Anne Bonny - Knowledge

507: 184: 1447:. 1721, p. 18. "Dorothy Thomas deposed, That she, being in a Canoa at Sea, with some Stock and Provisions, at the North-side of Jamaica, was taken by a Sloop, commanded by one Captain Rackam (as she afterwards heard;) who took out of the Canoa, most of the things that were in her; And further said, That the Two Women, Prisoners at the Bar, were then on Board the said Sloop, and wore Mens Jackets, and long Trouzer:, and Handkerchiefs tied about their Heads; and that each of them had a Machet and Pistol in their Hands, and cursed and swore at the Men, to murther the Deponent; and that they should kill her, to prevent her coming against them; and the Deponent further said, That the Reason of her knowing and believing them to be Women then was, by the largeness of their Breasts." 233:

a joke. The wife found the three silver spoons in Mary's bed as the tanner had claimed. She became suspicious however, the tanner had noted he had hidden the silver spoons days ago. The wife questioned why Mary had not been sleeping in her bed. The wife then assumed her husband had been unfaithful the past four months. The wife stayed in the bed and waited for the attorney, who called for Mary and laid in her bed, confirming the affair. The wife then put the silver spoons back into the bed, and when Mary went to sleep, she found them and hid them in her trunk. The wife later accused Mary of theft and called a constable, who wrongfully arrested her. With the affair exposed, the wife separated from the attorney and moved to a different home.

359: 460: 326: 40: 2571: 303: 2560: 1474:. 1721, p. 31. "...on the 22d Day of October, in the feventh Year of the Reign of our faid Sovereign Lord the King, that now is, upon the high Sea, in a certain Place, diftant about one League from Negril-Point, in the Island of Jamaica, in America, and within the Jurisdiction of this Court ; did piratically and felonioufly, go over to, John Rackam..." 1318:. 1721, p. 18. "Then the said Two Witnesses declared, That the Two Women, Prisoners at the Bar, were on Board Rackam's Sloop, at the Time that Spenlow's Scooner, and Dillon's Sloop, were taken by Rackam; That they were very active on Board, and willing to do any Thing; That Anne Bonny, one of the Prisoners at the Bar, handed Gun-powder to the Men..." 591:, London. The statues were created in part for the podcast series Hellcats, which centers on a lesbian relationship between Bonny and Read. The statues themselves are abstract depictions of Bonny and Read, claiming that one emotionally completed the other. It was originally planned for the statues to be permanently placed on 172:

be sure she is even Irish, her name is more English: Anne, the third most common English given name of the era, and Bonny, an English surname common in Lancashire County. Bonny is not noted to have been a colonist of Nassau before 1713. Prior to 22 August 1720, little can be definitively said about Bonny's early life.

251:, taking along Anne and her mother Mary. At first, the attorney attempted to continue his law career, but eventually became a merchant instead. He proved quite successful as a merchant, earning enough money to buy a large plantation. At an undisclosed period of time, Mary died, Anne Bonny was now grown up. 373:

A victim of the pirates, Dorothy Thomas of Jamaica, would describe in detail Bonny and Read's appearance during their trial: They "wore men's jackets, and long trousers, and handkerchiefs tied about their heads: and ... each of them had a machete and pistol in their hands and they cursed and swore at

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This theatrical misunderstanding began with a tanner Mary knew stealing three silver spoons and hiding them in her bed. Mary called a constable on the man, but they were not found. Upon the wife's return, the tanner told the her the entire story about stealing silver spoons, but confessed it was only

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in the summer of 1718, James Bonny became a minor officer for the governor after taking a pardon. Anne cared little for James and frequently cheated on him. James Bonny serving Woodes Rogers is highly unlikely, as no James Bonny is noted in Captain Vincent Pearse's list of pirates who took the Kings

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would discuss Bonny at length, often with illustrations. An 1888 cigarette card would depict Bonny as a redhead, a trait that continues to this day despite no evidence supporting it. Swashbuckling cinema would often include a dashing redhaired woman or female pirate companion, occasionally directly

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Bonny's date and place of birth are unknown. Nothing definitive is known about her early life. No primary source including her own trial transcript makes mention of her age or nation of origin. No Anne Bonny born in the late 17th century has been found in the baptism records of Ireland. We cannot

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Because everyone in town knew Mary had given birth to a bastard daughter, the attorney raised Anne as a boy, claiming she was the child of a friend. The attorney even hoped to raise Anne as a clerk. The attorney's wife soon found out who the child was, and cut off any allowance she had been giving

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claims Bonny eventually fell in love with another pirate on board, only to discover it was Mary Read. To abate the jealousy of Rackham, who suspected romantic involvement between the two, Bonny told him that Read was a woman and swore him to secrecy. This is unlikely, since Rogers' proclamation

415:"You Mary Read, and Ann Bonny, alias Bonn, are to go from hence to the Place from whence you came, and from thence to the Place of Execution; where you, shall be severally hang'd by the Neck, till you are severally Dead. And GOD of His infinite Mercy be merciful to both of your souls." 236:

Mary became pregnant from the affair and gave birth to a daughter, Anne, while in prison. After Anne's birth, Mary was let go out of pity. The attorney's mother in law died not long after, leaving a major source of income to be an allowance his estranged wife gave him out of sympathy.

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The attorney's wife had become ill and was moved to her mother-in-law's home a few miles away to be cared for. Whilst his wife was away for four months, he began an affair with Mary. The attorney's wife discovered the affair following a comical mix up concerning silver spoons.

221:. She was the daughter of a servant woman named Mary, and her employer, an unnamed attorney. Later renditions of this story would refer to the attorney as William Cormac and the mother as Peg/Mary Brennan. These are fictional names first written down in the 1964 romance novel 893:. 1721, The trial transcript does not give an age, although she claims to be pregnant by the end of the trial. This could theoretically give an upper and lower age range between menarche and menopause, but proof of her pregnancy is not assured and thus cannot be trusted 162:

in October 1720. Rackham, along with all the male crew members, was tried and sentenced to death, but Bonny and Read had their executions stayed due to both of them claiming to be pregnant. Read died in jail around mid April 1721, but Bonny's fate is unknown.

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Despite a career of only two months, Anne Bonny is among the most famous pirates in recorded history, primarily due to her gender. Within a decade, Bonny-inspired characters were already appearing. The first notable inspiration is Jenny Diver in

1626: 400:. Rackham and his crew briefly resisted, but surrendered soon after the fight began. They were taken to Jamaica where in groups, they were tried for the crime of piracy. Rackham was tried on 16 November and found guilty. His execution at 1367:

this Intimacy so disturb'd Captain Rackam, who was the Lover and Gallant of Anne Bonny, that he grew furiously jealous, so that he told Anne Bonny, he would cut her new Lover's Throat, therefore, to quiet him, she let him into the Secret

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Johnson claims that Bonny possessed a fierce temper, such as supposedly stabbing a maid to death with a knife. A claim he immediately finds groundless. He also says she once beat a man severely for attempting to sleep with her.

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on 28 November. Like Rackham, the trial was short and the verdict inevitable. After calling three witnesses and a brief period of discussion, Governor Lawes found Bonny and Read guilty of piracy and pronounced the sentence.

135:, though the information presented by Johnson about her is considered dubious. According to Johnson, Bonny was born in Ireland the illegitimate daughter of an attorney and his servant. Bonny and her father would later move to 244:

him. The attorney in response ended the ruse and opened lived with Anne as his daughter, but this scandal damaged his reputation and few locals wished to work with him. The attorney was forced to move elsewhere.

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Ultimately, it is impossible to determine if Anne Bonny was Mary Read's lover. Neither woman left any primary sources behind, and sources such as the trial transcript make no mention of their personal lives.

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There is no documented example of an attorney becoming a plantation owner in the Carolinas in the 17th and 18th century, not least of which one with a daughter named Anne Bonny and a history of violence.

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that: "She was continued in Prison, to the Time of her lying in, and afterward reprieved from Time to Time; but what is become of her since we cannot tell; only this we know, that she was not executed".

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likely granted them a stay of execution until they gave birth, but it is debatable if they were actually pregnant. Read died in prison of unknown causes around April 1721. A burial registry for

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By the 21st century, Bonny has appeared in hundreds of books, movies, stage shows, TV programs, and video games. Almost every female pirate character, is in some form, inspired by Anne Bonny.

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lover of Mary Read. This was never stated in the trial transcript or newspapers, and only begins to appear after much of Bonny's legend was written, and by highly suspect sources.

506: 599:, but these plans were withdrawn after complaints of glamorizing piracy, and because Bonny and Read have no association with the island. The statues were eventually accepted by 1985: 446:

Claims of Bonny being freed by family intervention and moving to the American colonies, dying around the 1780s, are unlikely and appear to originate from John Carlova's

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Frohock, Richard (2018). "Beyond Bonny and Read: Blackbeard's Bride and Other Women in Caribbean Piracy Narratives". In Aljoe, N.N.; Carey, B.; Krise, T.W. (eds.).

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Proclamation issued by governor Rogers 5 September 1720 that mentions Anne Bonny as a member of Rackhams crew. She is specifically called Ann Fulford alias Bonny.

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Commonly cited dates include 1690, 1697, 1698, 1700, and 1702. All sources on date of birth were written centuries after Bonny's trial and cannot be corroborated.

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The attorney expected Bonny to marry a good man, instead she married a poor sailor. The attorney was so outraged he threw her out. In the original volume of

139:, where she married a sailor named James Bonny. Though Johnson's version of events has become generally accepted, there is little evidence to support them. 318:

claims it was romantic, while her own trial transcript says nothing on the matter. She was likely well acquainted with Rackham by the year 1720, after the

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attacking merchant ships. Bonny took part in piracy alongside the men, handing out gunpowder to fellow pirates, a job usually referred to as a

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names both women openly. Later drawings of Bonny and Read would emphasise their femininity, although this too likely did not reflect reality.

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Anne Bonny, Firing Upon the Crew, from the Pirates of the Spanish Main series (N19) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes MET DP835030

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would again repeat the claim verbatim in 1813, but discussion of Bonny's sexuality would only really begin in the 20th century.

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Canfield, Rob (2001). "Something's Mizzen: Anne Bonny, Mary Read, "Polly", and Female Counter-Roles on the Imperialist Stage".

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where she became acquainted with the pirate John Rackham. Bonny would join Rackham’s crew, alongside another female pirate,

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the men to murder her ." Thomas also recorded that she knew that they were women, "from the largeness of their breasts."

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A burial register in Spanish Town, where Bonny was tried, lists the burial of an "Ann Bonny" on 29 December 1733.

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Susan Baker's 1972 article, "Anne Bonny & Mary Read: They Killed Pricks" published in a newspaper run by the

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even confirms there was a James Bonny, making it possible he is one of Johnsons fictional creations, similar to

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referred to her as Sarah Bonny, although this is likely a conflation with a similar named woman in Jamaica.

689: 118:. Amongst the few recorded female pirates in history, she has become one of the most recognised pirates of 2598: 2464: 1114: 1097: 1080: 1063: 1046: 1029: 981: 534:. In the passage describing the trial of Bonny and Read, the book briefly says they were lovers. Since 2613: 1978:"Introducing Lewes FC, the world's only gender-equal football club, and the Australians who play there" 1338: 827: 806: 240:

How Johnson was aware of the theft of spoons and the exact nature of Anne's birth, is never revealed.

213:(a greatly unreliable series of pirate biographies). Johnson writes that Bonny was born in a town near 438:

There is no record of Bonny's release, and this has fed speculation as to her fate. Johnson writes in

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in August 1720. Rackham and his crew would carry out a number of attacks on merchant ships in the

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The attorney first moved to Cork, but this proved not far enough. The attorney then moved to the

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A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates, Volume II

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The claim that Bonny and Read were lesbians largely entered popular understanding via

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The first written appearance of this claim is in an unauthorized 1725 reproduction of

2570: 2329: 2229: 2113: 1946: 1842: 1765: 1680: 1653: 1413: 1253: 1190: 554: 485: 1582: 452:. Such claims were later amplified by Tamara Eastman and Constance Bond's 2000 book 341:, then at anchor in Nassau harbor, and put out to sea. The crew spent months in the 2424: 2364: 2256: 2221: 2198: 1393: 1284: 569: 542:

would be the only book to claim Bonny and Read were lovers for almost a century. A

349:. On 5 September 1720, Governor Rogers put out a proclamation later published in 2203: 2190: 1223: 2529: 2394: 1880: 1863: 1345: 813: 640: 519:

Since the mid 18th century, certain writers have claimed that Anne Bonny was the

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On 22 October 1720, Rackham and his crew were attacked by a sloop captained by

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Much of Bonny's background is unknown. The first biography of Bonny comes from

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A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates

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