Moll Cutpurse

Mary Frith
Image of Mary Frith from title page of The Roaring Girl
Born	1584 or 1585 The Barbican, London, Kingdom of England
Died	26 July 1659 Fleet Street, London, England
Other names	Moll Cutpurse, Mal Cutpurse, Tom Faconer
Occupation	Pickpocket and fence
Spouse(s)	Lewknor Markham
Parent(s)	Ron and Catherine Stuart

Mary Frith (c. 1584 – 26 July 1659), alias Moll (or Mal) Cutpurse, was a notorious pickpocket and fence of the London underworld.

The nickname Moll Cutpurse is a pun; Moll, apart from being a nickname for Mary, was a common name in the 16th through 17th centuries for a young woman, usually of disreputable character. 'Cutpurse' referenced her reputation as a thief who would cut purses to steal the contents.

The other name by which she was known, "The Roaring Girl" is taken from the phrase "roaring boys", or young gentlemen who caroused in taverns and then picked fights on the street.

The facts of her life are extremely confusing, with many exaggerations and myths attached to her name. The Life of Mrs Mary Frith, a sensationalised biography written in 1662, three years after her death, helped to perpetuate many of these myths.

Mary Frith was born in the mid-1580s to a shoemaker and a housewife. Mary’s uncle, who was a minister and her father’s brother, once attempted to reform her at a young age by sending her to New England. However, she jumped overboard before the ship set sail, and refused to go near her uncle again. Mary presented herself in public in a doublet and baggy breeches, smoking a pipe and swearing if she wished. She was recorded as having been burned on her hand four times, a common punishment for thieves. She was at one time sentenced to do penance standing in a white sheet at St. Paul’s Cross during the Sunday morning sermon. It had little effect, since she still wore men’s clothing, and she set mirrors up all around her house to stroke her vanity. Her house was surprisingly rather feminine, due to the efforts of her three full-time maids. She kept parrots and bred mastiffs. Her dogs were particularly special to her: each had its own bed with sheets and blankets. She prepared their food herself.

It is believed that she first came to prominence in 1600 when she was indicted in Middlesex for stealing 2s 11d on 26 August of that year. It is at that point she began to gain notoriety. In the following years, two plays were written about her. First the 1610 drama The Madde Pranckes of Mery Mall of the Bankside by John Day, the text of which is now lost. Another play (that has survived) came a year later by Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker, The Roaring Girl. Both works dwelt on her scandalous behavior, especially that of dressing in men's attire, and did not show her in an especially favorable light, though the surviving play is fairly complimentary of her by contemporary standards.The Roaring Girl, while highlighting her qualities that were deemed improper, also depicted her as possessing virtue, such as when she attacks a male character for assuming all women to be prostitutes, and when she exhibits chastity by refusing to ever marry.