Moll King (criminal)
Moll King | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1670s |
| Other names | Mary Gilstone, Moll Bird, Mary Godson |
| Criminal charge | Pickpocketing |
| Penalty | Death (commuted) Transportation to America |
Moll King was a 17th-century London criminal.
Biography
Little is known of King's early life. She was probably a native Londoner and born in the 1670s.[1] In October 1693 she had one of her hands branded after robbing a house in St Giles, Cripplegate.[2] It is thought she married a city officer in 1718.[1]
King went into business with infamous London criminal Jonathan Wild, from whom she learned pick-pocketing.[3] In October 1718, King, now using the name Mary Gilstone, was arrested for stealing a gold watch from a woman near St Anne's Church, Soho.[4] She was sentenced to death in December 1718. This was commuted to fourteen years' transportation to America when it was confirmed by a 'Panel of Matrons' that she was pregnant.[5]
After her baby was weaned, King was transported on the convict ship Susannah and Sarah,[6] to Annapolis, Maryland, arriving on 23 April 1720, but within a short time had returned to England.[7] It is assumed that King's connection with Jonathan Wild facilitated her release.[3] In Annapolis, King had teamed up with fellow felon Richard Bird, originally from Whitechapel, and the pair travelled back to England together, King using the name Bird.[8][7]
In June 1721, King was arrested robbing a house in Little Russell Street, Covent Garden and incarcerated in Newgate Prison.[7] The legal documents from this case refer to King, alias Moll Bird, alias Mary Godson.[3] Jonathan Wild was able to use his influence with "tame" magistrates for the charges to be dropped.[9] A second indictment for returning from transportation was added.[10] In January 1722, King was again transported to America, this time on the ship Gilbert.[11]
By June 1722, she was back in London. In September 1722, she was arrested and returned to Newgate.[11] In June 1723, she was again transported to America.[11]
In 1723, a man named John Stanley was hanged for murdering his mistress.[12] According to a pamphlet which was published after Stanley's death, he had allegedly been intimate with Moll King as well.[12][13]
In 1734, King was allegedly sentenced to transportation to America a final time.[3]
Moll Flanders
Historical analyst Gerald Howson argues in his 1985 book, Thief-Taker General: Jonathan Wild and the Emergence of Crime and Corruption As a Way of Life in Eighteenth-Century England, that Moll Kings' story had inspired Daniel Defoe to write his novel, Moll Flanders.[14]
While King was imprisoned at Newgate in 1721, novelist Daniel Defoe began writing about her.[15] Defoe was visiting his friend, the journalist Nathaniel Mist, when he began mentioning Moll King in his notes.[16]
References
- ^ a b Rees 2012, p. 180.
- ^ Rees 2012, p. 177.
- ^ a b c d Cruickshank 2010, p. 80.
- ^ Howson 1985, pp. 161–162.
- ^ Howson 1985, p. 161.
- ^ Rees 2012, p. 188.
- ^ a b c Howson 1985, p. 162.
- ^ Rees 2012, p. 202.
- ^ Howson 1985, p. 164.
- ^ Howson 1985, p. 163.
- ^ a b c Rees 2012, p. 204.
- ^ a b Howson 1985, p. 170.
- ^ Rees 2012, pp. 178–179.
- ^ Howson 1985, p. 167.
- ^ Starr 1998, p. xiii.
- ^ Scanlon 2005, p. 10.
Bibliography
- Cruickshank, Dan (2010). London's Sinful Secret: The Bawdy History and Very Public Passions of London's Georgian Age. St. Martin's Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-4299-1956-2.
- Howson, Gerald (1985). Thief-Taker General: Jonathan Wild and the Emergence of Crime and Corruption As a Way of Life in Eighteenth-Century England. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4128-3988-4.
- Rees, Sian (2012). Moll: The Life and Times of Moll Flanders. Pimlico. ISBN 978-1-84595-193-1.
- Defoe, Daniel (2005). Scanlon, Paul A. (ed.). Moll Flanders. Broadview Press. ISBN 978-1-55111-451-4.
- Defoe, Daniel (1998). Starr, George A. (ed.). The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-283403-4.