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Wild, Jonathan
Wild, Jonathan (c.1682–1725). Thief-taker and anti-hero. Trained as a buckle-maker, Wild's imprisonment for debt brought him into contact with the underworld, then into handling stolen property. He circumvented the 1707 Act which made fences accessories by deliberately planning robberies from identifiable victims, from whom he could then claim reward money on return of their property. Ostensibly an instrument of justice by apprehending criminals whose conviction would be rewarded, he simultaneously organized his own thieves into allotted gangs, supporting but controlling them by ‘bringing them to justice’ if he chose. His activities prompted a statute whereby receiving a reward for returning deliberately stolen goods was an offence comparable to the felony (1718), but the self-delusion that his public services outweighed his own crimes eventually ended at Tyburn.
A. S. Hargreaves |
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Cite this article
JOHN CANNON. "Wild, Jonathan." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "Wild, Jonathan." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-WildJonathan.html JOHN CANNON. "Wild, Jonathan." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-WildJonathan.html |
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Jonathan Wild the Great, The Life of
Jonathan Wild the Great, The Life of, a short novel by H. Fielding, published as the third volume of his Miscellanies, 1743, based on the life of a notorious thief-taker, Jonathan Wild, who was hanged in 1725.
Fielding's hatred of hypocrisy here finds its most mordant expression. The quality Wild most values in himself and in others is ‘that of hypocrisy’. His own position as the Great Man among thieves, cheats, and bullies is constantly compared, directly and by implication, with that of the Great Man among public figures of power (with Sir Robert Walpole as a particular target), whose palaces are no more than ‘Newgate with the mask on’. The life of Fielding's Wild is traced from his birth to his death on the gallows, through a series of episodes involving robbers, highwaymen, whores, murderers, and the corrupt and brutal officers of Newgate. |
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Cite this article
MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Jonathan Wild the Great, The Life of." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Jonathan Wild the Great, The Life of." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-JonathanWildtheGreatThLff.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Jonathan Wild the Great, The Life of." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-JonathanWildtheGreatThLff.html |
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Wild, Jonathan
Wild, Jonathan (c.1682–1725). Thief‐taker and anti‐hero. Trained as a buckle‐maker, imprisonment for debt brought Wild into contact with the underworld, then into handling stolen property. His activities prompted a statute whereby receiving a reward for returning deliberately stolen goods was an offence comparable to the felony (1718), but his delusion that his public services outweighed his crimes eventually ended at Tyburn.
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Cite this article
JOHN CANNON. "Wild, Jonathan." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "Wild, Jonathan." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-WildJonathan.html JOHN CANNON. "Wild, Jonathan." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-WildJonathan.html |
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