John "Swift Nick" Nevison
"The Glamorous Highwayman"
John (also known as William) Nevison was
one of Britain's most flamboyant highwaymen, a man whose exploits earned
him praise from even King Charles II, who was so impressed by the
activities of this gentleman-rogue that he nicknamed the highwayman Swift
Nick - allegedly! A measure of his fame may be surmised from the fact he
is the only highwayman except Claude Du Vall mentioned (albeit briefly) by
name in Lord Macaulay's History of England.
Much about his life is shrouded in mystery, and confused by conflicting
accounts from such writers as Macaulay and seventeenth century
pamphleteers, so it can be hard to sort fact from fiction. The Newgate Calendar entry
on William (John) Nevison forms the basis for most modern
biographical entries, although it doesn't mention the feat for which he is
best known - the fabled ride to London that was later attributed to Dick
Turpin.
Most probably, Nevison was born at Wortley near Sheffield around
1639/40. He came from a good family - according to reports his father is
variously named as comfortably off wool merchant or a steward
at Wortley Hall. Although he seems to have been prone to stealing and troublemaking
at school, he worked as a brewer's clerk in London for several years
before absconding to Holland with a debt he had been sent to collect. He
then apparently served in an English regiment under the command of the
Duke of York in Flanders, distinguishing himself as a soldier,
before returning to England. He seems to have lived quietly with his
father until the old gentleman passed away, leaving him impoverished - at
which point he decided to take to the road.
A charming man of tall gentlemanly
appearance and bearing, it is claimed that Nevison never used violence
against his victims. It seems that his romantic reputation was sealed
through a renowned ride from the south of England to York in 1676, a feat
later mistakenly attributed in popular legend to Dick Turpin and his horse
Black Bess. The error arose in a novel called Rookwood written in
1834 by
Harrison Ainsworth, who wrongly attributed the feat to Turpin. In fact the
ride was already on record in 1724 (when Turpin was still a butcher's lad
in Whitechapel), in Daniel Defoe's A Tour Through the Whole Island of
Great Britain , from which the following account is drawn:
The Ride to York
 At 4am one summer morning in 1676, a
traveller at Gads Hill in Kent, England was robbed by John Nevison. The
highwayman then made his escape on a bay mare, crossed the River Thames by
ferry and galloped towards Chelmsford. After resting his horse for half an
hour, he rode on to Cambridge and Huntingdon, resting regularly for short
periods during the journey. Eventually, he found his way to the Great
North Road where he turned north for York.
He arrived in York at sunset after a
journey of more than 200 miles, a stunning achievement for both man and
horse. He stabled his weary horse at a York inn, washed and changed his
travel-stained clothes, then strolled to a bowling green where he knew the
Lord Mayor was playing bowls. He engaged the Lord Mayor in a conversation
and then laid a bet on the outcome of the match - and Nevison made sure
the Lord Mayor remembered the time the bet was laid - 8pm that evening.
Later, Nevison was arrested for the
robbery in Gads Hill and in his defence, produced the Lord Mayor of York
as his alibi witness. The Lord Mayor could prove Nevison was in York at
8pm on the day of the robbery and the court refused to believe that a man
would have committed that time in Kent and ridden to York by 8pm the same
day. He was found not guilty of that crime and emerged as a folk hero,
even impressing the king of England.
The End of the Road
There are few other accurate records of
Nevison's career. His gang of six outlaws met at the Talbot Inn at Newark
and robbed travellers along the Great North Road as far north as York and
as far south as Huntingdon. He was arrested several times - in 1674, when
he escaped from Wakefield goal before charges could be brought, and again
in 1676 on charges of robbery and horse-stealing. Nevison was
sentenced to transportation to Tangiers, but returned to England (or
escaped before the ship disembarked from Tilbury) and once more
took to highway robbery. He was arrested yet again in 1681 and escaped
with the ingenious rouse of 'playing dead' - getting an accomplice to
masquerade as a doctor and pronounce him dead of the plague.
The net was closing in around him however, especially after he
killed a
man called Fletcher, a constable who died while trying to arrest him. He was
targeted by
bounty hunters, and after a tip-off from the landlady was captured while drinking at the Magpie
(or Plough) Inn
at Sandal, near Wakefield. His execution was never in doubt and he was hanged at York Castle on
May 4, 1684. The body was buried at St. Mary Church, York, in an unmarked
grave.
"Bold Nevison"
Did you ever hear told of that hero,
Bold Nevison it was his name,
And he rode about like a brave hero,
And by that he gained a great fame,
Now when I rode on the highway,
I always had money in store.
And whatever I took from the rich
Why I freely gave it to the poor.
I have never robbed no man of tuppence
And I've never done murder nor killed.
Though guilty I've been all my lifetime
So gentlemen do as you please.
Though the subject of frequently issued prose chapbooks and broadsides, there do not appear to be many versions of this
17th Century ballad of Nevison. This version of the ballad was sung by Joseph Taylor and recorded on a wax cylinder for Percy Grainger in 1908
Newgate Calendar entry
on William (John) Nevison
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