# Gilderoy's Kite

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilderoys-kite/48869>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 7, 2001, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilderoys-kite/48869 "2001-01-07T16:33:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2001, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilderoys-kite/48869/1 "2001-01-07T16:33:04Z")

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In Chapter 25 of Mark Twain’s _The Innocents Abroad_, he writes, of the navy of Italy, “She squandered millions of francs on a navy which she did not need, and the first time she took her new toy into action she got it knocked higher than **Gilderoy’s kite** —to use the language of the Pilgrims.”

What is Gilderoy’s kite and who is Gilderoy?

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**Author:** ![Shiva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@Shiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shiva)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2001, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilderoys-kite/48869/2 "2001-01-07T16:39:30Z")

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From [http://www.bollands.demon.co.uk/gbq/GBQ74as.htm](http://www.bollands.demon.co.uk/gbq/GBQ74as.htm)

> [@](#):
>
> Hung Higher than Gilderoy’s Kite (76) the thief was Patrick Macgregor whose nickname “Gilderoy” derived from Gillie Roy, the Scottish dialect for “red-haired lad” “Kite” was an old Scottish word for “belly” He is said to have robbed Oliver Cromwell and hanged a judge. He was sentenced to be hanged far higher than his colleagues as a warning to others and was left dangling some 30 feet up for several weeks.

From [http://www.clickworldwide.com/Bibliomania/Reference/PhraseAndFable/data/517.html](http://www.clickworldwide.com/Bibliomania/Reference/PhraseAndFable/data/517.html)

> [@](#):
>
> “Of Gilderoy sae fraid they were  
> They bound him mickle strong,  
> Till Edenburrow they led him thair  
> And on a gallows hong;  
> They hong him high abone the rest,  
> He was so trim a boy …”

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**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2001, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gilderoys-kite/48869/3 "2001-01-08T10:29:39Z")

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So it’s Patrick MacGregor’s gullet? It’s no wonder I couldn’t puzzle it out. Thanks, Shiva.