The Hawkubites were a

gang A gang is a social group, group or secret society, society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over Territory (animal), territory in a communi ...

that supposedly terrorized the city of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

from 1711 to 1714, during the reign of Queen Anne. It is claimed that the Hawkubites beat up women, children, watchmen, and old men in the streets after dark. They preceded the dreaded

Mohocks The Mohocks were allegedly a gang of violent, well-born criminals that terrorized London in the early 18th century, attacking men and women alike. Taking their name from the Mohawks, they were said to kill or disfigure their male victims and sexual ...

Reverend Divine's pamphlet

pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a hard cover or binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' or it may consist of a f ...

of the time by a "Reverend Divine" was ''An Argument, proving from History, Reason, and Scripture, that the present Race of Mohocks and Hawke-bites are the

Gog and Magog Gog and Magog (; he, גּוֹג וּמָגוֹג, ''Gōg ū-Māgōg'') appear in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran as individuals, tribes, or lands. In Ezekiel 38, Gog is an individual and Magog is his land; in Genesis 10, Magog is a man and ep ...

mentioned in the Revelations; and therefore that this vain and transitory World will shortly be brought to its final Dissolution''. Divine claimed to have taken his words "from the Mouth of the Spirit of a Person who was slain by the Mohocks". The "victim" in the pamphlet, called the "Spirit", writes that "I am the porter that was barbarously slain in

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was n ...

. - By the Mohocks and Hawkubites was I slain, when they laid violent hands upon me. They put their hook into my mouth, they divided my nostrils asunder, they sent me, as they thought, to my long home; but now I am returned again to foretell their destruction." He goes on to write: :From Mohock and from Hawkubite, :Good Lord, deliver me! :Who wander through the streets at night, :Committing cruelty. :They slash our sons with bloody knives, :And on our daughters fall; :And if they murder not our wives, :We have good luck withal :Coaches and chairs they overturn, :Nay, carts most easily; :Therefore from Gog and Magog, :Good Lord, deliver me!

References

{{reflist Former gangs in London Crime in London 1710s in London London street gangs