Evans, Cornelius (fl. 1648), impostor, is said to have been born at Marseilles, of a Welsh father and a Provençale mother. Nothing is known of his early life, but it was reported in 1648 that he spoke English 'not perfectly and in another dialect than it is usually pronounced by Englishmen...
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Evans, Cornelius (fl. 1648), impostor
Stephen Wright
Article
Frankland, Thomas (1632/3–1690), impostor and antiquary
G. H. Martin
Frankland, Thomas (1632/3–1690), impostor and antiquary, was born in Lancashire; his parents' names are not known. He matriculated from Brasenose College, Oxford, in June 1649, aged sixteen, and graduated BA in February 1653. He was elected a fellow of Brasenose in 1654 and proceeded MA in 1655. The next year he was incorporated MA at ...
Article
Hatfield, John (c. 1758–1803), impostor and forger
Jack Binns
Hatfield, John (c. 1758–1803), impostor and forger, was born at Mottram in Longdendale, Cheshire, one of the many children of a poor estate woodsman. His mother, the daughter of a schoolteacher, taught him to read and write but he received no formal education. After the imprisonment of his father and the death of his mother he was apprenticed to a ...
Article
La Cloche, Jacques de (1644/1647?–1669), pretended son of Charles II
Giovanni Tarantino
La Cloche, Jacques de (1644/1647
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Powderham [alias Exeter, Poydras, Tanner], John (d. 1318), impostor
Wendy R. Childs
Powderham [alias Exeter, Poydras, Tanner], John (d. 1318), impostor, was the son of an Exeter tanner who attained notoriety by treasonably claiming to be the rightful king of England in 1318. Records are meagre: on 20 July William Montagu, the king's steward, was ordered to take him (under the name of ...
Article
Simnel, Lambert (b. 1476/7, d. after 1534), impostor and claimant to the English throne
Michael J. Bennett
Simnel, Lambert (b. 1476/7, d. after 1534), impostor and claimant to the English throne, was born probably in Oxford, the son of Thomas Simnel, a carpenter, organ maker, or cobbler. His origins are obscure, even in official accounts; his mother is unknown and he may have been illegitimate. Nothing is known of his upbringing....
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Thom [Tom], John Nichols [alias Sir William Courtenay] (bap. 1799, d. 1838), impostor and lunatic
Basil Morgan
Thom [Tom], John Nichols [alias Sir William Courtenay] (bap. 1799, d. 1838), impostor and lunatic, was baptized on 10 November 1799 at St Columb Major, Cornwall, the only son (he had one sister) of William Thom (or Tom), a small farmer and innkeeper, and his wife, ...
Article
Warbeck, Perkin [Pierrechon de Werbecque; alias Richard Plantagenet, duke of York] (c. 1474–1499), impostor and claimant to the English throne
S. J. Gunn
Warbeck, Perkin [Pierrechon de Werbecque; alias Richard Plantagenet, duke of York] (c. 1474–1499), impostor and claimant to the English throne, was, according to the confession he made in 1497, born at Tournai in France, the son of John Osbek, comptroller of the town of ...
Article
Wilford [Wulford], Ralph (c. 1479–1499), impostor and claimant to the English throne
S. J. Gunn
Wilford [Wulford], Ralph (c. 1479–1499), impostor and claimant to the English throne, was the son of a cordwainer who lived at the Black Bull in Bishopsgate Street, London. He was encouraged by an Augustinian friar named Patrick to challenge Henry VII's possession of the throne by impersonating the imprisoned ...
