The Elephant and Castle Gang
Violence on the Streets of Victorian London
Muggings are nothing new. Walking the streets of Victorian London was no safer than it is today and just may have been a bit more dangerous than you’d expect. There were the usual pickpockets and cutpurses, but there were also gangs, and one of the most notorious were “the boys” of the Elephant and Castle Gang.
Lots of times I make up names, but this fun moniker truly was a criminal gang. Formed in 1820, this band of hoodlums was a collection of burglars, fences, smash-and-grab afficionados, and thugs. Their specialties ranged from hiring out muscle to bookmaking or bankrolling. A police detective of the era, George Cornish, once described them as well-educated and dapper aristocrats of crime. Often they were simply called The Elephant Boys, denoting they were all male members. Often, fathers discipled their sons into the organization, cultivating the next generation of criminals.
In my new release, The Bride of Blackfriars Lane, heroine Kit Turner ends up rescuing a young girl from the clutches of the Elephant Boys—and it’s quite the harrowing experience. Here’s a blurb for the story:
Detective Jackson Forge can hardly wait to marry the street-sly swindler who's turned his life upside down. Kit Turner is equally excited to wed the handsome detective, and what better way to show her love than providing him with a gift any man of the law would love? She determines to bring to justice the men who years ago maimed his brother despite Jackson's warning to leave the past in the past. As she digs into the mystery of what happened, she unwittingly tumbles into her own history and endangers her future happiness with Jackson.
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