40 at the time of the robbery and had been a professional thief since he was 18. He returned to the UK in 1853 after ten years spent in Australia and the US. He had £3,000 in government consol bonds and lived in the fashionable area of Shepherd's Bush, London. According to Thomas, the robbery "grew almost entirely from the absolute self-confidence and mental ability" of Agar. James Burgess was a married, thrifty and respectable man who had worked at the SER since it had started running the Folkestone line in 1843. He worked for the company as a guard, and was often in charge of the trains that carried the bullion. As with many railwaymen of the time, Burgess's wages had been reduced as the railway boom had passed. Fanny Kay, aged 23 in 1855, was Agar's partner and lived with him at his house, Cambridge Villa, in Shepherd's Bush. She had previously been an attendant at Tonbridge railway station and had been introduced to Agar by Burgess in 1853. She had a child with Agar and moved in with him in December 1854. William Tester was a well-educated man who wore a monocle and had a desire to improve his position; he was briefly employed after the robbery as a general manager for a Swedish railway company. He worked in the traffic department at London Bridge station as the assistant to the superintendent, which gave him access to information about the carriage of valuable goods and the guards' rota. James Townshend Saward, also known as Jim (or Jem) the Penman, was a barrister and special pleader at the Inner Temple. His activities were described by contemporary sources as "planning and perfecting schemes of fraud, the bold audacity of which is equalled only by their success". He was the head of a forgery gang who had been practising cheque fraud for several years. Planning and preparation After being dismissed from the SER, Pierce continued to drink in the pubs and beer shops around London Bridge in which railway employees also drank. Over time he picked up detailed information about the gold shipments to Paris, while he watched and planned. He concluded that a theft would only be possible if he obtained copies of the keys to the safe. He relayed his thoughts to Agar before the latter's visit to the US; at the time Agar declined to take part,