Tom Cox (highwayman) Tom Cox (highwayman) Thomas Cox (c. 1665 – 12 September 1690), known as "The Handsome Highwayman", was an English highwayman, sentenced to death and hanged at Tyburn. He had a reputation for a spirited nature and it is reported that when asked if he wished to say a prayer before being hanged, he kicked the ordinary and the hangman out of the cart taking him there. Cox lived during the Restoration period. According to Alexander Smith's "A Complete History of the Lives and Robberies of the Most Notorious Highwaymen, Footpads, Shoplifts and Cheats of Both Sexes" (1719), Tom Cox was
The Highwayman (poem) The Highwayman (poem) "The Highwayman" is a narrative poem written by Alfred Noyes, first published in the August 1906 issue of "Blackwood's Magazine", based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The following year it was included in Noyes' collection, "Forty Singing Seamen and Other Poems", becoming an immediate success. In 1995 it was voted 15th in the BBC's poll for "The Nation's Favourite Poems". The poem, set in 18th century rural England, tells the story of an unnamed highwayman who is in love with Bess, a landlord's daughter. Betrayed to the authorities by Tim, a jealous ostler, the highwayman escapes ambush when Bess