We all know the character of Fagin from Oliver - who recruits young men and women to go out into London and pickpocket valuables from unsuspecting members of the public. But did you know that there was a real-life Fagan that ran a 'cut-purse school' in Elizabethan London?
In the summer of 1585, while Elizabeth I ruled England, officials ventured into the city's streets and taverns to seize 'masterless men and cutpurses, whose practice was to rob Gentlemen's chambers, and Artificiers shops in and about London'. Focusing on the areas of Southwark and Westminster, they captured and interrogated a number of thieves and not only obtained 45 names of offenders in the same business but the identity of a man that was teaching and grooming many of them in their trade: Mr Wotton.
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| Thomas Rowlandson, 1756–1827, Billingsgate Market, 1808. Yale Center for British Art, Public Domain. |
Wotton is described as a 'gentleman born', and so was of some financial means and status by birth. He was once a successful merchant, but somehow lost his income, opening an alehouse at Smarts Key near Billingsgate, just west from Tower Hill near the Thames. It was while managing this premises that Wotton turned to a life of crime, using the building as a 'school-house set up to learn young boys to cut purses'.
Wotton's set up is described in a letter from the Recorder of London, Fleetwood, to Lord Burghley, informing him of the unfolding events. It gives us incredible detail as to how a cutpurse was taught and how they practiced being able to remove purses from men and women without them realising. Purses were suspended by a piece of leather or cord and attached to the person's clothing, so cash was easily reached while they were shopping. However this also meant that it was accessible to someone who was light-fingered with a sharp blade. Wotton set up an induction test, which determined whether a thief could work for him as a cutpurse or as the more intimate and risky pick-pocket. It went like this:
"There were hung up two devices, the one was a pocket, the other was a purse. The pocket had in it certain counters and was hung about with hawk's bells, and over the top did hang a little sacring bell; and he that could take out a counter without any noise, was allowed to be a public foister. And he that could take a piece of silver out of the purse without the noise of any of the bells, he was adjudged a judicial nypper. Note that a foister is a pick-pocket, and a nypper is termed a pick-purse, or a cutpurse."
Wotton was not the only cut-purse teacher in London. Fleetwood's letter of 7 July 1585 ends with a list of offenders and their 'harbouring houses... such as live by theft'. They included Richard Waterward at the Falcon in Grace Street, the owner of the Bear and Ragged Staff at Charing, and that of the Black Lion in Shoreditch. There were others at Westminster, Southwark, Newington Butts and Turnmill Street, showing that there was indeed organised crime of this description in Tudor London. They even had their own language, so that they could discuss different types of theft without being discovered. 'Nyppe', as we have seen, was to cut a purse, while to 'lyfte' was to rob a shop or gentleman's chamber. We still use the word 'shoplift' today to describe a theft from a shop. Other words used included 'shave', which meant to steal an item like a cloak, sword or silver spoon and 'mylken ken' was to rob a home in the night while the residents were sleeping or out.
It is fascinating too to discover the names of some of those that were apprehended in the warm July of 1585 by Fleetwood and his officials. He names John Blewate, by trade a locksmith and Thomas Croe, a barber. Many of the other names don't mention an occupation, and they may have been unemployed, turning to crime to survive. Another man was known by his nickname, 'Welche Dyck', as well as the compelling and slightly unsettling 'Staringe Robin'. There are no women's names in the list.
The idea of a gang of instructors teaching boys and men to steal items from people, their businesses, homes and chambers and bring back their valuables is set in legend, thanks to the Oliver Twist novel by Charles Dickens. But, judging from the account sent to Lord Burghley it was a common occurrence in sixteenth century Tudor London too.
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Source:
Henry Ellis, Original Letters, Illustrative of English History, Volume 2, London. 1825, p295-303
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