Abershaw, Louis Jeremiah [Jerry] (c. 1773–1795), highwayman, operated for many years on the roads between London, Kingston, and Wimbledon, and had his headquarters at the Bald-Faced Stag inn near Kingston. When in hiding he frequented the 'old house in West Street', in ...
Article
Abershaw, Louis Jeremiah [Jerry] (c. 1773–1795), highwayman
Sidney Lee
revised by Heather Shore
Article
Armstrong, John [Johnnie], of Gilnockie (d. 1530), gang leader
Maureen M. Meikle
Armstrong, John [Johnnie], of Gilnockie (d. 1530), gang leader, is recorded as brother to Thomas Armstrong, laird of Mangerton, and so was presumably a younger son of this branch of the Armstrongs. He lived in Canonbie parish, which was then within the notorious ‘debatable land’ of the western Anglo-Scottish frontier and is now in ...
Article
Armstrong, William [called Christie's Will] (fl. 1636), border reiver
J. R. M. Sizer
Armstrong, William [called Christie's Will] (fl. 1636), border reiver, was the son of Christopher Armstrong of Gilnockie, Dumfriesshire, and the lineal descendant of Johnnie Armstrong of Gilnockie, subject of the eponymous ballad. The tower of Gilnockie stood in the parish of Canonbie...
Article
Armstrong, William, of Kinmont (fl. 1569–1603), border reiver
J. R. M. Sizer
Armstrong, William, of Kinmont (fl. 1569–1603), border reiver, was made famous by the poem 'Kinmont Willie', which recounts his dramatic rescue from Carlisle Castle in 1596, as found in Sir Walter Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. In 1593 Sir Thomas Musgrave of ...
Article
Bracey [née Phillips], Joan (1656?–1685?), highwaywoman
Barbara White
Bracey [née Phillips], Joan (1656
Article
Carrick, James [alias Valentine Carrick] (c. 1695–1722), highwayman
Andrea McKenzie
Carrick, James [alias Valentine Carrick] (c. 1695–1722), highwayman, was born in Dublin, the third son of a jeweller (d. c.1714) who had 'left off Trade and liv'd upon his Estate' after 'having acquired a considerable Fortune' (...
Article
Cave [married name Altof], Bertha (1881–1951), campaigner
Judith Bourne
Cave [married name Altof], Bertha (1881–1951), campaigner for opening the legal profession to women, was born at Park Lodge, Sundridge, Kent, on 14 November 1881, the daughter and elder of two children of James Thomas Cave (b. 1845), a domestic servant and later butler to ...
Article
Clavell, John (1601–1643), highwayman and writer
Alastair Bellany
Clavell, John (1601–1643), highwayman and writer, was born on 11 May 1601 and baptized in the parish church of Wootton Glanville, Dorset, ten days later. He was the youngest of the six children, and the only surviving son, of John Clavell (d...
Article
Clay, Marcy [alias Jenny Fox] (d. 1665), highwaywoman and thief
Barbara White
Clay, Marcy [alias Jenny Fox] (d. 1665), highwaywoman and thief, is said to have been born in Dorset, the daughter of travelling pedlars. The anonymous pamphlet The High-Way Woman is the only extant biography of Marcy and no other evidence has yet come to light to corroborate its claims. It describes how, at the age of fifteen, ...
Article
Costello, Dudley [Dualtache] (d. 1667), soldier and outlaw
S. J. Connolly
Costello, Dudley [Dualtache] (d. 1667), soldier and outlaw, was of unknown parentage and background, the surname being very common in east Mayo, where the Costellos, reputedly Gaelicized descendants of early English settlers, had given their name to a barony. Nothing is known of his early life but a deposition taken in 1652 names ...
Article
Coterel, James (fl. 1328–1351), gang leader
Jens Röhrkasten
Coterel, James (fl. 1328–1351), gang leader, is assumed to have been a younger son of Ralph Coterel, a landowner in Cromford, Matlock, Tadington, and three other places in Derbyshire, who was dead by 1315. In his youth James was the leader of a gang that included his brothers ...
Article
Crotty, William (d. 1742), highwayman and rapparee
Neal Garnham
Crotty, William (d. 1742), highwayman and rapparee, was active in the south of Ireland for at least four years before his death. Nothing is known for certain of his early life, though he may have been in domestic service as a young man. By 1739 he had already acquired some notoriety as a robber and had formed a small gang of accomplices. After several exploits he was finally captured near ...
Article
Davis, William (d. 1689), reputed highwayman
See Bennet [Bennett], John [alias William Freeman or Hill; called the Golden Farmer]
Article
Duval, Claude (d. 1670), highwayman
Barbara White
Duval, Claude (d. 1670), highwayman, was born, according to The Memoires of Monsieur Du Vall (1670), the fuller of the two biographies which greeted his execution, in 1643 in Domfront, Normandy, the son of Pierre Du Vall, a miller, and his wife, Marguerite de la Roche...
Article
Ferrers [married name Fanshawe], Catherine (1634–1660), alleged highwaywoman
Barbara White
Ferrers [married name Fanshawe], Catherine (1634–1660), alleged highwaywoman, was born on 4 May 1634, reputedly (although there is no evidence for this) at Markyate Cell in the parish of Caddington, near Dunstable, Hertfordshire, the only surviving daughter of Knighton Ferrers (bap...
Article
Fraser, Simon, eleventh Lord Lovat (1667/8–1747), Jacobite conspirator, army officer, and outlaw
Edward M. Furgol
Fraser, Simon, eleventh Lord Lovat (1667/8–1747), Jacobite conspirator, army officer, and outlaw, was the second but first surviving son of Thomas Fraser (1631–1699), sometimes styled 'of Beaufort' (the third son of Hugh Fraser, seventh Lord Lovat), and Sybilla Macleod (...
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Fraser, Simon, eleventh Lord Lovat (1667/8–1747)
Maker: William Hogarth
In
Simon Fraser, eleventh Lord Lovat (1667/88–1747) by William Hogarth, pubd 1746 © National Portrait Gallery, London
Article
Freney, James (d. 1788), highwayman and burglar
Niall Ó Ciosáin
Freney, James (d. 1788), highwayman and burglar, was born in Inistiogue, co. Kilkenny, the son of John Freney, a servant and bailiff, and Alice Phelon, a servant. He was educated privately. He married some time after 1742, and using his wife's dowry he set up a public house in ...
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Hind, James (bap. 1616, d. 1652)
Maker: unknown engraver
In
James Hind (bap. 1616, d. 1652) by unknown engraver, pubd 1651 © National Portrait Gallery, London
Article
Hind, James (bap. 1616, d. 1652), highwayman and royalist soldier
Barbara White
Hind, James (bap. 1616, d. 1652), highwayman and royalist soldier, was baptized at Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, on 15 July 1616, the tenth of thirteen children of Edward Hind (d. 1656), a saddler, and his wife, Anne Smythe. His father was evidently a man of some position in the parish, three times serving as churchwarden. On 24 February 1638 ...
