Her original name was Mary Young, but she was such an accomplished pickpocket, or “diver” as the occupation was known among the criminal classes, that her gang re-christened her “Jenny Diver.”
Impoverished and Neglected Childhood of Jenny Diver
Jenny Diver was born around 1700 in Northern Ireland. Her mother was Harriet Jones, a lady’s maid. But, Harriet became pregnant without the convenience of having a husband, so she was fired. This was the normal procedure for women in domestic service in Harriet’s condition and they had almost no options but to take up prostitution to survive.
Harriet soon abandoned Jenny Diver, who lived in several foster homes until she was taken in by an elderly upper class woman.
Jenny Diver Goes to London
Under the care of this lady, Jenny learned to read and write and showed a flair for needlework, her fingers being very nimble.
When she was about 15 a manservant in a nearby house was attracted to her and proclaimed his love. Apparently, Jenny had no fondness for the young man but saw in him the opportunity of getting to London.
The story is picked up at the time by The Complete Newgate Calendar: “she, determining to make his passion subservient to the purpose she had conceived, promised to marry him on condition of his taking her to London. He joyfully embraced this proposal, and immediately engaged for a passage in a vessel bound for Liverpool.”
The journey was financed by the young man’s theft of a gold watch and eighty guineas from his employer. The crime led to his arrest and the couple were separated; he was transported to the colonies and she travelled to London.
London and the Life of the Pickpocket
Jenny met up with an Irish girl named Anne Murphy who offered her a place to live. Anne Murphy was, as told by capitalpunishmentuk.org, “the leader of a bunch of pickpockets and introduced Jenny to the trade. As an apprentice pickpocket, she was given 10 guineas on which to live until she could start producing income herself.”
She proved to be an ingenious and clever thief, with a dexterity that made the picking of pockets easy for her. On one occasion she removed a diamond ring from a man’s hand without him knowing, until he missed it later. She would sit among the wealthy in church wearing a pair of false arms which appeared to remain in her lap. Her real arms were busy removing gold watches and other valuables from worshippers.
She was able to move among her wealthy targets without suspicion because she dressed fashionably and was extremely attractive. Her pickpocketing skills were so good that she could afford elegant clothes.
Jenny Diver Caught and Sentenced
In 1733, she was caught trying to pick the pocket of a gentleman and was sentenced to transportation to Virginia. But, using her attractiveness and bribing a ship’s captain she was soon back in London. To return from transportation before a sentence was completed was a hanging offence in Georgian England.
She was caught again in 1738 and transported again; having given a false name the authorities did not connect her to her earlier conviction. She used the same strategy to get back to England within a year.
Jenny Diver’s Undoing
It wasn’t long before Jenny was caught again and this time the justice system connected her to her previous convictions. This and her illegal return from transportation meant a hanging. And so, on March 18, 1741, Jenny and 19 other condemned prisoners were taken from Newgate Prison for the two-mile journey in carts to the gallows at Tyburn.
Such a large number of hangings and Jenny Diver’s notoriety would have attracted a large crowd, perhaps as many as 200,000. She and her fellow prisoners stood in carts while the executioner secured the hanging rope to a beam. Then, the horse-drawn cart was whipped from under them and they dropped a few inches.
According to capitalpunishmentuk.org “Swinging back and forth under the beam, she would have made choking and gurgling sounds, her feet paddling in thin air and her body writhing in the agonies of strangulation.”
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