John Gibbs was a sailor, his ship being called The Lightning, and in early November 1794, that vessel, back from a voyage to Jamaica, docked along the River Thames, and Gibbs took some well deserved shore leave in London.
Early on the morning of Sunday 9 November, Gibbs left a public house close to King James’ Stairs and began to make his way back to his lodgings in Parlour Street. As the sailor approached the foot of Foxes Lane, a heavily-built man came up behind him and pinned Gibbs’ arms to his side. As Gibbs struggled, a woman approached and began to rifle through his pockets. She eventually stole a silver watch, a steel watch chain, a cornelian seal set in brass, a steel watch key, a clasp knife and a tin japanned tobacco box. More importantly, perhaps, she also stole 34 guineas in gold.
Satisfied that she had taken everything of value, the woman signalled to her accomplice who then pushed Gibbs to the ground. Then, as if to add insult to injury, the man stole Gibbs’ new hat and replaced it with his own shabby one. The couple then made good their escape.
The following morning, Monday 10 November, Gibbs went to the police office in Shadwell to report the assault and theft and there, in The Virginia Planters, a public house opposite, he saw a woman who he believed was the same one who had robbed him the previous morning. The man, of course, had approached him from behind and Gibbs had never even seen his face, but he had had a good look at the woman, as she rifled through his pockets and was convinced that this was the same one.
The woman was taken into custody, on Gibbs’ identification, and charged accordingly. Her name was Mary Finlayson and her case was heard at the Middlesex Assizes, on 8 December 1794.
One of the first witnesses was a watchman named Jones. At some time between 2.00 am and 3.00 am, on Sunday 9 November, he had been on patrol, when he heard a good deal of noise coming from the area at the foot of Foxes Lane. Going to investigate he found a man and a woman making a lot of noise, having been ejected from a public house named The Jolly Sailor.
Jones ordered the woman to be quiet and was greeted with a good deal of verbal abuse. At one stage, the woman offered him a handful of gold if he would go away and leave her alone. Satisfied that there was no other course of action open to him, Jones then called for a constable.
It was Constable John Thomas who came to Jones’ aid, but even as the officer approached, the woman placed the coins into her mouth. This was a strange thing to do, and Thomas ordered her to spit the coins into his hand. Thomas then searched the woman and found that in all, she had 13 guineas in gold on her person, along with a half crown piece and a shilling. The woman, who identified herself as thirty-nine-year-old Mary Finlayson, was then taken to the watch-house and locked up for the night.
The next morning, at 10.00 am, Mary was released from custody and asked to explain where she had obtained so much money. She claimed that her brother in Berwick had sent her ten guineas and the rest she had earned from a woman in labour whom she had assisted. Constable Thomas then took Mary back to The Virginia Planters, where he asked the landlord to take care of her. Meanwhile, Mary was informed that if she appeared before the justices the next morning, and was able to prove her story, then the rest of her money would be returned to her.
She had indeed appeared before the magistrates the next morning but it had not been to recover her property for by then she had been identified by John Gibbs, and charged with highway robbery. Constable Thomas finished his evidence by explaining that he had held on to the money, which he had found on Mary, apart from one guinea, which he had handed over to John Gibbs so that he might pay for his board and lodgings. This, surely, was highly improper behaviour, as the property had not, by that stage, been shown to belong to him.
The testimony of these two witnesses should also have raised a good deal of doubt. John Gibbs had claimed that he was assaulted and robbed at about 3.00 am. The time of Mary’s arrest had been some time between 2.00 am and 3.00 am. There could, of course, have been some discrepancy in the timings, but the circumstances certainly did not agree with the story John Gibbs had told. Mary was in custody by 3.00 am at the very latest and, if the watchman, Jones and Constable Thomas had come upon the scene much before this, why was Mary still at the scene of the robbery? Gibbs himself had said that the couple ran away after robbing him. It is just as likely that Mary was actually in custody at the time John Gibbs was robbed.
The time came for Mary’s story to be detailed in court. When she was arrested, she had said that at around 1.00 am, she was heading home, somewhat the worse for drink, when she met the watchman, Jones. At the time she had around 14 guineas on her and Jones took her back to the watch-house, as he believed she was too drunk to be left to her own devices. At the watch-house he had found out about the money and said that if she gave it to him, he would let her go. When she refused, he had called the constable who took her into custody. If this story were true, then Mary was locked up a good two hours before Gibbs was attacked.
It all came down to who the court chose to believe. Ignoring the discrepancies over the time of the robbery, they found Mary guilty as charged. Sentenced to death, Mary Finlayson was hanged on 1 April 1795, alongside William Ball, who had been sentenced to death for forgery.
Mary may well have been innocent of the charge that claimed her life, but she did earn a small place in criminal history. She was the last woman ever to be executed for highway robbery.