The Forty Elephants

The Forty Elephants were an all-female crime syndicate that operated in London from the 1880s to the 1950s. Their reign reached its peak under the rule of Alice Diamond or “The Diamond Queen” in the 1920s. The gang was known for plundering fashion stores and jewellery shops, often committing what would be known as “Smash and Grabs”. They were as ruthless as their male counterparts, often sewing razor blades into their corsages and using hat pins and the diamond rings on their fingers to maintain order. They passed as women of high fashion but underneath all their finery, they would line their clothes with secret compartments to stash the goods, fitting as much as they could.

Inspired by this girl-gang of old, I have created some items that may have been found on the desk of the Diamond Queen: a tabloid newspaper highlighting their escapades and accompanying newspaper clippings for a proud gang leader, a notebook with references for a sewing pattern, a blackmail letter on the Forty Elephants letterhead, a calling card, a bottle of dry gin, and wrappers for razor blades.