John Rann

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John "Sixteen String Jack" Rann (1750-November 30, 1774) was an English criminal and highwayman during the mid-18th century. Known as a prominent and colorful local figure known for his wit and charm, he would later be known as "Sixteen String Jack" for the 16 various colored strings he wore on the knees of his silk breeches among other eccentic costumes.

Born near Bath in Somerset, England, he served as a postillion to a local woman and during his teenage years worked as coachman in London. He soon became accumstomed to living beyond his means, such as wearing expensive costumes for which to attend balls and gallas of the city's social circles, and was constantly in debt as a result.

He began pickpocketing with some success eventually stealing watches and other valuables along Hounslow Road, however soon became a highwayman and, although he would be arrested several times on charges of highway robbery, six of his cases would often be dismissed due to lack of evidence as witnesses were unable to identify Rann.

During one trial at Bow Street, while wearing an unusually large number of flowers in his coat and his irons decorated with blue ribbons, Rann reportedly addressed the presiding magistrate Sir John Fielding "I know no more of the matter than you do or half as much" when asked who had asked if had anything to say in his defense.

He was finally apprehended after robbing the chaplin of Princess Amelia Sophia near Brentford in 1774 and, held in custody at Newgate Gaol where he supposedly entertained seven women at a farewell dinner, before his execution on November 30. Shortly before he was to be hanged, appearing in a specially made pea-green suit adorned by a large nosegay, he enjoyed cheerful banter with both the hangman and the croud before being public executed at Tyburn at the age of 24.

A novel based on his life, titled Sixteen String Jack, was published in 1841.

[edit] Further reading

Andrews, Williams. Historic Byways and Highways of Old England. W. Andrews & Co., 1900.
Gatrell, V. A. C. The Hanging Tree: Execution and the English People, 1770-1868. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-19-285332-5
Thornbury, Walter and Edward Walford. Old and New London: a narrative of its history, its people and its places. Cassell & Company, 1881.