Coachlines - March 2025
28.03.25 The Clerk Lt Col Craig Hallatt
Clerk‘s notes March 2025
This month I thought I might add fact, history and fun to my notes, focusing on a theme that, whilst not entirely ‘true’ to our trades, it is associated with one of them: coaches and coachmaking.
The great age of highwaymen was the period from the Restoration in 1660 to the death of Queen Anne in 1714. Some are known to have been disbanded soldiers, and even officers, of the English Civil War and French wars. What favoured them most was the lack of governance and absence of a police force: parish constables were almost entirely ineffective, while detection and arrest were very difficult – this all sounds very familiar today!
Highwaymen often attacked coaches for their lack of protection, including public stagecoaches; the postboys who carried the mail were also frequently held up. The demand to “Stand and deliver” (sometimes in forms such as “Stand and deliver your purse!” “Stand and deliver your money”) was in use from the 17th century to the 19th century.
The following extracts are from proceedings at the Old Bailey on 25th April 1677, it is the first written report on highway robbery trials and you will recognise this as barely a month before the Coachmakers was presented with its Royal Charter:
“A fellow of a good Name, but poor Condition, and worse Quality, was Convicted for laying an Embargo on a man whom he met on the Road, by bidding him Stand and Deliver, but to little purpose; for the Traveller had no more Money than a Capuchin, but told him, all the treasure he had was a pound of Tobacco, which he civilly surrendered.”
The evidence of John Mawson at another trial on the same day included: “We were met by two men; they attacked us both. One clapped a bayonet to my breast, and said, with an oath, “Your money, or your life!” He had on a soldier’s waistcoat and breeches. I put the bayonet aside, and gave him my silver, about three or four shillings.” (£48 in 2025).
It must have been very concerning to our forebears in the Company, with the Royal Charter imminent to see that their beloved trade was being targeted by such dangerous – and not romantic as some sources would suggest – individuals. Indeed robbery was so common that it was said that, “We English always carry two purses on our journeys, a small one for the robbers and a large one for ourselves.” Other prudent travellers collected counterfeit money and offered it on demand; while some had boots made with cavities in the heel for their valuables or relied on secret pockets.
In the early coaching period, stagecoaches were often targeted by Highwaymen such as Claude Duval (1643-70) and Dick Turpin (1705-39). We tend to have a rather romantic idea about highwaymen with their cries of ‘Stand and Deliver!’ In reality these masked men terrorised the roads of England. The punishment for highway robbery was hanging and many highwaymen went to the gallows laughing and joking – or at least showing no fear – and are said to have been admired by many in the crowds who came to watch.
We often picture the masked thieves on horseback with 18th century three-cornered hats carrying out their robberies in the countryside but actually, they were often to be found in the middle of central London! And, it was not merely the middle-classes that were targeted, famous people were a bounty harvest for the highwaymen. The Prime Minister, Lord North, in 1774: “I was robbed last night as I expected, our loss was not great, but as the postillion did not stop immediately one of the two highwaymen fired at him. It was at the end of Gunnersbury Lane.”
Horace Walpole (writer and politician), who was shot at in Hyde Park: “One is forced to travel, even at noon, as if one was going to battle.”
Several areas were considered exceptionally dangerous and at risk of attack. Highwaymen often laid in wait on the main roads radiating from London. They usually chose lonely areas of heathland or woodland. Hounslow Heath was a favourite haunt: it was crossed by the roads to Bath and Exeter. Bagshot Heath in Surrey was another dangerous place on the road to Exeter. One of the most notorious places in England was Shooter’s Hill on the Great Dover Road. Finchley Common, on the Great North Road, was nearly as bad.
To the south of London, highwaymen sought to attack wealthy travellers on the roads leading to and from the Channel ports and aristocratic arenas such as Epsom, which became a fashionable spa town in 1620, and Banstead Downs where horse races and sporting events became popular with the elite from 1625. Later in the 18th century the road from London to Reigate and Brighton through Sutton attracted highwaymen. Commons and heaths considered to be dangerous included Blackheath, Putney Heath, Streatham Common, Mitcham Common, Thornton Heath – also the site of a gallows known as “Hangman’s Acre” or “Gallows Green” – Sutton Common, Banstead Downs and Reigate Heath.
During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, highwaymen in Hyde Park were sufficiently common for King William III to have the route between St James’s Palace and Kensington Palace (Rotten Row) lit at night with oil lamps as a precaution against them. This made it the first artificially lit highway in Britain.
So let me introduce you to some of the most unbelievably audacious highwaymen associated with London whose cheek and daring will amaze you! They terrorised the City but also gave people a rather cheap thrill.
Claude Duval
While highwaymen were often romanticised as a charming group, none quite gained the same reputation for charm as Claude Duval. Born to a family of ruined French nobility, Claude is thought to have come to England during the English Restoration.
Working as a highwayman, he robbed travellers on their way to London. Legend has it that he was exceptionally charming and courteous, particularly with women, and adopted a nonviolent approach when robbing his victims.
In 1670, Duval was captured and hanged on six accounts of robbery. The church in which he is supposedly buried has a memorial to Duval including the phrase, If male thou art, Look to thy purse; if female, to thy heart.
Isaac Atkinson
Atkinson operated around Lincoln’s Inn Fields about the year 1640. Even now this beautiful square is dominated by barristers and lawyers, and has been for centuries, going back to Henry VIII. Atkinson, after being apprehended, said that his conscience was perfectly clear as he had only robbed lawyers – who were bigger rogues than himself!
Tom Buckley
Buckley held up people on Drury Lane – and that really was right in the middle of London. He developed something of a personal vendetta against a “stock-jobber” (somebody who worked at the stock exchange). This man had got Buckley arrested on one occasion and branded on the hand. Our highwayman sought him out and relieved the stock-jobber of a whopping 48 Guineas.
Incredibly, the two men then met by accident in central London and the stock-jobber got Buckley arrested – again. The highwayman was sentenced to death but then somehow got a reprieve. Clearly ‘tone deaf’ and unwilling to ride his good luck, after the reprieve he went to Hackney and attempted to burn down the stock jobber’s house. Buckley was eventually caught and hanged in 1702.
William Cady
This highwayman found his victims in Hyde Park. One woman swallowed her own wedding ring to stop him getting hold of it. So Cady – who was a particularly unpleasant character – ran her through with his sword and then cut her open to get the ring.
Dick Low was the youngest highwayman aged just 11, and William Page used to dress in the height of fashion and hold people up around Grosvenor Square before being hanged in 1758.
To this day, highwaymen hold a unique place in hearts and minds. Their legacy as charming and adventurous roadside thieves has endured. These prominent members of British folklore have inspired arts and culture and captured imaginations since they roamed the roads of Britain.
As with all my Clerk’s submissions, this month I offer another musical reference to the subject of my notes. I am sure there will be no surprise at my choice, an entirely factual representation [sic] from Adam Ant. Perhaps our esteemed Coachmakers’ fraternity will be able to identify the coach?
Company events
The Coachmakers’ Charity Fundraising Banquet 2025
The Mansion House, 9th June 6.00pm-10.45pm
With just 10 weeks to go things are really hotting up for our most prestigious event of the year, the Charity Fundraising Banquet. An exciting evening of fellowship, friendship and fundraising awaits us including inspiring speakers, a prize draw and musical performances from the world-renowned Military Wives Choir and other military musicians. There could also be a chance to see your Clerk in action for the first time! There is no better way to feel special and be part of something unique than dressing in white-tie and elegant gowns, to be surrounded by friends from the Coachmakers’ family.
Tickets are on sale at: https://www.coachmakers.co.uk/event/banquet-2025/
City events
The Lord Mayor’s Big Curry Lunch: Post-Lunch Reception – Mansion House Wednesday 14th May, 5.00pm
The Lord Mayor invites you to join him in Mansion House to mark the outcome of the 2025 Lord Mayor’s Big Curry Lunch, with Principal Guest, The First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Ben Key KCB CBE ADC.
The Rt Hon The Lord Mayor Alderman Alastair King DL will announce the total sum raised by the Lord Mayor’s Big Curry Lunch 2025. The Lady Mayoress will draw the name of the lucky winner of the unique Pinchbeck Trafalgar Watch, which can be entered until the 14th of May here. Contact: Jessica Riley at lmbc@armybenevolentfund.org by 1st May.
Election of Sheriffs Tuesday 24th June 2025
I now have passes for the Election of Sheriffs on 24th June 2025. Any Liverymen who were clothed before May 2024 are eligible to attend. Please let me know if you would like to witness a very unique moment in the Livery year. Passes, which will speed your entry into Guildhall on the day, are on a first come, first served basis.
VE Day 80th anniversary events HMS Wellington, 8th & 9th May
These special events will raise funds for the Wellington Trust, and to showcase the ship to the general public as a refurbished event space. More details can be found on the website: https://www.thewellingtontrust.org (scroll down) and the official VE Day 80 website.