Great North Road (Great Britain) not compete with the new railways. The last coach from London to Newcastle left in 1842 and the last from Newcastle to Edinburgh in July 1847. The highwayman Dick Turpin's flight from London to York in less than 15 hours on his mare Black Bess is the most famous legend of the Great North Road. Various inns along the route claim Turpin ate a meal or stopped for respite for his horse. Harrison Ainsworth, in his 1834 romance "Rookwood", immortalised the ride. Historians argue that Turpin never made the journey, claiming that the ride was by John Nevison, "Swift Nick",
Edmund Hart Turpin Early in 1869, he undertook in addition to all this heavy church work, the duties of organist and choirmaster at St. George's, Bloomsbury. Once settled in London Turpin rapidly made friends, two of the earliest being Edward John Hopkins of the Temple Church, and John Pyke Hullah. Another friend for nearly forty years was Charles William Pearce (1856-1928), organist and later Hon. Treasurer of the Royal College of Organists; the latter wrote E.H. Turpin's biography in 1911. In London, E.H. Turpin studied under John Pyke Hullah as well as Ernst Pauer. It is known that E.H. Turpin also acted as