Jack Sheppard | |
|---|---|
 Chalk and pencil sketch of Jack Sheppard in Newgate Prison, attributed to Sir James Thornhill, c. 1723 | |
| Born | 4 March 1702 Spitalfields, Middlesex, England |
| Died | 16 November 1724 (aged 22) |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Nationality | English |
| Other names | "Gentleman Jack", "Jack the Lad", "Honest Jack" |
| Occupation(s) | cane-chair maker, carpenter, thief, shoplifter, burglar, highwayman, pickpocket, gaol-breaker |
| Known for | his numerous escapes from prison and his crimes of theft and burglary, a biography of which is thought to have been ghostwritten by Daniel Defoe. |
John "Jack" Sheppard (4 March 1702 – 16 November 1724), or "Honest Jack", was a notorious English thief and prison escapee of early 18th-century London.
Born into a poor family, he was apprenticed as a carpenter, but began committing theft and burglary in 1723 with little more than a year of his training to complete. He was arrested and imprisoned five times in 1724, but escaped four times from prison, making him notorious, though popular with the poorer classes. Ultimately, he was caught, convicted, and hanged at Tyburn, ending his brief criminal career after less than two years. The inability of the notorious "Thief-Taker General" Jonathan Wild to control Sheppard, and injuries suffered by Wild at the hands of Sheppard's colleague Joseph "Blueskin" Blake, resulted in Wild's demise as a criminal boss.
Sheppard was as renowned for his attempts to escape from prison as he was for his crimes. An autobiographical "Narrative", thought to have been ghostwritten by Daniel Defoe, was sold at his execution,[1] quickly followed by popular plays. The character of Macheath in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1728) was based on Sheppard, keeping him well-known for more than 100 years. He returned to the public consciousness around 1840, when William Harrison Ainsworth wrote a novel entitled Jack Sheppard, with illustrations by George Cruikshank. The popularity of his tale, and the fear that others would be drawn to emulate his behaviour, caused the authorities to refuse to license any plays in London with "Jack Sheppard" in the title for forty years.
- ^ Compiled for Applebee's Original Weekly Journal, probably by Daniel Defoe, and endorsed by Sheppard at his hanging in November 1724.