How historical women-only gangs have threatened London for decades

All female 40 elephants were alive by their own shoplifting and pickpocket codes. Now, the new Disney+ series from the creators of Peaky Blinders tells Mary Kerr, the wild story of a gang and its “Queen.”

Organized crime gangs operating in the capital are rarely uncommon. Mafia, Yakuza and Triads have found rich picking in cities around the world with just a few people. Apart from the odd names of 40 elephants, the fact that they were female-only syndicates. And they were led by the Queen.

Their leader’s first story is being dramatized in the gorgeous new six-episode Disney+ series by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight. The story revolves around Mary Kerr, played by Erin Doherty, and Mary Kerr, who has been best known for her role as Anne Princess Anne. crownAnd another real historical figure, the gloriously named Hezekiah Moscow (Malaki Kirby), a Jamaican man who came to London in the late 19th century.

Knight was initially approached by a production company set up with the idea that couples Stephen Graham and Hannah Walters (both appearing in the series) would write a drama about Moscow. “A story about a real person who brought the ambitions of becoming a lion tammer from Jamaica and becoming a truly famous boxer? It’s very appealing,” Knight tells the BBC. “And when I dug it and learned about this person and his experiences, it was very persuasive. Before that, for a long time, I wanted to tell the story of 40 elephants. , and that they both were happening in the same place.

A thousand blows begin when Moscow and his friends arrive in the British capital and witness Kar and her elephants manipulate pickpocket fraud near the dock. We soon learn that Kerr has far more epic ambitions and plans a bold robbery. “Anyone can steal from the bottom,” she tells her lieutenant. “It’s when we stole from above,” she crossed roads with Moscow at Blue Court Boy, a pub owned by Henry Sugar Goodson (Graham), and in a different real history with fighter jets He is a person of. “Most independent gangs of female thieves throughout London.”

Reliable information about the real Mary Carr is rare. She was born in Holborn, London in 1862, and by 1881 she was a prisoner in Kent’s women’s prison, and she knows she is a strict facility for “falling women” run by the Church of England. The exact reason for Kerr’s entry is unknown, but she was 14 years old and was found guilty of shoplifting. Her mother had been dead by then, and her father, the thief and con man, could have been in prison or abroad.

According to Brian MacDonald’s book Alice Diamond and the 40 Elephants, Kerr had an impressive appearance and worked as a flower cellar at Covent Garden in London. She was also a model for Dorothy Tennant’s artists. Dorothy Tennant published an illustrated book called London Street Arab and Frederick Leighton’s most famous works. Burning June. Around 1890 she was elected the “Queen” of 40 elephants.

Historian and author Harry Rubenhold has written many books on women and crime, but is a historic consultant on a thousand blows. “I’ve heard about 40 elephants, and up until then [joining the series]I didn’t do any real research into them,” she says. Some people suggest that they existed in the 18th century, but I don’t think there were any harsh scholarships to confirm this. Of course, as shown in court records, there were many women during that period who were burglars and pickpockets, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they had connections with 40 elephants. We first only heard about them in the 1870s. ”

Kerr’s gang is based in the Elephant and Castle area in southern London, with many of its members being girlfriends or relatives of a thief gang male called the Elephant Boy. The area itself was named after the rough pubs in the district. The main criminal activity of the 40 elephants frequently targeted high-end London shops and asked to shoplift. Carr and Associates appear again and again in police records, trial transcripts, and sometimes newspaper stories. Usually, you are charged with theft and handling of stolen items.

His book, published in 1851, among the London workers and the poor in London, Journalist and campaigner Henry Mayhew identifies elephants and castles as crime hotspots, often adopted by Kerr and Elephants. We also explained how to shoplift like this. When you’re busy, two or three women will go to the store and ask you to see some of the items. When a shopman gets some fresh items from the window or from the shelf, one of them generally opposes as if she lets something slip under her cloak or shawl, but the other He can continue to extract his attention. ”

They wore clothes that were particularly adapted to promote theft. “We often find skirts of their dresses lined up from our pockets and form a large repository around the dress.

“People often expected women to be more honest and law-abiding. That would have given the elephants an advantage when they went to one of their raids,” Reubenhold said. I say it. “Their manipulation appears to have been more refined and organized than merely the theft of opportunists.”

Elephants have also become experts in the form of scary mail. Mary or one of her gangsters accusing her of luring an elderly gentleman into an alley and threatening to attack him and go to the police. Other gang members appear and claim they have witnessed the “attack.” The victim usually separates his valuables and companies to avoid embarrassment.

Another factor that distinguishes an elephant from other criminals is the fact that there is a set of rules known as “Hoister’s Code,” where “Hoist” is the term shoplifting. All elephant members were expected to comply with these rules. According to McDonald’s, they were written down by fellow male members of their family who connected to the elephants with the intention of selling them to the press, but they were never made public. Rules included:

“I didn’t drink before the attack and went to bed early.”

“Revenue from work is shared equally by the group members involved, regardless of their role.”

“Members should not steal from each other (money or boyfriends).”

“My 40s were a kind of cooperative,” writes McDonald. “The Queen may have been a clear leader, but equal shares of the booty and the joint funds available to those arrested helped foster a sense of equality and knit syndicates together. – Similarly It was designed to maintain harmony with the group.”

Carr’s grip against the gang appears to have been alleviated after the lawsuit, in 1896, was indicted and convicted of Michael Maggie, a six-year-old boy from Epsom Race. According to McDonald, Kerr appeared in court. One of the journalists over £300 when workers were paid less than £2 a week. “McDonald speculates that the child was sold by his mother to a gangster and placed him in Carr’s care with the intention of selling him to a childless couple. The young man was found at Kerr’s home 10 months after his loss, following an anonymous tip-off to police. Kerr was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison. Michael’s mother clearly didn’t want to get the boy back, so he was taken care of.

After Mary’s release, she was arrested again in 1900 and sentenced to two years in prison for receiving stolen items. Then it was a downward spiral. MacDonald reported that he was involved in a 1909 robbery at a jewelry store in London’s Rudgate Circus, but was not convicted. She is then considered to be “working” in the Manchester area. There, under the guise of socialite Lady Mary Kerr, he was invited to a feature that could allow skilled burglars and con artists to spend a few useful hours. She is believed to have died in 1924, but the 40 elephants did not die with her.

One of Carr’s successors as the gang queen was Alice Diamond, who also featured as a character in a thousand blows, with Knight using a slightly artistic license on the timeline. Diamond was born in 1886 to criminal parents at Lambeth Workhouse. At age 17, she was found guilty of stealing from a hat shop on Oxford Street, and by age 20 she was wearing a set of diamond rings that doubled as a knuckle duster. The elephant had a greater tendency to violence under her control, so there is much scope for a thousand blows to become a drama that returns home, like Peaky Blinder.

“Season 2 has already been filmed, and there are more stories, so I want to continue telling the story,” Knight says. “There were still people who identified themselves as 40 elephants in the 1950s. Truth and reality are far more interesting than what you could invent.”

1,000 hits will be released on February 21st on Disney+ in the UK and Hulu in the US.