Joseph Blake (criminal): Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
←Blanked the page |
|||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{dablink|'''Blueskin''' redirects here, for the bay and rural district in [[New Zealand]], see [[Blueskin Bay]]}} |
|||
[[Image:Sheppard Cruikshank.jpg|350px|thumb|There are no contemporary pictures of Blake but he is featured in the second image of "The Last Scene" engraved by [[George Cruikshank]] in 1839 to illustrate [[William Harrison Ainsworth]]'s serialised novel, ''Jack Sheppard''. The caption reads: "Blueskin cutting down Jack Sheppard". In reality Blueskin was already dead by the time of Sheppard's execution.]] |
|||
'''Joseph "Blueskin" Blake''' (''baptised'' [[31 October]] [[1700]] - [[11 November]] [[1724]]) was an 18th century [[England|English]] [[highwayman]] and [[felony|felon]]. |
|||
==Early life== |
|||
Blake was the son of Nathaniel and Jane Blake. He was baptised at [[All-Hallows-the-Great]] in [[London]]. His parents had the means to send him to the parish school of [[St Giles-without-Cripplegate]] for about six years. |
|||
A school friend, [[William Blewitt]], introduced him to the self-styled "Thief-Taker General" (and thief) [[Jonathan Wild]] in around 1714. He left school and became a professional [[thief]]. By the age of 17, he was earning his living as a [[pickpocket]], working with Edward Pollitt (or Pawlett or Pollard), and had been [[nickname]]d "Blueskin". The origin of his soubriquet is uncertain: it is probably due to his swarthy [[complexion]], but possibly due to excessive [[facial hair]] or a [[Port-wine stain|port-wine birthmark]], or perhaps a [[pun]]ning reference to his friend Blewitt. |
|||
==Later life== hes was a mean old ill tempered man with a bald head |
|||
By 1719, Blake was working with Irish highwayman [[James Carrick]], and, by 1722, he was a member of a gang of street robbers led by [[Robert Wilkinson]]. Several of his colleagues were arrested that summer, and three were hanged in September. Blake escaped this time, perhaps due to influence deployed on his behalf by Wild, but he received a [[sabre]] cut to the head as he resisted his arrest by Wild in December 1722. He turned [[King's evidence]] against several former associates, including Blewitt. Three accomplices (John Levee, Richard Oakey and Matthew Flood) were hanged on the strength of Blake's testimony in February 1723. Blueskin expected to be released and to receive some of the reward money for securing the convictions, but he was confined in [[Wood Street Compter]] instead, under threat of [[transportation]]. |
|||
Eventually, Blake found [[surety|sureties]] for his good behaviour, and was released in June 1724. He quickly joined forces with notorious thief and gaol-breaker [[Jack Sheppard]]. They [[burglary|burgled]] the house of William Kneebone (Sheppard's former apprentice master) on Sunday [[12 July]], stealing a quantity of cloth and some other trinkets, but this burglary was to prove their undoing. Having stored the goods near the horse ferry at [[Westminster]], they approached one of Wild's [[Fence (criminal)|fence]]s, [[William Field]], to sell the stolen goods. Word of the crime soon reached Wild, who was determined to punish Sheppard because he had refused to work for Wild. After a brief interlude as [[highwayman|highwaymen]] on the [[Hampstead Road]] on Sunday [[19 July]] and Monday [[20 July]], Sheppard was arrested at Blueskin's mother's brandy shop in Rosemary Lane (later renamed [[Royal Mint Street]]), east of the [[Tower of London]], on [[23 July]] by Wild's henchman, [[Quilt Arnold]]. He was detained in [[Newgate Prison]] pending trial, accused of the Kneebone robbery. Kneebone, Wild and Field gave evidence against Sheppard, and he was convicted of the burglary on [[12 August]]. |
|||
==Arrest== |
|||
Meanwhile, Wild took against Blake, his former underling, probably due to his recent association with Sheppard. Blake was arrested by Wild, Arnold and Abraham Mendez Ceixes at his lodgings in [[St Giles' Circus|St Giles]] on Friday [[2 October]] [[1724]]. Blueskin was tried on Thursday [[15 October]], with Field and Wild again due to give evidence. Outside the courtroom, Blake tried to persuade Wild to put in a good word for him, but Wild refused. Blake attacked Wild, slashing his throat with a [[pocket-knife]]. Wild was quickly attended by passing surgeons, and taken away. Blake's attack caused an uproar which spread to the adjacent prison, and the disturbance continued into the evening. Sheppard, having escaped from Newgate on [[4 September]] and been recaptured five days later, used the distraction inside the prison to cover his fourth, and most audacious, escape. |
|||
Despite the altercation outside the court, Blake's trial went ahead in Wild's absence. Field's evidence was enough to ensure that Blake was convicted, although his account was not consistent with the evidence that he gave at Sheppard's trial. Blake was sentenced to be hanged, but showed no remorse for his crimes. He tried to escape from Newgate without success. |
|||
Meanwhile, Sheppard was recaptured for a final time on [[1 November]]. On Wednesday [[11 November]] [[1724]], the day after Sheppard's death sentence was confirmed, Blake was drawn to [[Tyburn]] along the traditional route, stopping at the Griffin tavern on [[Holborn]] for a stiff drink. In his drunkenness, he slurred his speech from the [[scaffolding|scaffold]] before he was hanged. His body was laid out for a few days, and he was buried in the churchyard at [[St Andrew, Holborn]]. Sheppard was hanged 5 days after Blake, on Monday [[16 November]]. |
|||
==Legacy== |
|||
Blake is best remembered for his vicious attack on Wild. Wild was lucky to survive, protected by the [[stock (necktie)|stock]] worn about his neck. He was incapacitated for weeks, and his grip over his criminal empire started to slip while he recuperated. He quickly lost the confidence of his "customers" and the grudging respect of the general populace, and he was himself convicted and hanged in 1725. |
|||
Blake was memorialised in "Blueskin's Ballad", reputedly written by [[Jonathan Swift]], but he was overshadowed by Sheppard's fame. His attack on Wild was the inspiration for [[John Gay]]'s ballad "Newgate's Garland", which appears in [[John Thurmond]]'s play, ''Harlequin Sheppard'', and he appears in many accounts of Sheppard's life, although the characterisation often bears little resemblance to the reality. |
|||
==References== |
|||
*Andrea McKenzie, ‘Blake, Joseph (bap. 1700, d. 1724)’, [[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]], [[Oxford University Press]], Sept 2004; [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/70956 online edition], Jan 2006, accessed 21 Aug 2007 |
|||
*[http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/lpop/etext/newgate2/blueskin.htm Joseph Blake], from ''[http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/lpop/etext/completenewgate.htm The Complete Newgate Calendar]''. |
|||
*[http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/html_units/1720s/t17241014-43.html Joseph Blake , alias Blueskin, theft : burglary, 14th October, 1724 - The Proceedings of the Old Bailey Ref: t17241014-43] |
|||
*Howson, Gerald. ''Thief-Taker General: Jonathan Wild and the Emergence of Crime and Corruption as a Way of Life in Eighteenth-Century England.'' New Brunswick, NJ and Oxford, UK: 1970. ISBN 0-88738-032-8 |
|||
*Norton, Rictor. ''Early Eighteenth-Century Newspaper Reports: A Sourcebook'', [http://www.infopt.demon.co.uk/grub/sheppard.htm "Jack Sheppard, Jail-Breaker"]. Retrieved [[2 October]] [[2007]]. |
|||
*[http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=21864647 Joseph "Blueskin" Blake's memorial page on Find A Grave] |
|||
*{{MW 1935|date=August 2008}} |
|||
<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] --> |
|||
{{Persondata |
|||
|NAME = Blake, Joseph |
|||
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Blake, Blueskin |
|||
|SHORT DESCRIPTION = 18th century English criminal |
|||
|DATE OF BIRTH = [[31 October]] [[1700]] |
|||
|PLACE OF BIRTH = [[London]], [[England]] |
|||
|DATE OF DEATH = [[11 November]] [[1724]] |
|||
|PLACE OF DEATH = [[Tyburn, London|Tyburn]], London |
|||
}} |
|||
[[Category:English criminals]] |
|||
[[Category:1700 births]] |
|||
[[Category:1724 deaths]] |
|||
[[Category:People executed by hanging]] |
|||
[[Category:18th century executions by Great Britain]] |
|||
[[Category:Executed English people]] |
|||
[[Category:People executed for robbery]] |
|||
[[Category:People executed by England and Wales]] |
|||