Nell gwyn biography definition

If a hero is a person who is greatly admired for their courage, outstanding achievements or noble qualities, then the phrase “folk hero” has a slightly different emphasis. A folk hero is someone who is popular with and respected particularly by the ordinary people.

Such a definition fits Eleanor Gwyn very well.

“Pretty, witty Nell,” as she was described by Samuel Pepys, was born in about 1650 during the Cromwellian Commonwealth. No fewer than three places claim to be her home town – Oxford, Hereford and London – which in itself is testament to her popularity.

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Everyone wants a piece of Nell Gwyn folklore and these cities lay claim to her without proof that she was born there. What is known, however, is that the death of Nell’s soldier father Captain Thomas Gwyn, in a debtor’s prison, left the family destitute when his daughters were very young.

Rose Gwyn was later to claim that her father had been a royalist who had spent all his substance in support of Charles I during the Civil Wa