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iIn this
story, Nicks, a companion of Capt. Dudley, is credited with an epic
ride from Barnet (north London) to York. For this ride he was dubbed
"Swiftnicks" by Charles II. This account is by Captain
Alexander Smith (see sources).
The
Complete Newgate Calendar, Vol. I
CAPTAIN RICHARD DUDLEY
| Click
here to go straight to the section on Swiftnicks |
A Companion
of the Highwayman whom King Charles II dubbed 'Swiftnicks' for his Ride
to York. Dudley was executed on the 22nd of February, 1681.
RICHARD DUDLEY was
a gentleman descended of a very good family in Northamptonshire, but his
father being ruined for exerting his loyalty in the time of the unhappy
rebellion, when a cursed republican party most villainously murdered King
Charles 1. before his own palace, he had little or no estate left him
; yet, for his
father's sake, King Charles II., after his restoration, gave him a captain's
commission in a regiment of foot; in which post he behaved himself very
sincere; for being at Tangier, and one day the regiment ordered to be
drawn out in battalia, Captain Dudley perceiving one of the men belonging
to his company to stand a little out of his rank, he presently commanded
a sergeant to knock him down. Accordingly the command was obeyed, but
not to his liking; for calling the sergeant to him again, and taking the
halberd out of his hand, quoth he: " When I command you to knock down
a man, knock him down thus." So with the right end of the halberd he cleft
his skull in two; of which he immediately died.
When Tangier was
demolished, and all our forces were then recalled from thence, Dick Dudley
came into England at the same time ; but living here at a very extravagant
rate, he could support himself in no manner of way but by taking on the
road what he thought was a fair prize. The highway he quickly made his
exchange, and would venture very boldly for what he got; but one time,
being apprehended in London for robbing the Duke of Monmouth near Harrow-on-the-Hill,
he was committed to the Poultry Compter, whither a man need not sail,
for this prison is a ship of itself, where the master-side is the upper
deck, and they in the common-side lie under hutches, and help to ballast
it.
Intricate cases
are the tacklings, executions the anchors, capiases the cables, Chancery
bills the huge sails, a long term the mainmast, law the helm, a judge
the pilot, a barrister the purser, an attorney the boatswain, his clerk
the swabber, bonds the waves, outlawries sudden gusts, the verdicts of
juries rough winds, and extents the rocks that split all in pieces. Or,
if it be not a ship, yet this and a ship,differ not much in the building,
for the one is a moving misery, the other standing. The first is seated
on a spring, the second on piles. Either this place is the emblem of a
bawdy-house or a bawdy-house of it, for nothing is to be seen in any room
but scurvy beds and bare walls ; nevertheless it is a sort of
a university of poor scholars, in which three arts are chiefly studied
-- viz. to pray, to curse and to write letters.
^top
But Dudley, breaking
out of this mansion of sorrow and tribulation, not long after obtaining his
liberty met with John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, coming from his seat at Woodstock,
and setting on his lordship and his retinue, which was his chaplain, a couple
of footmen and a groom, he took from him above one hundred guineas and a gold
watch. The chaplain then beginning to catechise Dudley for his unlawful actions,
quoth he: " I don't
think I commit any sin in robbing a person of quality, because I keep generally
pretty close to the text, 'Feed the hungry and send the rich empty away '
" ; which was true in the main, for whenever he had got any considerable booty
from great people, he would very generously extend his charity to such as
he really knew to be poor.
After this exploit,
Dick Dudley meeting Captain Richardson, the keeper of Newgate, on the
road betwixt London and Tunbridge, in whose clutches he had been three
or four times, he commanded him to stand and deliver; but Richardson refusing
to deliver, withal threatening what he would do if ever he came into his
custody again, quoth he: “I expect no favour from the hands of a
jailer, who comes of the race of those angels that fell with Lucifer from
Heaven, whither you'll never return again. Of all your bunches of keys,
not one hath wards to open that door; for a jailer's soul stands not upon
those two pillars that support Heaven, Justice and Mercy; it rather sits
upon those two footstools of Hell, Wrong and Cruelty. So make no more
words about
your purse, for have it I will, or else your life." Hereupon Captain Richardson
was obliged to grant his request, and betwixt Dudley and the waters drinking
at Tunbridge, went home as well purged and cleansed as a man could desire.
 [SWIFTNICKS
- his journey from Barnet to York]
This
daring robber (Dudley) had committed several most notorious robberies
on the road with that famous highwayman on whom King Charles II was pleased
to confer the name of Swiftnicks, from his robbing a gentleman
near Barnet about five in the morning, being come then from Bosom's
Inn in London, and taking from him five hundred and sixty guineas. He
rode straight to York, and appeared there on the bowling-green about six
in the evening of the same day; and being apprehended and tried for the
aforesaid robbery, before Judge Twisden, being acquitted of it, and the
judge mistrusting something of the matter, after strictly examining him,
Mr Nicks, otherwise called Swiftnicks, owned the fact when he was out
of danger, and was made a captain in the Lord Moncastle's regiment in
Ireland, where he married a great fortune, and afterwards lived very honest.
(Read Defoe's account.) |
But at last, this country
being too hot for Dick Dudley, upon the account of robbing General Monk, who
had
ordered a strict search to be made after him, he was forced to fly into France;
from whence, travelling to Rome, he was in very great necessity indeed.
Not long after his arrival
into this kingdom again, meeting with a Justice of the Peace on the road betwixt
Midhurst and Horsham, in the county of Sussex, " Stand and deliver " was the
language which he spoke to his worship, who, making a very stout resistance,
shot Dudley's horse under him; but at the same time, being wounded in his
arm, he was obliged to surrender at discretion. Then the resolute highwayman,
searching his pockets, out of which he took twenty-eight guineas, a gold watch
and silver tobacco-box, next securing the magistrate's horse, quoth he : "
Since your worship has previously broke the peace, in committing a most horrid
and barbarous murder on my prancer, which, with my assistance, was able to
get his living in any ground in England, I must make bold to take your horse
by way of reprisal; however, I'll not be so uncivil as to let a man of your
character go home afoot, for, for once, and not use it, I'll make one Justice
of the Peace carry another." So, stepping into a field where an ass was grazing,
he brought him into the road, and putting the justice on his back, as he was
tying his legs under the beast's belly, quoth he: " I know I offend against
the rules of heraldry, in putting metal upon
metal, but as there's no general rule without an exception, I doubt not but
all the heralds will excuse this solecism committed in their art, which I
look upon to be as great a bite and cheat as astrology." Thus taking his leave
of the justice, his worship rode a very solemn pace, till the grave
creature brought him safe into Petworth, where his worship had as many
people staring at him as if he had been riding through the town in triumph.
At last, Dick Dudley
attempting to rob the Duke of Lauderdale, when riding over Hounslow Heath,
he was conquered in his enterprise, and committed to Newgate; and when
he came to his trial at justice hall in the Old Bailey, above eighty indictments
being preferred against him for robberies committed only in the county
of Middlesex, he pleaded guilty. Then, receiving sentence of death, he
was (though great intercession was made for his life to King Charles)
executed at Tyburn, on Wednesday, the 22nd of February, 1681, aged forty-six
years.
^top
Sources
A Complete History of the Lives and Robberies of the
Most Notorious Highwaymen, Footpads, Shoplifts & Cheats of Both Sexes,
Capt. Alexander Smith, edited by Arthur L. Hayward, reprinted from the 5th
edition published in 1719; George Routledge & Sons Ltd., 1926 & 1933. |
