21st September: Dick Turpin

On this date in 1705 Highwayman Dick Turpin was baptised. Here are some facts about him:

1. Richard "Dick" Turpin was born at the Blue Bell Inn (later the Rose and Crown) in Hempstead, Essex, the fifth of six children to John Turpin and Mary Elizabeth Parmenter.
2. Although no records survive of his marriage, he is thought to have married a woman called Elizabeth Millington in 1725.
3. Dick Turpin's father was a butcher and innkeeper, and before embarking on a life of crime, dick followed those trades, too. He was an apprentice butcher in Whitechapel, and after his marriage, opened a butcher's shop in Buckhurst Hill, Essex.
4. In those days, deer rustling was a common and serious crime. A bunch of notorious deer rustlers in the area were the Essex Gang. Dick Turpin's first forays into crime were no doubt receiving and selling stolen meat.
5. It's thought Turpin became the landlord of a pub called the Rose and Crown in Clay Hill in about 1733. There was no evidence at this time that he was involved in any thefts.
6. By 1734, Turpin was working directly with the gang and was involved in raiding houses with them. He was never caught, but others were and were variously imprisoned, executed or deported. It was then that Turpin turned to Highway Robbery.
7. Press reports of the crimes at the time described him as being 5 feet 9 inches tall with small pox scars and wearing a blue-grey coat and a natural wig.
8. The overnight ride from London to York on Black Bess may have been mere legend, but Turpin did move to Yorkshire where he posed as a Horse trader. At this time, he was using the alias of John Palmer.
9. John Palmer was arrested in 1738 for shooting a game cock in the street and threatening to shoot a man who rebuked him for it. The authorities suspected he was a horse thief and kept him in jail.
10. They found out who he really was when he wrote to his brother-in-law from his cell. The brother-in-law refused to pay the delivery charge on the letter, either because he didn't think he knew anybody in York, or because he didn't want anything to do with Turpin. The letter ended up at another post office where Turpin's old teacher saw it and recognised his writing. He went to York to identify Turpin and got a £200 reward, worth £29,000 in today's money.