King Jack – The Famous And Irregular Hunter
When Keighley Snowden chose to write about Jack Sinkler in the early years of the 20th century, there was an appetite for romantic stories about pirates, outlaws, smugglers, and poachers. They were popular topics of fiction, and even early silent films turned to poachers for inspiration.
Snowden’s first novel, “King Jack”, was certainly well received by the local community (my great-grandmother’s copy fell to bits because so many people in Pateley borrowed it). When the book was published, just 16 years after Jack’s death, Nidderdale was still full of people who personally knew him. Certainly, Snowden used liberal amounts of artistic licence to construct a compelling story in “King Jack” and its sequel. Surprisingly though, having begun my research expecting these novels to be pure fantasy, I’ve been able to verify some of the details.
Jack Sinkler was well known in Yorkshire during his own lifetime; there was a popular folk ballad about his adventures, and one of the first stories about his time on the run was published as early as 1867. In the press, Jack morphed from “notorious…desperate and daring” in early court reporting, to a celebrated local character, ending with direct comparisons to Robin Hood – the ultimate accolade for any potential folk hero.
Jack The Outlaw
As covered in the previous blog post, holding folk hero status doesn’t go hand-in-hand with being a good person, often the opposite is true; you can be a cutthroat robber and stone-cold killer, and still end up the hero of your own story. Whether somebody is considered to be a folk hero often has more to do with what people need them to be, rather than who they actually were.
In local tradition, and in literature, Jack Sinkler is certainly presented as being a folk hero, but does he fit Hobsbawm’s template of the social bandit or noble robber archetype?
We need to look at both the verifiable facts, and also examine the Jack Sinkler of song and story; after all, nobody becomes a folk hero without the embellishment of a few tall tales.
1. The noble robber begins his career of outlawry not by crime, but as the victim of injustice, or through being persecuted by the authorities for some act which they, but not the custom of his people, consider as criminal
The Game Laws were extremely unpopular, seen as something the elite class had imposed on working rural people, impinging on their way of life. Jack Sinkler was reported to have said: “God almighty made them things for rich and poor alike; and then men made laws, to gi’e ’em to t’rich. But I defied their laws!”.
2. He rights wrongs
In the novels Jack is portrayed as coming to the aid of his community, intervening with the constable and standing up to landlords and gentry.
3. He takes from the rich to give to the poor
Local legend, and the novels, claim that Jack Sinkler left gifts of the game he hunted on the doorsteps of sick and poor people around Nidderdale. By the 20th century this had become firmly ingrained as part of his mythology: “Sinclair became a popular hero in Nidderdale because, like Hood, he took from the rich to give to the poor”.
4. He never kills but in self-defence or just revenge
Jack Sinkler didn’t kill anybody. There were skirmishes with gamekeepers, and fights with police (on Foster Beck Bridge, and years later when a bailiff came to seize Elisha’s property). In the final months of his life, aged 87, Jack knocked a man clean out of his seat for pushing him, and although they shook hands over the incident, Jack warned him “but niver do so to me no more”. A hard sort of man, not to be messed with, less concerned with the law than his own personal code of right and wrong.
5. If he survives, he returns to his people as an honourable citizen and member of the community. Indeed, he never actually leaves the community
Jack (and Elisha) went to great lengths to get home to Nidderdale, having been transported to the other side of the world – most convicts never returned. I doubt there was a “keys to the city” type reception when they arrived back, however, they weren’t drummed out of town either. Jack and Elisha both lived out the rest of their days at home in their native Pateley, and we know from his obituary that Jack’s funeral was well attended by people “of all classes”.
6. He is admired, helped and supported by his people
Both Jack and Elisha Sinkler were sentenced to hang, prompting the local community to swiftly put together petitions pleading for clemency. Sadly, Jack’s petition is lost, but there are more than 1,000 names listed on Elisha’s petition – no small achievement.
Keighley Snowden said of Jack: “If I live long enough I will tell his story; for I spent three years’ leisure getting it from every old resident I could find…the whole dale had worshipped him”. The first novel, titled “King Jack”, declares Jack Sinkler to be “King of Nidderdale”. We don’t know whether this was a real nickname or a later invention, but the sentiment is pretty transparent.
7. He dies invariably and only through treason, since no decent member of the community would help the authorities against him
Jack didn’t go out in a hail of bullets, Bonnie & Clyde-style, but after spending more than 10 years on the run, with a substantial price on his head, Jack Sinkler was finally captured by a gamekeeper from Harewood (an “off come’d un” as we say here in the Dale). There are also strong hints that a “mate” of Jack’s betrayed him, aiding the authorities to catch him unawares at home; Jack himself says he would never have been caught “but for treachery”. I have a fair idea who Nidderdale’s very own “Robert Ford” was, but I’ll keep that to myself for now!
8. He is – at least in theory – invisible and invulnerable
A big part of Jack Sinkler’s mystique was how many times he supposedly evaded capture, his athleticism in his youth, and his countryside craft and knowledge of Nidderdale’s landscape, which helped him to hide from the authorities for so many years. When he was eventually arrested, local newspapers conceded a touch of grudging admiration for Jack “whose daring feats and hair-breadth escapes, have been most extraordinary”. Indeed, even not catching him attracted bragging rights. Constable Billy Whitehead’s story, in which he ultimately fails to collar Jack, seems like a bit of an odd thing for a police officer to write about. It brings to mind the Pirates of the Caribbean quote: “This is the day you will always remember as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow!”.
9. He is not the enemy of the king or emperor, who is the fount of justice, but only of the local gentry, clergy or other oppressors
Jack’s adversaries are the gentry, police, and government. We’ve no idea what he thought about the monarchy, but his gaoler notes that he has “a proper view of Christianity”, perhaps the only higher authority Jack recognised.
Is Jack Sinkler A Folk Hero?
Arguably, Jack’s brother Elisha led an even more remarkable life. Yet it was Jack who found fame, if not fortune, eclipsing Elisha to be remembered as “King of Nidderdale”. Perhaps Jack was the more charismatic of the two (“main character energy” we might call it today). He outlived his brother by two decades, recounting his experiences to friends and neighbours, and the numerous writers who visited Pateley Bridge to interview him. Jack’s 10-year game of cat-and-mouse with the law, outwitting police and evading capture, cemented his outlaw status and guaranteed comparisons with Robin Hood.
Jack Sinkler was undoubtedly perceived, and portrayed, as a folk hero during his own lifetime and beyond. He has all the hallmarks of a classic noble robber type of “social bandit”, despised as a criminal by the authorities but aided and admired by his community. It’s easy to see why he became the subject of ballad and book; a defiant peasant outlaw “sticking it to the man” makes for a rip-roaring yarn, and people love rooting for an underdog.
Jack’s fame and place in local folklore endured well into the late 20th century, it’s only in recent years that his reputation has waned and his story been largely forgotten. Nevertheless, the legend of Jack Sinkler is waiting to be rediscovered and remembered once again in his native Nidderdale.
Main Image – “The Poacher” by Peter Henry Emerson (circa 1888) – Note: this isn’t Jack himself!
