Book Review: Alice Diamond and the Forty Elephants - Britain's First Female Crime Syndicate by Brian McDonald

Girl Power! Women deserve the vote and the right to a life of crime!

This is the potted history of a criminal gang operating out of London. It's full of villainesses, shoplifterixen, and thievettes. A disreputable bunch of complex characters on a crime-spree fuelled by women's lib and abject poverty. Each biography could be its own movie - forget Peaky Blinders, this is the true story of an underworld like no other.

With corrupt cops, sex, violence, and female empowerment, it really is a superb run through a section of history which is often hidden. I particularly liked how it demonstrated the evolution of the female criminals - from a bit of light-fingered discounts, to the wholesale running of a gang which could steal to order and kept a kitty aside to pay for the welfare of its imprisoned members.

Yes, it is sordid and depressing - but it shines a light on some disturbing parallels with our modern society.

Such was the national concern that Home Secretary Sir John Gilmour was asked in the House of Commons what steps he was taking to investigate from a pathological standpoint ways to put a stop to wholesale shoplifting by London gangs.

And

An attempt by store owners in 1908 to introduce birching for women shoplifters was unsuccessful.

Is it a little sensationalised? Perhaps - but they were pretty sensational. Does it focus a little too much on the men-folk in the women's lives? Maybe - but sometimes that's the only way to explain their circumstances. Is it well researched? Yes - although it would be greatly enhanced with photos, maps, and scans of newspaper clippings.

It suffers from not being adequately referenced - some of the claims are hard to source. And it is a little repetitive going back and forth over similar events. The tangled nature of the gang means it can be quite complex to understand who all the characters are and, being a criminal enterprise, there aren't many records.

That said, it is an excellent and exciting book - with a stunning revelation in the post-script.