Stand and Deliver your Heart

AUTHOR’S NOTEIt was in the eighteenth century that the highwayman became the greatest menace so that no main road was safe for a traveller. But he was also thought to be a romantic. In actual fact, however, few of them were anything but the very worst type of criminal, who would murder or torture their victims. There were, as I have told in this novel, a few wellborn highwaymen, who came from much respected families and had been educated at public schools. William Parsons was a Baronet’s son, who was educated at Eton and was commissioned in the Royal Navy. Simon Clarke was a Baronet in his own right but became a highwayman. They behaved much better than d**k Turpin, the most romanticised of all highwaymen, who was both brutal and unscrupulous. Some highwaymen escaped the gallows, but the majority were hanged at Tyburn, which, until the end of the eighteenth century, was the most uncivilised sight. Tyburn was where Marble Arch is now situated and close to Hyde Park. There would be thousands in the crowd assembled to witness the hangings with the gentry sitting in the expensive seats, which were close to the gallows. The mob, who could not afford the closest view, fought fiercely for the best places. Spectators often had their limbs broken and some were even killed in the crush. Apart from this, Tyburn was a well known fairground with sideshows and street vendors offering their wares. In 1789 the gallows were moved from Tyburn to the courtyard of the Old Bailey. But a hanging was still open to the public and matters were not very much improved.