Queens of the Underworld: A Journey into the Lives of Female Crooks

by Caitlin Davies

Overview

‘What a brilliant piece of research; pieced together with compassion, heart and understanding. Caitlin gives voice to women who have been forgotten or have only been seen through a male prism. She wrestles back their stories’ - Maxine Peak

‘A rollicking account of all kinds of crime committed by women . . . who have not only been forgotten or ignored, but who put their male criminal counterparts to shame’ Julie Bindel, The Spectator

Robin Hood, Dick Turpin, Ronnie Biggs, the Krays . . . All have become folk heroes, glamorised and romanticised, even when they killed. But where are their female equivalents? Where are the street robbers, gang leaders, diamond thieves, gold smugglers and bank robbers?

Queens of the Underworld reveals the incredible story of female crooks from the seventeenth century to the present. From Moll Cutpurse to the Black Boy Alley Ladies, from jewel thief Emily Lawrence to bandit leader Elsie Carey and burglar Zoe Progl, these were charismatic women at the top of their game. But female criminals have long been dismissed as either not ‘real women’ or not ‘real criminals’, and in the process their stories have been lost.

Caitlin Davies unravels the myths, confronts the lies and tracks down modern-day descendants in order to tell the truth about their lives for the first time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780750999113
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	10/14/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	372
Sales rank:	53,756
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Caitlin Davies is a novelist, non-fiction writer, award-winning journalist and teacher. She is the author of six novels, six non-fiction books, and several short stories. She has written for The Independent, The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. Her books include 'Bad Girls: a History of Rebels and Renegades', a history of Holloway Prison, and 'Queens of the Underworld' about female crooks. She lives in London.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Blonde Mickie 7

Introduction: Woman of the Underworld 11

1 Mary Frith: Jacobean Pickpocket and Fence 19

2 Ann Duck: Eighteenth-Century Street Robber 33

3 A Conscious Mistress of Crime 45

4 Ladies Go A-Thieving 54

5 Emily Lawrence: Victorian Jewel Thief 64

6 Mary Carr: Queen of the Forty Thieves 77

7 Alice Diamond and Maggie Hughes: The Forty Elephants 90

8 Lady Jack: Shop Breaker 104

9 Queenie Day: The Terror of Soho 114

10 Rescued from the Footnotes 123

11 Lilian Goldstein: Smash-and-Grab Raider 133

12 The Forty Elephants Bar 149

13 Noreen Harbord: Queen of the Contraband Coast 175

14 Zoe Progl: No. 1 Woman Burglar 190

15 The Great Escape 198

16 Shirley Pitts: Queen of the Shoplifters 208

17 The Criminal Masquerade 217

18 Liberation of the Female Criminal 226

19 Chris Tchaikovsky: Queen of Charisma 233

20 Looking for Trouble 245

21 Joan Hannington: Diamond Thief 257

22 Gangsters' Molls 269

23 Joyti De-Laurey: Queen of Cash 276

24 Lady Justice 288

Sources 296

Select Bibliography 312

Acknowledgements 315

Other Titles Caitlin Davies 316

Index 317

Editorial Reviews

"Neither sentimental nor judgmental, Davies presents these characters as important examples of criminological history. The case studies are prime examples of women who have not only been forgotten or ignored, but who put their male criminal counterparts to shame." —Spectator

From the Publisher