Richard “Dick” Turpin was described by contemporaries as a fairly tall, strongly built man with a marked, pock‑scarred face, darkish (brown/fresh) complexion, and broad shoulders, not the handsome romantic hero later fiction made him out to be.

Quick Scoop: What did Richard Turpin look like?

Here’s how people in the 1730s actually described him, based on wanted notices and period accounts:

  • Height: About 5 feet 9 inches tall, considered reasonably tall for the early 18th century.
  • Build: Broad about the shoulders and generally large and strong-looking rather than slender or elegant.
  • Face:
    • Very much marked with smallpox (noticeably pock‑scarred).
* Broad cheekbones, with the face getting thinner towards the bottom.

* Described as having a short “visage” (shortish face) and a pretty upright bearing.
  • Complexion: Brown or “fresh coloured” (so not pale and delicate, more outdoor, weathered look).
  • Age at the time of descriptions: Around mid‑20s (about 26 in one London Gazette notice).
  • Usual clothing and hair: Reported as wearing a blue‑grey coat and a natural‑coloured wig.

Myth vs reality

Later stories, novels and films turned Turpin into a dashing, handsome highwayman, a kind of romantic outlaw hero.

Contemporary descriptions, however, paint him as a rough, physically imposing man with a heavily scarred face, far from the smooth‑faced “gentleman robber” image that became popular in fiction.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.