Alexander Day (also known as Marmaduke Davenport, Esq.) was a British sharper known for cons committed in London in September 1722. Originally from St Andrew, Holborn, Day went under the name Marmaduke Davenport, Esq. and hired a carriage and footman to create the impression to shopkeepers in London that he was a respected member of the gentry. Once the shop proprietors had supplied their goods, Day would flee without paying.

In 1723, Day was arrested in connection with a robbery of a mail coach in Clapham. Although he was ruled out as a suspect of this crime, he was indicted on four counts of defrauding and two counts of grand larceny for crimes committed in the September of the previous year. After his trial, Day was found guilty on all counts of defrauding and was sentenced to two years' imprisonment at Newgate Prison, which included standing twice in the pillory and paying a fine of £200.

Criminal career

Alexander Day originated from the parish of St Andrew, Holborn. He worked as a sharper in London, where he went under the pseudonym Marmaduke Davenport Esq. to suggest that he was a member of the gentry. To further this claim, Day would say that he had a large estate in Durham and was engaged to a wealthy heiress. Day also claimed to have left his own coachman and horses at his country seat and needed to hire a carriage and footman in London. Once he had hired the carriage and footman, he took this entourage around numerous premises in the city, where he would convince shopkeepers that he was about to spend large amounts of money on their expensive goods.

Alexander Day (ca. 1751 – 12 January 1841) was a miniature painter and art dealer. Born in Britain, he worked chiefly in Rome.

Biography

Alexander Day was born ca. 1751. He trained with the portrait-painter, Ozias Humphry.

In 1774 Day travelled to Rome, where he would remain for some forty years, associating with other British and continental artists, such as James Nevay, Thomas Jones, Angelica Kauffman and Vincenzo Pacetti, and selling Old Master paintings and his own miniatures to British visitors, such as Frederick Augustus Hervey, Richard Worsley and Philip Yorke. He bought many paintings from the dealer, Pietro Cammuccini, and sold them on to British collectors.

In 1800 Day returned to Britain, where he exhibited many works by old masters, which were sold into the collections of John Julius Angerstein and others. He returned to Italy in 1802, and in that year sent more paintings and contemporary sculpture to London for sale.

In 1815 Day returned to Britain permanently. He shared a house with the gem-engraver, Nathaniel Marchant. When Marchant died in 1816, Day married Marchant's housekeeper, to whom Marchant had left £9,000.