Rather a long time ago, I used to work with a chap by the name of John Palmer. A lovely chap and now much missed. However, John was always delighted that he shared his name with an “also known as” of Dick Turpin! 
The son of an Innkeeper, who was also a butcher (many Innkeepers having second jobs), young Richard was originally destined to become a butcher as well. One of London’s most notorious criminal gangs, the Gregorys, stole livestock and therefore need a butcher to cut up the meat so that it could be sold on more easily. Turpin was only too happy to help and so became a close associate of the gang.
The Gregory gang was eventually broken up and many members hanged, but Turpin escaped the hands of the Law and switched to becoming a highwayman. Between 1735 and 1737 he committed many brutal robberies, earning him the name of ‘Turpin the Butcher’. But he was eventually captured and hanged today, 7th April 1739.
The son of an Innkeeper, who was also a butcher (many Innkeepers having second jobs), young Richard was originally destined to become a butcher as well. One of London’s most notorious criminal gangs, the Gregorys, stole livestock and therefore need a butcher to cut up the meat so that it could be sold on more easily. Turpin was only too happy to help and so became a close associate of the gang.
The Gregory gang was eventually broken up and many members hanged, but Turpin escaped the hands of the Law and switched to becoming a highwayman. Between 1735 and 1737 he committed many brutal robberies, earning him the name of ‘Turpin the Butcher’. But he was eventually captured and hanged today, 7th April 1739.