The Great Train Robbery

The co-conspirators and others in their social circle speak the Cockney English dialect, which acts as a marker of their lower- and working-class status as well as of their marginalization in society. The Cockney dialect is so distinct that it sometimes requires translation, not only for Crichton’s readers but also for other members of Victorian society, such as the court and the police. For instance, during the trial, when Agar states:

He plays like a flimp or a dub buzzer, or a mutcher, no interest or importance, and this because he don’t want the skipper to granny that a bone lay is afoot. Now the skipper should have done, we went to a lot of trouble on his account, and he could have put down on us to the miltonians, and for a pretty penny, too, but he hasn’t the sense, otherwise why’d he be a skipper, eh? (109).

This incomprehensible speech causes an “uproar” in the court and requires several minutes of translation so that “His Lordship” (the judge) can understand the testimony given. Crichton makes liberal use of Cockney English in the dialogue and the narrative descriptions throughout the text to imbue the scenarios with a sense of local color.