Meet the Lady Gangsters and Criminals of the Victorian Age

12. “Hoisting” became a popular crime among London women in the late 19^th century

Despite the 40 Elephant Gang’s claimed hegemony over the crime of shoplifting – known as hoisting by its practitioners – it became a popular activity among women bent upon a criminal career during the Victorian Age. Hoisting allowed for the accosted female to resort to wiles when confronted by the police. A fainting spell, followed by a period of denial of responsibility, and capped with a claim of kleptomania, allowed for a successful defense before sympathetic and concerned judges. In a landmark work on criminology published in 1895, The Female Offender, the Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso defined shoplifting. He called it “A specially feminine offense – temptation being furnished by the immense number of articles exhibited…” Most women who participated used disguise and guile as part of the crime, rather than simply snatch the loot and escape.

For example, in 1897 two women entered a furrier, one dressed as a domestic servant, the other as her employer, bejeweled and well-coiffed. The women asked to be shown some sealskin capes. As they examined the merchandise, the shopkeeper moved on to another customer, possibly an accomplice. The women left after ordering a pair of capes in the style which they had examined. The shopkeeper received the order with gratitude before discovering two of the sample capes were missing. The police were notified. Two officers, Detective Frederick Wensley and Constable Sergeant Henry Whitbread informed the shopkeeper, based on his descriptions of the perpetrators, that they knew who the “hoisters” really were. The officers had been following their trail of thefts for some time, and moved swiftly to arrest the two women.