Note: this was originally posted to Fisch and Chips on October 3l, 2013. Slight changes have been made (mainly omitting names and a photo) to preserve the anonymity of friends I haven't gotten permission from in a while.
Boo!
Alright, that’s enough for a good scare. Happy Halloween, everyone!
Unlike past Halloweens, which were filled with candy, costumes, and fright, this one was a tad low-key, occupied with schoolwork. With my economics class, I traveled to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). After interviewing a pair of advisors so that we could write a report on the bank, we then returned to the AHA Center, where the main event of the day (for me) occurred: a history presentation I was to give about Jonathan Wild. Who’s that, you ask? Thanks for asking, imaginary reader! I’ll be happy to explain!
Before I talk any more about Jonathan Wild, I have a funny story to tell, which I promised to tell in a previous entry. In order to make sure that my presentation (and preceding paper, which was due before the break) was as precise as possible, I examined two very different sources, London in the Eighteenth Century (a comprehensive book by historian Jerry White on Georgian London recommended to me by my professor) and Wikipedia (which needs no introduction). To be exact, I looked at their bibliographies and source notes. According to White, the most comprehensive biography of Wild is It Takes A Thief: The Life and Times of Jonathan Wild by Gerald Howson. According to Wikipedia, the most comprehensive biography of Wild is Thief-Taker General: Jonathan Wild and the Emergence of Crime and Corruption as a Way of Life in Eighteenth-Century England by Gerald Howson (Some of you can probably tell where this is going.). I ordered both books via an online used bookstore and received them both at the AHA Center in less than a week. Upon opening and examining both books, I made a startling discovery: despite the different titles, the two books I had ordered were one and the same! Even their page numbers matched up! Good thing they were fairly cheap…
Anyway, wacky book shenanigans aside, here’s the deal on Jonathan Wild (having written a paper and given a presentation on him, I’ve pretty much committed all this information to memory): He was a buckle maker from Wolverhampton who moved to London and became a thief-taker. What’s thief-taker, you ask? Simple: it was basically the Georgian equivalent of a bounty hunter. Thief-takers were usually commissioned by the victims of crime to catch their tormentors and were rewarded 40 pounds by the government for every offender they brought to justice (This being Georgian Britain, “justice” in this case frequently involved a one-way trip to the gallows, or worse, the American colonies.). In a time where there were there was no modern police force in London, thief-takers were the closest thing to police officers on the mean streets. Wild was arguably the best thief-taker there was, as in the course of his career, he apprehended countless various villains (Over 120 of these criminals were executed, and dozens more were tortured, fined, incarcerated, and/or exiled.) with the help of a posse he ran, earning him the title “Thief-Taker General of Great Britain and Ireland.” In the process, he decimated the various gangs that terrorized London and became a hero to many. He also had an uncanny knack for recovering stolen property, which he would always be able to retrieve for crime victims (albeit frequently for a fee). In short, he was London’s de facto police chief and was an all-around bad@$$.
Sounds like an awesome dude, right? Well, get ready for the kicker:
During the jailbreak of a known smuggler, constables at the scene saw Jonathan Wild. Curious, they decided to talk to some of the bounty hunters on his payroll and a few of the criminals he had caught. That’s when the truth came out: not only was Jonathan Wild a criminal, he was the F***ING KINGPIN of organized crime in London! His various acts of “thief-taking” were just excuses for him to eliminate his competition in the underworld (along with any of his minions that were disloyal or served no use for him) and the reason he was so good at recovering stolen property was that he had several warehouses across London where he allowed criminals to store their ill-gotten goods prior to selling. When there was a high-profile theft, he could just check his warehouses and find the stolen item (and in some cases, he told his minions to target wealthy individuals, just so he could sell them back their property). As his power grew, he divided London into districts, each under the jurisdiction of a gang on his payroll. He had his fingers in a host of criminal rackets, including blackmail, burglary, extortion, prostitution, highway robbery, pickpocketing, smuggling, and more. Because of his successful often-replicated methods, he is considered by many historians to be the godfather (hee hee) of modern organized crime.
I’d like to remind you that this man was 100% real. I did not invent him for the purposes of my presentation and this blog (Besides, a bounty hunter who moonlights as a crime lord? That’s too crazy for me to ever dream up!). Look him up if you don’t believe me (better yet, read the book(s) that I’ve previously mentioned; it/they is/are very informative).
WHITE TEXT: Anyway, after he was found out, arrested, and detained in 1725, Wild became the most hated man in London (though his popularity had been declining in the last few months, thanks to his relentless pursuit of Jack Sheppard, a charismatic thief who was viewed as a working-class hero). He was charged with a host of crimes, but was only convicted of one count of receiving stolen property (a small quantity of lace, to be exact), which was serious enough back then to warrant a death sentence. After failing to kill himself with laudanum, he was hanged before a cheering crowd. Though his body was given a fairly honorable burial, it was dug up by sadistic medical students, who used it for dissection practice before deserting it on the banks of the Thames. In the decades after his death, Wild’s name was synonymous with corruption and we was used as a character in many a political satire.
Anyhoo, this was the presentation I gave in class today. It dragged on for a bit, but it was well-received. Part of its warm reception may have come from my costume, for in keeping with the spirit of Halloween, I dressed up as a barrister, with a (bath)robe and (makeshift) wig.
Behold, the extent of my costume-making abilities!
Another possible reason for my presentation’s success was that I had some additional re-enactment help, in the form of fellow students B and N, who played the roles of Wild and his arch-nemesis Jack Sheppard, respectively.
So that’s how Halloween went for me. It was a simple affair, but the night is still young, and I’ve got bags of jelly beans and chocolate calling out for me. This weekend will have work and fun, then will be followed up by plenty of excursions. To think that I’ve been in this country for nearly two months…
Happy Halloween/All Saints’ Day, everyone!
Modern reflections:
Well, this was a fun post to prepare/write! I first learned about Jonathan Wild in a book when I was only 12. Little did I know back then that I would go to London 8 years later, write a paper on him, given a presentation on him in a bathroom, blog about him, see his skeleton, and eventually make a pilgrimage to his place of execution. Fate works in mysterious ways...
Halloween can sometimes be a stressful holiday for me, as I always feel pressured to get a costume but can never decide until the last minute. I can't remember who came up with the idea of a barrister costume to tie into my presentation (it was either me or one of my friends), but I definitely owe them a pint.
Speaking of friends, the ones who played Wild and Sheppard for my presentation really knocked it out of the park. I'm still kind of amazed we were able to pull it off. B and N, if you're reading this, you're the best!
The costume is extra funny when you
consider that I visited the Old Bailey the next day and that I basically
wear an American equivalent to this costume every day to work.
If you'll excuse me, I've got some Simpsons Halloween specials to binge watch and some Animal Crossing/Luigi's Mansion to play.
No comments:
Post a Comment