Theft, forgery, embezzlement


The overlapping categories of theft, forgery, and embezzlement are common themes in Victorian fiction.  Margaret Oliphant wrote of these crimes in two contexts:  one being of the swindler who steals on a grand scale from his shareholders and others;  the other being of the individual who steals from his employer or family.

Mrs Oliphant had bitter experience of this second category:  her brother Frank, in middle-age, embezzled a considerable sum of money from his employer;  and it is very likely that her other brother, Willie, had stolen money from an employer many years earlier.

The stories included below, though not always centered on the theft, reflect the impact of having a husband, father, brother, or son who has committed this crime. But there is one exception:  the light-hearted Strange Adventures of John Percival features a female thief!


Ailieford, a Family History   [The Lost Love]
Novel1853
Mrs Clifford's Marriage
Novel1863
Brownlows
Novel1867
The Stockbroker at Dinglewood
Short Fiction1868
At His Gates
Novel1872
Phoebe, Junior - a Last Chronicle of Carlingford
Novel1876
The Fugitives
Novel1879
Wallyford
Short Fiction1880
The Lady's Walk
Novel1882
Hester, a Story of Contemporary Life
Novel1883
Madam
Novel1884
The Son of His Father
Novel1886
Janet   [The Story of a Governess]
Novel1890
The Railway Man and His Children
Novel1890
The Marriage of Elinor
Novel1891
The Strange Story of Mr Robert Dalyell
Short Fiction1892
The Strange Adventures of John Percival
Short Fiction1896

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