Footpad

[3] According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the origin of the term is not entirely clear, but it may be a concatenation of foot and the word pad, related to path.

Criminals found it safer and advantageous to move in darkness so as to put the victim in fear, escape and diminish the possibility of being recognised by witnesses.

[6] A gang consisted of an association of different sub-groups of members who committed robberies together, since acting alone was less fruitful than operating with the support of companions.

Such was the case with Matthew Clark, who became notorious because of his numerous crimes, including the murder of a young woman, a maid working in a house he was burgling, for which he was condemned to hanging in chains.

[8] A brief historical account of the lives of the six notorious street-robbers, executed at Kingston is an anonymous text (1726) first attributed to Daniel Defoe by James Crossley.

[9] According to the pamphlet this group was a small detachment from a large gang which originally consisted of about 32 members, including the noted Joseph Blake, alias "Blueskin", and Jack Sheppard.

In a letter of June 1764, addressed to the Secretary to the Treasury Charles Jenkinson, he wrote about a footpad assault near Tyburn and Tottenham Court Road.

Penal transportation and imprisonment were instituted as alternative punishments which were often perceived as a condition of pardon and mercy granted by the king.

Following the theme of Moll Flanders, it shares many crucial elements necessary to understand how crime and justice were perceived at the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century.