Dick Turpin the Highwayman

Dick Turpin the Highwayman

Dick Turpin - myth or legend?

Dick Turpin is one of the best remembered highwaymen who operated in North London, Essex and Yorkshire. Turpin frequently used as his base the Old Swan Inn at Wroughton-on-the-Green in Buckinghamshire. Some say that Turpin was a Yorkshireman, born in York. What is certin is that he was tried and was later hanged and buried in York in 1739. His grave can be seen in the churchyard of St. Denys and St. George in York.
Turpin's famous ride from London to York almost certainly was not made by him but by another highwayman, 'Swift Nicks' Nevison during the reign of Charles 2nd. Nevison also ended up on the gallows at York and the leg-irons which held him while in prison there before his execution can be seen in York Castle Museum.

So who was he and what is the truth? Or is his tale mixed up with so many other fabrications surrounding his contemporaries that it is impossible to judge? According to the records, Richard Turpin was born in 1705 in Hempstead, near Saffron Walden, Essex, where his father kept The Bell, an inn which still stands today and was renamed The Crown. He was taught to read and write by local schoolmaster James Smith. Turpin was apprenticed to a butcher and at the age of 21 he married Elizabeth Millington and opened his own butcher's shop in Buckhurst Hill, Essex. From an early age, his criminal instincts got the better of him. Rather than rely on legitimate suppliers for his stock in trade, Turpin turned to cattle stealing. His misdemaeanours were discovered and Turpin was forced to flee. For a while he supported himself before he joined the Gregory Gang, a notorious mob of poachers and burglars. This gang specialised in forcing entry to isolated houses and terrorising the occupants to make them reveal the whereabouts of hidden valuables.
On 8 February 1735, 'Read's Weekly Journal' reported one such attack:
"On Saturday night last, about seven o'clock, five rogues entered the house of the Widow Shelly at Loughton in Essex, having pistols etc., and threatened to murder the old lady if she would not tell them where her money lay, which she obstinately refusing for some time, they threatened to lay her across the fire if she did not instantly tell them , which she would not do...But her son being in the room, and threatened to be murdered, cried out he would tell them...and did".
The Gregory Gang's notorierty soon caught up with them. Hiding out in Westminster they were surprised by peace officers in a tavern. Turpin managed to escape by jumping out of a window; three of his compatriots were caught and hanged whilst the others dispersed. Turpin turned to highway robbery in company with Thomas Rowden, a pewterer and also a former member of the Gregory Gang. They both carryied out a large number of robberies on the outskirts of London. Later Turpin went into partnership with Matthew King and the pair established a base in a cave in Epping Forest, located amongst the ancient earthworks now known as 'Loughton Camp'. The cave was discovered by one of the keepers of the forest who attempted to apprehend Turpin - and was shot dead on the spot.
Turpin and King fled. Turpin was almost captured when he met with his wife in Hertford and in Whitechapel the pair were involved in a shoot-out over a stolen horse that resulted in Turpin accidentally killing his comrade.
To avoid arrest Turpin finally left Essex for Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, where he set up under an assumed name - 'John Palmer' - as a horse dealer.
In 1739, 'Palmer' somewhat recklessly, was bound over to keep the peace after he took the fancy to shoot his landlord's gamecock in the street and then threatened to shoot a bystander who took exception to the act. 'Palmer' was unable to provide sureties so that he would be released and was committed to the House of Correction.
From his cell 'Palmer' wrote to his brother-in-law at Hempstead for help
"York, Feb. 6, 1739.Dear Brother, I am sorry to acquaint you, that I am now under confinement in York Castle, for horse-stealing. If I could procure an evidence from London to give me a character, that would go a great way towards my being acquitted. I had not been long in this county before my being apprehended, so that it would pass off the readier. For Heaven's sake dear brother, do not neglect me; you will know what I mean, when I say,
I am yours,
"JOHN PALMER."
However, his brother-in-law refused to pay the sixpence postage and the letter was returned, unopened, to the Post-Office in Essex. By accident,it was seen by Mr. Smith, a school-master, who had taught Turpin to read and write who and immediately recognised the handwriting. Taking the letter to a magistrate it was discovered that 'John Palmer' was no other than Richard Turpin. Smith traveled to York to identify Palmer as Turpin.

On 22 March 1739 'John Palmer alias Richard Turpin' was convicted at York assizes of horse-stealing and hanged at the Knavesmire on April 7, 1739. In York, the holder of the hangman's post was usually himself a convicted villain under sentence of death, who was pardoned on condition he accept the unsavoury job. That was true of Thomas Hadfield, who on April 7 1739 was placed in charge of hanging Dick Turpin and one other man at Tyburn adjacent to the Knavesmire. Hadfield had himself been sentenced to death for highway robbery, making Turpin's death at his hands especially ironic. It was Hadfield's first hanging, but he wasn't the only person whose life was spared that day. As the York Courant's report of the proceedings made clear: "Laurence Roberts, Thomas Hadfield (who was hangman) and Naomi Hollings, who pleaded her Belly, and were all under the Sentence of Death, are repriev'd."
It is said that the bodies of criminals were used in the cause of new medical science. However the tale tells us that his body was captured and taken to St Georges behind Walmgate. There, in the graveyard he was buried. It is an especially wide grave and there are some romanticists who will have us believe that he is buried with his legendary horse, Black Bess.
Harrison Ainsworth, in his romance Rookwood, gives a spirited account of a wonderful ride by Dick Turpin on his mare, Black Bess, from London to York, and it is in this connection that Turpin's name has been generally remembered. But as far as Turpin is concerned the incident is pure fiction. A somewhat similar story was told about a certain John Nevison, known as "Swift Nicks," a well-known highwayman in the time of Charles II, who to establish an alibi, rode from Gad's Hill (near Rochester, Kent) to York (some 190 miles) in about 15 hours. There is no reason to suggest that this tale is any more plausible than the one of Dick Turpin's ride to York.