Though Turpin had committed numerous crimes during his life, including murder and robbery, he finally met his comeuppance when he casually shot and killed a prize fowl owned by his landlord. When he appeared at court, the truth of his past life as an outlaw quickly came to light. He is famed for being a dashing and daring robber, but Turpin actually started life as a cattle rustler and began his criminal career by stealing two oxen. Comically, he was caught in the act and was forced to flee to escape certain arrest and punishment. Though most interpretations of his life have characterised him as a highway robber, Turpin and his gang mainly broke into farmhouses and stole from the owners. Still, he did terrorise the roads of Epping Forest for a while, before returning to his more familiar pastime of rustling.
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History of York
Dick Turpin - The Spurious Highwayman - Stand and Deliver
Dick Turpin , byname of Richard Turpin , baptized Sept. Son of an alehouse keeper, Turpin was apprenticed to a butcher, but, having been detected at cattle stealing, he joined a notorious gang of deer stealers and smugglers in Essex. When the gang was broken up, Turpin in went into partnership with Tom King, a well-known highwayman, whom he accidentally killed while firing at a constable or, by some accounts, an innkeeper. To avoid arrest he finally left Essex for Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, where he set up under an assumed name John Palmer as a horse dealer. He was finally convicted at York assizes of horse stealing and hanged in Harrison Ainsworth, in his romance Rookwood , gave a spirited account of a ride by Dick Turpin on his mare, Black Bess, from London to York, but the incident is pure fiction.
Have we been making a grave mistake about Dick Turpin’s final resting place?
He is wild with joy. The real life of Dick Turpin is far from the one romanticised in the gothic novel. The basic facts are simple: He was born in and became an apprentice butcher; he began stealing and then joined a gang in Essex. He went into burglary as well, and when he was with the Gregory Gang in Essex, the outfit began to strike terror into areas of the county.
Indictment of Dick Turpin, This is the indictment of John Palmer whose real name was Richard Turpin. He was charged with stealing a black mare worth 3 pounds and a filly foal worth 20 shillings from Thomas Creasey at Welton, Yorkshire, on 1st March