8 London Highwaymen
1. Jack Collet
The son of a Southwark grocer, Collet was unusual in that he carried out many of his robberies while dressed as a bishop, accompanied by four or five confederates masquerading as his servants. According to the Newgate Calendar, his career was interrupted when he lost the bishop's robes in which he had committed his crimes but he was able to replace them by robbing a real bishop on the road from London to Farnham. The Bishop of Winchester was reconciled to the idea of being held up for his money but was astonished to be asked to strip off his vestments and hand them over. Collet was eventually arrested for breaking into the vestry of St Bartholomew's the Great and stealing the communion plate. He was executed at Tyburn on 5 July 1691.
2. & 3. Plunkett and MacLaine
The connoisseur and man of letters Horace Walpole described a terrifying encounter with two gentlemen of the road in his journal. 'As I was returning from Holland House by moonlight, about ten at night,' he wrote, 'I was attacked by two highwaymen in Hyde Park, and the pistol of one of them going off accidentally, grazed the skin under my eye, left some marks of shot on my face, and stunned me. The ball went through the top of the chariot, and if I had sat an inch nearer to the left side, must have gone through my head.' Only later did Walpole realise that his assailants were the two most famous highwaymen of their day, William Plunkett and James MacLaine. MacLaine's father and brother were both clergymen, but he was more interested in worldly rather than spiritual matters and, moving to London, proceeded to run through the small fortune he had. Joining forces with an apothecary called William Plunkett, he decided to get the money to live in the style to which he aspired by highway robbery. Hyde Park, where the pair confronted Walpole, was a favourite haunt. MacLaine, who was living as a gentleman and claiming that his money derived from an estate in Ireland, was eventually caught in July 1750 when he attempted to sell some expensively tailored clothing to a shopkeeper who recognised it as stolen property. In another letter of 18 October 1750, Walpole, using an alternative spelling of the highwayman's name, reports that, 'my friend Mr M'Lean is hanged' but omits to mention that MacLaine, ever the aspiring gentleman, had written him a letter some time before in which he'd apologised for holding him up in Hyde Park. Plunkett disappeared from London and was never caught. Two and a half centuries after their deaths, the two highwaymen appeared as the anti-heroes of a British film, Flunkett and McLeane, played by Robert Carlyle and Jonny Lee Miller.
..got interested ?! want a
by: Adrian Fisher A Guide For Where To Buy Peppermint Oil Surgical Procedures Can Alleviate Hand Injuries Commodity Trading Systems What Are Kegel Exercises? And Do They Really Help In Building Sexual Stamina For Men And Women Planning A Professional Wedding Dj In Wisconsin Browser Hijack: Avoid The Online Fraud Who Can You Turn To If You Want To Terminate A Pregnancy? by:Nick Messe Personal Injury lawyers Can help to Recover TAC Claims Account Comparison: here's what you need to know! Work Nine To Five And Beyond In Style With A Beaded Lanyard Cheap GHD Ceramic Hair Straighteners - Are They Worth The Money? Arranging Christmas Party With Help Of Online Stores Economical But Exciting As Well As Smooth-sailing Voyage By Means Of Las Vegas Usa Holiday Packages