Author’s Note
153 Words
Author’s NoteHighwaymen and footpads were regular dangers to travellers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Most Noblemen had outriders in attendance and if a highwayman was caught he was hung on a gibbet at the crossroads. If he was shot, it was considered a brave act deserving congratulations.
Many highwaymen had been footmen or servants in great houses where they learnt to covet the luxuries of their Masters. They were well aware of the risks they ran, but thought a few years of riotous living were preferable to a lifetime of drudgery.
Sometimes gentlemen took to the road. William Parsons was a Baronet’s son educated at Eton and had been an Officer in the Royal Navy. Sir Simon Clarke was a Baronet.
The only known female highwayman was Joan Bracey, daughter of a rich Northamptonshire farmer. Dressed in men’s clothes, she pulled off many daring robberies, but swung from the gallows before her thirtieth birthday.
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