He soon developed a reputation as a gentleman highwayman, reputedly never using violence against his victims. It was around 4 am, when Nevison fled the crime scene, reputedly on a horse called Nutmeg, crossing the Thames by ferry, before galloping on to York, which was more than miles km away. He engaged the Mayor in friendly conversation, even having a bet on the outcome of the bowls match.
He also ensured that the time of 8 pm was brought into their exchange. Later, when he was arrested for the robbery at Gads Hill, he summoned the Lord Mayor as an alibi witness in his defence. He was found not guilty of the crime, emerging from the court as somewhat of a folk hero. It is known that Nevison and his gang of six regularly met at the Talbot Inn in Newark to plan their next muggings. He was arrested in and jailed in Wakefield goal but managed to escape before any charges could be brought.
In , Nevison was apprehended yet again on charges of highway robbery and horse-stealing. He was tried at York Assizes and sentenced to transportation to Tangiers, after reputedly turning informer.
He continued with his criminal career, but in , was arrested yet again. Though, once again he managed to evade justice, this time by getting an accomplice to impersonate a doctor and pronounce him dead of the plague. Another friend, an artist, applied the make-up, thus with Nevison feigning death, he was carried out of jail in a coffin. His subsequent reappearance on the outside was at first taken to be that of a ghost. Nevison then made a major mistake when he murdered Constable Darcy Fletcher, who had tried to arrest him at Howley Hall, near Batley.
The authorities were tipped-off of his whereabouts by the landlady of a public house in Sandal reported as either the Magpie Inn or Plough Inn , near Wakefield. Again he was tried at York Assizes, found guilty, and duly hanged at Knavesmire on May 4, His body was buried in an unmarked grave at St.
Mary Church in Castlegate, York. While John Nevison has never achieved the same level of ongoing notoriety as fellow highway Dick Turpin, his legacy is nonetheless alive and well. He maintained himself like a gentleman, Besides he was good to the poor; He rode about like a bold hero, And gained himself favour therefore. Ingledew , Ballads and Songs of Yorkshire , , p. A tradition noticed by Macaulay represents Nevison as the real hero of the ride from London to York, popularly attributed to Turpin History of England , 8vo, , i.
Nevin, Thomas. Nevoy, David. Category : DNB biographies. It was, of course, pure fiction. Read more about Turpin The Nevison Story - Introduction.
Nevison was born in the s or 40s in Yorkshire, perhaps in or near Pontefract "Pomfret" or possibly in Wortley. There is no mention of his birth in the parish records of Pontefract. He was made famous in ballads and folklore. Becoming a villain at an early age, he continued his career in the Netherlands, where he was arrested for theft and imprisoned. He escaped, fought with English regiments in Flanders, and then deserted to England.
In Yorkshire he became an extortionist, murderer and highwayman, eventually in partnership with a couple of other highwaymen, Thomas Tankard and Edward Bracy. According to Thomas Macaulay History of England , Nevison "levied a quarterly tribute on all the northern drovers, and, in return, not only spared them himself, but protected them against all other thieves; he demanded purses in the most courteous manner; he gave largely to the poor what he had taken from the rich.
Nevison murdered a constable by the name of Darcy Fletcher, a stone marked the spot at Howley Hill, later removed to the grounds of Howley Hall. Nevison was spared the drawing and quartering that might have been expected to be part of the execution. He was buried at St Marys, Castlegate. The Epic Jo urney by Nevison The stories about Nevison, Swiftnicks and Turpin have been conflated.
Nevison may have been a completely different character to Nicks, although there is some doubt; Turpin never made the epic ride. Nevison was executed in , Turpin was not born until Nicks was of Nevison's period and apparently met Charles II - The story is that at 4am one summer morning in , a traveller at Gadshill in Kent was robbed by Nevison. He then effected his escape on a bay mare, crossing the River Thames by ferry and on to Chelmsford, Essex.
After resting his horse for half an hour, he rode on to Cambridge and Huntingdon. Eventually, he found his way to the Great North Road [now more or less the A1] and headed north for York, where he arrived in the early evening. He then placed a bet with the Lord Mayor of York at 8pm on the outcome of a game of bowls - his alibi was in place.
It had taken him about 15 hours altogether. Nevison or Swiftnicks if they be the same was acquitted of the Kent robbery at his trial because he could prove that he was in York at 8pm that evening, it was surely an impossible feat for him to have committed a crime some two hundred miles further south in the same day!
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