IKEY SOLOMON: THE ORIGINAL FAGIN?

V THE character of Fagin is said to have been based on an East End rogue called Isaac “Ikey” Solomon who was born in an East End slum in 1785. He doesn’t seem like a nice man but became a Dick Turpin-like cult hero thanks to his efforts to escape the law.

Ikey’s father Henry was a “fence” or receiver of stolen goods and the youngster soon entered the family business. In April 1810 he was caught pickpocketing and sentenced to transportation to Australia. Instead, he spent four years in prison at Chatham before escaping and returning to London.

There he set himself up as a jeweller and pawnbroker in Spitalfields and became a “kidsman” – someday who trains orphaned children in the art of thieving in return for shelter. In 1827 he was arrested for housebreaking, robbery and receiving stolen property. On the drive back from court to Newgate prison the coach driver – who happened to be his father-inlaw – diverted through Petticoat Lane where the coach was ambushed and Ilkey freed; he fled first to Denmark, and then to New York.

But his wife Hannah was arrested and transported to Tasmania with four of their children so Ikey followed them there; 12 months later he was arrested in the colony and returned to Britain to face trial before being sent back to Australia where he was to remain, even after being granted his freedom.

His exploits were written in a popular true crime pamphlet called: Adventures, Memoirs, Former Trial, Transportation & Escapes of that Notorious Fence and Receiver of Stolen Goods, Isaac Solomons by a man known only as “a former police officer”.