John Nevison
John Nevison(1639 – 4 May 1684), also known asWilliam NevisonorNevinson,was one of Britain's most notorioushighwaymen,a gentleman rogue supposedly nicknamedSwift NickbyKing Charles IIafter a renowned 200-mile (320 km) dash fromKenttoYorkto establish analibifor a robbery he had committed earlier that day. The story inspiredWilliam Harrison Ainsworthto include a modified version in his novelRookwood,in which he attributed the feat toDick Turpin.There are suggestions that the feat was actually undertaken by Samuel Nicks.[1][2]The TV seriesDick Turpinhad an accomplice of the highwayman, Nick, who earned the nickname "Swiftnick".
History
[edit]Nevison was born in 1639, probably inWortley,West Riding of Yorkshire(present-daySouth Yorkshire). He ran away from home at the age of 13 or 14 and may have ended up in London. Forced to flee to Holland to evade the authorities he enrolled in the Duke of York's army and took part in the 1658Battle of Dunkirk.After his discharge he returned to England and took care of his father for several years before adopting the same profession as many of his contemporary ex-soldiers, that of a highwayman. Basing himself aroundNewark-on-Trent,he targeted those travelling along theGreat North RoadbetweenHuntingdonin the south and York to the north.[3]
In the mid-1670s his activities were under investigation and he was associated with men named Edmund Bracy, Thomas Wilbore, Thomas Tankerd, John Bromett, and William (or Robert) Everson and John Brace or Bracy, which may have been his alias. The robbers used safe houses atTuxfordandWentbridgeand divided their spoils at the Talbot Inn at Newark.[4]Nevison developed a reputation as a gentleman highwayman, never using violence against his victims, always polite, and only robbing the rich.[3]
The famous ride from Kent to York took place in 1676, after Nevison had robbed a traveller at Gad's Hill, nearRochester, Kent.Nevison escaped, using a ferry to cross theThamesand galloped viaChelmsford,Cambridgeand Huntingdon to York some 200 miles (320 km) from the scene of the crime. He arrived at sunset and ensured he met the city'sLord Mayor,entering into a wager on abowlsmatch. When he was arrested and tried for the Gad's Hill robbery, he produced the Lord Mayor to support his alibi and was found not guilty.[5]
Nevison was tried and convicted for the theft of a horse and highway robbery at York assizes in 1677. He was imprisoned in York Castle but, on offering to inform against his accomplices was pardoned and was to be transported. In 1681 he was taken from gaol to be enlisted in a company of soldiers bound forTangierbut escaped. A reward of £20 was offered for his recapture.[4][6] He was arrested on 6 March 1684 at the Three Houses Inn inSandal MagnanearWakefieldand tried for the murder of Darcy Fletcher, a constable who had tried to arrest him near Howley Hall at Soothill inBatley.[4][7]He was taken to York where, because he had breached his pardon, was "told him he must dye, for he was a terrour to the country". Nevison was hanged at theKnavesmireon 4 May 1684 and buried in an unmarked grave inSt Mary's Church, Castlegate.[4][8]
Legacy
[edit]Nevison was idolised by the public, and ballads about his deeds were popular centuries after in the form of a folk song "Bold Nevison the Highwayman" (Roud1082).[9]TheLincolnshirefolk singerJoseph Taylorknew three verses of a song about Nevison.Percy Graingerrecorded Taylor singing the song on a phonograph in 1908; the original recording is available on theBritish Library Sound Archivewebsite.[10]
I've now robb'd a gentleman of two-pence,
I've neither done murder, nor killed,
But guilty I've been all my life time,
So gentlemen do as you will
I's when that I rode on the highway,
I've always had money in great store;
And whatever I look from the rich
I freely gave it to the poor.
(Lyrics taken from 1850sbroadsideprinted inManchester.)[9]
In the 1913 novelSwift Nick of the York RoadbyGeorge Edgar,Nevison is a gentleman who is cheated out of his fortune when gambling, wins several duels and finally profits from King Charles's clemency.[11][12]
Hubert Clifford's 1935Kentish Suitefor orchestra has as its fourth movement "Swift Nicks of Gad's Hill", with the comment that "Nicholas Nevinson was a highwayman of the period who plied his business atGad’s Hillnear Gravesend. His famous ride to York, usually associated with the name of Dick Turpin, earned his title to fame, and King Charles, on hearing of his exploits, granted him a free pardon and dubbed him 'Swift Nicks' ".[13]The Gad's Hill reference and the pardon both appear in Defoe's account.[14]
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^Sargent, John S."Swiftnicks, according to Defoe".overtown.org.uk.Overtown Miscellany.Retrieved4 September2022.
Mr Nicks' Christian name may have been Samuel according to a footnote in the Newgate Calendar.
- ^Sargent, John S."The Epic Ride to York - Nevison or Swifnicks?".overtown.org.uk.Overtown Miscellany.Retrieved4 September2022.
Swiftnicks' Christian name may be found in a postscript to Jackson's Recantation [...] 1674, in which 'Samuel Swiftnicks' tells the reader [...]
- ^abJohn Nevison,Wakefield Council, archived fromthe originalon 23 March 2014,retrieved18 April2013
- ^abcd Wales, Tim (2004). "Nevison [Nevinson], John [William] (d. 1684), highwayman".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19970.Retrieved12 April2013.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^John "Swift Nick" Nevison,stand and deliver.org,retrieved12 April2013
- ^"No. 1644".The London Gazette.27 October 1681. p. 2.
- ^Walker 1966,p. 460
- ^Hanagan & Cox 2012,pp. 78–79
- ^ab"Ballads Online".ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk.Retrieved15 December2021.
- ^"Bold Nevison - Percy Grainger ethnographic wax cylinders - World and traditional music | British Library - Sounds".sounds.bl.uk.Retrieved15 December2021.
- ^Edgar, George (1913).Swift Nick Of The York Road.Mills & Boon.Retrieved4 September2022.
- ^"Some Recent Fiction".The Dominion.Wellington, New Zealand: Wellington Publishing Company. 21 June 1913. p. 9.Retrieved4 September2022.
central figure, gallant young gentleman, one Nicholas Nevinson, who eventually takes to the road, and is forthwith engaged in long series of adventures, the outcome of which are the winning of pretty girl's hand, royal pardon for hisClaude Duval-Dick Turpin exploits, and a bright and quite highly respectable future.
- ^"Kentish Suite Pack".Goodmusic Publishing.Retrieved4 September2022.
- ^Defoe, Daniel (1724).A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain, Vol. 1(1962 ed.). Everyman's Library. pp. 104–105.Retrieved4 September2022.
Bibliography
[edit]- Hanagan, Mike; Cox, Pat (2012),Legends of Kent,Pat Cox / Mike Hanagan,ISBN9781470174248
- Walker, J. W. (1966),Wakefield its History and People Vols. 1 & 2(3rd ed.), S. R. Publishers
Further reading
[edit]- Fletcher, J. S.(1917)Memorials of a Yorkshire Parishfacsimile published by Old Hall Press, Leeds 1993
- Padgett, Lorenzo (1905)Chronicles of Old Pontefractfacsimile published by Old Hall Press, Leeds 1993