Highwayman
 |
Folk image of a mounted highwayman |
This page is about the criminal occupation of highwayman, for musical groups of that name, see The Highwaymen.Highwayman was a term used particularly in
Britain during the
17th and
18th centuries to describe
criminals who robbed people travelling by
stagecoach and other modes of transport along public highways. Such
outlaws would use or threaten violence in order to seize money and other valuables from their victims. A highwayman rode a
horse, and usually carried a
pistol. Another name for a highwayman is
bandit.
Well-known highwaymen's haunts included several places around
London:
Blackheath and nearby
Shooter's Hill,
Hounslow Heath, and
Wimbledon and
Barnes Commons.
*
Jerry Abershawe* John Austin (the last person to be publicly hanged from the gallows at
Tyburn, London, on
3 November 1783)
*
Claude Duval*
Lady Katherine Ferrers, believed to be the "Wicked Lady"
*
Captain Gallagher*
Tom King*
Humphrey Kynaston* The fictitious MacHeath (aka '
Mack the Knife') originally in
The Beggar's Opera by
John Gay, but now more famous through
The Threepenny Opera by
Bertolt Brecht and
Kurt Weill*
James MacLaine*
John Nevison (aka William Nevison, aka 'Swift Nick' or Swiftnicks)
*
Neesy O'Haughan*
William Plunkett*
Dick Turpin*
James Hind*
George Lyons Lancashire's last hanged Highwayman
*
Joseph Warshaw*
Nicolas J. Pelletier, the first person executed by guillotine during the French Revolution
The early years of the
19th century saw the gradual disappearance of the traditional highwayman. The better law enforcement resulting from the introduction of organized city and county
police forces (eg: London's
Bow Street Runners); the enclosure of common land, combined with improvements to the roads themselves, which reduced the areas in which highwaymen could operate undetected, and the banking reforms which cut the amounts of cash carried by road were all factors in this decline. The development of
railways also contributed to the decline.
Poet
Alfred Noyes made a highwayman the subject of one of his most well-known poems, aptly named "The Highwayman", which
Phil Ochs and later,
Loreena McKennitt molded into a song. Famous traditional songs about highwaymen include the 1840s broadsheet ballad "
Whiskey in the Jar", the traditional song "
Sovay", and other lesser known titles such as "Bold Nevison", "Gilderoy", "MacPherson's Lament", "Newlyn Town" and "Brennan on the Moor".
Although not all highwaymen commanded their victims to "stand and deliver", or demanded "Your money or your life!", they are often popularly associated with these famous phrases. This is notable in "Stand and Deliver", a hit by 1980s British
pop group
Adam and the Ants.
There have been at least two prominent musical groups called
The Highwaymen.
*
Footpad*
Rapparees
*
Bushranger*
Alfred Noyes poem, "The Highwayman"*
lyrics of "Brennan on the Moor"*
lyrics of "Bold Nevison"
