Mary Carr might have started the gang, but Alice Diamond is the one we remember best. A real-life all-female crime syndicate that made shoplifting into a production line.
I loved reading about the female gangsters in your book British Gangs. Other historians focus on wealthy ladies, but these working-class girls were braver and more resourceful than the rebellious debutantes. That book needs to be turned into a film.
Thank you! I think the female Gangs chapters are the best but Caitlin Davies had already done it better than I could have done. I wrote my book on the back of Peaky Blinders but I became aware of this new series as I wrote. They've been working on it for around 3 years. I think there are more stories to tell for sure. I have a sequel coming on WW2 gangs but there's a sniff of a podcast series at least if not a movie... what Stephen Knight does so well is bring these lives to a new audience with 4K HDR and his Nick Cave theme tune. If you look at the photos above, which one looks the most exciting? I think it's the actor from A Thousand Blows, sad to admit.
They're all fascinating people and the photos probably don't do them justice. I can't imagine how hard it was to survive as a working class man, let alone woman, in the first half of the 20th century.
People often overlook that. They were different times with different standards. I think the lives of all classes were much harder, but there was real, hard grinding poverty then. I can easily understand why so many people would be tempted to steal.
I loved reading about the female gangsters in your book British Gangs. Other historians focus on wealthy ladies, but these working-class girls were braver and more resourceful than the rebellious debutantes. That book needs to be turned into a film.
Thank you! I think the female Gangs chapters are the best but Caitlin Davies had already done it better than I could have done. I wrote my book on the back of Peaky Blinders but I became aware of this new series as I wrote. They've been working on it for around 3 years. I think there are more stories to tell for sure. I have a sequel coming on WW2 gangs but there's a sniff of a podcast series at least if not a movie... what Stephen Knight does so well is bring these lives to a new audience with 4K HDR and his Nick Cave theme tune. If you look at the photos above, which one looks the most exciting? I think it's the actor from A Thousand Blows, sad to admit.
They're all fascinating people and the photos probably don't do them justice. I can't imagine how hard it was to survive as a working class man, let alone woman, in the first half of the 20th century.
People often overlook that. They were different times with different standards. I think the lives of all classes were much harder, but there was real, hard grinding poverty then. I can easily understand why so many people would be tempted to steal.