America had Jesse James. Australia had Ned Kelly. And England had Dick Turpin. All three were popular heroes who were noted for their “rob from the rich and give to the poor” Robin Hoodish careers in crime. Unlike Robin Hood, all three men were actual historical figures and the truth for each was far from the myths.
Richard “Dick” Turpin was born in 1705. He was apprenticed to a butcher as a teenager. This occupation made him attractive to poachers needing to trade their purloined deer and rustled cattle. At first, just a facilitator, he soon joined the gang called the Essex Gang (also called the Gregorys Gang). From poaching deer and rustling cattle, the gang moved on to burglary and murder. In 1735, in the Earlsbury Farm robbery, the gang beat up an old man and poured boiling oil on him (in some versions, he was forced to sit on a fire). A woman was raped, possibly by Turpin. This notorious crime brought attention to the gang and soon the heat was too high. Several of the gang members were brought to justice and the gang broke up.
Turpin became a highwayman. Highwaymen were the British version of stage coach robbers. He eventually paired up with Matthew King. The partnership came to an end when Turpin accidentally killed King in a melee resulting from the two being cornered in a tavern. Turpin escaped. Soon after that, Turpin killed a gamekeeper’s servant who had foolishly tried to bring Turpin in by himself. The reward for him reached 200 pounds (46,000 pounds today). On the wanted posters he was called “Turpin the Butcher”. Turpin changed his name to John Palmer and tried to avoid justice. However, in 1739, he shot a chicken and threatened to kill the irate chicken-owner. He was arrested and foolishly refused to pay bail. His true identity was discovered when a man who had taught him as a boy recognized his handwriting in a letter he wrote from jail. He was quickly convicted of horse theft and sentenced to death. Turpin went to his death with panache, but the actual hanging was less than glamorous. The executioner (another highwayman escaping a similar fate by volunteering to be the hangman) used the “short drop” method which resulted in five minutes of suffocating. Gruesome, but crowd-pleasing. He deserved the punishment. Turpin was 33 years old when he was executed on April 7, 1739.
So, how did this thief, rapist, and murderer become a popular hero? In 1834, Harrison Ainsworth published a novel entitled “Rookwood”. In it he created the character Dick Turpin which the public found so appealing. His Turpin was a dashing ne’er do well who staged daring robberies of only the rich and did not use violence. He fought corruption and was ever the gentleman in his robberies. In other words, he was the exact opposite of the real Turpin. The most famous of his escapades was his 200-mile nighttime ride on his horse Black Bess to establish an alibi. (The 200-mile ride was based on an exploit of another highwayman named Nevison which took place in 1679.) The public’s clue that Ainsworth’s Turpin was not the real Turpin was the fact that the book was clearly fiction. But the public overlooked that and demanded to know more about this 18th Century Robin Hood. Poems and ballads added to the legend. And later, television and movies as well.
https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/the-myth-of-highwayman-dick-turpin-outlives-the-facts/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Turpin
https://www.historyhit.com/facts-about-dick-turpin/
https://www.history.co.uk/articles/the-truth-about-dick-turpin-englands-most-notorious-higwayman
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