Episode #32: The London Coffee House Robberies & the 1803 Zodiac Back

7/3/2024: On today’s episode, Valerie covers the caffeinated and silly story of a mysterious young gentleman with claims of membership in the Most Ancient and Honourable Society of Bucks, who shook up the popular London coffee house scene during the early 19th century. Detailing how his undoing began when he was spotted returning to the scene of a previous crime, which prompted multiple other claims of theft, we learn how the court bent the rules to save his life. Amy Jo’s Zodiac Back presents the intricate details and somewhat mysterious lifecycles of cicadas - how do they know when to “burrow up”? Also brood cycles, cringy cicada poems, and how much the founding fathers dug (burrowed?) astrology; plus Jefferson’s quest to create an American way of calculating longitude, leaving behind the old-school method of “taking the lunars”, and lastly how longitude was key to the Louis and Clark Expedition. Mom always said don’t take your chronometer on your transcontinental journey!

Cover Photo: A Mad Dog in a Coffee House by Thomas Rowlandson 1809

1. An advert published in 1652 to promote the launch of Pasqua Rosée’s coffeehouse, first of it's kind in London. Date: 1652

2. The Poultry Compter, a small compter (prison) in the City of London, which existed from medieval times until 1815.

3. A hearing at the justice room of Mansion House, early nineteenth century.

4. The crest of The Most Ancient and Honourable Society of Bucks as it would have appeared on the complete pitcher.

5. An enamel badge showing the coat of arms of the Most Ancient and Honourable Society of Bucks. The reference to innocence is presumably tongue-in-cheek.

6. Ogre, Alpha Beta Fraternity, Revenge of the Nerds, 1984

7. An illustration of a trial at the Old Bailey Sessions House in 1808

8. High-Change in Bond Street (1796). James Gillray illustrates the lack of manners of the Bond Street loungers, as they take up the whole footpath, forcing ladies to walk in the filthy street

9. January 1, 1803 Chart

10. December 31, 1803 Chart

11. Louisiana Purchase Chart

12. Astrology Family Tree

13. The 13-year and 17-year cicadas may overlap in some areas. Gene Kritsky

14. Cecily Cicada by Kita Helmetag Murdock & Patsy Helmetag

15. National Archives / Getty Images

16. Representation of Urania, Muse of Astronomy and Astrology, She Holds a Globe and a Compass. From 'Mythology of Youth' by Pierre Blanchard 1803

Sources/Photo Sources

Intro Sources:

https://smallfarmersjournal.com/the-hog-drovers/#:~:text=Farmers%20once%20drove%20hogs%20on,snooze%20in%20air%2Dconditioned%20barns.

The London Coffee House Robberies Sources:

https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/the-lost-world-of-the-london-coffeehouse/

https://thelondonwanderer.co.uk/2022/04/the-great-city-of-london-coffee-house-robberies-of-1803/?doing_wp_cron=1718552252.0485260486602783203125

https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/record/t18030914-107

https://www.newspapers.com/image/396820094/?match=1&terms=%22coffee-house%22%20%22Simpson%22

https://www.newspapers.com/image/813476418/?match=1&terms=%22coffee-house%22

https://livesandlegaciesblog.org/2015/12/10/a-secret-society-and-a-historical-mystery/

The London Coffee House Robberies Photo Sources:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Virtue_of_the_Coffee_Drink.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poultry_Compter#/media/File:ONL_(1887)_1.421_-_The_Poultry_Compter.jpg

https://thelondonwanderer.co.uk/2022/04/the-great-city-of-london-coffee-house-robberies-of-1803/?doing_wp_cron=1718552252.0485260486602783203125

https://x.com/eslaonda/status/1412285185899601920/photo/2

1803 Zodiac Back Sources:

https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/astrology-aspects-transits-online-calendar-december-1803

https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/cicada-folklore#:~:text=The%20earliest%20documented%20examples%20of,cicadas%20as%20symbols%20of%20rebirth.

https://www.japan-experience.com/plan-your-trip/to-know/understanding-japan/cicadas#:~:text=In%20Japan%2C%20insects%20have%20an,the%20eyes%20of%20the%20Japanese.

https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/song-cicada-brood-x-appalachia#:~:text=The%20ancient%20Greeks%20told%20a,music%2C%20poetry%2C%20and%20myth. 

https://www.amazon.com/Cecily-Cicada-Special-Double-Brood/dp/B0CW3786VW

https://www.amazon.com/Cecily-Cicada-Special-Double-Brood/dp/B0CW3786VW

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase

https://www.glamour.com/gallery/presidents-zodiac-sign

https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/longitude/

https://www.glamour.com/gallery/presidents-zodiac-sign

https://cicadasafari.org/

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/idkt_cicadas.htm

https://uwm.edu/field-station/bug-of-the-week/the-cicadas-are-coming-a-tale-in-four-parts/ 

https://www.wired.com/story/periodical-cicada-emergence-illinois/

https://fortune.com/2024/04/01/cicada-geddon-2024-scientists-say-first-since-1803/ 

https://www.georgetown.edu/news/ask-a-professor-cicadas/

https://www.aps.org/apsnews/2024/03/cicadas-gathering-1803

1803 Zodiac Back Photo Sources:

https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Cecily-Cicada-Special-Double-Brood/dp/B0CW3786VW

https://cicadasafari.org/

https://www.aps.org/apsnews/2024/03/cicadas-gathering-1803

https://www.buzzfeed.com/samimain/go-west-young-sloth

https://www.meisterdrucke.ie/fine-art-prints/French-School/919645/Representation-of-Urania,-muse-of-astronomy-and-astrology,-she-holds-a-globe-and-a-compasse.-From-%E2%80%9CMythology-of-Youth%E2%80%9D-by-Pierre-Blanchard-1803..html