Richard Turpin was an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticised following his execution in York for horse theft. Turpin may have followed his father's trade as a butcher early in his life but, by the early 1730s, he had joined a gang of deer thieves and, later, became a poacher, burglar, horse thief, and killer. He is also known for a fictional 200-mile (320 km) overnight ride from London to York on his horse Black Bess, a story that was made famous by the Victorian novelist William Harrison Ainsworth almost 100 years after Turpin's death.
The Newgate Calendar, subtitled The Malefactors' Bloody Register, was a popular collection of moralising stories about sin, crime, and criminals who commit them in England in the 18th and 19th centuries. Originally a monthly bulletin of executions, produced by the Keeper of Newgate Prison in London, the Calendar's title was appropriated by other publishers, who put out biographical chapbooks about notorious criminals such as Sawney Bean, Dick Turpin, and Moll Cutpurse.
Claude Du Vall (or Duval) (1643 – 21 January 1670) was a French highwayman in Restoration England. He came from a family of decayed nobility, and worked in the service of exiled royalists who returned to England under King Charles II. Little else is known of his history. According to popular legend, he abhorred violence, showing courtesy to his victims and chivalry to their womenfolk, thus spawning the myth of the romantic highwayman, as taken up by many novelists and playwrights.
A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to footpads. Such criminals operated until the mid- or late 19th century. Highwaywomen, such as Katherine Ferrers, were said to also exist, often dressing as men, especially in fiction.
Louis Jeremiah Abershawe, better known as Jerry Abershawe, or Abershaw, was an English highwayman who terrorised travellers, mostly along the road between Kingston upon Thames and London, in the late eighteenth century.
John Nevison, also known as William Nevison or Nevinson, was one of Britain's most notorious highwaymen, a gentleman rogue supposedly nicknamed Swift Nick by King Charles II after a renowned 200-mile (320 km) dash from Kent to York to establish an alibi for a robbery he had committed earlier that day. The story inspired William Harrison Ainsworth to include a modified version in his novel Rookwood, in which he attributed the feat to Dick Turpin. There are suggestions that the feat was actually undertaken by Samuel Nicks. The TV series Dick Turpin had an accomplice of the highwayman, Nick, who earned the nickname "Swiftnick".
Gentleman Ghost, introduced as Ghost, and also known as Gentleman Jim, is a supervillain appearing in works published by DC Entertainment. Created by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Joe Kubert, the character first appeared in Flash Comics #88.
Katherine Ferrers was an English gentlewoman and heiress. According to popular legend, she was also the "Wicked Lady", a highwaywoman who terrorised the English county of Hertfordshire before dying from gunshot wounds sustained during a robbery.
Finchley Common was an area of land in Middlesex, north of London, and until 1816, the boundary between the parishes of Finchley, Friern Barnet and Hornsey.
Joseph "Blueskin" Blake was an 18th-century English highwayman and prison escapee.
Carry On Dick is a 1974 British comedy film, the 26th release in the series of 31 Carry On films (1958–1992). The story is based on the Dick Turpin legend and features Turpin (James) as an antihero, attempting to evade capture by the authorities.
Richard "Galloping Dick" Ferguson was an English highwayman who, with partner Jerry Abershawe, raided the area around London during the late 18th century.
"Captain" James Maclaine was an Irish man of a respectable presbyterian family who had a brief but notorious career as a mounted highwayman in London with his accomplice William Plunkett. He was known as "The Gentleman Highwayman" as a result of his courteous behaviour during his robberies, and obtained a certain kind of celebrity. Notoriously, he held up and robbed Horace Walpole at gunpoint: eventually he was hanged at Tyburn.
William Plunkett was a highwayman and accomplice of the famed "Gentleman Highwayman", James MacLaine.
James Hind was a 17th-century highwayman and Royalist rabble-rouser during the English Civil War. He came from the town of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. He fought in the English Civil War for the Royalist cause. Some reports tell of him assisting the escape of King Charles II after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester. After the war, he took up highway robbery against the Commonwealth forces with his exploits both real and embellished printed in numerous pamphlets that made him into a Royalist folk hero of the Robin Hood mould. His partner Thomas Allen was captured when they attempted but failed to rob Oliver Cromwell. Hind also robbed John Bradshaw, President of the High Court of Justice for the trial of King Charles I. He refused to rob Cavaliers and even gave money to poor Royalists.
Dick Turpin is a 1933 British historical drama film directed by Victor Hanbury and John Stafford. It starred Victor McLaglen, Jane Carr, Frank Vosper, James Finlayson and Cecil Humphreys. The film depicts the adventures of the eighteenth century highwayman Dick Turpin and his legendary ride to York. It was based on a historical novel by Harrison Ainsworth.
Rookwood is a novel by William Harrison Ainsworth published in 1834. It is a historical and gothic romance that describes a dispute over the legitimate claim for the inheritance of Rookwood Place and the Rookwood family name.
Turpin's Cave is an area of Epping Forest in Essex which has been attributed as a hiding place of the highwayman Dick Turpin.
Thomas Cox, known as "The Handsome Highwayman", was an English highwayman, sentenced to death and hanged at Tyburn. He had a reputation for a spirited nature and it is reported that when asked if he wished to say a prayer before being hanged, he kicked the ordinary and the hangman out of the cart taking him there.
Deborah Churchill (1677–1708) was a British pickpocket and prostitute executed for being an accomplice to murder in 1708.
