"The picture of Hounslow Heath ... shows the rolling grassland and footpad-concealing thickets. It was not until the advent of the Bow Street Horse patrol at the turn of the nineteenth century that highwaymen and footpads who roamed Hounslow Heath (where Pelham, Captain Heron and friends attempt to hold up a coach) were expelled and travel past the outskirts of town made safe. Even as late as 1820, when the picture .... was finished, Hounslow was a bleak and open area."
from "The Convenient Marriage"

Although the story of Hounslow Heath and the highwaymen is romantic, thus far, there are no indications that our Richardson family was doing anything more exciting than raising children and attending the parish church.

A History of Hounslow Heath

In the early 19th century, when Richard and Hannah Richardson were raising their brood there, Hounslow Heath was still a vast woodland extending over thousands of acres and was notorious for attacks by highwaymen. Before 1840, the children of Richard and Hannah were baptised at the Parish Church of Isleworth. After 1842 their children, including our ancestor Edward Richardson, were baptised at the Parish Church of Hounslow. At this time, we are not certain whether the Richardsons relocated from Isleworth to Hounslow, or if only their parish changed. The origin of the Hounslow Parish dates to 1211. In the time of Richard and Hannah Richardson there was confusion regarding the Hounslow Parish and this may be a reason why they did not participate there. In 1828 a new church was built and in 1836 Hounslow Parish was split off from Isleworth. Hounslow Heath today is about 12 square miles in size and is best known for its heathland woods and water which provide a habitat for wild flowers, insects and birds, and for its history as the former haunt of highwaymen, such as Dick Turpin, in the 1700s. Read much more about the Parish of Hounslow:

It is believed that the very first English highwayman was a woman, Mary Frith of London, known as Moll Cutpurse. She was a fence and pickpocket and spent the years between 1584 and 1659 robbing travellers on Hounslow Heath, including Oliver Cromwell's man, General Fairfax. Dressed as a man and capable of swearing like one also, Moll became the subject of a play written within her lifetime, "The Roaring Girl".

From E. Cobham Brewer 1810-1897, "Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 1898", there is mention of Moll Cutpurse: "Mary Frith, a woman of masculine vigour, who not unfrequently assumed man’s attire. She was a notorious thief and cutpurse, who once attacked General Fairfax on Hounslow Heath, for which she was sent to Newgate. She escaped by bribery, and died at last of dropsy in the seventy-fifth year of her age. (Time of Charles I.)"

EDWARD HINTON, Highwayman,who was such a Danger to Society that he was condemned and executed on the same Day, in 1694.

"he left his company and travelled alone through the woods and byways, being in a very torn and rusty habit. This distress obliged him to sink from stealing to begging, which he practised all the way to Hounslow Heath, telling the people a lamentable story of his having been shipwrecked. But he soon altered his tone when he saw a convenient opportunity; for on Hounslow Heath he unhorsed a country farmer and mounted in his place."

GEORGE PRICEmurdered his wife on Hounslow Heath in 1738. Here is the contemporary account and an illustration of the terrible deed.

The Complete Newgate Calendar

HENRY GOODIFF A Boy condemned to Death for robbing a Pieman, who had swindled him on Hounslow Heath, of a few Halfpence, March, 1794. Read the contemporary news account of this headstrong young boy.