Nicholas Cresswell
Nicholas Cresswell was an English diarist.
Cresswell was the son of a landowner and sheep farmer in Crowden-le-Booth, Edale, Derbyshire. 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, Virginia. For the next three years he kept a journal of his experiences, along with comments on political and social issues. He described slaves in Maryland dancing to a banjo, fashioned out a gourd, as "something in the imitation of a guitar, with only four strings". He became unpopular due to his opposition to the independence 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, he returned to Edale to resume farming.
He died in Idridgehay in 1804.
