Staffordshire Flatback Mantle Figure of Tom King

Staffordshire flat back mantle figure of the notorious 18th century highwayman and associate of Dick Turpin, Tom King - also known as ''The Gentleman Highwayman'' or “Captain Tom King” here he can be found dressed like a dandy in a striking cobalt blue jacket and yellow britches on his white horse, pistol in hand ready to relieve another traveller of their trinkets! King's fame rests mainly on his association with highwayman Dick Turpin. According to The Newgate Calendar (published nearly forty years after the deaths of Turpin and King), their first encounter occurred when "Turpin, seeing him well mounted and appearing like a gentleman, thought that was the time to recruit his pockets", and tried to rob him! On 2 May 1737, during a robbery that went wrong, King was shot, possibly by Turpin himself. The Stamford Mercury reported on 12 May 1737 that King had been 'shot through the shoulder' and, on the same day, the Derby Mercury reported that King was 'attended by two surgeons' at New Prison in Clerkenwell. King later died of his wounds on 19 May 1737, aged about 25.