Highwayman, born in Domfront, NW France. He moved to England at the Restoration (1660) in the service of the Duke of Richmond. Taking soon to the road, he pursued a successful career as a robber, gaining a popular reputation, especially for his daring and gallantry towards the women he robbed. He was captured drunk, and hanged at Tyburn, London. Samuel Butler satirically commemorated his death in a Pindaric ode.
Claude Duval (1643 – January 21, 1670) was a French-born gentleman highwayman in post-Restoration Britain.
Duval was born in Domfront, Normandy, France in 1643 to a poor family.
Before long Duval became a successful highwayman who robbed the passing stagecoaches in the roads to London, especially Holloway between Highgate and Islington.
There are many tales about Duval. One particularly famous one - placed in more than one location and later published by William Pope - claims that he took only a part of his potential loot from a gentleman when his wife agreed to dance with him in the wayside, a scene immortalised by William Powell Frith in his 1860 painting Claude Duval.
If his intention was to deter pursuit by his non-threatening behavior, he did not totally succeed.
On January 17, 1670, judge Sir William Morton found him guilty of six robberies (others remained unproven) and sentenced him to death. When his body was cut down and exhibited in Tangier Tavern, it drew a large crowd and was later removed to St Paul's church, Covent Garden, where it was buried under the centre aisle. His memorial inscription reads:
The apparently gallant highwayman inspired a number of biographers and playwrights to add to his legend, including claims of alchemy, gambling, and much womanizing.
Popular culture
A 2005 Travel Channel Haunted Hotels documentary on hauntings claims that Claude Duval's ghost presently haunts the tavern wherein he was arrested before being condemned to death. This same documentary also claims several people were murdered by Duval, despite scant evidence.
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