Were there highway women

Answer 1

Yes, there were, but they were obviously far fewer in number than their male counterparts. In a lot of cases female highway robbers would work in partnership with their husband/as part of a larger gang, for example, Joan Bracey who worked with her husband. Bonnie Grizelda is an example of a Northumberland highwaywoman who, I think, worked alone- or so the story goes. Most female highwayrobbers dressed as men, presumably for their own safety.

A look at a British document called The complete Newgate Calendar would give you some examples of some female highway robbers who found themself in London's newgate prison in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is available at

http://www.heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.beal/comnwc0001&id=1&size=2&collection=beal&index=beal/comnwc

You might be particularly interested in Mary Frith (alias Moll Cutpurse) who is known as the grandmother of female highway robbers.

Also try searching the Old Bailey Online accounts. The search engine on that site is very good, and I think 'highwayrobbery' would be classed under 'violent theft'.

There are also a number of ballads describing female highwayrobbers who dressed as men, for example 'sovay' is a folk song of this kind which is still sung by folk singers today. How far these ballads corresponded to reality, I'm not sure; there is likely to have been a lot of artistic license but there can be no doubt that there were some highway women. In line with larger trends of female crime, though, the number of them seems to have decreased during the nineteenth century.