19th Century… Blind Justice in Eugene Sue’s “The Mysteries of Paris” (1842–3) 26 Jul 201826 Jul 2018 By Stephen Basdeo In the 19 June 1842, issue of the Parisian magazine, Journal des Debats, a new serialised novel appeared entitled The Mysteries of Paris, which ran weekly until 15 October 1843.…
18th century… Jack ‘Sixteen-String’ Rann (1750–74) 23 Apr 2018 The eighteenth century was without a doubt the golden age of highwaymen, being the era in which robbers such as Jack Sheppard (1702–24), Dick Turpin (1705–39), and James Maclaine (1724–50).…
18th century… Mack the Knife: The “True” Story Behind the Song 28 Oct 2017 The popular song Mack the Knife was based upon the story of an eighteenth-century highwayman named Captain Macheath. This post traces the literary life of this fictional character. Most people,…
18th century… ‘The Prince of Pick-Pockets’: George Barrington (1755-1804) 12 May 201712 May 2017 George Waldron, alias Barrington, was born into a poor family at Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. Although destitute, his mother and father made sure to learn that he could read and…
18th century… Unruly Apprentices 9 Apr 20179 Apr 2017 During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, many criminals recorded in works such as Alexander Smith’s History of the Highwaymen (1714), and Charles Johnson’s History of the Highwaymen (1734), as…
19th Century… When “Upperworld” and “Underworld” Meet: Social Class and Crime in “The Mysteries of London (1844-46) 15 Mar 2017 [The following is the text of a talk given at Lancaster University's 'Class and the Past Conference' on 16 March 2017]. Introduction George William MacArthur Reynolds’ The Mysteries of London,…
