
35:10was pretty unlikely.
35:12So they offered rewards
35:14to people
35:14who apprehended
35:15High Women.
35:16The other section,
35:17of course,
35:17was to try and
35:18turn criminals
35:19against criminals,
35:20get grasses.
35:21So if you were
35:22convicted of a robbery
35:24and therefore you were
35:24facing the death penalty
35:25yourself,
35:26if you were prepared
35:27to turn Queen's evidence
35:28and shop at least
35:30two of your confederates,
35:32you would receive
35:33a pardon for the robberies
35:35that you had committed.
35:36Any private citizen
35:40could bring in
35:41a highwayman
35:42if they dared,
35:43but taking them
35:44to court
35:44wasn't simple.
35:46It was their victims
35:47who had to pay
35:48for a prosecution
35:49and provide evidence.
35:51For many,
35:52it simply wasn't worth it.
35:55These were not men
35:55to cross lightly.
35:56When one highwayman
36:00couldn't get a ring
36:01off his victim's hand,
36:02he cut off her finger.
36:04When another swallowed
36:05her jewellery
36:06to keep it safe,
36:07so the robber
36:09cut her open.
36:10And when their identity
36:11was threatened,
36:13they could be
36:13particularly ruthless.
36:15On one occasion,
36:16a local woman
36:17witnessed the robbery
36:18and called out
36:19that she recognised
36:20the robbers
36:21and that she would
36:21report them.
36:22They turned around
36:23and cut out her tongue.
36:26But there were also
36:27some instructive accounts
36:29of victims
36:30fighting back
36:30against their attackers,
36:33including an incident
36:34with two highwaymen
36:35at the Surrey village
36:36of Ripley.
36:38Their victims
36:39alerted the local population
36:41who chased their attackers
36:42across a village green
36:43into the middle
36:45of a game of cricket.
36:46Now, one of the attackers
36:47managed to escape,
36:49but the other
36:50was beaten into submission
36:51with cricket bat
36:52and stumps.
36:56Whatever the truth
36:57about their methods,
36:59as the 1700s progressed,
37:01highwaymen's stories
37:02became an increasingly
37:03popular form
37:04of entertainment.
37:06As their fame grew,
37:07so did the sense
37:08of romance
37:09around the idea
37:10of who they were
37:11and what they stood for.
37:14In 1714,
37:15Captain Alexander Smith's book
37:17The Complete History
37:18of the Lives and Robberies
37:20of the Most Notorious Highwaymen
37:21caused a sensation.
37:23It set the bar
37:24for colourful
37:25and slightly dubious
37:26accounts of the big names
37:28in highway robbery.
37:30But whilst the public
37:30might find them romantic,
37:32the elite weren't so keen.
37:34They represented a threat
37:35to the social order.
37:37Not only were they
37:38attacking property
37:39with impunity
37:40without any regard
37:41to the rank
37:42of their victims,
37:43but the robberies
37:44were giving them wealth
37:45and pretensions of status.
37:48To satirists,
37:50there was a delicious irony
37:51to the howls of outrage
37:53about highwaymen.
37:54For them,
37:55politicians in the Georgian government
37:57were even worse thieves.
38:00In 1728,
38:01John Gay penned
38:02The Beggar's Opera
38:03using a highwayman
38:05called McHeath
38:06as a central character
38:07in his stage satire.
38:09McHeath was the theatrical incarnation
38:12of the gentleman robber,
38:13but he wasn't the villain
38:15of the piece.
38:16He was moral,
38:17he was noble,
38:18and it was set against
38:19the rapaciousness
38:20of the elite.
38:22His character was used
38:23to dissect the hypocrisy
38:24of the ruling classes
38:26who were losing more
38:27at the gambling tables
38:28than they were on the roads.
38:31Then there was the corruption.
38:34In John Gay's eyes,
38:35highwaymen were more honest thieves
38:37than the government.
38:38The ruling class
38:39were committing robberies
38:40of their own,
38:41but they were getting away with it.
38:43Prime Minister Robert Walpole
38:44spirited away thousands of pounds,
38:47and when the Chancellor,
38:48the Earl of Macclesfield,
38:50took £100,000 in bribes,
38:53all he got was a fine.
39:00The highwayman epidemic
39:01was a sign of the times.
39:04Britain was becoming
39:05a modern state.
39:07Commerce and capitalism
39:08were accelerating rapidly,
39:10leaving the old order behind.
39:13Highwaymen have been said
39:14to symbolise this process
39:16as upwardly mobile,
39:18ruthless,
39:19and heavily profit-oriented.
39:22Highwaymen stole
39:23because they wanted the money
39:24to support their lifestyle
39:26and didn't want to work for it.
39:28But there was still a sense
39:29that there were good
39:30and bad thieves in England.
39:32Criminality had its own hierarchy,
39:35and right at the top
39:36were highwaymen.
39:37Many even considered
39:38themselves gentlemen.
39:41None more so
39:42than James Maclean.
39:44He was the son
39:44of a wealthy Scottish clergyman
39:47with connections.
39:48Not quite a gentleman,
39:49but not far off.
39:50He was raised to become a merchant,
39:52but early on,
39:53it was clear that he had
39:54a better eye for fine clothes
39:56than business.
39:58Maclean was also a hopeless gambler
40:00and fritted away
40:01a considerable inheritance.
40:03Eternally on the scrounge,
40:05he then moved to London
40:05to find himself a rich wife.
40:07He quickly married a tradesman's daughter
40:10and used her £500 dowry
40:12to set up a grocer's shop.
40:14For a while,
40:15it looked like he'd turned
40:16his life around.
40:17When his wife died,
40:24it quickly became clear
40:25that she had been the one
40:26running the business.
40:28Maclean was clueless,
40:29so he sold up
40:30and packed his kids off
40:31to their grandparents.
40:33With his remaining funds,
40:34he then bought expensive clothes
40:36and began to mingle
40:38in high society
40:39in an attempt
40:40to bag himself
40:41a wealthy wife.
40:42but he had no luck
40:43and soon
40:44the money ran out.
40:52Maclean had become desperate
40:53when he met a man
40:55named William Plunkett.
40:57Now, he was an apothecary
40:58and a fellow bankrupt
41:00and he suggested
41:01that they start up
41:02a new business together,
41:04setting up shop
41:05as highwaymen.
41:09Plunkett recognised
41:10that Maclean's gentleman
41:12humanly pretensions
41:13might actually come in handy.
41:15Expressing sympathy
41:16for his plight,
41:17Plunkett urged Maclean
41:19to join him on the roads.
41:21I thought, Maclean,
41:21thou had spirit
41:23and resolution
41:23with some knowledge
41:25of the world.
41:26A brave man cannot want
41:27he has a right to live
41:29and need not want
41:30the conveniences of life
41:32while the dull,
41:33plodding, busy knaves
41:34carry cash in their pockets.
41:36We must draw upon them
41:38to supply our wants.
41:40There need only impudence
41:41and getting the better
41:42of a few silly scruples,
41:44but there's scarce
41:45courage necessary.
41:48Their ruse was simple
41:49but effective.
41:51While Maclean mingled
41:52with the great
41:52and the good,
41:53Plunkett posed
41:54as his footman,
41:56which gave him access
41:56below stairs
41:57where he could get
41:58information from the staff.
42:01And so with Maclean
42:02listening upstairs
42:03and Plunkett downstairs,
42:04loose lips
42:05would provide juicy targets.
42:09Maclean, though,
42:09was a bit of a coward.
42:11During a hold-up,
42:12Plunkett sent him
42:13to stop the drive
42:14of a coach
42:15while he searched
42:15the passengers,
42:16but Maclean's courage
42:17failed him.
42:19Trembling with fear,
42:19he tried several times
42:21but just couldn't do it
42:22and Plunkett
42:23had to step in.
42:25But eventually,
42:26Maclean got the hang of it
42:27until one incident
42:29made them the talk
42:30of the town.
42:31In Hyde Park,
42:32they held up
42:33the coach of Horace Walpole,
42:35the Prime Minister's son
42:36and Gothic novelist,
42:37who soon found himself
42:39in a horror story
42:40of his own.
42:41The ever-nervous Maclean
42:43was collecting
42:44the passengers' valuables
42:45when his gun
42:46went off by accident,
42:47nearly blowing off
42:48Walpole's head
42:49and severely scorching
42:50the shocked man's cheek.
42:52After profuse apologies,
42:54Maclean gathered the goods
42:55and they scarpered.
42:57True to his gentlemanly credentials,
42:59the mortified Maclean
43:01wrote to Walpole
43:02the next day
43:02to apologise
43:03and to try and sell him
43:05his own belongings back.
43:07Maclean became known
43:08as the gentleman highwayman
43:10and by reputation
43:11he was courteous to a fault.
43:13Finally,
43:14he got to live
43:14as he'd always seen himself,
43:16a high flyer
43:17mixing with the very best
43:19people in society.
43:22And then,
43:23inevitably,
43:24it all went wrong.
43:25The blundering duo
43:26robbed the Salisbury stagecoach,
43:28relieving Lord Eglinton
43:30of his purse
43:30and blunderbuss
43:31and a wealthy passenger
43:33named Josiah Higdon
43:34of his clothes
43:35and expensive fabrics.
43:38Maclean then tried
43:38to sell
43:39some of the stolen goods.
43:41Firstly,
43:41he went to a lacemaker
43:43with some of
43:43Josiah Higdon's golden lace.
43:46But,
43:46unluckily for him,
43:47it was exactly
43:48the same lacemaker
43:49who had just sold it
43:50to Higdon.
43:52After narrowly escaping
43:54that encounter,
43:55Maclean was arrested.
43:56Higdon recognised
43:58his stolen property
43:59in the local shop
44:00where Maclean
44:01had eventually sold it
44:02and,
44:03unbelievably,
44:04had left his name
44:05and address.
44:07He'd been caught
44:07red-handed.
44:08Plunkett fled,
44:09never to be seen again.
44:11Maclean was sent to jail
44:13where he became
44:13a celebrity inmate.
44:153,000 people
44:17paid his jailers
44:18to visit him,
44:19including several
44:20of the aristocratic circle
44:21he had been
44:22so desperate to court.
44:23Being unable
44:28to tell a common criminal
44:29apart from a gentleman
44:30posed a threat
44:32to the social order
44:33and Maclean's story
44:34was used
44:35as a dire warning.
44:37But status
44:38was important
44:39to criminals.
44:40Whilst in jail,
44:41Maclean apparently
44:42wrote a treatise
44:42published after his death
44:44that attempted
44:45to distinguish
44:45the types of crime
44:47he committed
44:48from those
44:49of other
44:49mere criminals.
44:50Highway robbers
44:52were considered
44:53gentlemen of the road.
44:55In order to be
44:55a highwayman
44:56you had to have
44:56the accoutrements,
44:57you had to have a horse,
44:58you had to be able
44:58to feed the horse,
44:59you had to have a saddle.
45:01Well, I suppose
45:01you could nick those
45:03but more often or not
45:04you inherited those
45:05because you came
45:06from that sort of class
45:07and you had to be able
45:08to ride.
45:09And not everyone
45:10could ride a horse
45:11but the gentry could
45:12or the well-off
45:13or the better-off could.
45:15Highwaymen were,
45:16no doubt,
45:17at the top
45:17of the criminal hierarchy.
45:18They got to ride
45:19at the front of the cart
45:21to execution at Tyburn.
45:23A highwayman,
45:24Maclean insisted,
45:25would only ever
45:26rob the rich
45:27whereas the lowly footpad
45:28had little nobility
45:30in his work.
45:32Standing at Tyburn tree,
45:34Maclean faced his end
45:35as he had carried out
45:36his career.
45:37His last words
45:38as he saw the gallows,
45:40oh Jesus.
45:45All of the colourful tales
45:47of the highwayman age
45:48were later taken
45:49and distilled
45:50into the story
45:51of one man,
45:52Dick Turpin.
45:55Popular culture
45:56down the centuries
45:56would embellish
45:57and exalt his legend
45:59through entertaining yarns
46:00but lurking behind
46:02the glamorous turpin
46:03of myth
46:04was a real man
46:06with a far darker story.
46:08Turpin's real life
46:15was probably more typical
46:17of the average highwayman.
46:19He was a braggart,
46:20a bully
46:21and a coward.
46:22Violence was his modus operandi,
46:24not gallantry.
46:27Like the royalist robber
46:29James Hynde,
46:30he trained as a butcher
46:31with a shop in Essex.
46:34Butchery was a respectable profession
46:36but feeling the pinch
46:37in changing times.
46:40Turpin's downward spiral
46:41began when he started
46:42selling meat
46:43for a dodgy gang
46:44of poachers.
46:45When the law got involved,
46:47he left his business
46:47and joined his suppliers,
46:49the Gregory gang.
46:51Soon, however,
46:52even poaching
46:53became too risky.
46:54So, ironically,
46:55they turned to something
46:56that they thought
46:57would be safer.
46:58Armed robbery.
46:59There was no glamour
47:02or panache
47:02to these outlaws.
47:04The gang was ruthless
47:05with a reputation
47:06for violence,
47:08torture and rape.
47:10Far from the cheeky
47:11and respected thieves
47:12of popular fiction,
47:13they were housebreakers
47:15who preyed
47:15on the defenceless.
47:17And they were perfectly prepared
47:19to carry out their threats,
47:21beating, burning
47:22and slashing their victims.
47:24The gang turned to house robbery
47:26and in early 1735,
47:28this gang attacks
47:29an isolated farmhouse
47:31in Edgware,
47:32which was in a village
47:33on the outskirts of London,
47:34which involves torturing
47:36a 70-year-old man
47:38who's the householder
47:39to get him to reveal
47:41where valuables
47:41in the house are hidden.
47:43This involves
47:44sitting on the fire,
47:45bare buttocked,
47:46whipping him.
47:48While this is going on,
47:49one of the leaders
47:50of the gang
47:50is upstairs raping
47:51a maid at Pistol Point.
47:53These are not folk heroes.
47:56The gang was eventually
48:00brought down
48:00by a justice of the peace
48:02and Turpin fled.
48:04But one of their members
48:05had been captured
48:05and confessed everything
48:07and he even gave
48:08a description of Turpin,
48:10now a wanted man.
48:13Richard Turpin,
48:15a butcher by trade,
48:16is a tall, fresh-coloured man,
48:18very marked with the smallpox,
48:20about 26 years of age,
48:22about 5 feet 9 inches high,
48:24wears a blue-grey coat
48:25and a light natural wig.
48:28After a time on the run,
48:30Turpin ended up
48:31in Epping Forest.
48:32A busy route from London,
48:34it provided the perfect location
48:36for his transformation
48:37into a highwayman.
48:41And an ideal hiding place
48:43for a man with a price
48:44on his head.
48:46For a short time,
48:47Turpin and his small gang
48:48of associates
48:49were prolific thieves,
48:50but inevitably,
48:51they got greedy.
48:53Turpin spotted a horse
48:55that he thought
48:55looked much finer
48:57than his own
48:57and forced the owner
48:58to hand it over
48:59at gunpoint.
49:01It was to be his downfall.
49:04The horse
49:04was an expensive racehorse
49:06named White Stockings
49:08for the white marks
49:09on its lower legs.
49:10And it wasn't long
49:11before the horse
49:12and Turpin
49:13were tracked down.
49:14They were found
49:18at a pub
49:19in Whitechapel.
49:20A local constable
49:21was summoned
49:21and a posse raised
49:22to set an ambush.
49:25In the ensuing melee,
49:26one of his gang
49:27was shot
49:28and mortally wounded.
49:30Accounts differ
49:30as to who pulled
49:31the trigger
49:32and why.
49:33Some reports
49:34say that Turpin
49:35fired in order
49:36to silence his colleague.
49:37Others say
49:38he was trying
49:39to free him.
49:40Either way,
49:41his luck
49:41was running out.
49:42As the noose tightened,
49:45Turpin's notoriety
49:47came back to haunt him.
49:48Eager to claim
49:49the large reward
49:50on his head,
49:51a forest keeper's servant,
49:52Thomas Morris,
49:53set out to capture him.
49:55But Turpin
49:56wasn't going to go quietly
49:57and he shot Morris dead.
50:02The reward
50:03was raised
50:03to 200 pounds.
50:07Turpin resurfaced
50:08in Yorkshire
50:09and changed his name
50:10to John Palmer.
50:11He then became
50:13a horse dealer,
50:14the 18th century equivalent
50:15of a second-hand car salesman.
50:17And, of course,
50:19all of Palmer's horses
50:20were stolen.
50:23For a few years,
50:24he blended in,
50:25gaining a measure
50:26of respectability
50:26and friendship
50:27in the local area.
50:29But then,
50:29after a hunting trip
50:30with some locals,
50:32the man everyone knew
50:33as John Palmer
50:34made a bizarre
50:35and fatal mistake.
50:36To the utter bewilderment
50:38of the hunting party,
50:39he took out his pistol
50:40and blew the head
50:41off one of his landlord's chickens.
50:43Then,
50:44when a neighbour complained,
50:45Palmer threatened
50:46to do the same to him.
50:48A constable was summoned
50:49and John Palmer
50:50was sent to the local jail.
50:53The authorities
50:54began to suspect
50:55that there was more
50:56to this strange
50:57John Palmer chap.
50:58No one knew anything
50:59about him before
51:00he arrived a few years earlier
51:01or how he earned a living.
51:04From his accent,
51:04he clearly wasn't local.
51:08Inquiries were made
51:09in Lincolnshire,
51:10where John Palmer
51:11had lived before.
51:13And, sure enough,
51:14they recognised the man.
51:15He'd been arrested
51:16for the theft
51:17of livestock and horses
51:18and had since escaped.
51:21Realising they had
51:22a bigger case
51:22on their hands,
51:24they brought him here
51:25to York Jail.
51:26But they still
51:34didn't know
51:34his true identity.
51:36In 1739,
51:37the man known
51:38as John Palmer
51:39wrote a letter
51:39to his brother-in-law,
51:41Pumper Rivenall,
51:42back in Essex,
51:43asking for his help.
51:45But when Rivenall
51:46looked at the letter,
51:47he claimed
51:47not to know anyone
51:48from York
51:49and refused to pay
51:50the postal charge.
51:52By a bewildering coincidence,
51:54the letter was seen
51:55by a man called
51:56James Smith,
51:58the very man
51:58who had taught
51:59Richard Turpin
52:00how to write.
52:02Recognising the handwriting,
52:03he went straight
52:04to the authorities.
52:06John Palmer
52:06had been rumbled.
52:09At York Assizes
52:10in 1739,
52:12Richard Turpin
52:12was put on trial
52:14for horse theft.
52:17Despite repeated denials
52:19of the trial,
52:21John Palmer
52:21was identified
52:22as Dick Turpin
52:23and he was found guilty.
52:25When asked by the judge
52:26why he had failed
52:27to bring any character witnesses
52:29to his defence,
52:31Turpin said
52:31that he had been told
52:33that his trial
52:33would be moved to Essex
52:35and that he was unable
52:36to bring anyone here
52:37where he was a stranger.
52:39It seemed
52:39he never even expected
52:41it to get this far.
52:42In the end,
52:52Turpin was condemned
52:53as a simple horse thief
52:54and he was hanged here
52:56at York Racecourse.
52:58And in an irony
52:59that can't have escaped him,
53:01the hangman
53:02was a fellow highwayman
53:03who'd been spared
53:04the noose
53:05for carrying out
53:06the day's executions.
53:07Perhaps the only act
53:13that Turpin carried out
53:14that was anything
53:15close to the legend
53:16was when
53:17he was standing
53:17on the cart
53:18with the noose
53:19around his neck
53:20and he stamped
53:21his shaking leg
53:23until it was still
53:24and then he jumped off
53:25into oblivion
53:26before he could be pushed.
53:28During his life,
53:34Turpin was reviled
53:35by Walpole's
53:36weak administration.
53:37He was ammunition
53:38for their opponents
53:39who suggested
53:40that they were not
53:41being tough enough
53:42on law and order.
53:43But the public
53:45would remember
53:45men like Turpin
53:46differently.
53:48As memories
53:48of the real man faded,
53:50the myth took over.
53:53A few decades
53:54after his death,
53:55Turpin reappeared
53:56in song
53:56as a much
53:57rehabilitated character.
54:10Said Turpin,
54:12he'd never find me
54:13or I hid my money
54:15in my book.
54:16The lawyer says,
54:17as none could find,
54:19I hid my gold
54:20in my cape behind.
54:22Oh, rare Turpin hero.
54:25Oh, rare Turpin,
54:27no.
54:32As they were
54:33riding past the mill,
54:35Turpin commands him
54:37to stand still,
54:38he says,
54:39your cloak,
54:39I must cut off
54:41my badge.
54:41He needs a saddle block.
54:44Oh, rare Turpin hero.
54:47Oh, rare Turpin hero.
54:49Wow.
54:50It's such a fantastic song,
55:00but it's one of so many
55:02about highwaymen.
55:03Why was it so popular?
55:04Well, people just love
55:06to have their own rogue,
55:07their own supervillain,
55:08especially their own local one,
55:10and someone to stand up
55:11to authority.
55:12When you look at it
55:13as a historian,
55:13it's very clear
55:14that the myth
55:15and the reality
55:16are not the same,
55:17and in real life,
55:18these people
55:18were very unpleasant.
55:20They were violent,
55:21armed robbers.
55:22Often when these ballads
55:23were originally sold,
55:25they were telling the news,
55:26they told the truth,
55:27so they would say,
55:28what actually happened
55:28to these characters
55:29usually hung.
55:31But as soon as these songs
55:32got into the mouths
55:33of the people,
55:34the stories were very different,
55:35and usually they'd get away
55:37scot-free.
55:38The songs took these legends
55:39around the country,
55:41and if you had
55:42a fantastic story
55:44coupled with
55:45a really catchy tune,
55:47then that's just going to
55:48spread like wildfire.
55:51In the early 1800s,
55:53captivated by the old tales
55:55of highwaymen,
55:55was a young writer
55:56called William Harrison Ainsworth.
55:59It was largely through his writing
56:01that Dick Turpin
56:02and all highwaymen
56:03came to be the heavily romanticised
56:06mythical rogues
56:07we know today.
56:10Through Ainsworth's 1834 novel
56:13Rookwood,
56:14Turpin became associated
56:15with Black Bess
56:16and the famous
56:17escape ride to York.
56:19He was remodelled
56:20with the virtues
56:21of an 1830s gentleman
56:22fit for a new age,
56:24an icon of Englishness
56:26and manly imperial pride.
56:28With Ainsworth,
56:29highwaymen were transformed
56:30from the exciting
56:32but ultimately doomed criminal
56:34to the fantasy hero
56:36of boy's own adventures.
56:39But the fictional highwaymen
56:41could only become
56:42a proper hero
56:43because the real thing
56:44was no longer around
56:46to spoil the illusion.
56:48By the 1800s,
56:49mounted robbers
56:49had long since ceased
56:51to be a threat to society.
56:53The age of the highwaymen
56:55was over.
56:58The world around them
57:00had changed.
57:02The enclosure of fields
57:04and open countryside
57:05had limited their movement.
57:08Faster coaches travelled
57:09on smoother roads
57:10which were in turn
57:12policed by mounted patrols.
57:15Railways were perhaps
57:16the final nail in their coffin
57:17as the wealthy
57:18simply ceased
57:19to travel by road.
57:22Writers seized upon
57:23the idea of highwaymen
57:24as lovable
57:25and misunderstood rogues
57:26who did as they liked
57:28and did it with style.
57:30And they developed
57:30these ideas
57:31just as the highwaymen
57:32were fading into the past.
57:35They became
57:36the star attraction
57:37of penny dreadfuls,
57:39cheap theatre shows
57:40and children's toys.
57:43And one day,
57:45Ainsworth's story
57:45would find its ultimate expression
57:47on Hollywood's silver screens.
57:50As the prospect
57:52of violence disappeared,
57:53so did the darker,
57:55unsavoury aspects
57:56of the highwaymen's story.
57:59As Victorian heroes,
58:00highwaymen became
58:01fancy dress outlaws
58:03with straightened out morals
58:04and a firm sense
58:05of social justice.
58:07They also brought
58:08a hint of danger,
58:09rebellion and free spirit
58:11to a very straight-laced age.
58:14But they were outlaws
58:14who would accompany us
58:15on adventures
58:16rather than steal our wallets.
58:18And it was a potent mix.
58:20The real thing
58:21may have gone,
58:22but in our imagination
58:23they were here to stay.
58:26Next time,
58:27from the highways
58:28to the high seas,
58:29the British outlaw
58:30turns to piracy.
58:32Their plunderings
58:33threaten a fledgling
58:34maritime empire
58:35and the bloody exploits
58:37of swashbucklers
58:38like Captain Kidd
58:39and Blackbeard
58:40make them into
58:40the most hunted
58:41renegades in history.
58:43MUSIC PLAYS
58:44Goetheed by
58:46Transcription by CastingWords
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