William Plunkett

Who is William Plunkett?

William Plunkett was a highwayman and accomplice of the famed "Gentleman Highwayman," James MacLaine.

Plunkett lived during the mid-eighteenth century in London, on Jermyn Street, and was said to have been an apothecary who was also presumed to be a gentleman. With stolen pistols and horses, and their faces hidden by Venetian masks, Plunkett and MacLaine had a short but highly successful career as outlaws. While MacLaine was eventually hanged for his exploits, Plunkett escaped with both his illicit gains and his life.

William Plunkett was portrayed by the actor Robert Carlyle in a fictionalized account of the highwaymen, the 1999 film Plunkett and Macleane.