Highwayman

A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers on the road, distinguished from an ordinary footpad by operating on horseback rather than on foot, a distinction that led mounted highwaymen to be widely regarded as socially superior to their pedestrian counterparts. The word is first attested in 1617, and the offense persisted until the mid to late nineteenth century, romanticized by admirers with euphemisms such as knights of the road and gentlemen of the road that cast practitioners in a Robin Hood-esque light; highwaywomen, such as Katherine Ferrers, were also reported to exist, often disguised as men, particularly in later fictional accounts. The same offense carried different regional names as it spread: in the nineteenth century American West its practitioners were called road agents, while in Australia they were known as bushrangers.