Gentlemen of the Road

by Mara Rockliff

from Holt Literature and Language Arts, First Course. Holt, Rinehart &Winston. 2003.

Why did people once think of highwaymen, the bandits who robbed travelers in seventeenth and eighteenth century England, as a gentleman ?

To answer that question, first look at these facts. The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw the rise of a very wealthy class in England. England became a nation of haves and have-nots. The rich dressed in silks and velvets. Men and women wore huge powdered wigs. The rich lived on vast estates. They traveled to London for rounds of parties in the winter-spring season and spent summers in seaside towns, where gambling was a favorite pastime.

As the wealthy became richer, the conditions of the poor grew worse. Because the government did not care about their welfare, the poor lived in filthy slums in cities and in miserable conditions in farms and towns. In the worst years, 74 percent of the children in London died before the age of five. These were the social conditions that contributed to the rise of the highwaymen.

In addition, newly built toll roads ran through the countryside, connecting towns and villages. These improved roads brought out more travelers – rich ones. The highwaymen could stop the private carriages and the stagecoaches that used the toll roads and rob the passengers.

The highwaymen called themselves gentlemen of the road, and some people agreed – sometimes even their victims! How did they come by this surprising reputation?

Some people saw the highwaymen not as criminals but as the new Robin Hoods because they gave to the poor what they had stolen from the rich (or part of it).

Another reason why people thought of these bandits as gentlemen was that they looked the part. Most highwaymen came from poor families or, at best, middle-class ones. But once they turned to a life of crime, they could afford to dress in style. They wore high-heeled boots that went all the way to the hip, fancy shirts, long, elegant coats, and wide-brimmed hats with feathers. With their dashing clothes and fine horses these former footmen, butchers, and cheese sellers might have been mistaken for aristocrats.

Some highwaymen tried to act like gentlemen as well. Many would never point a gun at a lady or search her for valuables, and sometimes they’d let women they robbed keep items of sentimental value. Highwaymen loved their horses too and took pride in earning the loyalty of their steeds by treating them well.

Some highwaymen politely begged their victims’ pardon as they relieved them of their money and jewels. Others took only what they felt they needed and returned the rest to their owners.

In one account a robbery victim was upset about losing his beloved watch. He offered the highwayman two gunieas instead, along with a promise not to turn him in to the authorities. The highwayman agreed, and they went off together to the man’s home. The money changed hands, the two men shared a bottle of wine and after many courteous words on each side, the highwayman galloped off.

Even when captured and sentenced to hang (the usual punishment for robbery in those days), some highwaymen tried to behave like gentlemen. They were too proud to cry of beg for mercy from the authorities they defied. After the noose was tied around their neck, some threw themselves off the scaffold rather than wait for the wagon they stood on to be pulled from beneath them. For those who romanticized the highwaymen in stories and song, this final act showed scorn for the corrupt authorities and courage in the face of death.