Jack Sheppard
The notorious 18th-century London criminal and prison-breaker who inspired Macheath in The Beggar's Opera.
Last updated
via Wikipedia: Jack Sheppard · see source
Jack Sheppard, an 18th-century thief and jailbreaker, was as famous for his prison escapes as for his criminal acts.[1] Standing only 5 ft 4 in and lightly built, his small stature helped him escape but led to a slow death by strangulation when hanged.[2][3]
Key facts and history
Sheppard was born to a carpenter father who died while he was young, and his mother sent him to a workhouse school at age six.[4] He was apprenticed to a cane-chair maker and later to carpenter Owen Wood in Wych Street, signing a seven-year indenture on 2 April 1717.[4][5] He escaped from St Giles's Roundhouse within three hours by breaking through the timber ceiling and using a rope of bedclothes.[6] He was finally arrested drunk on 1 November 1724, loaded with 300 pounds of iron weights, and hanged at Tyburn on 16 November.[7][8][9]
By 1722 Sheppard showed great promise as a carpenter, but began associating with criminals like Joseph "Blueskin" Blake at the Black Lion tavern, which was managed by Joseph Hayne.[2][10]
What the cited sources add
The same review describes characters in Jake Arnott's novel The Fatal Tree, including Poll Maggot and the mixed-race heavy Blueskin.[11] A Kirkus review of Jordy Rosenberg's 2018 novel Confessions of the Fox recontextualises Sheppard as a transgender man who escapes indentured servitude and falls in love with Bess Khan.[12] A 2017 review in The Observer notes that Defoe's biography of Sheppard blamed Elizabeth Lyon for "laying the foundation of his ruin".[11]
References
- Wikipedia, "Jack Sheppard" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Compiled for Applebee's Original Weekly Journal, probably by Daniel Defoe, and endorsed by Sheppard at his hanging in November 1724. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Jack Sheppard" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Moore, p.96. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Jack Sheppard" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Moore, p.225. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Jack Sheppard" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Moore, p.31. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Jack Sheppard" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Moore, p.33. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Jack Sheppard" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Moore, p.104. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Jack Sheppard" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: The London Journal, 7 November 1724. Mullan, p.186. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Jack Sheppard" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: The original has not survived, but this sketch attributed to Thornhill, and this mezzotint engraving by George White based on it, are possessed by the National (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Jack Sheppard" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Moore, p.219. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Jack Sheppard" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Moore, p.98. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Menmuir, "The Fatal Tree by Jake Arnott review – a double helping of love and loss", The Observer, 26 March 2017. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
- Confessions of the Fox , Kirkus Reviews.. facts only, no text reused. kirkusreviews.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Jack Sheppard (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Jack Sheppard (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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