Just as Spain had its bloodthirsty salteadores, or guerilleros, Britain was plagued with robbers who worked, mostly at night or at dawn, on the main roads. Highwaymen operated just about everywhere in Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries. Though they were ruthless thieves, they achieved the inexplicable status of popularity. They were supposed to be ‘romantic’, though they were just as likely to put a pistol or musket ball through the brain of your coachman, and then cut not only the string of your lady’s purse and corset, but your throat as well.

There had always been footpads, cutthroats, and murdering thieves from Anglo-Saxon times, but the much improved roads and more frequent use of them by large coaches, packed uncomfortably inside and out with daring travellers encouraged any man with his own horse (or, in one famous case, woman) to hold up the stages with a pair of primed pistols, yelling the infamous command: “Stand and deliver!”.

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