Drunks, Whores and Idle Apprentices: Criminal Biographies of the Eighteenth Century

by PHILIP RAWLINGS

  23 Ordinary of Newgate’s Account, 5 December 1715. See also ibid., 23 March 1708/ 9.

  24 ibid., 4 May 1705, 24 June 1709, 5 December 1715. See also A Copy of William Gregg’s Paper Delivered by him, to the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex, and Paul Lorrain Ordinary of Newgate, at Tyburn, the Place he was executed for High Treason, on Wednesday the 28th of April 1708. Printed from the Original, and Published by Authority, London, 1708.

  25 Parker’s Weekly Journal, September 1732, quoted in Ordinary of Newgate’s Account, 9 October 1732, p. 18; Account of the Life, Adventures and Transactions of Robert Ramsey, alias Sir Robert Gray. From his Birth to his Execution at Tyburn, on Wednesday, the Thirteenth of January 1741–2, London, 1742, p. 30; The Matchless Rogue. Or, An Account of the Life of Tom Merriman, London, 1725, p. 86; Some Observations on the Trial of Mr.Thomas Carr, who was Executed at Tyburn, January 18, 1737. With Some Remarks on the Partial and Contradictory Account given of him by the Ordinary of Newgate, London, 1737, pp. 1–2 and 8–9; Select Trials at the Sessions-House in the Old-Bailey, for Murder, Robberies, Rapes, Sodomy, Coining, Frauds, Bigamy, and other Offences. To which are added, Genuine Accounts of the Lives, Behaviour, Confessions and Dying Speeches of the most eminent Convicts, 4 volumes, London, 1742, vol. I, p. 325, also, pp. 81 and 312–19; The Life, Travels, Exploits, Frauds and Robberies, of Charles Speckman, alias Brown, Who was Executed at Tyburn, on Wednesday the 23d of November, 1763, London, 1763, p. 53, also, p. 50 (reprinted in this book, p. 185); B.Swift, Tyburn to the Marine Society. A Poem, London, 1759, p. 27. See also Manuscripts of the Earl of Egmont: Diary of Viscount Percival, Afterwards First Earl of Egmont, 3 volumes, London, 1920-3, vol. I, p. 11; A Full, True and Impartial Account of all the Robberies Committed in City, Town, and Country, For several Years past by William Hawkins. In Company with Wilson, Butler, Fox, and others not yet Taken, London, 1722, p. 42; A Compleat and True Account Of all the Robberies committed by James Carrick, John Malhoni, and their Accomplices, In Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, and other Places in Ireland. As also on the Highway in England, and in the Streets of the Highway in England, and in the Streets of London and Westminster, and Places adjacent, London, 1722, pp. 1 and 24; Daily Journal, 7 September 1724; H.Fielding, The History of the Life of the Late Mr. Jonathan Wild the Great, London, 1743; Philo-Patria, A Letter to Henry Fielding, Esq. Occasioned by his Enquiry into the Causes of the late Increase of Robberies, &c., London, [1751], pp. 12–14; C.Jones, Some Methods Proposed Towards putting a Stop to the Flagrant Crimes of Murder, Robbery, and Perjury, London, 1752, p. 9; Lewis (ed.), Correspondence of Horace Walpole, vol. 10, pp. 5–6 and 113; Memoirs of the Life of John Matthieson, Executed for a Forgery on the Bank of England, on Wednesday the 28th of July, 1779, London, 1779, pp. 40–1.

  26 Some Account of the Life and Death of Matthew Lee, executed at Tyburn, October 11, 1752, In the 20th Year of his Age, London, 2nd edn, 1752. But see J.Lackington, Memoirs of the Forty-Five First Years of the Life of James Lackington, the present Bookseller in Chiswell-street, Finsbury-square, London, 7th edn, 1794, pp. 170–1; Monthly Review, 1788, p. 26. For other religious critiques: An Answer to a Narrative or the Ordinary of Newgate’s Account, London, 1718, quoted in P.Linebaugh, ‘The Ordinary of Newgate and his Account’ in J.S.Cockburn (ed.), Crime in England 1550–1800, London, 1977, pp. 246–69, at p. 255; R.Fowler, The Copy of a Letter sent to Matthew Henderson, While under Sentence of Death in Newgate, for the barbarous Murder of his Mistress, the Lady Dalrymple, London, 1745, p. 11n. and passim; W.Cudworth, A Copy of a Letter sent to the Revd. Mr. K– – – . Concerning Repentance,London, 1752, pp. 3–4 and 6.

  27 Ordinary of Newgate’s Account, 24 May 1684.

  28 A Compleat and True Account Of…Carrick, p. 24.

  29 W.K.Wimsatt and F.A.Pottle (eds), Boswell for the Defence 1769–1774, London, 1960, pp.

  306, 310, 318, 331 and passim.

  30 Ordinary of Newgate’s Account, 14 September 1741, pp. 7–15; Miss Mary Blandy’s own Account of the Affair between Her and Mr. Cranstoun, London, 1752; [Rev.W.Wilson], A Full and Genuine Account of the Lives, Characters, Behaviour, last Dying Words and Confessions, of the Four Malefactors, that were executed on Friday the 6th Day of this Instant April 1739, at Kennington-Common, London, 1739.

  31 For example, Whitehall Evening Post, 7 February 1754, 5 June 1754, possibly referring to Memoirs of the Life and remarkable Exploits of the noted Dennis Neale, alias John Clarke, otherwise call’d the Second Turpin, who was executed at Tyburn on Monday the 4th of February, 1754, for robbing on the Highway, London, 1754.

  32See the introduction to The History Of the remarkable Life of John Sheppard, p. 43.

  33 A Genuine Account of the Life and Actions of William Cannicott, Who was Executed at Tyburn, on Monday, September 20, 1756, For the Murder of his Wife, on Tuesday the 20th of July, 1756. Written by Himself, while Confined in Newgate, London, 1756, p. 11.

  34 A True Copy of the Paper, Delivered the Night before her Execution, by Sarah Malcom, to the Rev. Mr. Piddington, Lecturer of St. Bartholomew the Great. March 6th, 1732–3, London, 1732, pp. 3–5. See also Meditations and Letters wrote by the late William Alexander, During his Confinement in Newgate; Who was convicted of Forgery, at the last Assizes at Newcastle, and executed the 17th Nov. 1783; Published from his own Manuscripts. To which are added His Last Dying Speech, Some Account of his Behaviour, &c., Newcastle, [1783], pp. iv and 15; The True Copy of the Original Paper signed by Mr. Richard Noble, Which he designed for his Last Speech, deliver’d to Mr. Cook Curate of Kingston and Ordinary of Surry; Another to Mr. Boughton Vicar of Kingston; and a Third to the reverend Mr. L’Herondel; with A particular Account of his Behaviour some Days before his Execution, by all the aforesaid Clergy-men, London, 1713. But see Some Observations on the Trial of Mr. Thomas Carr.

  35 Ordinary of Newgate’s Account, 23 February 1718/19, p. 4. The publication referred to was presumably Mr. Bird’s Case. The nature and circumstances of this prosecution, will appear from the malice as well as character of my prosecutors, London, [1719]. See also Ordinary of Newgate’s Account, 18 May 1743, which refers to The Life and Adventures of Gilbert Langley, formerly of Serle-street, near Lincoln’s Inn, Goldsmith, London, 1743; and the introduction to The Life, Travels, Exploits, Frauds and Robberies, of Charles Speckman, pp. 181–2.

  36 Memoirs of the Right Villainous John Hall, The late Famous and Notorious Robber. Penn’d from his own Mouth sometime before his Death, London, 4th edn, 1714, p. 27.

  37Ordinary of Newgate’s Account, 16 December 1709. See also ibid., 26 January 1690, 28 February 1694, 28 September 1694, 18 May 1709, 16 September 1709, 22 December 1711.

  38 P.Linebaugh, The Tyburn riot against the surgeons’, in D.Hay, E.P.Thompson and P.Linebaugh (eds), Albion’s Fatal Tree: Crime and Society in Eighteenth-Century England, Harmondsworth, 1977, pp. 65–117.

  39 Ordinary of Newgate’s Account, 26 January 1690 (see also the report on John Benlose, ibid.). See also ibid., 28 September 1694.

  40 Ordinary of Newgate’s Account, 24 September 1708; Rev. J.Villette, A Genuine Account of the Behaviour, Confession, and Dying-Words of William Hawke and William Jones, Who were Executed at Tyburn on the 1st of July, 1774, London, 1774, pp. 20–1. But see The Life, Trial, & c. of William Hawke, The notorious Highwayman containing an Account of all the remarkable Robberies he com mitted before and since his Return from Transportation; with the Manner in which he was apprehended, and his Behaviour during the Time he was under Sentence of Death, London, 1774, p. 24. See also Ordinary of Newgate’s Account, 24 September 1704.

  41 For example, Mr. Bird’s Case. The nature and circumstances of this prosecution, will appear from the malice as well as character of my prosecutors; A Narrative Of all the Robberies, Escapes, &c. of John Sheppard, London, 1724; Ordinary of Newgate’s Account, 14 September 1741, report on James Hall; J.Bather, A Full and Faithful Account of the Life of James Bather, late Boatswain of the Nightingale Brig. Thomas Benson, Esq; Owner. Written by Hi
mself, London, [1754]; A Genuine Account of the Life and Actions of William Cannicott; The Genuine Memoirs of Joshua Crompton; Written by Himself in the Cells of Guildford, After his unhappy Conviction for Forgery on the Bank of England; Who was executed on Gangley Common near Guildford, on Thursday the 20th of August, 1778, London, 1778, p. 4.

  42 A Full and Faithful Account of the Life of James Bather.

  43 The Affecting Case of the Unfortunate Thomas Daniels, who was Tried at the sessions held at the Old Bailey, September 1761, for the Supposed Murder of his Wife; by Casting her out of a Chamber Window: And for which he was sentenced to die, but received his Majesty’s most Gracious and Free Pardon, London, 1761, p. 5. See also the introduction to Ordinary of Newgate’s Account: Mary Young (1741), p. 113. Hack writers would presumably have worked up the manuscripts: Thomas St Leger, who was hanged in 1745, claimed to have written criminal biographies before turning to smuggling: Ordinary of Newgate’s Account, 26 July 1745. See also The True and Genuine Account of the Confession (Whilst under Sentence of death) of Thomas Jones, and James Welch, For the barbarous Rape and Murder of Sarah Green, as Taken from the Mouth of Nicholls (the Evidence against them) and by them attested to be the Truth, London, 1751, p. 10.

  44 T.Davis, ‘Education, ideology and literature’ in T.Bennett, G.Martin, C.Mercer and J.Woollacott (eds), Culture, Ideology and Social Process, London, 1983, pp. 251–60.

  45 F.R.Leavis, The Great Tradition, Harmondsworth, 1977, p. 8.

  46 L.Althusser, ‘A letter on Art in reply to Andre Daspre’ in Lenin and Philosophy and Other trans. B.Brewster, London, 2nd edn, 1977, pp. 203–8, at p. 204.

  47 T.Eagleton, Marxism and Literary Criticism, London, 1976.

  48 F.W.Chandler, The Literature of Roguery, 2 volumes, Boston, 1907.

  49 ibid., vol. I, p. 164; Richetti, Popular Fiction Before Richardson, pp. 29–30.

  50 C.Pawling, ‘lntroduction: popular fiction: ideology or utopia?’ in Popular Fiction and Social Change, London, 1984, p. 2.

  51 L.Faller, Turned to Account: the Forms and Functions of Criminal Biography in Late Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth-Century England, Cambridge, 1987, p. 195.

  52 ibid., p. 188.

  53 ibid., p. 199.

  54 See, for example, L.Radzinowicz, A History of English Criminal Law and its Administration from 1750, 5 volumes, London, 1948–86, vol. I.

  55 G.Howson, Thief-Taker General: The Rise and Fall of Jonathan Wild, London, 1970. See also D.Barlow, Dick Turpin and the Gregory Gang, London, 1973.

  56 G.Salgado, The Elizabethan Underworld, London, 1977, 2.

  57 See the introduction to The Discoveries of John Poulter, p. 139.

  58 Quoted in M.McKeon, The Origins of the English Novel 1600–1740, London, 1988, p. 121.

  59 Quoted in J.Hall, The Sociology of Literature, London, 1979, p. 32.

  60 For instance, P.Linebaugh, ‘Tyburn: a study of crime and the labouring poor in London during the first half of the eighteenth century’, unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Warwick University, 1975.

  61 T.C.Curtis and F.M.Hale, ‘English thinking about crime, 1530–1620’, in L.A. Knafla (ed.), Crime and Criminal Justice in Europe and Canada,Waterloo, Canada, 1981.

  62 L.Lowenthal, Literature, Popular Culture and Society, New Jersey, 1961, p. xii.

  63 L.J.Davis, Factual Fictions: The Origins of the English Novel, New York, 1983.

  64 J.Sharpe, ‘“Last dying speeches”: religion, ideology and public execution in seventeenth-century England’, Past and Present, 1985, vol. 107, pp. 144–67, at p. 162; J. Sharpe, Crime in Early Modern England 1550–1700, London, 1984, p. 165. This links with the discussion of criminal justice in D.Hay, ‘Property, authority and the criminal law’ in D.Hay et al. (eds), Albion’s Fatal Tree, pp. 17–63.

  65 Hall, The Sociology of literature, p. 22.

  66 For an introduction to the work of Gramsci see C.Mouffe (ed.), Gramsci and Marxist Theory, London, 1979; Bennett et al. (eds), Culture, Ideology and Social Process, pp. 185– 260. See also E.P.Thompson, ‘Eighteenth-century English society: class struggle without class?’, Social History, 1978, vol. III, p. 151; ‘Patrician society, plebian culture’, Journal of Social History, 1974, vol. VII, p. 395.

  67 Bennett et al. (eds), Culture, Ideology and Social Process, pp. 197–8.

  68 For a twentieth-century study illustrating this, see S.Hall, C.Critcher, T. Jefferson, J.Clarke and B.Roberts, Policing the Crisis, London, 1979.

  69T.Eagleton, The Rape of Clarissa, quoted in T.Bennett and J.Woollacott, Bond and Beyond: The Political Career of a Popular Hero, London, 1987, p. 277.

  70 S.Copley (ed.), Literature and the Social Order in Eighteenth-Century England, London, 1984.

  71 P.Rawlings, ‘Recent writings on crime, criminal law, criminal justice, and punishment in the Early Modern Period’ in W.D.Hines (ed.), English Legal History: A Bibliography and Guide to the Literature, London, 1990, pp. 62–112, at pp. 84–7.

  72 I.Watt, The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson, and Fielding, Harmondsworth, 1963.

  73ibid., p. 98.

  74[S.Richardson], The Apprentice’s Vade Mecum: or, Young Man’s Pocket Companion, London, 1734, p. v.

  75 [D.Defoe], The Complete English Tradesman in Familiar Letters; Directing him in all the several Parts and Progressions of Trade, 2 volumes, London, 2nd edn, 1727, vol. I, p. 15.

  76 [D.Defoe], The Great Law of Subordination consider’d; or, the Insolence and Unsufferable Behaviour of Servants in England duly enquir’d into,London, 1724, p. 7.

  77 The Servants Calling; with some Advice to the Apprentice, London, 1725, 78 Richardson, Apprentice’s Vade Mecum. Also, Servants Calling, p. 69.

  78 Richardson, Apprentice’s Vade Mecum. Also, Servants Calling, p. 69.

  79 [D.Defoe], The Family Instructor, In Three Parts, London, 8th edn, 1720, p. 222.

  80 ibid., p. 232.

  81 [Defoe], Complete English Tradesman, vol. I, p. 160.

  82 [Richardson], Apprentice’s Vade Mecum, p. 4.

  83 Narrative Of…John Sheppard, p. 5.

  84 Ordinary of Newgate’s Account, 23 May

  85 ibid., 8 May 1693.

  86 ibid., 9 October 1732, p. 14.

  87 R.Porter, English Society in the Eighteenth Century, Harmondsworth, 1990, p. 23.

  88 Linebaugh, ‘Tyburn riot against the surgeons’, pp. 79–80.

  89 J.Shebbear, An Essay on the Origin, Progress and Establishment of National Society, London, 1776.

  90 Ordinary of Newgate’s Account, 14 March 1739, p. 6.

  91 The Case of Mary Edmonson. By a Gentleman of the Law,London, 1759, p. 4.

  92 H.Fielding, ‘An Enquiry into the Causes of the Late Increase of Robbers, &c.’ in T.Roscoe (ed.), The Works of Henry Fielding, pp. 759–93, at p. 780. See also J.Fielding, A Plan for A Preservatory and Reformatory, For the Benefit of Deserted Girls, and Penitent Prostitutes, London, 1758, p. 4.

  93 See above, note 49.

  94 Linebaugh, ‘The Ordinary of Newgate and his Account’, p. 250.

  95 J.Styles, ‘Sir John Fielding and the problem of criminal investigation in eighteenth-century England’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 1983, 5th series, vol. 33, pp. 127–49.

  96 T.Purland, Alsatian Eccentricities, 1700–1780, 2 volumes of newspaper cuttings in the British Library, item 755; Parliamentary History, vol. 16, cols 929–43, at col. 930; Sir J.Fielding, Extracts from such of the Penal Laws, as Particularly relate to the Peace and Good Order of this Metropolis, London, new edition, 1768, p. vi.

  97 For example, A Genuine Narrative of the Lives, Characters and Trials Of the four following Malefactors: viz. James Cotes, for a Highway-Robbery; Richard William Vaughan; William Stevens; and William Boodger, London, 1758; An Account of John Westcote, Late Porter To the Right Honourable The Earl of Harrington. In which is laid down An Effectual Method For preventing Theft and Robbery, London, [1765]; James Bevell, An Authentic Narrative of the Methods by which the Robbery committed i
n The House of the Right Honourable the Earl of Harrington, in the Stable-Yard, St. James’s, was discovered. With Some Remarkable Anecdotes, and Original Letters sent to Sir John Fielding on the Occasion, London, [1765]; The Genuine Memoirs of Joshua Crompton; Written by Himself in the Cells of Guildford, After his unhappy Conviction for Forgery on the Bank of England; Who was executed on Gangley Common near Guildford, on Thursday the 20th of August, 1778, London, 1778; The Trial of Thomas Smith, and John Kennedy, for a Highway Robbery, committed on the Body of John Matthews, in the Parish of Rickmansworth, Herts. on Sunday Evening the 13th of May last. As also, A particular Account of the Circumstances attending the discovery thereof, and of the Persons of the Robbers, Uxbridge, 1787. See also J.Hewitt, The Proceedings of J.Hewitt, Alderman, And one of his Majesty’s Justices of the Peace, for the City and County of Coventry, in the Year 1756. Being a particular Account of the Gang of Coiners, apprebended in the Counties of Oxford, Warwick, and Stafford, pursued by the Author, Birmingham, 1783; J.Hewitt, A Journal of the Proceedings of J. Hewitt, Senior Alderman Of the City of Coventry, And one of His Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for the said City and County, In his Duty as Magistrate, 2 volumes, Birmingham, 2nd edn, 1790.

  98 H.Fielding, An Enquiry Into the Causes of the Late Increase of Robbers, &c., London, 1751, Sect. IX. On the Blandy case see W.Roughead, Trial of Mary Blandy, Edinburgh, 1904. On the Canning case see A.Machen, The Canning Wonder, London, 1926; B.Wellington, The Mystery of Elizabeth Canning, New York, 1940; L.de la Torre, Elizabeth is Missing or, Truth Triumphant, London, 1947; J.Treherne, The Canning Enigma, London, 1989. For other examples see The Case of Mary Edmonson. By a Gentleman of the Law, London, 1759; The Case and Memoirs of the Late Rev. James Hackman. And of his Acquaintance with the late Miss Martha Reay, London, 1779; E.Inge and T.Webb, A Defence and Substance of the Trial of John Donellan, Esq; who was convicted for the Murder of Sir Theodosius Boughton, Bart. at the Assizes held at Warwick, On Friday the 30th of March 1781, London, 1781. A large number of pamphlets were published during and after the conviction of the Perreau brothers in 1775, some of which challenged the veracity of Caroline Rudd’s crucial evidence for the prosecution: Mr. Daniel Perreau’s Narrative of his unhappy case, London, 1775;Observations on the Trial of Mr. Robt. Perreau, London, 1775; A Solemn Declaration of Mr. Daniel Perreau, London, 1776.