Highway Robbery documented in print media, titilation for the rich and wish-fulfilment for the poor between 1750 and 1850 PDF

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Dissertation on Highway Robberies and how they were glamorised in print media....

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Highway robbery documented in printed media, titillation for the rich and wish-fulfilment for the poor between 1750 and 1850?

Abstract

This dissertation is going to evaluate highway robbery between 1750 and 1850. It will analyse the notion of the romanticised character as a criminal hero who provides titillation for the rich and wish-fulfillment for the poor. Using relevant secondary materials alongside primary sources, this assertion will be analysed in depth, with printed media documents and law records supporting the notion that the comedic criminal was portrayed in these manners.

I argue that the construct of the highway criminal as a character within printed media is aimed primarily at the aristocracy and the bourgeoise for amusement and titillation. And that the working class audience has been neglected in historians work in relation to print media and the highwayman as a character. Ignoring what he represents in the form of wish-fulfilment for the working class. In connection to this the effects of print media within society during the period 1750-1850 has not been studied from a bottom up approach, and this is what will be done within this dissertation.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Fiona McCall for her kindness and sharing her knowledge and wisdom with me which allowed me to explore highway robbery and the different concepts and contexts fully due to the knowledge she has shared. This will always be remembered, thank you.

I would like to thank Sue Bruley for nurturing me through my earlier years at university and always being the rock when stuck in a hard place. Her fantastic ability to encourage me to do and be better will never be forgotten.

I would like also thank Hilary from ASDAC and Laura from Learning Development for all of their encouragement and help, and never allowing me to feel like a lost cause.

I would like to thank Harry Felss for picking me up when I feel my work is falling apart, showing encouragement and support especially through this piece of work.

I would like to thank my dad Mick for reminding me that ‘one thing at a time’ has true meaning when overwhelmed with what appears never-ending workloads and never knowing where to start, during a mid break down.

And finally to Stef, who knew when I was struggling and accepted my mini breakdowns and tantrums, and fixed them by bringing me food and plenty of tea and reassuring me that it will all be over soon.

All of you will firmly remain with me for the rest of my days, and I cannot thank you all enough for your kindness and support.

Highway robbery between 1750 and 1850 affected members of the public travelling along English highways. It has been spoken of as opportunistic, calculated and as an act of criminality and Barbarous. These descriptions have been documented within newspapers and court records and, subsequently were dispersed throughout printed media at this time. The act itself was to rob the victims of their valuables either at the threat of violence or murder, closely linking the crime to those of an upper class position, and making them primarily the targets. Highway robbers have acted individually and some were members of gangs and these gangs were seen as calculated ‘criminals'. The majority of their crimes were against property, which during this period was seen as crimes against the person. Some highway robbers murdered the victim that could identify them or those who refused to part with their valuables, and these accounts were documented in various forms of print media and forms of art, which were dispersed throughout society in London. The aim of this study is to compare and contrast primary documentation that discuss the highway robbery in newspapers and court records. Throughout this study, an evaluation of the readership and reception of printed media will be discussed, focusing predominantly on the construction of highway robbery stories and its appeal to the audience; this being the aristocracy , bourgeoise and the working class. This study will take into consideration the length of each publication, the style of writing, and whether the document includes images. The existing historiography, Clive Emsley, James Sharpe, Peter Linebaugh, have approached highway robbery in relation to the enjoyment and influence of criminal printed literature from a top down approach and it appears after studying primary sources and historiography that highway robbery within printed media has not been studied from a working class perspective. Therefore excluding the rela-

tionship between the working class and printed media.This dissertation will sort to include the working class and establish whether this class was affected by highway robbery stories; if they were for wish fulfilment. Evidently historians are naturally drawn to study the aristocracy and the bourgeoise primarily as during this period the printing industry were closely related to them and subsequently there is vastly more primary documents available for interrogation, in contrast to the minimal documentation of the bourgeoise experience. This also could be argued from the perspective that these two classes were who created and funded these publications. Crucially they still remain in a vast quantity making them available for interrogation. The value of these sources appear to outweigh the small few that represent life from below, however, this study has found that just because the rich experience is better documented, it does not represent the whole of this society in 1750-1850. It is not enough to draw a conclusion based on these experiences alone and by excluding the working class from these studies, it ignores a vast amount of information and experiences which fill in the gaps.This also emphasises that romanticised highwayman did indeed affect the working class especially in court trials where the criminal escaped punishment. Evidently highway robberies were often the subject of contemporary pamphlets, to highlight the style of these stories Sharpe states that they featured heavily in the popular compendia of criminal activities pioneered by captain Alexander Smith’s The History of the lives of the most noted Highway-Men,1 these collections were for entertainment with the criminals seen as petty thieves and risk takers. These satires portray highwaymen as tricksters or pranksters rather than as career criminals.2 However, Linebaugh challenges this idea by awarding them the title of ‘professionals’ and describes them with gentlemanly traits. The highwayman represented personal independence and power, a figure apparently who was not an oppressor. Reflecting on the poverty of the poor and greed of the middle class landlords. He aspired in part to the independence of the master artisan-that proud, muscular, buff and hearty person’3 which reflects the gentleman hero stereotype that appears to be the mainstream and predictable stereotype of this romanticised character. It also allows this character to cross social spheres for entertainment and wish fulfilment. However, the highway robber as a character needs to be dissected. The social circumstances at the time of his activities need to be established and whether his social position is affected by his activity. It needs to be derived what class the victim was. The key topic areas of this study for discussion will illustrate key features that reoccur within highway robbery literature in the form of newspapers and court records. Print media and the level of accessibility to crime stories and primary documents will be used in order to explore social changes and how it documents the progressions of the law between 17501850. How these stories were successful in providing entertainment and how printed media prolonged the existence of the criminal after death will be discussed. In addition to this study we will discuss highway robbery in connection to Dick Turpin and Claude Duval who remain stereotypes for the highway robber of our time of evaluation. Also drawing upon the accomplishment of the highway robber within popular literature as a leisure pursuit for the aristocracy and the bourgeoise in the form of The Beggars Opera and the novel Rookwood, and finally examining broadsheets the time to evaluate how the relationship with highway characters was exaggerated and prolonged as a result of the want for titillation. Chapter one will focus and interrogate historiography from revisionist and post revisionist historians, Porter (1990), Sharpe (2016) and will conclude that historians have focused predominantly on the study of the aristocracy and bourgeoise in relation to highway robbery in printed media between 1750 and 1850 making the highway robber within print media a class based leisure pursuit. Chapter 2 will be divided as follows; 2a will establish the connection to highway robbery as a leisure pursuit from an aristocratic perspective. 2b will approach the bourgeoise and discuss titillation in the form of court records and death sentences. Finally chapter 3 will discuss the relationship between the highway robber as a criminal and wish fulfilment being gained through these robbers being acquitted of their attacks on the classes above, and how these judgements appealed to them in the form of revenge against the oppressive law of the bloody code, and their masters who degraded and neglected them.

1 James Sharpe. A Fiery & Furious People A History of Violence In England (London:Penguin Random House Uk.2016), 312.

2 Sharpe. A fiery and Furious People. 312 3 Peter Linebaugh. The London hanged Crime and Civil Society In The Eighteenth Century (London:Verso.2006)189

Chapter One-Historiography

Within this chapter historiography will be examined and questioned in relation to the highway robber and establish the readership and reception of highway robbery stories in print and performance by examining the length of the publication, alongside its illustrations and content. A brief comparison of two notorious criminals, Dick Turpin and Claude Duval, who were idols for upcoming highwaymen and were popular within literature between 1750 and 1850. The Contextual realism of the two highwaymen will be contrasted against their fictional representations in popular literature; fictionalised as gentlemen, contextual prints juxtaposed Dick Turpin and Claude DuVal’s actual characters. A comparison of these two well documented highwaymen provides a platform for discussing their characteristics; how they appealed to different audiences, and the success that came from the criminal acts that were documented in print literature. To be a successful highwayman, and have post existence, it appears that they must have certain characteristics as shown when studying Claude Duval and Dick Turpin. Claude DuVal being hung prior to our period of study in 1670, was described as acquiring ‘independence and taste for the high life mimicked the values of the dissolute Restoration aristocracy he had once worked for.’4 in contrast to Duval, Dick Turpin who was hanged in 1739 ‘was not the hero he has been made out to be since his death, most notably by the nineteenth-century novelist William Harrison Ainsworth.5 These highway characters both reflect the characteristics of the rich, the nobleness, values and in Turpin’ s case the authors middle class characteristics. Media between 1750 and 1850 catered for a wider audience than the aristocracy as ‘These cheap printed songs did not belong exclusively to the culture of elites or to that of the common people.’6 Moore is supportive of Bates ‘those historians who do examine this genre, one often reoccurring and currently predominant view is that these murder and execution broadsides were primarily a form of entertainment and that supposedly extreme narratives of graphic interpersonal violence contained within them had a fundamental ability to titillate and ‘amuse.’7 From this perspective it is agreeable that print media was both for titillation and wish fulfilment, making printed media inclusive of the working class and the classes above. Providing further foundation, Porter declares ‘violence ran through public and political life’ Porter also relates this statement to the political sphere by stating, ‘Prime minister Walpole, were let of the hook: the theme of The Beggars Opera and countless satires.’8 Porter combines public and political life within this statement and what it appears is he is suggesting from interpretation, that these satirical pieces reflect the behaviour of the rich in real terms of crime and politics and avoiding punishment which during our study period was common, and what appears as titillating is this avoidance of consequences for the aristocrats. To move forward, popular literature was a frequent between 1750-1850, literacy for the working class was improving (however it is hard to measure to what extent or what volume of increase was present) and public knowledge of highway robbery was dispersed outside of the wealthier circles of society, criminal trials and were frequently dispersed and accessible to the lower orders for interpretation wether in images, pamphlets or spoken of in public places, which offers historians an opportunity to evaluate the working class connection to printed media and the working class, this is supported by Sharp who states the comedic criminal was down to ‘popular literature being aimed at a market which included members of all social groups far below the elite’9 and yet the approach towards investigating the highway robber as a person or a character has not been studied as heavily as those from above. Agreeably this approach remains difficult, with literacy rates slowly increasing the working class still relied heavily on oral communication, especially the older generation who did not benefit from the introduction of education. With this being said, there is common knowledge of ballads and songs that were frequent within public houses and working class lifestyles and these oral traditions remained a prominent feature for this class as we will see in the next paragraph.

4 Lucy Moore. Con Men & Cutpurses (London:The Penguin Press,2000)193-194 5 Moore. Con Men.190 6 Laura Sanger, Johnathon Willis. Understanding Early Modern Primary Sources.(Abingdon:Taylor and Francis. 2016) 207 7 Kate Bates.Empathy or Entertainment? The form and function of violent crime narratives in Early-Nineteenth Century Broadsides. Broadside.Law, Crime and History (2014) 2 .3 8 Roy Porter. English Society in the 18th Century. (London:Penguin Books.1990)99 9 James Sharpe. Crime in Early Modern England 1550-1750 (Harlow:Pearsons Education Limited,1999)228

Oral traditions are complex and does not have a clear class ownership which makes it hard to connect to a specific class. As historian Hailwood states, ‘We can certainly find evidence that the ballad market was intended to be inclusive of humble alehouse-goers.’10 Connecting oral traditions public houses at first thought ties this tradition to the working class however it clearly states that it was to be inclusive and not exclusive too suggesting that this form of history has fluid boundaries in contrast to leisure pursuits such as the opera which could be argued being an aristocratic leisure pursuit. What is evident as Storch reaffirms, is that during our period of research that oral traditions ‘become divorced from that of the educated classes.’11 this can only be assumed that Storch is referring to the bourgeoise progressing to a coffee house lifestyle, a more favourable leisure pursuit to that of a public house.With that being said Sangha and Willis challenge this concept of class and leisure pursuits by explaining that ‘elite’ and ‘popular cultures’ were not sealed off from one another.’12 as an example of this Turpin Redivivus, is a poem, which poetry being linked to the classes above the working class, what makes this a good primary source for study is that it is written in short stanzas and uses basic language and the writing style is similar to that of a ballad, ‘And if “Your money or your life!” Is heard no more, instead, A fellow with a life preserver knocks you on the head.”13 there is no evidence that clearly emphasises that this source could be class exclusive, instead what it does offer historians as stated by Sangha and Willis, is an understanding of popular cultures being aimed at audiences above and below, and what is interesting about this is that oral traditions although complex show inclusively and not exclusivity which is why this form of historiography needs a much deeper investigation from the working class perspective and also the classes above. What is special about oral traditions is that they once were shared by society as a whole. Mackie furthers our class based evaluation of printed media and stipulates, ‘esteemed for their prose style and for their polite morality, The Tatler and The Spetactor lay the foundation of taste and gentility on which the British Bourgeois and professional classes erect their ascendency.’14 oral traditions were not class based, however it appears and it is agreeable that printed media generally opts to satisfy the needs of those above the working class. However the use of professional language alone is not enough to exclude satirical work to classes below the elite, as specified previously in reference to Hailwood, Sangha and Willis, as there is no solid evidence to say that these forms of literature were not shared between classes via oral interpretation. To further support this theory of the enjoyment of the criminal within the genteel audience, Loveman shows that along with newspapers, ‘Books about criminal lives conventionally professed to target a male audience and the longer ones to target a genteel male audience.’15 showing that the well to do in society relish crime stories. The importance of this statement being that Loveman recognises the audience range, emphasising the size of the printed media in the form of length, something that has not been analysed by other historians, and this shows us that that print media produced and catered for classes below the rich. Another agreeable aspect of historiography is that it is hard to find printed media which has not been manipulated by the author as Wilson states ‘the most common genres-all being “tainted” by the influence of learned elites’16 Wilsons statement enforces the concept that print media has been altered by those above the working class, and the descriptions of Turpin and Hind in their stories have been manipulated to fit the rich convention. Supporting this, Rule elaborates, ‘the country gentry were able to patronise popular leisure to some extent in a paternalist extension to their own authority,.’17. Showing that popular culture was always enforcing elitist configuration into crime media. To further evaluate printed media, Broadside Ballads, or the printed biographies from executions at Tyburn, it shows that the readership was of large quantity and appealed to many. Grey emphasises ‘biographies of criminals (often published in collections dubbed Newgate Calendars) surviving the pe-

10 Mark Hailwood.Sociability,Work and Labouring Identity in Seventeenth-Century England. Cultural and Social History, 8:1, 9-29.11 11 Robert D. Storch. Popular Culture and Custom in Nineteenth-Century England (London:British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.1982)22 12 Laura Sangha,Jonathon Willis. Understanding Early Modern Sources. 207 13 Punch. Turpin Rendivivus. (London,England)Saturday November 08,1756.pg187 14 Erin Mackie. Rakes, Highwaymen, and Pirates : The Making of the Modern Gentleman in the Eighteenth Century. (Maryland;John Hopkins University Press.2009)354 15 Kate Loveman. Eighteenth-Century Fiction 26, no. 1 (Fall 2013)1 16 Peter H.Wilson. A Companion To Eighteenth Century Europe. (West Sussex:John Wiley and Sons Ltd.2014)193 17 John Rule. Albions People English Society 1714-1815. (Harlow:Longman Group Uk Ltd. 1992)159

riod with some particularly notorious individuals having multiple editions of their life and crimes’18 Grey shows how popular media was also able to portray the criminal after death, as shown in The 1735 D...