{"id":34473,"date":"2024-03-29T17:16:41","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T16:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=264209"},"modified":"2024-03-30T07:12:55","modified_gmt":"2024-03-30T06:12:55","slug":"the-real-renegade-nell-the-bloody-ballad-of-female-highwaywoman-susan-higges","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/the-real-renegade-nell-the-bloody-ballad-of-female-highwaywoman-susan-higges\/","title":{"rendered":"The real Renegade Nell? The bloody ballad of female highwaywoman Susan Higges"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Renegade Nell arrives on Disney+, we explore the life and crimes of a real highwaywoman of 17th century England \u2013 the bloodstained Susan Higges <\/p>

By Rhiannon Davies\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 29 March 2024 at 16:16 PM<\/p>

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When picturing the highway robbers of the 17th and 18th centuries, figures like the notorious Dick Turpin<\/a> probably spring to mind. But it wasn\u2019t just highwaymen who brandished their pistols and shouted \u2018stand and deliver\u2019 \u2013 women stalked the roads to prey on wealthy travellers, too.<\/p>\n

Though the titular highwaywoman of Disney+\u2019s new series Renegade Nell<\/em> is a work of fiction, women really did turn to roadside robbery.<\/p>\n

\"Louisa\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Louisa Harland as highwaywoman Nell Jackson in Disney+\u2019s \u2018Renegade Nell\u2019 (Photo courtesy of Robert Viglasky\/Disney+)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Susan Higges was one such highwaywoman. Living in Buckinghamshire, her career of crime stretched for 20 years. She dressed as a man to stalk the highways and pilfer from travellers, and also drummed up additional funds by extorting men whom she caught sleeping with her unmarried female servants.<\/p>\n

But her exploits came to a bloody end when she murdered a woman who knew her identity. With her dying breath, her victim spat blood onto Higges\u2019 face \u2013 leaving a stain which, so the story goes, could not be scrubbed away. With physical proof of her crime, the highwaywoman was forced to confess, and was promptly sent to the gallows.<\/p>\n

Higges wasn\u2019t the only woman to embrace highway robbery. Although relatively uncommon, we can find stories of highwaywomen in various sources, from court records to popular songs. Some \u2013 like Higges \u2013 were solo operators, whereas others partnered with their spouses, or ran with gangs. Many dressed as men to commit their crimes \u2013 though we can\u2019t be sure why.<\/p>\n

A real Renegade Nell? The ballads of Susan Higges<\/h2>\n

Our main record of Higges\u2019 colourful life comes from broadsheet ballads: cheap, mass-produced lyric sheets that peddled sensational stories of murder and woe. These ballads were beloved by their 17th-century readers, and became a key part of popular news culture in the period.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s perhaps no surprise that the writers of these ballads pounced on the lives \u2013 and deaths \u2013 of highwaywomen. For maximum drama, many were written from the point of view of the women themselves, recounting their misdeeds to the reader as they shivered on the gallows.<\/p>\n

Higges\u2019 story was the focus of two broadsheet ballads, both printed in 1640: A True Relation of One Susan Higges<\/em>, and The Sorrowfull Complaint of Susan Higges<\/em>. Due to the nature of these sources, we can\u2019t take them as totally accurate, but they provide a tantalising flavour of her life.<\/p>\n

These two tales are spare on some details. We don\u2019t get a sense of Higges\u2019 early life, for instance, or why she turned to a life of crime, but it\u2019s clear that she was adept at covering her tracks. According to A True Relation<\/em>, Higges managed to hide her criminal activity from her friends and neighbours for two decades.<\/p>\n

Although she was \u201cwell thought of by good Gentlemen and Farmers of good fame\u201d, the ballad says \u201cMost wickedly I [Higges] spent my time. Devoide of godly grace: \/ A Lewder Woman never liv\u2019d, I thinke in any place.\u201d<\/p>\n