Jack of Newbury
Preserved but no longer current.
John Winchcombe alias Smallwood (d. 1520), a wealthy clothier in the reign of Henry VIII. He was the hero of many chap-books, and is said to have kept 100 looms in his own house at Newbury, while legend relates that he equipped at his own expense 100 to 200 of his men to aid the king against the Scots in Flodden Field.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Jack of Newbury” mean?
John Winchcombe alias Smallwood (d. 1520), a wealthy clothier in the reign of Henry VIII. He was the hero of many chap-books, and is said to have kept 100 looms in his own house at Newbury, while legend relates that he equipped at his own expense 100 to 200 of his men to aid the king against the Scots in Flodden Field.
Is “Jack of Newbury” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.