Inquiring readers: Once upon a time, road travel was fraught with danger and a traveler could be held up by a highwayman at any time. Jerry Abershawe was such a man. Tony Grant (London Calling) writes about him in this post.
Not far from where I live, on the edge of Wimbledon Common where the Kingston Road passes, are some trees on the side of a small rise of ground. This part of the common is called Jerry’s Hill. It is named after the 18th-century highwayman called Jerry Abershawe, who frequented those parts and held up carriages on their way between Kingston and London. He was one of the last highwaymen.
Jerry's hill. The gibbet was near here. Image @Tony Grant
A highwayman was a thief who held up passers by, usually people travelling in carriages, at gun point or blunderbuss point, and relieved the passengers of their valuables. Some attacks on coaches were brutal and people were killed. Highwaymen weren’t all the dashing handsome masked desperados of fiction with the manners of a lord and a twinkle in the eye for a beautiful lady. “Stand and deliver!” was their traditional call. They chose lonely remote stretches of the highways to perform their dastardly deeds, but they also had to be sure they chose an area where there was regular traffic going to and fro or their despicable mission would be pointless. They chose places just outside towns and cities where there was a constant flow of people travelling. Wimbledon, then a small rural village on the outskirts of London and with a vast area of wild untamed common land around it, was an ideal spot.
Gibbet post at Tibbet's Corner. Image @Tony Grant
Jane Austen was travelling to London from Steventon in 1796 the year after Jerry Abershawe was executed. They were about the same age, 20 and 22 years old.
To Cassandra Austen Thursday 15 – Friday 16th September:
“….As to the mode of our travelling to Town, I want to go in a Stage Coach, but Frank will not let me. As You are likely to have the Williams’ & Lloyds with You next week, You would hardly find room for us then-. If anybody wants anything in Town, they must send their Commissions to Frank, as I shall merely pass thro’ it- The Tallow Chandler is Penlington, at the Crown & Beehive Charles Street, Covent garden.”
Travelling from Steventon, Jane would not have gone through Kingston upon Thames and the London Road leading out of Kingston where Jerry Abershawe plied his highwayman trade. However, you can understand Frank’s concerns for Jane using the stagecoach. A stagecoach carrying a variety of passengers, some undoubtedly wealthy, would have been a target for a highwayman.
From Steventon, the most direct route to London would have taken her through Basingstoke, Virginia Water, Staines, Richmond upon Thames, Hammersmith and on to Westminster and the centre of London. From Staines she would have been travelling on what was known as The Great West Road which lead directly to the second most important city after London, in Georgian times, Bristol, the centre of the slave trade. Some very wealthy merchants and members of the aristocracy would have travelled this road. It must have had its fair share of highway robbers. Stagecoaches on this road would most certainly have been prime targets. So Frank was right to refuse Jane her wish. But maybe the excitement and the risk appealed to Jane. She was young after all. It does not say in Jane’s letter how they did get to Town, but I presume it was in less conspicuous transport and with her brother.
Wimbledon Common showing Jerry's Hill
In 1813, Jane did travel along the London Road leading out of Kingston, Jerry Abershawe’s haunt. She did this many times from Chawton. There is no hint in her letters of any possible dangers but by the time she was living in Chawton, although the Kingston route was now her most direct route to Town, highwaymen were all but extinct. The toll roads had made highway robbery very difficult. Roads were manned every few miles and the people on them had paid to use them. This made it very difficult for highway robbers to make their escape along these routes so this crime virtually died out.
Jerry's Hill, London Road. Image @Tony Grant
To Cassandra Austen Wednesday 15 – Thursday 16 September 1813 Henrietta Street (1/2 past 8-)
Here I am, my dearest Cassandra, seated in the Breakfast, Dining, sitting room, beginning with all my might. Fanny will join me as soon as she is dressed & begin her Letter. We had a very good journey- Weather & Roads excellent – the three first stages for 1s – 6d & our only misadventure the being delayed about a quarter of an hour at Kingston for Horses, & being obliged to put up with a pr belonging to a Hackney Coach & their Coachman, which left no room on the Barouche Box for Lizzy, who was to have gone her last stage there as she did the first;- consequently we were all four within , which was a little crowd;-We arrived at quarter past 4 …”
This time there was no sense of Jane’s brothers putting their foot down and refusing this time to let her travel in what appeared to them in the past in an inappropriate mode of transport. The party Jane travelled with appeared to be Henry, Lizzy and Fanny. There was no sense of danger, just the excitement of the journey, and from Kingston on their last stage, the cramped conditions of four of them inside the barouche. (Imagine being squashed inside a barouche with Jane Austen. What a thought.)
The women would have passed the inn at the bottom of Kingston Hill, where Jerry Abershawe made his headquarters, before their barouche made the long rising trek up the hill onto Wimbledon Common, going past Jerry’s Hill, where I am sure the gibbet would still have been displayed on the right hand side of the road. There probably was no sign of the remains of Jerry Abershawe by that time though. His body had been pecked clean by the crows and his bones had been taken as souvenirs. His finger bones and toes bones were used in candleholders. Jerry Abershawe was the last person to have his body displayed like this on a gibbet.
Jerry Abershawe
Louis Jeremiah Abershawe(1773-3 August 1795), better known as Jerry Abershawe, terrorised travellers between London and Portsmouth in the later 18th century. He was born in Kingston upon Thames and at the age of 17 began his life of crime. He formed a gang, which was based at an inn on the London Road between Kingston and Wimbledon, at the bottom of Kingston Hill called the Bald Faced Stag. I am sure, as well as his primary occupation of highway robbery, Jerry Abershawe also managed to gain the odd carcase of a King’s deer from Richmond Park, which backed on to the Bald Face Stag Inn. The inn no longer exists, but there was a very large and comfortable pub and restaurant built there in the early 1900’s that, just a few years ago, was demolished for new housing built on the site.
Jerry had other places of refuge at Clerkenwell near Saffron Hill. He used a house called the Old House in West Street. Other highwaymen also used this house. Jack Sheppard and Jonathan Wild were known to have stayed there. It was a house renowned for its dark closets, trap doors, and sliding panels.
Clerkenwell
All attempts to bring Jerry Abershawe to justice failed until in January 1795, when he shot dead one of the constables sent to arrest him in Southwark and badly injured the other constable sent along too. Abershawe was arrested at a pub in Southwark called The Three Brewers. He was brought to trial at Surrey Assizes in July of 1795, and convicted and sentenced to death. On Monday 3 August 1795, Jerry Abershawe was hung on Kennington Common, a couple of miles from Wimbledon and then his body was set up on a gibbet on the hill overlooking the Kingston Road, which was more commonly known then as the London Road, next to Wimbledon Common near the scene of many of his highway robberies. It remained there for all passers by to see and be warned about the price to pay for evil ways.
Newgate Prison
The Newgate Calendar for 1795 describes the manner of his being found guilty of murder. Newgate prison was a notorious London prison in which criminals waiting for trail would be held, and it was there that Jerry Abershawe was incarcerated before his execution.
When the judge appeared in his black cap, the emblem assumed at the time of passing sentence on convicted felons, Abershaw, with the most unbridled insolence and bravado, clapped his hat upon his head, and pulled up his breeches with a vulgar swagger; and during the whole of the ceremony, which deeply effected all present except the senseless object himself, he stared full into the face of the judge with a malicious sneer and affected contempt, and continued this conduct till he was taken, bound hand and foot from the dock, venting curses and insults on the judge and jury for having consigned him to, “murder.”
The Newgate Calendar also describes his execution on Kennington Common.
He was executed on Kennington Common, on the 3rd of August, 1795 in the presence of an immense multitude of spectators, among whom he recognised many acquaintances and confederates, to whom he bowed, nodded, and laughed with the most unfeeling indifference. He had a flower in his mouth, and his waistcoat and shin were unbuttoned, leaving his bosom open in the true style of vulgar gaiety; and talking to the mob, and venting curses on the officers, he died, as he had lived, a ruffian and a brute!”
A hanging at Tyburn 17th c.
Highwaymen especially were supposed to affect an attitude and a jocular type of behaviour called gallows humour. It seems that Jerry Abershawe went to his death displaying ribald and stentorious gallows humour.
Jerry's hill view. Image @Tony Grant
At least Jane was now safe on her journeys to London. But I wonder if she had just a small wish for the thrill of danger and would have loved to encounter Jerry on the wild wilderness of Wimbledon Common and ,”stand and deliver,” to him. If it had happened, would her novels have turned out differently in some ways?
Jane was 20 years old when Jerry died at the age of 22. Just maybe Jane would have loved the thrill of adventure on a journey with the threat of Jerry Abershawe round the next bend.
Tibbets Corner. A stylized sign commemorating Jerry Abershaw. Image @Tony Grant
Post script:
After writing this article I just couldn’t get a nagging thought out of my head.
Why and how did Jerry end up as a highway robber?
I know he was young, 22 years of age when he was caught and executed. There is no mention of family or wife or children or any sort of familial attachments. I can imagine him being brought up, an orphan, perhaps on the market streets of Kingston having to survive and live by his wits. It doesn’t take much to imagine the step into criminality to survive. He got in with the wrong lot obviously. An intelligent, bitter, hard done by, street wise kid gone wrong and obviously with a big personality. We can compare him with those who go off the tracks in our own society today. The forces for evil don’t change apparently. Obviously this is a total surmise but I feel better for it.
Tibbets Corner today - where Abershawe held up coaches. Image @Tony Grant
Click on image.
Oh, I like this very much. Such fun to read a snowy day in Denver. I can’t help but think of Catherine Morland on her leaving Northanger Abbey. Thank you Tony.
Women tend to romanticize our highwaymen, pirates, stagecoach robbers, etc., but it’s better than the reality. Thanks, Tony. Very interesting.
I did not know of Jerry Abershawe until now. Such a violent young man. Such a swagger before his death. Reminds me of some of the thugs today. Thank you for a very informative post, Tony.
I will definitely be sharing this post, as some friends and I were remarking just recently at Jane’s lack of highwaymen in her books…
I suppose, as you say, because the practice was becoming extinct! :)
I remember reading a Georgette Heyer novel with the hero as a highwayman who had an aristocratic past that he was hiding in order to protect his brother or somebody form the true blame. He was a true gentleman in his thievery, if you can say such a thing, so it was a bit unbelievable. Still a fun read. Thanks for this realistic picture of an actual highwayman.
This was a fresh topic, and it was interesting to see the views that Jerry would have had on his looting trips.
Was just going to say, like Jennifer, that I now totally understand why it was so worrying for Catherine Morland to travel alone in a coach after being banished from Northanger Abbey.
Tony, you write the most interesting posts! This is a subject I’ve never given a thought to in relation to Jane Austen, and yet it was a fact of life. I love the details you come up with, even if it is a dose of reality!
re: ‘ . . the most direct route to London would have taken her through . . Staines, Richmond upon Thames, Hammersmith and on to Westminster . . ’ No: the route from Staines lay north-east across Hounslow Heath [now the A30] (also notorious for highwaymen) to join the Bath or Great West Road road [now the A4] at Cranford, which runs to Hyde Park Corner. It was no doubt by Jane’s time a well maintained fast turnpike road all the way to the sea at Southampton.
Note that ‘Richmond upon Thames’ is a modern name: it is a London borough, created in 1963; Richmond is only one town in it and not the largest [Twickenham].
Correction: Jane was on the Great South West Road, which runs to Land’s End and is now the A30; the road to the sea at Portsmouth [not Southampton] is now the A307 which starts from the Great West/Bath Road at Kew Bridge and does indeed run through Richmond to recross the Thames at Kingston Bridge.
All this is well explained by wikipedia as there is one art we Brits excel at: having long boring conversations about road routes!
Yes Chris, Richmond upon Thames is a modern name, it was just Richmond in Jane’s time, but for finding on a present day map it was easier, I thought, to use the modern version.
Jane did indeed join the Great West Road at Staines from The Great South West Road.She was travelling from Steventon just south west of Basingstoke. To get to Basingstoke she could have taken the Winchester Road , south of Steventon or more likely, because this had a more direct access from Steventon, the Andover Road north of Steventon. She often mentions passing through Staines in her letters. She would have stopped at the coaching inn called, The Bush.(To Cassandra Tuesday 23 August 1796)
She would have crossed The Thames over the newly built bridge (1791) Although the Romans built a bridge there before that.
Later on, when she lived at Chawton, she travelled over the Hogsback to Guildford and then Esher and on to Kingston. She mentions in her letters liking the route to Kingston. Kingston even features in her novel Emma.
I live near Hounslow Heath, and I often go past Tibbet’s Corner and Putney Heath on the 493 bus. Very interesting to read about Jerry, and be able to actually pinpoint some of the locations.
Makes it more real, which of course, highwayman were, but the whole thing has become romanticized by the passage of time.
I drive to Tibbetts Corner every weekday morning and so far have not noticed the sign commemorating Jerry. Is it on the left as you go down the hill toward Kingston? I drive some schoolboys to school in Surbiton and I’d like to tell them about Jerry Abershawe. Thanks. Very interesting article.
Hi Gill. You must be driving from Wandsworth.
Just after Tibbetts Corner, on the left, going towards Kingston, is Jerry’s Hill, in amongst the trees on Wimbledon Common. That is where Jerry was displayed on the original gibbett after he was hung.
The commemorative gibbett, with the rought iron highwaymans sign, is on a rise of grassy ground in the middle of Tibbetts Corner roundabout. If you drive on the underpass you will miss it. If you are indeed driving from Wandsworth come off on the slip road fro Wimbledon and Putney. Look over to your right and you should see the highwayman sign.
Please tell me if you see it.
All the best,
Tony
Thank you Tony. I shall do my very best tomorrow morning. I’ll be driving Eastwards towards Tibbets Corner, so I’ll check it out. I come off the A3 and go to Putney – so I should be able to see it. Watch this space!
Gill
Eureka! I have now seen the sign. Unfortunately there was a traffic accident on the roundabout today, so I was moving very slowly and had time to look around. I don’t know how I’ve missed it for the past 30 years. Thank you very much Tony.
Hi Gill,
I’m glad you found it, even if it was a traffic accident that gave you time to look around.
The history of Wimbledon Common and indeed Putney is very interesting.
Did you know that Howard Carter, the archaeologist who discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb, is buried in Putney vale Cemetery? That’s the cemetery you pass on the left going towards Kingston just to the left of and behind Asda. Somewhere else for you to go exploring with the boys!!!!!!
It’s a relatively new tomb stone. I think a Tv company made a documentary about him a few years ago and discovered his tombstone in a dilapidated state so they paid for a new one.
All the best,
Tony
No, I had no idea about Howard Carter being laid to rest in that cemetary. My boys have now broken up for Easter but I shall compile some interesting facts for them when we go back for the summer term. Thank you. I find it all very fascinating.
I lived in Putney back in the 1940′s. Tibbett’s Corner always interested me, because I thought there must have been a highwayman called Tibbett; but it turns out that tibbet is simply an old word for “gibbet”–so presumably we have “gibbet’s corner,” (viz. where the gallows stood) which makes a lot more sense.
[...] The Kingston Road is a very old road running between Kingston upon Thames and the City of London. It bisects Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park on it’s way. Jane Austen would have travelled often along it on her way from Hampshire by way of Kingston upon Thames to her brother Henry’s house in Henrietta Street or to one of the other houses Henry owned at different times. Deer under the trees [...]
I grew up in Kingston Vale and was fascinated to read about its most famous villain and the fact that none other than Jane Austen passed through!
Just a small point about the Bald-Faced Stag Inn; the pub that you refer to that backed onto Richmond Park and was demolished to make way for flats was in fact the Duke of Cambridge. The site of the Bald-Faced Stag was further north along Roehampton Vale, where the Asda supermarket now stands.
Never knew about the gibbet at Tibbet’s Corner- I had always assumed Tibbet was a person!!
Thanks again for again for a most interesting article.
i have lived on tibbets corner since 1954.indeed a mr tibbet owned the gate house which still stands on the exit to wimbledon parkside quashing rumors that the highwaymans name hung at tibbets corner was jack tibbet it was jerry abershaw who had lodgings at the bald face stag which was demolished well over a century ago and the site in my time has been a factory and now a supermarket