Daniel Defoe

The History of the Remarkable Life of John Sheppard Daniel Defoe

Giving an Exact Description of the manner of his wonderful Escape from the Castle in Newgate, and of the Methods he took afterward for his Security. Written by himself during his Confinement in the Middle Stone-Room, after his being retaken in Drury Lane. To which is added, A true Representation of his Escape from the Condemn'd Hold, curiously engraven on a Copper Plate. The whole Publish'd at the particular Request of the Prisoner. Jack Sheppard (4 March 1702 - 16 November 1724) was a notorious English thief and gaol-breaker of early 18th-century London. Born into a poor family, he was apprenticed as a carpenter but took to theft and burglary in 1723, with little more than a year of his training to complete. He was arrested and imprisoned five times in 1724 but escaped four times from prison, making him a notorious public figure, and wildly popular with the poorer classes.