Who The Forty Elephants Are In A Thousand Blows & How They Compare To The Real-Life Female Gang Explained

Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for A Thousand Blows.The Forty Elephants play a major role in A Thousand Blows, but how do they compare to the real-life historical gang? A Thousand Blows follows several different power players in the East end of London at the end of the 19th century. Each of them has their own goals and ambitions, but one of the more intriguing groups is the Forty Elephants, led by “queen” Mary Carr (Erin Doherty). They’re a big reason reviews for A Thousand Blows are so good – A Thousand Blows‘ Rotten Tomatoes score is excellent – and why the show is well worth watching.

The Forty Elephants often seem larger than life in A Thousand Blows, and many viewers may be surprised that an all-female gang could have such success in Victorian London. Surprising as it is, however, A Thousand Blows is based on real historical fact, and the Forty Elephants really did exist. Every historical fiction story takes some creative liberties with the truth in the name of telling a more compelling story, however, so it isn’t clear how much of A Thousand Blows was accurate. Shockingly, the show got quite a bit about the Forty Elephants right.

The Forty Elephants’ Role In A Thousand Blows Explained

The Forty Elephants Are Mary Carr’s Strongest Supporters & The Backbone Of Her Heist Plans

In A Thousand Blows, the Forty Elephants are depicted as a rag-tag band of female thieves and criminals. They orchestrate distractions to pickpocket wealthy pedestrians, they storm into and rob high-end stores, and they even planned and executed a robbery on Queen Victoria. They’re a fairly standard – if a bit eccentric – gang at the surface level, but there are plenty of things that make the Forty Elephants unique. For instance, they’re led by a “queen” in the form of Mary Carr, yet despite being structured like the monarchy, they vote on how to use their earnings and divide all their ill-gotten gains evenly.

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Though they’re a quite egalitarian gang, Mary Carr was the undisputed leader of the Forty Elephants. Thus, they mostly take a supporting role in relation to Mary in A Thousand Blows. The Forty Elephants mostly serve as Mary’s staunch supporters in A Thousand Blows, and she in turn would kill or die for each of them. There were limits to this, though, such as when Eliza (Hannah Walters) fell in love with Saul Woolfe (Eddie Toll), and Mary had to set her straight. While there’s no way to verify the internal dynamics of the Forty Elephants, A Thousand Blows did get the facts of the gang right.

The Forty Elephants Were A Real-Life Gang

The Forty Elephants Was An All-Female Gang Of Shoplifters & Thieves In London In The 19th & 20th Century

Real life members of the Forty Elephants — Image via BBC

As if to prove the old adage that fact can be stranger than fiction, the Forty Elephants featured in A Thousand Blows are based almost entirely in reality. In real life, the Forty Elephants were an all-female gang of thieves and shoplifters who operated out of the Elephant and Castle area of London (via BBC). They were closely tied to the more traditionally male gang, the Elephant Boys, though their operations were almost completely independent. The Forty Elephants would often shoplift from and outright rob high-end shops in West London, just as A Thousand Blows depicts them.

Just as the Forty Elephants were real, many of the characters in A Thousand Blows were also real. Mary Carr, for instance, has several different arrest and incarceration records dating back to the 1880s. One of the only areas of true fabrication A Thousand Blows is guilty of is the connection between Hezekiah Moscow (Malachi Kirby) and the Forty Elephants. While there isn’t evidence to suggest they were directly cooperating, Hezekiah was in the Elephant and Castle area of London at the same time Mary Carr was acting as the queen of the Forty Elephants.

How The Forty Elephants’ History Could Set Up Multiple Seasons Of A Thousand Blows

The Forty Elephants Were Active For Decades & A Thousand Blows Could Follow Their Story For Several Seasons

Mary Carr (Erin Doherty) in A Thousand Blows season 1, episode 3

Because A Thousand Blows is based – at least partially – on the real exploits of the Forty Elephants, it could have enough material for several more seasons. Sources differ on the exact longevity of the gang, but even the most conservative estimates claim that the Forty Elephants were active up until the 1950s (via BBC). That’s more than 80 years worth of criminal exploits, heists, and great drama centered around the Forty Elephants for A Thousand Blows to draw inspiration from and adapt. In fact, series creator Stephen Knight has already confirmed that A Thousand Blows will adapt more of the Forty Elephants’ history.

“Season two is already shot, and I’m very keen to continue telling the story because there’s a lot more story to tell. There were still people who identified themselves as Forty Elephants in the 1950s. The truth and reality are much more interesting than anything you can invent.”

With A Thousand Blows season 2 not just confirmed but already filmed, and with Knight’s exciting comments, the show’s future looks extremely bright. There’s even potential for A Thousand Blows to grow into a decade-spanning tale of crime and intrigue akin to Peaky Blinders, which Knight also wrote. The Forty Elephants had several different “queens” throughout their reign, and A Thousand Blows could easily step into the 20th century with an entirely different cast, if it lasts that long. If it can maintain the quality of its first season, there’s no reason A Thousand Blows can’t be a mainstay for years to come.