As a kid, I remember watching Anne of Green Gables deliver a dramatic reading of (part of) “The Highwayman.” I could tell it was a very romantic portrayal—so much so that I wasn’t sure what a highwayman was. This is authentic to the time: in the 19th and 20th centuries, as the threat of actual robbery and murder on the road lessened, the highwayman was romanticized, often as a Robin Hood-type figure (you know, another virtuous outlaw).
So, apropos of nothing, I went on a hunt and found out some interesting facts about highwaymen. These daylight robbers stalked well traveled roads and often did kill uncompliant victims.
The original Tories
The term “tory” first appeared in the English language as a borrowing from Irish. The term tóraidhe (TOReeya, roughly) meant “pursuer,” and it was applied to Irish people who were kicked off their land and became outlaws, roaming the countryside and robbing people.
The Oxford English Dictionary first shows this term used in print in English in 1646. Soon thereafter (the early 1650s), it was used to mean any non-English bandits. In the 1680s, it was used as a derogatory nickname for people who wanted James, Duke of York, to be next in line for the throne. If you’re wondering, they succeeded . . . briefly. After Charles II, his brother James, Duke of York, became King James II and VII—but three years later he was deposed. The reason for all the opposition? James was Catholic, and generally speaking, faithful adherents of one religion are not the best choice to be the head of a different church.
The nickname stuck with the pro-King James party. It would not be used in the Americas to mean “Loyalist” or “anti-revolutionary” until the 1770s, of course, but the term was used to mean “those in favor of the king” on both sides of the Atlantic.
Stand and deliver
If you’re of the age that also loves Megan Followes as THE DEFINITIVE ANNE, you might also have this as your primary association with “Stand and Deliver”:
I’d always wondered what that was supposed to mean. In the movie, it seems to mean stand up for yourself and deliver your best performance. But this phrase also comes from highwaymen, where it means “stop; this is a stick up”: “Stand and deliver your valuables.”
Your money or your life
Another popular phrase also comes from highwaymen. Nope, it’s not the punchline to an early 20th century joke, it was a genuine threat. You can bet most people chose to keep the latter, which made highwaymen pretty successful as long as they didn’t get caught.
So when will we see a highwayman in your books?
Oh, um, about that… I have no plans to include a highwayman. If I did, they’d either be a villain or they’d have to reform. But it wasn’t book research that brought me to all these fun facts. They came from my two main non-scholarly sources of British history: Wikipedia and Horrible Histories:
PS: Matt, this is a real good look for you, my dude. I’m def ready for my new aesthetic: Georgian emogothpunk. Wait… I think I might have completely missed the point of this song.