William Spiggot
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William Spiggot was a highwayman who was captured by Jonathan Wild's men in 1721. During his trial at the Old Bailey, he at first refused to plead and was therefore sentenced to be pressed until he pl
Illustration of a Highwayman
The punishment peine forte et dure for a refusal to plead in London. Engraving published in the 1780 edition of the Malefactor's Register or Newgate Calendar
Executions at Tyburn (late seventeenth century)
The Ordinary of Newgate's Account was a sister publication of the Old Bailey's Proceedings, regularly published from 1676 to 1772 and containing biographies and last dying speeches of the prisoners ex
William Spiggot
…performed his robberies on the roads from London to Hounslow Heath, Kingston and Ware. The exact number of his crimes is unknown, yet according to the Ordinary of Newgate, Spiggot had declared to him that "it was in vain to mention his numerous Robberies on the High-Way, being perhaps about a Hundred". His criminal life…
Newgate Prison, Inner Court, 18th century. Wellcome L0001330
Tyburn tree