Criminal biographies enjoyed enormous popularity in the eighteenth century, and today they offer us some fascinating perspectives on the period. Drunks, Whores and Idle Apprentices is the first book of its kind to reproduce a variety of these personal histories in one volume. Included are the biographies of street robbers, pickpockets, burglars, and horse thieves such as James Dalton, who was transported to North America, John Shepard, a popular folk hero who twice escaped from the condemned cell at Newgate Prison, and Mary Young, who allegedly headed her own gang of London pickpockets. Each biography is prefaced with background historical information, , and thoroughly footnoted. Not only does Drunks, Whores and Idle Apprentices make fascinating reading, it also raises the the problem of how to read these historical documents. Rawlings argues that instead of trying to uncover simple themes and consistencies, the most revealing thing about these biographies is the tensions, never satisfactorily resolved, around which they were constructed.
Author(s): Philip Rawlings
Edition: 1
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 1992
Language: English
Pages: 240
Book Cover......Page 1
Half-Title......Page 2
Title......Page 4
Copyright......Page 5
Contents......Page 8
Preface......Page 10
Abbreviations......Page 12
General Introduction......Page 14
1 Introduction......Page 47
2 THE HISTORY Of the remarkable LIFE of JOHN SHEPPARD, containing A particular Account of his many ROBBERIES and ESCAPES, Viz.......Page 54
3 INTRODUCTION......Page 83
4 THE LIFE AND ACTIONS OF JAMES DALTON, (The noted Street-Robber.)......Page 88
5 INTRODUCTION......Page 113
6 THE ORDINARY of NEWGATE, His ACCOUNT of the Behaviour, Confession, and Dying Words, OF THE MALEFACTORS, Who were Executed at TYBURN, On WEDNESDAY the 18th of March, 1740.......Page 120
7 INTRODUCTION......Page 136
8 THE DISCOVERIES OF John Poulter, alias Baxter......Page 143
9 INTRODUCTION......Page 175
10 THE Life, Travels, Exploits, Frauds and Robberies, OF Charles Speckman, alias Brown......Page 178
INDEX OF NAMES......Page 206
INDEX OF SUBJECTS......Page 215
