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Costumed performers from the 2006 Bristol Renaissance Faire.

Yarkand ladies' summer fashions. 1870s

The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. Costume may also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances represented or described, or to a particular style of clothing worn to portray the wearer as a character or type of character other than their regular persona at a social event such as a masquerade, a fancy dress party or in an artistic theatrical performance.

Major categories[link]

Theatrical costume[link]

Costume used in yakshagana-a theater art from India.

One of the more prominent places people see costumes is in theatre, film and on television. In combination with other aspects, theatrical costumes can help actors portray characters' age, gender role, profession, social class, personality, ethnicity, and even information about the historical period/era, geographic location and time of day, as well as the season or weather of the theatrical performance. Often, stylized theatrical costumes can exaggerate some aspect of a character; for example Harlequin and Pantaloon in the Commedia dell'arte.

Schools and costumes[link]

Today costuming has become popular with the rise of school theatre programs. These programs in schools everywhere need a wide variety of clothes suited for the many productions they put on each year. Budget is always an issue with this type of theatre, however if the theatre teacher is dedicated enough to the performance, he or she can find all sorts of ways to put the production together with a reasonable budget.

National costume[link]

National costume or regional costume expresses local (or exiled) identity and emphasises a culture's unique attributes. It is often a source of national pride. Examples of such are a Scotsman in a kilt or a Japanese person in a kimono.

Holidays and festivals[link]

A traditional, European-style Santa suit

The wearing of costumes has become an important part of such holidays and festivals as Mardi Gras and Halloween (see Halloween costume for more information), and (to a lesser extent) people may also wear costumes in conjunction with other holidays, such as Christmas and Easter. Mardi Gras costumes usually take the form of jesters and other fantasy characters, while Halloween costumes traditionally take the form of supernatural creatures such as ghosts, vampires, pop culture icons and angels. Christmas and Easter costumes typically portray mythical characters such as Santa Claus (by donning a santa suit and beard) or the Easter Bunny by putting on an animal costume. Costumes may serve to portray various other characters during secular holidays, such as an Uncle Sam costume worn on the Independence day for example.

In Judaism, a common practice is to dress up on Purim. The Jews celebrate the change of their destiny. They were delivered from being the victims of an evil decree against them and were instead allowed by the King to destroy their enemies. A quote from the Book of Esther, which says: "On the contrary" (hebrew: ונהפוך הוא ) is the reason that wearing a costume has become so popular among the Jews on this holiday.

Children[link]

Costumes also serve as an avenue for children to explore and roleplay. Children can dress up in various forms; for example characters from history or fiction like pirates, princesses or cowboys, common jobs like nurses or police officers, or animals such as those seen in zoos or farms.

Children's Costumes Photo Gallery

Mascots[link]

Another very popular situation where costumes are employed are for sporting events, where people dressed as their team's representative mascot help the club or team rally round their team's cause. Animal costumes which are visually very similar to mascot costumes are also popular among the members of the furry fandom where they are referred to as fursuits that match ones animal persona, or fursona.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Costumes

A depiction by Gustave Doré.

	"Little Red Riding Hood" The version found in The Book of Fables and Folk Stories by Horace E. Scudder.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Little Red Riding Hood, also known as Little Red Cap, is a European fairy tale about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. The story has been changed considerably in its history and subject to numerous modern adaptations and readings. The story was first published by Charles Perrault in Histoires ou contes du temps passé in 1697.^[1]

This story is number 333 in the Aarne-Thompson classification system for folktales.^[2]

Tale[link]

Little Red Riding Hood, illustrated in a 1927 story anthology

The story revolves around a girl called Little Red Riding Hood, after the red hooded cape/cloak (in Perrault's fairytale) or simple cap (in the Grimms' fairytale) she wears. The girl walks through the woods to deliver food to her sick grandmother.

A wolf wants to eat the girl but is afraid to do so in public. He approaches Little Red Riding Hood and she naïvely tells him where she is going. He suggests the girl pick some flowers, which she does. In the meantime, he goes to the grandmother's house and gains entry by pretending to be the girl. He swallows the grandmother whole,(In some stories, he locks her in the closet), and waits for the girl, disguised as the grandma.

When the girl arrives, she notices that her grandmother looks very strange. Little Red Riding Hood then says, "What a deep voice you have,""The better to greet you with," said the wolf."Goodness, what big eyes you have.", said the little girl."The better to see you with.", said the wolf. "And what big hands you have!" exclaimed Little Red Riding Hood, stepping over to the bed. "The better to hug you with," said the wolf. "What a big mouth you have," the little girl murmured in a weak voice. "The better to eat you with!" growled the wolf, and jumping out of bed, he swallowed her up too. Then, with a fat full tummy, he fell fast asleep.

A lumberjack, however, comes to the rescue and with his axe cuts open the wolf, who had fallen asleep. Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother emerge unharmed. They fill the wolf's body with heavy stones. The wolf awakens and tries to flee, but the stones cause him to collapse and die. (Sanitized versions of the story have the grandmother shut in the closet instead of eaten, and some have Little Red Riding Hood saved by the lumberjack as the wolf advances on her, rather than after she is eaten.)^{[citation needed]}

The tale makes the clearest contrast between the safe world of the village and the dangers of the forest, conventional antitheses that are essentially medieval, though no written versions are as old as that.

Relationship to other tales[link]

The theme of the ravening wolf and of the creature released unharmed from its belly is also reflected in the Russian tale Peter and the Wolf, and the other Grimm tale The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids, but its general theme of restoration is at least as old as Jonah and the Whale. The theme also appears in the story of the life of Saint Margaret, where the saint emerges unharmed from the belly of a dragon.

The dialog between the wolf and Little Red Riding Hood has its analogies to the Norse Þrymskviða from the Elder Edda; the giant Þrymr had stolen Mjölner, Thor's hammer, and demanded Freyja as his bride for its return. Instead, the gods dressed Thor as a bride and sent him. When the giants note Thor's unladylike eyes, eating, and drinking, Loki explains them as Freyja not having slept, or eaten, or drunk, out of longing for the wedding.^[3]

"The better to see you with": woodcut by Walter Crane

Tale's history[link]

Earliest versions[link]

The origins of the Little Red Riding Hood story can be traced to versions from various European countries and more than likely preceding the 17th century, of which several exist, some significantly different from the currently known, Grimms-inspired version. It was told by French peasants in the 14th century as well as in Italy, where a number of versions exist, including La finta nonna (The False Grandmother).^[4] It has also been called "The Story of Grandmother". It is also possible that this early tale has roots in very similar Oriental tales (e.g. "Grandaunt Tiger").^[5]

These early variations of the tale differ from the currently known version in several ways. The antagonist is not always a wolf, but sometimes an ogre or a 'bzou' (werewolf), making these tales relevant to the werewolf-trials (similar to witch trials) of the time (e.g. the trial of Peter Stumpp).^[6] The wolf usually leaves the grandmother’s blood and meat for the girl to eat, who then unwittingly cannibalizes her own grandmother. Furthermore, the wolf was also known to ask her to remove her clothing and toss it into the fire.^[7] In some versions, the wolf eats the girl after she gets into bed with him, and the story ends there.^[8] In others, she sees through his disguise and tries to escape, complaining to her "grandmother" that she needs to defecate and would not wish to do so in the bed. The wolf reluctantly lets her go, tied to a piece of string so she does not get away. However, the girl slips the string over something else and runs off.

In these stories she escapes with no help from any male or older female figure, instead using her own cunning. Sometimes, though more rarely, the red hood is even non-existent.^[8]

Charles Perrault[link]

French images, like this 19th-century painting, show the much shorter red chaperon being worn

The earliest known printed version^[9] was known as Le Petit Chaperon Rouge and had its origins in 17th century French folklore. It was included in the collection Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals. Tales of Mother Goose (Histoires et contes du temps passé, avec des moralités. Contes de ma mère l'Oye), in 1697, by Charles Perrault. As the title implies, this version^[10] is both more sinister and more overtly moralized than the later ones. The redness of the hood, which has been given symbolic significance in many interpretations of the tale, was a detail introduced by Perrault.^[11]

The story had as its subject an "attractive, well-bred young lady", a village girl of the country being deceived into giving a wolf she encountered the information he needed to find her grandmother's house successfully and eat the old woman while at the same time avoiding being noticed by woodcutters working in the nearby forest. Then he proceeded to lay a trap for the Red Riding Hood. The latter ends up being asked to climb into the bed before being eaten by the wolf, where the story ends. The wolf emerges the victor of the encounter and there is no happy ending.

Charles Perrault explained the 'moral' at the end so that no doubt is left to his intended meaning:

From this story one learns that children, especially young lasses, pretty, courteous and well-bred, do very wrong to listen to strangers, And it is not an unheard thing if the Wolf is thereby provided with his dinner. I say Wolf, for all wolves are not of the same sort; there is one kind with an amenable disposition – neither noisy, nor hateful, nor angry, but tame, obliging and gentle, following the young maids in the streets, even into their homes. Alas! Who does not know that these gentle wolves are of all such creatures the most dangerous!

This, the presumed original, version of the tale was written for late 17th century French court of King Louis XIV. This audience, whom the King entertained with extravagant parties and prostitutes, presumably would take from the story the intended meaning.

Brothers Grimm[link]

Wilhelm (left) and Jacob Grimm (right) from an 1855 painting by Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann.

In the 19th century two separate German versions were retold to Jacob Grimm and his younger brother Wilhelm Grimm, known as the Brothers Grimm, the first by Jeanette Hassenpflug (1791–1860) and the second by Marie Hassenpflug (1788–1856). The brothers turned the first version to the main body of the story and the second into a sequel of it. The story as Rotkäppchen was included in the first edition of their collection Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children's and Household Tales (1812)).^[12]

The earlier parts of the tale agree so closely with Perrault's variant that it is almost certainly the source of the tale.^[13] However, they modified the ending; this version had the little girl and her grandmother saved by a huntsman who was after the wolf's skin; this ending is identical to that in the tale The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids, which appears to be the source.^[14]

The second part featured the girl and her grandmother trapping and killing another wolf, this time anticipating his moves based on their experience with the previous one. The girl did not leave the path when the wolf spoke to her, her grandmother locked the door to keep it out, and when the wolf lurked, the grandmother had Little Red Riding Hood put a trough under the chimney and fill it with water that sausages had been cooked in; the smell lured the wolf down, and it drowned.^[15]

The Brothers further revised the story in later editions and it reached the above mentioned final and better known version in the 1857 edition of their work.^[16] It is notably tamer than the older stories which contained darker themes.

After the Grimms[link]

Numerous authors have rewritten or adapted this tale.

Andrew Lang included a variant called "The True History of Little Goldenhood"^[17] in The Red Fairy Book (1890). He derived it from the works of Charles Marelles, in Contes of Charles Marelles. This version explicitly states that the story had been mistold earlier. The girl is saved, but not by the huntsman; when the wolf tries to eat her, its mouth is burned by the golden hood she wears, which is enchanted.

James N. Barker wrote a variation of Little Red Riding Hood in 1827 as an approximately 1000-word story. It was later reprinted in 1858 in a book of collected stories edited by William E Burton, called the Cyclopedia of Wit and Humor. The reprint also features a wood engraving of a clothed wolf on bended knee holding Little Red Riding Hood's hand.

In the 20th century, the popularity of the tale appeared to snowball, with many new versions being written and produced, especially in the wake of Freudian analysis, deconstruction and feminist critical theory. (See "Modern uses and adaptations" below.) This trend has also led to a number of academic texts being written that focus on Little Red Riding Hood, including works by Alan Dundes and Jack Zipes.

Interpretations[link]

Red Riding Hood by George Frederic Watts

Besides the overt warning about talking to strangers, there are many interpretations of the classic fairy tale, many of them sexual.^[18] Some are listed below.

Natural cycles[link]

Folklorists and cultural anthropologists such as P. Saintyves and Edward Burnett Tylor saw "Little Red Riding Hood" in terms of solar myths and other naturally-occurring cycles. Her red hood could represent the bright sun which is ultimately swallowed by the terrible night (the wolf), and the variations in which she is cut out of the wolf's belly represent by it the dawn.^[19] In this interpretation, there is a connection between the wolf of this tale and Sköll, the wolf in Norse myth that will swallow the personified Sun at Ragnarök, or Fenrir.^[20] Alternatively, the tale could be about the season of spring, or the month of May, escaping the winter.^[21]

Ritual[link]

The tale has been interpreted as a puberty ritual, stemming from a prehistorical origin (sometimes an origin stemming from a previous matriarchal era).^[22] The girl, leaving home, enters a liminal state and by going through the acts of the tale, is transformed into an adult woman by the act of coming out of the wolf's belly.^[23]

Rebirth[link]

Bruno Bettelheim, in The Uses of Enchantment, recast the Little Red Riding Hood motif in terms of classic Freudian analysis, that shows how fairy tales educate, support, and liberate the emotions of children. The motif of the huntsman cutting open the wolf, he interpreted as a "rebirth"; the girl who foolishly listened to the wolf has been reborn as a new person.^[24]

Sexual awakening[link]

Red Riding Hood has also been seen as a parable of sexual maturity. In this interpretation, the red cloak symbolizes the blood of menstruation,^[25] braving the "dark forest" of womanhood. Or the cloak could symbolize the hymen (earlier versions of the tale generally do not state that the cloak is red). In this case, the wolf threatens the girl's virginity. The anthropomorphic wolf symbolizes a man, who could be a lover, seducer or sexual predator. This differs from the ritual explanation in that the entry into adulthood is biologically, not socially, determined.^[26]

Norse myth[link]

The poem Þrymskviða from the Poetic Edda mirrors some elements of Red Riding Hood. Loki's explanations for "Freyja's" (actually Thor disguised as Freya) strange behavior mirror the wolf's explanations for his strange appearance.

The red hood has often been given great importance in many interpretations, with a significance from the dawn to blood.^[27]

Modern uses and adaptations[link]

WPA poster by Kenneth Whitley, 1939.

There have been many modern uses and adaptations of Little Red Riding Hood, generally with a mock-serious reversal of Red Riding Hood's naïveté or some twist of social satire; they range across a number of different media and styles. Multiple variations have been written in the past century, in which authors adapt the Grimms' tale to their own interests.

The tale can be told in terms of Little Red Riding Hood's sexual attractiveness. The song "How Could Red Riding Hood (Have Been So Very Good)?" by A.P. Randolph in 1925 was the first song known to be banned from radio because of its sexual suggestiveness. The 1966 hit song "Lil' Red Riding Hood" by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs takes the Wolf's point of view, implying that he wants love rather than blood. In the short animated cartoon Red Hot Riding Hood by Tex Avery, the story is recast in an adult-oriented urban setting, with the suave, sharp-dressed Wolf howling after the nightclub singer Red. Avery used the same cast and themes in a subsequent series of cartoons.^[28] Allusions to the tale can be more or less overtly sexual, as when the color of a lipstick is advertised as "Riding Hood Red".^[29]

This sexual analysis may take the form of rape. In Against Our Will, Susan Brownmiller described the fairy tale as a description of rape.^[30] Many revisionist retellings depict Little Red Riding Hood or the grandmother successfully defending herself against the wolf, including a version developed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, which ends with Little Red Riding Hood cutting her own way out of the wolf's stomach and saving her grandmother.^[31]

The story may also serve as a metaphor for a sexual awakening, as in Angela Carter's story "The Company of Wolves", published in her collection The Bloody Chamber (1979). (Carter's story was adapted into a film by Neil Jordan in 1984.) In the story, the wolf is in fact a werewolf, and comes to newly-menstruating Red Riding Hood in the forest in the form of a charming hunter. He turns into a wolf and eats her grandmother, and is about to devour her as well, when she is equally seductive and ends up lying with the wolf man, her sexual awakening.^[32] Such tellings bear some similarity to the "animal bridegroom" tales, such as Beauty and the Beast or The Frog Prince, but where the heroines of those tales transform the hero into a prince, these tellings of Little Red Riding Hood reveal to the heroine that she has a wild nature like the hero's.^[33]

Little Red Riding Hood is also one of the central characters in the 1987 Broadway musical Into the Woods by Steven Sondheim and James Lapine. In the song, "I Know Things Now" she speaks of how the wolf made her feel "excited, well, excited and scared," in a reference to the sexual undertones of their relationship. Red Riding Hood's cape is also one of the musical's four quest items that are emblematic of fairy tales.^[34]

Publishers like BeeGang and So Out maintained unaltered the original story written by Charles Perrault mainly adding interactivity or educational content to their book apps; Other publishers like BlueQuoll, an Australian publishing group, have pushed further the boundaries of the narration and re-invented the story even in the title, Mr. Wolf and the Ginger Cupcakes that puts the wolf at the center of the narration. In their version the element of good vs evil is removed from the story and the wolf is not portraited as a negative character that deserves to die miserably at the end of the story.

See also[link]

Children's literature portal

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Little Red-Cap

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Little Red Riding Hood

• Little Red Riding Hood at the Internet Movie Database
• A three dimensional book of Little Red Riding Hood – created by Jan Hogan and held by the Australian Library of Art, State Library of Queensland
• SurLaLune Fairy Tale Pages: The Annotated Little Red Riding Hood.
• Little red Riding Hood felt Board Story from Felt Works
• Another collection of different versions of Little Red Riding Hood.
• A free online video of Little Red Riding Hood.
• Homepage of the Little Red Riding Hood Project
• Terri Windling's 'The Path of Needles or Pins: Little Red Riding Hood' – a thorough article on the history of LRRH.
• Catherine Orenstein's 'Dances with Wolves' from Ms. magazine. – a shorter article on the history of LRRH (by the author of a book on subject).
• Olivier Dezutter's 'Little Red Riding Hood : a Story of Women at the Crossroads' – an article concerning different stories and images of LRRH.
• The Disney version of Little Red Riding Hood at The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts
• Full text to Little Red-Riding-Hood from "The Fairy Book"
• Original versions and psychological analysis of Little Red Riding Hood
• Little Red Riding Hood, audio version (French)
• eBook Le Petit Chaperon Rouge with sound and modern pictures, Zabouille éditions (French)
• Link to the Publisher BeeGang
• Link to the Publisher So Ouat
• Link to the Publisher BlueQuoll
• Link to the page of Mr. Wolf and the Ginger Cupcakes

Little Red is a rock band from Melbourne, Australia consisting of Adrian Beltrame (guitar, vocals), Dominic Byrne (guitar, vocals), Quang Dinh (bass, vocals), and Taka Honda (drums).

Biography[link]

The band was formed in 2005 and were featured on Triple J Unearthed.^[1] The band won the 2008 Australia-wide 'Garage to V' competition held by Virgin Mobile to win a slot at all shows of the Australian V Festival in 2008,^[2] while the band has also performed at the Falls Festival, Meredith Music Festival, the Big Day Out, the Pyramid Rock Festival and the Laneway Festival.

Little Red's songs "Waiting", "Coca-Cola" and "Witch Doctor" have all received regular play on Australian nation-wide radio station Triple J,^[3] while "Coca-Cola" was also included on the official soundtrack of Australian TV series Underbelly, and was voted #47 on the 2008 Triple J Hottest 100.

The band independently released in Australia an album entitled Listen to Little Red on 28 June 2008,^[4] which debuted at number 29 on the ARIA Charts.^[5] The album was licensed for release outside of Australia by the UK independent Lucky Number Music^[6] and was released on 16 November 2009 in the UK and early 2010 internationally.

In September, 2010, the band released a second album, Midnight Remember, featuring their latest single, "Rock It" which gained a gold accreditation^[7] and second place in Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2010, with the album's second single "Slow Motion" securing 79th position.^[8]

On 21 April 2011 they released a music video to "All Mine," also from Midnight Remember on youtube, through the Liberation Music record label's account.

Touring[link]

• Headlined their 'All Mine' National Tour featuring Worlds End Press & Passport For Amy 2011
• Toured with Blondie and The Pretenders, Evening On The Green 2010
• Big Day Out 2011
• Pyramid Rock 2010/2011
• Splendour in the Grass July/August 2010
• Toured with Kasabian in July 2010
• Headline tour of Australia supported by Ground Components in April/May 2009
• Headline tour of Australia - University Tour - in October 2008
• Toured with Vampire Weekend on their national Australian tour in August 2008
• Headline tour of Australia - album tour - in August/September 2008 supported by The Holidays and Andy Bull
• Toured with The Panics on their national album tour in May 2008
• Toured with Spoon in January 2008
• Toured with Operator Please on their national Australian tour in April 2008
• Toured with Art of Fighting in September 2007

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Listen to Little Red — Hooch Hound/Shock (28 June 2008) AUS #29^[9] — Lucky Number/Lucky Number Music (2009)
• Midnight Remember — Liberation (September 2010) AUS #5^[9]

EPs[link]

• Get Ready! EP

Singles[link]

• "Coca Cola"/"It's Alright" — Neon Gold/Lucky Number/Lucky Number Music (2009)
• "Waiting"/"Wait Is Over" — Neon Gold/Lucky Number/Lucky Number Music (2009)
• "Rock It" (2010) AUS #19^[9]
• "Slow Motion" (2010)
• "All Mine" (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Little Red on Myspace
• Little Red video interview @ VFestival

Paula Fernandes
Background information
Birth name	Paula Fernandes de Souza
Born	(1984-08-28) August 28, 1984 (age 27)
Origin	Sete Lagoas, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Genres	Sertanejo, country
Instruments	Vocals and classical guitar
Years active	1993-present
Labels	Universal Music Brasil
Website	Official website

Paula Fernandes de Souza^[1] (born August 28, 1984^[2]) is a Brazilian sertanejo and country singer.

Biography[link]

Born in Sete Lagoas, Minas Gerais, she lived in a farm in Serra do Cipó with her parents and her younger brother.^[1] Paula Fernandes started singing when she was eight years-old, releasing her first album two years later.^[3] Her second album, named Ana Rayo, was released in 1995, and was inspired by the Ana Raio e Zé Trovão telenovela.^[3] Paula Fernandes went to the college to study Geography in Belo Horizonte when she was 18 years-old, singing in bars during that time.^[4] She recorded one of the theme songs of Rede Globo's telenovela América, named Ave Maria Natureza, releasing the album Canções do Vento Sul soon after that.^[3] Paula Fernandes was nominated as Best Popular Singer in the Prêmio Tim de Música Brasileira award for that album.^[4] The song Jeito do Mato, from her album Pássaro de Fogo was the theme music of the telenovela Paraíso, and her version of Ivete Sangalo's song Quando a Chuva Passar was the main theme music of the telenovela Escrito nas Estrelas.^[3] Paula Fernandes released her first DVD in October 2010,^[3] and participated in two Rede Globo special shows, which were the Roberto Carlos' end of the year show, broadcast on December 25, 2010, and Show da Virada, broadcast during the New Year's Day, on December 31, 2010.^[3] Her live album, Paula Fernandes - Ao Vivo, released in 2011, placed in the 2011 top sellers albums, selling 2,000,000 copies.^[5]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Singles[link]

• "Meu Eu em Você" "My Me in You"
• "Pássaro de Fogo" "Fire Bird"
• "Jeito de Mato" "Woods Ways"
• "Quando a Chuva Passar" "When the Rain is Over"
• "Pra Você" "For You"
• "Não Precisa" "There's No Need"
• "Sensações" "Sensations"
• "Long Live" (Taylor Swift featuring Paula Fernandes)

[edit] References

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Paula Fernandes

• (Portuguese) Official website
• Paula Fernandes at the Internet Movie Database

Alexander Day (also known as Marmaduke Davenport, Esq.) was a British sharper known for cons committed in London in September 1722. Originally from St Andrew, Holborn, Day went under the name Marmaduke Davenport, Esq. and hired a carriage and footman to create the impression to shopkeepers in London that he was a respected member of the gentry. Once the shop proprietors had supplied their goods, Day would flee without paying.

In 1723, Day was arrested in connection with a robbery of a mail coach in Clapham. Although he was ruled out as a suspect of this crime, he was indicted on four counts of defrauding and two counts of grand larceny for crimes committed in the September of the previous year. After his trial, Day was found guilty on all counts of defrauding and was sentenced to two years' imprisonment at Newgate Prison, which included standing twice in the pillory and paying a fine of £200.

Criminal career[link]

Alexander Day originated from the parish of St Andrew, Holborn.^[1] He worked as a sharper in London,^[2] where he went under the pseudonym Marmaduke Davenport Esq. to suggest that he was a member of the gentry. To further this claim, Day would say that he had a large estate in Durham and was engaged to a wealthy heiress.^[3] Day also claimed to have left his own coachman and horses at his country seat and needed to hire a carriage and footman in London.^[4] Once he had hired the carriage and footman, he took this entourage around numerous premises in the city, where he would convince shopkeepers that he was about to spend large amounts of money on their expensive goods.^[3]

This perceived wealth and social status led him to be able to gain credit on purchases. Day would take delivery of upper-class items at his rented Queen Square property, but would fail to pay.^[1] Historian Hannah Grieg hypothesises that Day may have previously spent time in Bath, Newcastle upon Tyne and Edinburgh, where he practised his craft and stole goods to furnish his London home and further convince his victims of his wealth.^[3]

Arrest and trial[link]

In 1723, Day was arrested on suspicion of robbing the Bristol mail coach at Clapham,^[1] though subsequent investigations ruled him out as a suspect. During this time, he was indicted on four counts of defrauding and two counts of grand larceny.^[2] These charges referred to crimes committed in September 1722,^[1] which included:

1. the theft of gold and silver lace to the value of £55,^[5]
2. the defrauding of Thomas Gravestock, the proprietor of the gold and silver lace,^[6]
3. the defrauding of Samuel Scrimpshaw for cambric valued at £48,^[7]
4. the defrauding of George Kendrick for tea valued at £51,^[8]
5. the "felonious" theft of 3.5 yards (3.2 m) of rich brocade, 15 yards (14 m) of cherry-powdered podesay and 15 yards (14 m) of white podesay at a combined value of £34,^[9]
6. the defrauding of a Mr. Hinchliff, the proprietor of the brocade and podesay.^[1][10]

During the trial, Day stated that he had stolen to keep up with annual £200 payments on his Durham estate, which was mortgaged for £1,200, but he was unable to provide evidence of the Durham estate and could not provide a witness willing to testify to his reputation.^[1] The court did not believe his defence and he was found guilty of defrauding all persons in the case.^[1]

On 24 April 1723, Day was sentenced to two years' imprisonment at Newgate Prison.^[1][3] This would include standing twice in the pillory, as well as a fine of £200. He would then be under probation for the two years following his release.^[2] Peter King of the Open University identifies that Day's first pillory was in Covent Garden, where he was surrounded by a large crowd and was severely pelted with rotten vegetables and faeces for an hour.^[3] A newspaper report published after Day's sentence stated that he was "a great master of his profession [who] would not be at liberty to follow his former profession any longer".^[3] The second pillory took place at Ludgate Hill.^[1]

Notes[link]

References[link]