even larger groups. St Leger’s partner for much of his thief-taking career—as in
some part of his criminal career—was a man called Anthony Dunn.
Dunn made his first appearance in the records that I am aware of in 1686 ,
when he was tried with two others at the Old Bailey on a charge of theft from the
house of the Countess of Orrery.^35 He was acquitted, and at some point there-
after took up robbery and housebreaking again, for in 1690 he was included in
the royal proclamation that had named St Leger and fourteen other men as
highwaymen and burglars. The proclamation announced that such offences, as
well as housebreaking and murder, were at a dangerously high level and that this
‘Party and knott’ of men had been responsible for many of them. They ‘com-
monly do keep companie the one with the other’, the proclamation went on to
say, ‘and all of them fly from Justice altho great endeavors pains and cost have
been used for their Apprehension’.^36 The proclamation urged magistrates
around the country to send copies of commitments of anyone charged with vio-
lent offences, along with descriptions of the men involved, of the horses they rode,
and of the goods they stole, to a judge of the court of King’s Bench so that infor-
mation could be pooled and these men brought to justice for all the offences
they had committed. It also offered a reward of twenty pounds for the appre-
hension of anyone convicted of murder, robbery, burglary, or housebreaking.
The proclamation may have dispersed the gang. But early in 1691 Dunn was
caught with five other men and charged with burglary, the dire consequences of
which he dodged by giving evidence against his accomplices—and possibly
earning in addition the reward promised by the proclamation: twenty pounds
each upon the conviction of the five men he sent to trial.^37 Perhaps this experi-
ence persuaded him (as something persuaded St Leger) that this provided a
safer and more suitable career opportunity than the life of a highwayman and
burglar. At any event, Dunn too dropped out of the offender side of the court
ledgers in 1691 , and began to appear frequently on the other side, along with his
former associate, Anthony St Leger. Within a few years they were both styling
themselves ‘gentleman’.
Like many other thief-takers, Dunn and St Leger established themselves in
the 1690 s by taking on the relatively soft targets of coiners and clippers, though
without entirely forgoing opportunities to profit from the rewards available for
convicting robbers and burglars. Coining offences came to a massive peak in the
1690 s, driven by the weakness of the coinage and the opportunities that coun-
terfeiting and especially clipping offered. The government’s effort to stem the
assault on the coinage by vigorous prosecution of counterfeiters and clippers
provided encouragement and opportunities for men like Dunn and St Leger.
According to their own, perhaps inflated, claims, it was against the coining and
clipping trades that they established themselves as thief-takers. In February
Detection and Prosecution 235(^35) OBSP, May 1686 , p. 3 (Dunn et al.). (^36) Jor 51 , fo. 107.
(^37) LMA, MJ/SP/ 1691 /April/ 67 (confession of Anthony Dunn).