The Skinners of Victorian London: Clothes Thieves, Fog Crimes & Exile to Australia

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Strange History Podcast, the podcast where

0:03 Speaker 1: we explore the eerie, the strange, and the forgotten weirdness

0:07 Speaker 1: of history. I'm Amy, and today we're peeling back the

0:11 Speaker 1: layers literally on one of the most bizarre and humiliating

0:15 Speaker 1: crimes of Victorian England. Today we're talking about the skinners,

0:20 Speaker 1: ruthless thieves who didn't just take your valuables. They took

0:23 Speaker 1: your clothes, leaving victims naked and humiliated in the streets.

0:28 Speaker 1: These criminals didn't always escape justice, though many who were

0:32 Speaker 1: caught suffered brutal punishments, including a one way ticket to Australia. Yes,

0:38 Speaker 1: for over eighty years, Britain used Australia as a dumping

0:42 Speaker 1: ground for convicts, sending over one hundred and sixty thousand men,

0:46 Speaker 1: women and children across the ocean. Some skinners were among them.

0:51 Speaker 1: But before we dive into the nightmare of transportation, let's

0:55 Speaker 1: explore the most infamous clothes stealing gangs and their victims.

1:00 Speaker 1: Go step back into Victorian London, where the fog rolls

1:03 Speaker 1: in and danger lurks in the shadows. The London fog

1:08 Speaker 1: Thieves of the eighteen fifties, London's fog was legendary, dense, suffocating,

1:14 Speaker 1: and perfect cover for crime, and no one used it

1:17 Speaker 1: better than the London fog Thieves, a gang of skinners

1:20 Speaker 1: who would strike under the cover of mist, leaving their

1:23 Speaker 1: victims stripped bare in the cold streets. One of their

1:26 Speaker 1: most famous heists happened in eighteen fifty four when a

1:30 Speaker 1: wealthy merchant named Edwin Cartwright was leaving a gentleman's club

1:34 Speaker 1: in the West End. He was slightly intoxicated staggering through

1:39 Speaker 1: the thick, damp air when he felt someone bump into him.

1:43 Speaker 1: Before he could react, hands grabbed his coat, his waistcoat,

1:47 Speaker 1: his trousers. Within seconds, he was stripped to his undergarments.

1:52 Speaker 1: He tried to fight back, but someone shoved him into

1:54 Speaker 1: a doorway and ran off. By the time he stumbled out,

1:58 Speaker 1: the thieves had disappeared into the fall, and he was

2:01 Speaker 1: left half dressed in the cold. Humiliated and too embarrassed

2:05 Speaker 1: to report the crime, Cartwright ran through the streets until

2:09 Speaker 1: he found a carriage to take him home. He told

2:11 Speaker 1: no one about the incident except his closest friend, who

2:15 Speaker 1: later leaked the story to the press. The headline merchant

2:19 Speaker 1: left half naked in London's fog are the Skinner's back.

2:23 Speaker 1: The fog thieves struck at least twenty more times before

2:26 Speaker 1: they vanished, their identities, never discovered the Handsome cab strippers

2:31 Speaker 1: of eighteen sixty seven. If you think riding in a

2:35 Speaker 1: private carriage meant you were safe, think again. The Handsome

2:39 Speaker 1: cab strippers had other plans. One of the most chilling

2:43 Speaker 1: incidents involved Lady Margaret Whitmore, a socialite, returning from the theater.

2:48 Speaker 1: She stepped into her handsome cab. The driver clicked the

2:52 Speaker 1: reins and she settled in, thinking she was on her

2:55 Speaker 1: way home. Except she wasn't. The cab made a sudden

2:59 Speaker 1: turn and down a dark alley. Before Lady Margaret could react,

3:03 Speaker 1: the door swung open and two masked figures grabbed her.

3:07 Speaker 1: They pulled her out of the cab, stripped her of

3:09 Speaker 1: her silk gown, corset, jewelry, and shoes, and left her

3:13 Speaker 1: in just her petticoat and stockings. The thieves even stole

3:17 Speaker 1: her bonnet the cab it was a stolen vehicle, abandoned

3:22 Speaker 1: just a few blocks away. Margaret was found hours later,

3:25 Speaker 1: sobbing and shivering, refusing to speak of the horror, but

3:29 Speaker 1: the handsome cab strippers were never caught, though rumors swirled

3:33 Speaker 1: that they had inside connections to London's criminal underworld. The

3:37 Speaker 1: Shore Ditch Skinner of eighteen eighty one, perhaps the most

3:41 Speaker 1: infamous solo skinner of them all, was a man known

3:44 Speaker 1: only as the Shore Ditch Skinner. His real name Thomas

3:48 Speaker 1: Billings a former tailor who turned to crime after being

3:51 Speaker 1: fired from a prestigious London shop. Enraged at losing his job,

3:56 Speaker 1: he became obsessed with clothing, but not in the way

3:59 Speaker 1: you'd think. From eighteen seventy nine to eighteen eighty one,

4:03 Speaker 1: he was responsible for over a dozen attacks, often targeting

4:08 Speaker 1: drunkards and beggars. His method was chillingly simple. He would

4:13 Speaker 1: offer to help an intoxicated man get home. He would

4:16 Speaker 1: lead them into an alley or abandoned building, knock them unconscious,

4:20 Speaker 1: strip them completely naked, taking every item of clothing, even socks,

4:25 Speaker 1: and leave them shivering and humiliated, sometimes tying them up

4:29 Speaker 1: to prevent them from running for help. His final victim

4:32 Speaker 1: was John Dawkins, a former sailor, who managed to escape

4:36 Speaker 1: before Billings could fully strip him. Dawkins ran half naked

4:41 Speaker 1: to the nearest police station. Billings was arrested days later,

4:45 Speaker 1: found with over thirty sets of stolen clothing in his possession.

4:50 Speaker 1: His punishment six years of hard labor. Punishments for the

4:54 Speaker 1: skinners stealing clothes might sound petty, but in Victorian England

5:00 Speaker 1: it could lead to lifelong exile or even death. Some

5:03 Speaker 1: of the punishments would be public whipping. A skinner caught

5:06 Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty two was flogged in front of a

5:09 Speaker 1: jeering crowd at Newgate Prison. He later died from infection

5:14 Speaker 1: Debtor's prison. If you were caught but couldn't pay back

5:17 Speaker 1: the value of the stolen goods, you rotted in a

5:20 Speaker 1: prison workhouse, sometimes for years, and last but not least,

5:23 Speaker 1: transportation to Australia a one way ticket to help the

5:28 Speaker 1: nightmare of transportation. For some skinners, punishment meant exile to Australia.

5:34 Speaker 1: First they were locked in prison hulks, floating rotting ships

5:38 Speaker 1: anchored in the Thames, waiting for their fate. Then came

5:42 Speaker 1: the horrific voyage six months at sea in cramped, disease

5:46 Speaker 1: ridden conditions, sickness and starvation. Many died before ever reaching Australia.

5:53 Speaker 1: Forced labor upon arrival, working in brutal conditions. Some convicts,

5:59 Speaker 1: like Joseph Pike, survived sentenced for stealing a coat in

6:03 Speaker 1: eighteen forty seven. He later became a respected tailor in Sydney,

6:08 Speaker 1: a twist of irony for a former skinner. By eighteen

6:12 Speaker 1: sixty eight, transportation ended, but for many Australia had been

6:16 Speaker 1: a death sentence. The Skinners of Victorian London may have

6:19 Speaker 1: seemed like petty thieves, but their crimes had serious consequences,

6:24 Speaker 1: from public disgrace to lifelong exile in Australia. So next

6:28 Speaker 1: time you walk through a foggy street, imagine its eighteen

6:32 Speaker 1: fifties London and ask yourself would you have escaped the skinners.

6:36 Speaker 1: That's it for today's episode of Strange History. If you

6:39 Speaker 1: enjoyed this story, subscribe, leave a review and share it

6:43 Speaker 1: with your friends. And if you have any strange historical

6:47 Speaker 1: crimes you'd like us to cover, let us know. Until

6:50 Speaker 1: next time, stay clothed, stay safe, and stay curious.