Feeling for forgers: character, sympathy and financial crime in London during the late eighteenth century

Abstract

Sympathy for forgers was not uncommon in the eighteenth century. This article reveals the emotional underside of the culture of credit, demonstrating the importance of emotions to understanding multivalent forms of capital such as ‘honour’ and ‘credit’. It explores the relationship between the courtroom and public opinion, and suggests that trials for forgery evoked a set of emotional responses that was specific to a particular emotional community. Using a history of emotions approach, the article explains how and why emotion was evoked, performed and interpreted within the courtroom space, and how this influenced eighteenth‐century attitudes to forgery.