Jenny Diver
British pickpocket
Jenny Diver, née Mary Young (c.1700 – 18 March 1741) was an Irish pickpocket, one of the most famous of her day.
Background and migration to England
Born around 1700 in Ireland, Diver was the illegitimate daughter of an unknown father and the lady's maid Harriet Jones. After her mother deserted her, Diver grew up in various foster homes. She was a skilled seamstress, and eventually emigrated to London, where she became an apprentice of Anne Murphy, who was the leader of a gang of pickpockets. She soon became so skilled as a thief that she became the leader of Murphy's gang and nicknamed Jenny Diver.
Appearance, personality and criminal technique
Jenny Diver was described as attractive, educated and well dressed, and was able to mix among wealthy people without attracting suspicion. Perhaps the best known of her methods was to feign illness, during which she robbed people and handed over the objects to her accomplices. She would also use false arms which made it possible for her to rob people with her arms seemingly visible in her lap.
Arrests and execution
On two occasions, in 1733 and 1738, Diver was arrested, gave the court a false name with no criminal record, and was sentenced to penal transportation as a first-time criminal. On both occasions, she bribed the captain on the prison ship to allow her a comfortable travel with her property, bribed the governor in Virginia to relieve her of her sentence, and bribed the captain to take her back to London again.
The public source identifies “Jenny Diver” as british pickpocket. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Jenny, Diver and British.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jenny Diver” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.