Talk:Footpad

Corrected Errors

Deleted misinformation on the 'non-violent' nature and comparison to catburgler. My reference comes from the Apple Computer Dictionary v1.0.1 2005. Drew contrast to contemporaneous crime, highway robbery. --TresRoque 20:42, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

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Added the term mug, mugger etc Perhaps the definition of the word mug and mugger needs its own page, and a disamiguation reference as well. Plcsys (talk) 13:49, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

I see some enterprising soul has seen fit to delete all mention of muggers from this article. This is patently ridiculous, since the two are essentially synonymous. Perhaps someone with greater stomach for such schoolyard oneupsmanship will put it back in, so that those who use Wikipedia as an information source will receive information. In case my point here has been too esoteric, the upshot is this: until the terms "mug" and "mugger" appear in the lede sentence, this article says nothing. Laodah 06:27, 25 July 2018 (UTC)

Additions

I am an italian student of History of English Culture class, and as part of my exam I have been assigned that article to improve. The article could be much expanded, comparing it with "Highwayman" because both are forms of "Highway robbery". I will try to take your suggestions into consideration and furthermore I will post a bibliography of relevant, reliable sources: J. M. Beattie, " Crime and the Courts in England, 1660-1800";J. M. Beattie, " Policing and Punishment in London, 1660-1750: Urban Crime and the Limits of Terror"; Robert B. Shoemaker, "The Street Robber and the Gentleman Highwayman: Changing Representations and Perceptions of Robbery in London, 1690-1800, Cultural and Social History" (2006); Gillian Spraggs, "Outlaws & Highwaymen, The Cult of the Robber in England from the Middle Ages to the Nineteenth Century"; Alexander Smith, " The History of the Lives of the most noted Highwaymen"; ; " The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, London's Central Criminal Court, 1674 to 1913", www.oldbaileyonline.org. Im 2u (talk) 16:17, 18 October 2015 (UTC)

I agree that the article could do with an expansion, but please note that a footpad is more of a mugger than a highway robber. To the best of my understanding, a footpad would normally not commit highway robbery, but rather resort to urban assault crime. But if you have reliable sources to the contrary, I'll be happy to stand corrected! Asav | Talk 10:57, 19 October 2015 (UTC)

As said before I'll look after the page on Footpad. In order to give you an idea of what I'm going to do I'll write here a brief outline about my work. First of all, I'd like to organize in a better way the article with the purpose of avoid misunderstending with other themes and articles. The definition of "footpad" is based on sources as: Beattie, "Crime and the Courts in England" and Shoemaker "Outlaws and Highwaymen". Im 2u (talk) 19:07, 25 October 2015 (UTC) The aim of this work is to enhance the subject adding historical details and paragraphs about the problem of surveillance of streets at night ( when the majority of crimes was committed) and also touch the question of how footpads were organised considering the social texture of the 18th century. I hope it could be useful to improve this section. I'll be happy to answer to any question.Im 2u (talk) 19:10, 25 October 2015 (UTC)

Please note that all streets in London were considered "highways" in previous times, so while a footpad may have been a highway robber, he'd still be an urban criminal.

A robbery (see below) which took place on or near the King's Highway. Although these crimes frequently took place on the outskirts of London, street robberies within London are also included because the streets of London were designated as highways by one of the Transportation Acts. Because such crimes interfered with the freedom to travel, they were viewed as particularly serious. Many highway robbers travelled on horseback, but the tradition of the "polite" gentleman highway robber was not always realised in practice. Following improvements in policing, road transport, banking and credit, the mounted robber disappeared from English roads in the late 1820s. The last series of prosecutions for highway robbery were heard at the Old Bailey were in 1830. In the next eighty years only three more cases were tried; one in 1832, one in 1877, and a final case in 1897.

— Old Bailey Online

Cheers! Asav | Talk 22:48, 2 November 2015 (UTC)

Clatification

I've noted that some lines of the article had been deleted! I think that few informations about the way gangs were organized and how they acted could be useful to improve the article and underline some concepts. For this reason I dont't find them inadequate to such an extent that these have to be eliminated. Please write in the talk page if something has been changed or deleted explaining the reason. It will be advantageous to check potential mistakes and correct them in order to do a good job! Im 2u (talk) 10:06, 21 November 2015 (UTC)

Etymology of padlock

I've removed the following sentence from the Etymology section:

These footpads also gave us the word padlock. Footpads had their own unique way of robbing travelers: they would steal from wooden crates and packages that were in wagons or strapped to packhorses while the drivers stopped at a roadside inn. To thwart this, locks were fitted with a removeable or hinged shackle to secure the crates from the thieving footpads. These devices became known as padlocks.

It was added in August 2020 alongside a corresponding edit on the padlock page. That edit was later reverted by another editor as unsupported by any dictionary definitions. I've searched several online dictionaries and agree with the editor who reverted: there's simply no evidence to connect the two words. ~dom Kaos~ (talk) 08:17, 3 September 2022 (UTC)