Nicholas Cresswell was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 diarist.

Cresswell was the son of a landowner and sheep farmer in Crowden-le-Booth, Edale

Edale

Edale is a small Derbyshire village and Civil parish in the Peak District, in the Midlands of England. The Parish of Edale,area ,is in the Borough of High Peak....

, Derbyshire

Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

. At the age of 24 he sailed to the American colonies after becoming acquainted with a native of Edale who was now resident in Alexandria

Alexandria, Virginia

Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

. For the next three years he kept a journal of his experiences, along with comments on political issues. He became unpopular due to his opposition to the patriot cause in the American War of Independence. Cresswell returned to England, and after a failed attempt to receive a commission from the ex-governor of Virginia, John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore

John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore

John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore was a British peer and colonial governor. He was the son of William Murray, 3rd Earl of Dunmore, and his wife Catherine . He is best remembered as the last royal governor of the Colony of Virginia.John was the eldest son of William and Catherine Murray, and nephew...

, he returned to Edale to resume farming. He died at in Idridgehay

Idridgehay

Idridgehay is a village in the English county of Derbyshire. -Geography:Idridehay lies south of the town Wirksworth west of the town of Belper in the valley of the River Ecclesbourne. Idridgehay Green is immediately to its west and the hamlet of Ireton Wood a mile to its south.-Transport:The...

1804.

Further reading

• The Journal of Nicholas Cresswell, 1774–1777 (1924, with a preface by S. Thornely).
• The Journal of Nicholas Cresswell, 1774–1777 (New York, 1928, second edition, with an introduction by A. G. Bradley).
• H. B. Gill, ‘Nicholas Cresswell acted like a British spy. But was he?’, Colonial Williamsburg, 16 (1993), pp. 26–30.
• G. M. Curtis and H. B. Gill, ‘A man apart: Nicholas Cresswell's American odyssey, 1774–1777’, Indiana Magazine of History, 96 (2000), pp. 169–90.