James George Semple Lisle (1759–1815) was a Scottish adventurer and

Swindler A charlatan (also called a swindler or mountebank) is a person practicing quackery or a similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, power, fame, or other advantages through pretense or deception. Synonyms for ''charlatan'' include ''sh ...

. He used numerous aliases, taking Lisle as a surname additional to his original name, and published in 1799 ''The Life of Major J. G. Semple-Lisle'', an autobiography, from

Tothill Fields Tothill Fields was an area of Westminster in the county of Middlesex that lay south of St James's Park on the north bank of the river Thames. One of its main features was the Tothill Fields Bridewell penitentiary. Between 1735 and 1752, it was t ...

Prison.

Life

He was born James George Semple at

Irvine, Ayrshire Irvine ( ; sco, Irvin,
gd, Irbhinn, IPA: Viscount Lisle The title of Viscount Lisle has been created six times in the Peerage of England. The first creation, on 30 October 1451, was for John Talbot, 1st Baron Lisle. Upon the death of his son Thomas at the Battle of Nibley Green in 1470, the viscount ...

. In 1776 he was soldier serving in British North America, was taken prisoner in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, then was released and came back to Great Britain. Semple came to know the novelist Elizabeth Sarah Gooch, with whom he had a brief relationship.Joseph W. Reed, Jr., ''Boswell and the Major'', The Kenyon Review Vol. 28, No. 2 (Mar., 1966), pp. 161–184, Published by: Kenyon College Marrying a goddaughter of

Elizabeth Pierrepont, Duchess of Kingston-upon-Hull Elizabeth Pierrepont (née Chudleigh), Duchess of Kingston (8 March 172126 August 1788), sometimes called Countess of Bristol, was an English courtier and courtesan, known by her contemporaries for her adventurous life style. She was the daugh ...

, he accompanied the latter to the continent of Europe. He made autobiographical claims about this period to 1784, involving

Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...

during his bloodless campaign of 1778, Catharine of Russia, and

Prince Potemkin Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (, also , ;, rus, Князь Григо́рий Алекса́ндрович Потёмкин-Таври́ческий, Knjaz' Grigórij Aleksándrovich Potjómkin-Tavrícheskij, ɡrʲɪˈɡ ...

. He also visited

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. Returning to England in 1784, Semple was arrested for obtaining goods by false pretences, and on 2 September 1786 was sentenced to seven years'

transportation Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...

. Released on condition of leaving England, he went to Paris: he later claimed to have served on General Jean-François Berruyer's staff, and so to have witnessed in the

execution of Louis XVI The execution of Louis XVI by guillotine, a major event of the French Revolution, took place publicly on 21 January 1793 at the ''Place de la Révolution'' ("Revolution Square", formerly ''Place Louis XV'', and renamed ''Place de la Concorde'' in ...

. Back England to avoid arrest, he was again, on 18 February 1795, sentenced to transportation for defrauding tradesmen. In

Newgate Prison Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey Street just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, t ...

that year he had dinner with

James Boswell James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 (New Style, N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of his friend and older contemporary the Englis ...

, to whom as a lawyer he applied for help with his case. Unable to obtain a pardon, Semple stabbed himself in Newgate Prison in 1796, when about to be shipped for

Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...

, and then tried to starve himself to death. He recovered, however, and in 1798 was despatched in the ''Lady Jane Shore'' transport, bound for Australia. During the voyage a mutiny broke out, Semple's warning of the plot having been disregarded by the captain, Wilcox. Semple, with several others, was allowed to put off in a boat, landed in South America, and, after adventures, reached

Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the cap ...

, where he gave himself up, and was sent back to England. Semple was committed to Tothill Fields prison, and at the time of publishing his autobiography in 1799 was still confined there. In 1804 he offered himself to the government, as a spy. In 1807 he was charged with fraud, but was acquitted. In 1814 he was once again sentenced to transportation, in a fraud case for food. Pardoned by the Prince Regent, he undertook to go to

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

, and died in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

in 1815.

Notes

External links

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Semple Lisle, James George 1759 births 1815 deaths Scottish fraudsters 18th-century Scottish autobiographers People from Irvine, North Ayrshire