Hellish Fiends, and Brutish Men

On a Saturday afternoon in November 1812, Robert Thorley was riding from London to his home at nearby Petersham, along the Wandsworth road, when he noticed a woman dressed like a Quaker. Following the woman along the footpath was a man with an apron folded round him in the style of a carpenter.

As Thorley drew level with the ‘carpenter’, the man dashed into the road, causing Thorley’s mount to rear up. The equestrian involuntarily struck out with a rattan stick, which connected with the pedestrian’s chest. 

Thorley opened his mouth to ask the man what he was doing when he was suddenly confronted with a loaded and primed pistol. ‘I must have your money,’  the man exclaimed.

Robert Thorley quickly drew his wits together, ‘You can have but little,’  passing the footpad a few shillings and a pair of bank tokens.

The robber responded, ‘If you do me no injury, I shall not hurt you.’  He started to move away from Thorley, before explaining: ‘real distress has compelled me to this act.’

This comment made Thorley see the situation in a different light, and he told the thief that he had made a choice that would end in his being hanged at Tyburn. The footpad paid no attention to his victim. Thorley persisted with his questioning, but the footpad grew impatient and once more furnished his pistol. 

Thorley, fearful of being shot, backed away. At that moment, a horseman passed the footpad, and Thorley alerted him with a shout of ‘a highwayman!’ The robber pointed his pistol at the newcomer and gestured for him to be on his way.

While Thorley and the horseman discussed the situation, the footpad fled down a lane and got over a hedge. Thorley’s newfound ally was named Smith, and they were soon joined by Mr. Reeves, a local magistrate.  

The footpad had got through the hedge into a meadow, as Thorley and his companions were joined by a man described only as ‘a servant of Mr. Nettleship’s’. The four men put their heads together and devised a plan for capturing the rogue.

Mr. Smith was sent galloping to Wandsworth with the intention of returning with a constable. Meanwhile, the others positioned themselves along the hedge, intending to cut off their quarry’s avenue of escape.

Reeves, the magistrate, had just found his spot when the report of a pistol rang out. Reeves, believing that the pistol ball had been fired at him, flattened to the ground in terror. When nothing more was heard from the footpad, the three men steeled themselves to enter the field into which he had fled.

The footpad was lying on his back in the field; his pistol lay at his side, it having fallen from his grasp when he fired the ball into his head. He wore only one shoe; apparently, the other was lost in his attempt to escape.  

The dead man was conveyed to the George Inn at Wandsworth, where a coroner’s inquest was held. The verdict ofFelo de se, Latin for felon of himself, a historical legal term for suicide, was passed down. Contemporary newspapers reported that, ’some hundreds of persons have attended to view the deceased, but none have recognised him.’   

© Mark Young 2026

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