London History Jonathan Wild Thief TakerJonathan Wild - Thief Taker General
Before the police force was formally established as a full-time service of paid individuals in 1913 (seems late, but it is a fact), part-timers and private operatives policed the streets of London. Between 1674 and 1829 if you witnessed a 
crime you were legally obliged to apprehend the perpetrator or at the least report the crime to a justice of the peace. You were also expected to join the "Hue and Cry" in an active pursuit of a suspected felon. I imagine this would be popular if re-introduced. Joining a mob to chase down a perp, before returning to your pint - cheeks flushed with the exercise.
However, during the 18th century the general public became less involved and increasingly private individuals were paid to locate or chase down suspects. Rewards and inducements were also offered, including pardons to accomplices if they turned in their former gang members. Rewards tended to be half the value of the stolen goods and the thief taker crucially, was prepared to cross parish boundaries in order to hunt down their quarry. This produces a romantic notion of a logical and fearless defender of the common good, chasing suspects across the countryside. Unfortunately, that's not what happened.
Thief takers usually became entrepreneurial robbers themselves. They organised the gang of robbers, fenced the stolen goods by handing them back for a reward, then often turned in the robbers for yet more reward. The fee set by authorities on burglary, highwaymen and coiners, was high - £40 per head and £100 extra if the crime was committed within 5 miles of Charing Cross (i.e. well inside London's boundaries). A single capture in London would earn the thief taker the equivalent of 5 years earnings in average employment. Also, and you can't help feeling this aided the cause of corruption - any crime committed by the thief taker during his apprehension, was also pardoned.
Jonathan Wild was a London magistrate and the most renowned thief taker in the land. He had a system though, and a thoroughly corrupt one too. Wild controlled an enormous syndicate of organised thieves. Those which had returned from the colonies for prior crimes were in a difficult position, 
work-wise. Jonathan Wild would recruit them and once they'd dabbled in criminal activity, he had them over a barrel. As former convicts they would be unable to give evidence against him in court, leaving him free to openly blackmail them. His protection racket operated under the legitimate umbrella of his social standing in the community - the upright citizen, the businessman, the magistrate. Wild attempted to become a freeman of the City of London (but failed) and was often seen patrolling the streets carrying a short silver staff as a badge of authority.
Wild set up an office in Newtoner's Lane and after a short period engineered a 'steal to order service'. Victims of theft would come to him and he would recover the goods for a fee - since he always knew who had taken them. The victims were happy, the robbers were happy and if any fuss was kicked-up by the criminal element, he turned them in for a public hanging at the Tyburn Tree (more information about Tyburn in Hyde Park).
Jonathan Wild first came to London in his twenties (leaving his wife and a young child behind in Wolverhampton) and ended up in debtor's gaol for four years. There he mingled with crooks and thieves and near the end of his sentence, a prostitute named Mary Milliner. When he was released, they set up home together in Macklin Street, Covent Garden. While Mary was 'working' in nearby alleys, Wild would pounce from the shadows and rob the busy pair (I imagine some acting was involved on Mary's part). Together they scraped enough money to buy a drinking house (The King's Head) frequented by criminals and it was here their criminal information was first traded.
Wild expanded his underworld empire once his office was effectively ticking over. He organised gangs to operate in all geographical districts of London and created mobile gangs to follow country fairs. Some specialised in prostitution, others robbery, 
others were burglary outfits who targeted personal objects of high sentimental value, which were easy to steal. Wild's currency was information and he traded on it regularly. He owned the bosses of the criminal gangs and kept them in line through blackmail and the perception by the public that he was protecting their interests. It was through the public that he acquired the title of "Thief-taker General of Great Britain and Ireland". He moved goods between several warehouses and employed craftsmen to alter art, jewellery and other valuables. He also ran a sloop which carried goods to Europe and brought smuggled brandy and lace back from Belgium and Holland. He didn't employ anyone directly, he just used middle-men; always keeping a distance between himself and the crime.
The authorities were aware of his activities, passing the 'Jonathan Wild Act' - concerning the movement of stolen goods for reward, but he was difficult to pin crimes to because of his protection rackets and extensive use of 3rd parties. He was forced to close his office because of the new legislation but further petitioned the authorities for 'freeman' status, thumbing his nose at the nearby circling wolves. However, he had the prosperous and influential on his side, stolen property had been returned and there was no denying the streets were considerably safer during his unofficial stewardship, but he was treading a fine line and making too many enemies.
Jonathan Wild's Enemies:
The following advert appeared in the press in 1724
"Lost, the 1st of October, a black shagreen Pocket-Book, edged with
Silver, with some Notes of Hand. The said Book was lost in the
Strand, near Fountain Tavern, about 7 or 8 o'clock at Night. If
any Person will bring aforementioned Book to Mr Jonathan Wild,
in the Old Bailey, he shall have a Guinea reward."
The advert is brazen extortion. The Notes of Hand are agreements of debt, meaning signatures, so Wild already knew the name of the book's owner. The Fountain Tavern was a known brothel, so the advert is a tacit threat of exposure. The Guinea 'reward' is the fee for his silence on the matter.
Prior to his becoming "Thief Taker General", there was another vying for that role - Charles Hitchen. In the previous decade he had taken the role of Under-Marshall of the City of London (which he paid £700 for). Hitchen had employed Wild and it's certain that working for Hitchen was where he acquired the skills required for wholesale duplicity, with one notable exception. Hitchen was not a subtle man and after employing Wild to act as his deputy when laying low from public office. He began to see Wild as a rival once he reinstated himself. He immediately began proceedings to remove him, not reckoning on Wild's guile. Hitchen released a pamphlet insinuating Jonathan Wild was a receiver of stolen goods, calling him "The Regulator". Wild responded by stating that Charles Hitchen was a known homosexual and frequented notorious molly houses in London. Hitchen was convicted of 'attempted sodomy' and sentenced to being pilloried, fined and spending 6 months in gaol. His reputation was in tatters and Jonathan Wild occupied the power vacuum he relinquished.
In 1724 Wild's empire began to collapse. The captain of his sloop docked the value of a shipmate's share of smuggled lace, and so began a tenuous link between Jonathan Wild and his criminal activities. Wild later sent a couple to Seven Dials to steal some lace, and then attempted to 
collect the reward from the shop owner. His further involvement in a riot to spring his former captain from Newgate Gaol, led to the authorities beating a path to his door. He was convicted under his own act and sentenced to execution at Tyburn.
He attempted suicide the night before his hanging by ingesting laudanum, but failed, and was taken to Tyburn Tree (where present day Marble Arch is) in a delirious state. En route he was jeered, booed and pelted with faeces and dead cats & rats from some accounts and cheered like a hero from others (Daniel Defoe). Perhaps the largest crowd ever seen at Tyburn turned up, but there was no final speech from the heavily drugged Wild. He was the last to die from his group of four and cut down to prevent surgeons taking his body. He was buried in St Pancras churchyard, however several days later his body was exhumed and the empty coffin was discovered in Kentish Town.
A body washed up on the shore of the Thames near Whitehall, which due to its extremely hairy chest, many believed belonged to the missing Jonathan Wild. However, many alternatively suspected that body-snatchers, acting on behalf of experimental surgeons had successfully claimed the body from the coffin in Kentish Town. Whichever route it took, the skeleton of Jonathan Wild is still on display in the Hunterian Museum in Lincoln's Inn, The City of London.
