THE SPIRIT OF DICK TURPIN

The Georgian highwayman Dick Turpin lives on in our collective imagination more as myth than man. He has come to be portrayed as a gallant and romantic figure, due mainly to the publication of Harrison Ainsworth’s popular 1834 novel Rookwood. Turpin was in fact little more than a murderous villain who only turned to highway robbery in the latter stages of his criminal career. He also never owned a horse called Black Bess. Furthermore, his fictitious great ride from London to York was made by 17th-century highwayman John ‘Swift Nick’ Nevison in 1676. 

Turpin was born in 1705 in the village of Hempstead, Essex and became apprenticed to a butcher. This was short-lived and he soon turned his hand to cattle rustling and burglary, becoming part of the notorious Gregory Gang. He later joined forces with another highwayman named Tom King, who Turpin accidentally shot during a botched robbery.

With a price on his head Turpin moved to East Yorkshire going under the assumed name of John Palmer. However, it was not long before he was imprisoned in York for disturbing the peace after shooting a cockerel off a wall as part of a bet. During his imprisonment he became suspected of horse stealing; a serious offence in those days.

Turpin’s luck ran out when he wrote a pleading letter to his brother-in-law in Hempstead asking for help. His brother-in-law refused to accept his letters and they remained at the local post office. This was now run by Turpin’s former teacher who recognised the handwriting to be that of Turpin. He quickly notified the authorities and travelled to York to identify him.

Dick Turpin was tried for horse stealing and murder and subsequently hanged on the Knavesmire; now York Racecourse. He cheated the hangman by throwing himself from the gallows, thus committing suicide.

Turpin’s spirit is said to haunt St, George’s Field in York. This was, at one time, a notorious slum area frequented by villains and prostitutes; a place where Turpin would have, no doubt, felt quite at home. Today St. George’s Field hosts the York Novotel Hotel and overlooks the River Ouse. His ghost is said to haunt a particularly lonely stretch of river path close by. Many claim to have seen the spectral figure of a rider, sitting astride a black horse, dressed in a tunic and black tricorn hat. He is said to remain quite still, partly obscured by the trees. Could this be Turpin’s nefarious spirit lying in wait for that unsuspecting stage coach to pass by?