John Gilpin

This article is about 18th century draper and subject of Cowper's comic ballad. For the 20th century dancer, see John Gilpin (dancer). For the 1852 clipper, see John Gilpin (clipper).

Illustration by Randolph Caldecott for The Diverting History of John Gilpin
John Gilpin clipper ship card

John Gilpin was featured as the subject in a well-known comic ballad of 1782 by William Cowper, entitled The Diverting History of John Gilpin. Cowper had heard the story from his friend Lady Austen.

Gilpin was said to be a wealthy draper from Cheapside in London, who owned land at Olney, Buckinghamshire, near where Cowper lived. It is likely that he was a Mr Beyer, a linen draper of the Cheapside corner of Paternoster Row.[1] The poem tells how Gilpin and his wife and children became separated during a journey to the Bell Inn, Edmonton, after Gilpin loses control of his horse which bolts and carries him ten miles farther to the town of Ware.

Gilpin's Bell, a sculpture by Angela Godfrey in Fore Street, Edmonton

A number of sites commemorate the exploits of John Gilpin, most notably Gilpin's Gallop, a street in the village of Stanstead St Margarets. This was said to have been on the original route taken by the horse and his unfortunate rider.

John Gilpin's Ghost was a ballad (1795) by John Thelwall. The John Gilpin clipper of 1852 was also named after him. A former public house in Cambridge was named John Gilpin.[2] A sculpture by Angela Godfrey, which was inspired by Cowper's poem about Gilpin now sits in Fore Street, Edmonton, London.[3]

  1. ^ The Poetical Works of William Cowper, p. 212, London: Frederick Warne and Co, 1892
  2. ^ "The Fenstanton Brewery Plant". Cambridge Chronicle and Journal - Friday 21 September 1894. p. 6.
  3. ^ "Gilpin's Bell". Art UK. Retrieved 18 January 2024.