A small notice in The London Gazette records the theft of a horse from Aldington in February 1686.
The text of the notice was:
Strayed or stolen from Aldington near Evesham in Worcestershire, February 17th last, a strong white Mare, probably then with Foal, bob-tailed, laye-eared, hath a large white snip on the upper lip, a blemish on one of her hind hoofs, about 10 years old. Whoever gives notice of her to Mr James West in Swithins Lane, London, or to Mr Hopkins Mercer, in Evesham, shall have 20 shillings Reward.
There is no known record of whether the horse or a potential thief were ever found.
Horse theft was an offence punishable by death. The infamous Highwayman Dick Turpin was actually executed for Horse Theft in 1739.
In 1796 a man originally from Worcester, called Lockey Hill, was executed for horse stealing. His partner in crime recorded in detail how the crime took place during their Old Bailey trial:
As we were coming towards London, at a place called Aylesbury, the prisoner saw this gelding in a field on the left-hand side; there was another horse with it; he got off the horse he was riding, and got over the gate and looked at this horse; he came back again, and said, that will do very well, we will have that: he then mounted his horse again, and rode on till we came to an old barn, the same side the way as this field; we went into that barn, and put our horses into it, and went to sleep till about twelve o'clock; then we took a halter off the horses in the barn, and went back to the field where the gelding was; we lifted the gate off the hinges, and I held it while he fetched the horse out of the field; we left the gate off, we could not get it on again; we brought the gelding with us to the barn, and then we took the saddle and bridle off of one of our horses, and put on this gelding; we brought them all three to London;
Closer to home there were several 19th century executions for horse theft following trials at the Worcester Quarter Sessions. These executions were all reported on by TC Turberville in 1852 and his report includes some unfortunate gallows humour:
- March 1803: Richard Colledge was executed for horse stealing
- March 1821: Thomas Dyer, capitally convicted of horse stealing, was executed at the County Gaol, but died protesting his entire innocence of the crime laid to his charge. He left a paper behind him, stating the names of the parties from whom he bought the horses, and the sums of money he had given for them; but it does not appear that anybody thought it worthwhile to make further inquiries about the matter.
- March 1823: James Davis and Joseph Rutter, two young men convicted at the Lent Assize – the former of horse stealing and the latter of sheep stealing - were executed at the County Gaol. Davis was a deserter from the army, and appeared to have stolen from sheer want. Rutter’s had been a long course of crime. Davis began to address the crowd when brought upon the scaffolding, warning them to avoid Sabbath breaking and vicious practices; when Rutter said, impatiently, “Come, let’s have no more of that” and they were immediately hurried into eternity. He literally preferred hanging to a homily.
David Ella, September 2025