London s Criminal Underworlds, c. 1720 c. 1930
London s Criminal Underworlds, c. 1720 c. 1930 A Social and Cultural History Heather Shore Reader in History, Leeds Beckett University, UK
Heather Shore 2015 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6 10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-33845-0 ISBN 978-1-137-31391-1 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9781137313911 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Shore, Heather, 1964 London's criminal underworlds, c. 1720 c. 1930 : a social and cultural history / Heather Shore. pages cm Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978 0 230 30404 8 1. Crime England London History. 2. Criminals England London History. I. Title. HV6950.L7S56 2015 364.109421 dc23 2014038810 Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India.
In memory of my parents Ellen and Allan Shore
Contents List of Illustrations and Maps Acknowledgements Abbreviations viii ix xi 1 Introduction 1 2 Now we have the informing Dogs! : Crime Networks and Informing Cultures in the 1720s and 1730s 25 3 A Noted Virago : Moll Harvey and her Dangerous Crew, 1727 1738 49 4 The pickpockets and hustlers had yesterday what is called a Grand Day : Changing Street Theft, c. 1800 1850 70 5 There goes Bill Sheen, the murderer : Crime, Kinship and Community in East London, 1827 1852 93 6 A new species of swindling : Coiners, Fraudsters, Swindlers and the Long-Firm, c. 1760 1913 117 7 A London Plague that must be swept away : Hooligans and Street Fighting Gangs, c. 1882 1912 141 8 The Terror of the People : Organised Crime in Interwar London 167 9 Conclusion 191 Notes 196 Select Bibliography 250 Index 276 vii
List of Illustrations and Maps Cover illustration: Gustave Doré, Wentworth Street, Whitechapel, 1872, from G. Doré and B. Jerrold, London A Pilgrimage: With Illustrations by Gustave Doré (London). Illustrations 3.1 William Hogarth, A Harlot s Progress, Plate 3, 1732 58 Maps 3.1 John Rocque, A Plan of the Cities of London, Westminster and Southwark, 1746. 51 5.1 By Charles Knight for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge c. 1852 95 8.1 J. Bacon, Atlas of London and Suburbs c. 1923 177 viii
Acknowledgements This book has been a long time coming and I owe a debt of gratitude to many friends and colleagues who encouraged and supported my efforts over the years. This includes archivists and librarians at the Bodleian Library, British Library, British Library Newspapers Colindale, Cambridge University Library, Corporation of London Record Office, Finsbury Library, Guildhall Library, Institute of Historical Research, London Metropolitan Archives, Museum of London Picture Library, National Archives and Tower Hamlets Library. I consider myself lucky to have a great group of colleagues in Cultural Studies at Leeds Beckett University, including my fellow historians, Matthew Caygill, Helen Dampier, Kelly Hignett, Simon Morgan and Rachael Rich. Particular thanks go to Shane Ewen, Grainne Goodwin, Stephen Mosley, Alison Oram and Ruth Robbins all of whom have either read parts of the book or provided a sounding board about the book at various stages. The Leeds Beckett University Centre for Culture and the Arts paid for the cover image, illustration and maps. I d also like to thank my former colleagues and continuing friends at the Universities of Portsmouth and Northampton Brad Beaven, Ken Lunn, Cathy Smith, Matthew Taylor and the late Bob Kiehl. The research for and writing of a book benefits from the discussions we have as historians. I ve been very lucky to count amongst my friends and advisors the following, who have kindly read various parts of the book during its long gestation: Andrew Davies, Barry Godfrey, Drew Gray, Louise Jackson, Tim Hitchcock, Dick Hobbs, Bob Shoemaker, Stefan Slater and John Carter Wood. I owe special thanks to two of those friends. Tim Hitchcock, who has been generous with his time and support since he first taught me as an undergraduate at the Polytechnic of North London, and Louise Jackson, who has gently but firmly encouraged me to finally finish this book. I have also benefitted from discussions with friends and colleagues who have advised and provided intellectual support over the years, notably John Beattie, Alyson Brown, Carl Chinn, Mary Clayton, Penelope Corfield, Pam Cox, Clive Emsley, Nathasha Glaisyer, Gordon Johnston, Helen Johnston, Peter King, John Langbein, Emma Robertston, Helen Rogers, Lisa Taylor, Suzie Thomas, Janice Turner and Chris Williams. I would also like to thank my editors at Palgrave Macmillan, Jen McCall ix
x Acknowledgements and Holly Tyler, for their patience and chivvying. My thanks are also extended to the anonymous reader at Palgrave. Finally, I would like to thank my family, Tim Shore, Ian Shore and their respective partners, Gary and Laura, and also Heather, Colin and Isla for putting me up. The cover image from G. Doré, Wentworth Street, Whitechapel, 1872, from G. Doré and B. Jerrold, London A Pilgrimage: With Illustrations by Gustave Doré (London) is from the Museum of London. The illustration on p. 58 is by William Hogarth, A Harlot s Progress, Plate 3, 1732, with the permission of The Trustees of the British Museum. The maps on pp. 51, 95 and 177 are from the London Metropolitan Archives, City of London. I would particularly like to thank Jeremy Smith for his help in selecting them. An earlier version of Chapter 3 was published in article form in the journal Social History, which has kindly given permission for it to be republished in a revised form here. (H. Shore (2009), The Reckoning : Disorderly Women, Informing Constables and the Westminster Justices, 1727 1733, Social History, 34, pp. 409 27.) Some parts of Chapter 8 were first used in article form in H. Shore (2011), Criminality and Englishness in the Aftermath: The Racecourse Wars of the 1920s, Twentieth Century British History, 22, 4, pp. 474 97. All citations from the Old Bailey Proceedings (including the Trials, Sessions, Ordinary s Accounts and Statistics) are taken from the online version, Tim Hitchcock, Robert Shoemaker, Clive Emsley, Sharon Howard and Jamie McLaughlin, et al., The Old Bailey Proceedings Online, 1674 1913 (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 7.0). All references to documents digitised by the London Lives project are from Hitchcock, Robert Shoemaker, Sharon Howard and Jamie McLaughlin, et al., London Lives, 1690 1800 (www.londonlives.org, version 1.1).
Abbreviations CLRO Corporation of London Record Office LL London Lives LMA London Metropolitan Archives OBP Old Bailey Proceedings ONA Ordinary of Newgate s Account TNA The National Archives xi