Richard Shaw, chairman of the Battle of Worcester Society, provides a fascinating account of notorious 17th-century highwayman James Hind

MANY fascinating characters were part of The English Civil War, but perhaps none more fascinating than James Hind, a notorious Highwayman who specialised in targeting Parliamentarians during the English Civil War and became a folk hero until his grisly execution at Worcester in 1652.

Hind was born in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, the only son of a wealthy saddler. He had a good education and became an apprentice to a local butcher.

However he was treated very badly, constantly criticised and beaten so he ran away to London where he met a noted highwayman, Thomas Allen who taught him the tricks of the trade.

Hind soon became a very accomplished highwayman and gained a reputation for politeness and charm, often not taking all their money from his victims.

On one occasion Hind was approaching one of his favourite taverns when he saw the landlord arguing with a man outside the premises. Hind rode up to them and asked the landlord what the problem was.

He was told that the man the landlord was arguing with was a bailiff. The landlord had failed to pay his rent and the bailiff wanted to take possession of the tavern. Hind asked how much was owed and when the bailiff told him he produced the full amount and even gave the bailiff a small tip.

The bailiff galloped off and the Landlord invited Hind in for a “thank you” pint. Hind said there was something he had to do first and rode off into the woods. Hind pulled up his mask and changed his coat, then stepped out into the rode just as the bailiff came along.

Pointing his pistol at the bailiff's head he stole all his money but left him with the tip the kind gentleman had given him.

Hind returned to the tavern, shared his takings with the landlord and enjoyed his “thank you” pint of ale.

When King Charles I was executed in 1649 Hind was outraged and swore that he would target the ‘regicides’ who had signed the King’s death warrant.  Among his victims were Hugh Peters, the Parliamentary Preacher, from whom he took 30 pieces of gold and chastised him for having such wealth.

Another was John Bradshaw, the President at the High Court of Justice at the trial of the King.

He pointed his pistol at Bradshaw’s head and said “I have now as much power over you as you lately had over the King.” 

He let Bradshaw live but just to put him to maximum inconvenience he rather callously shot the six horses that were pulling his carriage.

He robbed the regicide Major General Thomas Harrison (who was later at the Battle of Worcester) of £70 but was hotly pursued by Parliamentary soldiers.

He thought he had shaken them off but as his horse tired he heard a rider catching him up. 

He turned and shot the rider dead however it was not a soldier, but a servant trying to catch up with his master. This was to be Hind’s one and only casualty in his highway robbery career.

Hind’s most ambitious target was to be Oliver Cromwell himself.

Hind joined up with his tutor, Thomas Allen and they lay in wait for Cromwell’s carriage on the Huntingdon to London Road.  But they had totally underestimated their target as Cromwell had an escort of seven elite troopers from the New Model Army, who captured Thomas Allen.

Worcester News:

Hind was chased away, in fact he pushed his horse so hard that it collapsed and died but he had escaped from his pursuers and he soon stole another horse.

Hind was such a fanatical Royalist that when he heard Charles II had landed in Scotland and was recruiting a Royalist army, he galloped up to Stirling and enlisted.

Charles was most amused by Hind’s tales of robbing prominent Parliamentarians and made him a Captain. He rode the 300 miles to Worcester and fought in the Battle of Worcester on September 3 1651.

It was said that Hind had helped the King to escape and had “kept the field until the King was fled.”

He then leapt over the city wall and made it to London but he was betrayed and handed over to the Parliamentarians. On December 12 1651 he appeared before the Speaker of the House of Commons.

Although he was guilty of many highway robberies he was sent to Reading where on March 1 1652 he faced the charge of murder of the servant.

By this time Oliver Cromwell’s Parliament had passed the Act of Oblivion to“forgive all former offences but those against the state”.

Hind had expected to hang but he snatched a quick death for a slow one when he told the court that, “nothing troubled me so much as to die before I saw his Majesty established on his throne from which he was most unjustly and illegally excluded by a rebellious and disloyal crew who deserved hanging more than me.”

The court decided to send him back to Worcester on a charge of high treason and on September 24 1652 at the age of 34 years Captain James Hind was hanged, drawn, and quartered.

His head was set upon the Bridge Gate over the Severn but the story of his adventures was to live on in the pamphlet, The English Guzman by George Fidge published in 1652.

A very popular Spanish novel entitled The Life of Guzman D’Alfarache a rogue and thief was published in the 17th century and Fidge took the title of his pamphlet from this book.