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Why Dick Turpin Is A Bad Bad Man #history #highwayman

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“Several successors he had, it is true, but no name worthy to be recorded after his own. With him expired the chivalrous spirit which animated successively the bosoms of so many knights of the road.” – William Harrison Ainsworth, Rookwood (1834)

A poetic send-off, isn’t it? But here’s the twist: it’s total bullsh*t.

This is the story of Dick Turpin, England’s most notorious highway man and as you’ll learn this image of him as a gallant knight of the road? Total fiction.

Most of what you think you know about Dick Turpin is, frankly, nonsense. The romantic highwayman image? That’s courtesy of 19th-century writers with vivid imaginations and a flexible relationship with facts.

The real Dick Turpin? He was a butcher turned burglar, gang member, murderer, and all-around menace—hardly the candlelit hero you’d want reading poetry on horseback.

He didn’t rob the rich to give to the poor. He robbed the rich because, well, they had stuff—and often, he robbed the not-so-rich too. He wasn’t suave or sophisticated. He was violent, often chaotic, and somehow managed to be both feared and laughably sloppy.

So what’s the real story? Let’s unravel the bloody, bumbling, bizarre truth behind England’s most famous—and most misunderstood—highwayman.
Stick around. This isn’t the Turpin you’ve been sold. History’s about to get way less flattering.

#history #historical #historyfacts #dickturpin #turpin
Category
Highway Men
Tags
history of dick turpin, story of dick turpin, the real dick turpin
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