Brandy, Baccy and a hundred years of Smuggling
Notes of the meeting held on Friday 9th March 2012
Our guest speaker, Cyril Baldwin, presented an illustrated talk on ‘Brandy, Baccy and a hundred years of Smuggling’ to 32 members and 9 visitors.
He dealt mainly with smuggling activities in Kent and Sussex, which were prime areas for this activity centuries ago. The principal aim of the smugglers (also known as ‘owlers’) was tax avoidance, whether for exports or imports. The Cinque Ports (Hastings, New Romney, Hythe, Dover and Sandwich) were exempt from taxes in return for their obligation to provide men and ships for the King in the event of war or for other reasons and other towns wished to benefit as well.
France was only thirty miles away, a ready market for English wool, but an export tax of £3 per bale was levied. It has been estimated that some 150,000 packs were shipped to France each year, of which some 50% went tax free! The penalty for smuggling was death by hanging and, it is suggested, the phrase ‘might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb’ originated from the smugglers’ incentive to maximise their income because of the risks involved. Some Kent smugglers were hanged at Gallows’ Field, Sandwich.
On their return trips the boatmen brought back spirits, tobacco and tea, which were also liable to heavy taxation if found by the Revenue Officers. They arrived in vast quantities and were resold quite cheaply – so much so that gin, it was said, was used in some Kentish villages for window cleaning! As a result of the ready availability of spirits, alcoholism became a real problem.
Such was the extent of smuggling in this corner of the country that Lords of the Manors and farmers were often accessories by allowing their land or buildings to be used for storage in return for ‘little gifts’ of contraband.
By the end of the 1600s the use of firearms by smugglers was becoming commonplace and remained so for the next two hundred years or so.
Often 200 – 300 men and sometimes as many as 500, would be involved in the sailing and landing of a shipment. There were oarsmen, flashers (signallers), batmen (protection gangs using bats), tubmen (who carried two 45lbs kegs of spirits each), etc., etc.) In those days when a farm labourer, which many were, only earned seven shillings a week a little extra always helped.
Some gangs were large and well known, and often feared. There was the Aldington gang. led by George Ransley and the Hawkhurst gang, to mention but two. The Hawkhurst Gang used the Mermaid Inn, Rye as a base, in which there were secret passages and from which tunnels ran enabling the gang to come and go at will. The main characters in the gangs often used nom-de-plumes, so that the Revenue Officers would not realise who other people were referring to in general conversation. One, Slippery Sam, was hung, aged 30, for killing a Revenue man.
Deal was renowned for its use by smugglers and was a real thorn in the flesh for the Prime Minister, William Pitt. Smuggling was a daily event with some 200 young men regularly involved. In 1781 Pitt sent a detachment of soldiers to Deal but the smugglers got wind of it and the soldiers found nothing. On another occasion the soldiers, under orders, cut every boat they found into three sections thus making further use impossible! Such was the local support for the smuggling trade that it is said that, on one occasion, a magistrate jailed a Revenue Officer instead of the smuggler who appeared before him!
Signalling to boats was a problem and a special lantern was devised, to be seen only by incoming boats. It restricted the angle of view of the light to approximately 2 degrees, preventing others, especially the Revenue men, from seeing the signal. Other ruses were developed - special windows were constructed in some house roofs for lights; women holding their brooms in particular ways, windmill sails being parked at angles other than the traditional way, all indicating to those in the know whether there was danger or not. Because of the prevalence of smuggling it became illegal to carry a lamp within a mile of the coast.
Apart from barns on farms other more devious storage arrangements came into use – table tombs in graveyards, ‘bagmen’ carrying contraband hanging in bags under their clothes and ‘bootleggers’ carrying contraband within their seaboots. In Wiltshire a group of smugglers were forced to hide their loot in a pond but returned at night with rakes. This attracted the attention of the Revenue men. When asked what they were about they pretended that they were raking a cheese (referring to the moon’s reflection) from the water. No doubt the Revenue men walked away shaking their heads at the stupidity of these ‘simple’ Wiltshire folk leaving them to recover their contraband at their leisure.
John Wesley, the well-known Methodist preacher, detested smuggling and, as a result, gave up drinking tea of which, it was estimated, 3 out of every 4 cups drunk were made from smuggled tea.
Smuggling took a downturn when a law was introduced whereby anyone thought to be involved in smuggling could have their names published in the London Gazette by the authorities. The named person had forty days to prove their innocence otherwise they were deemed to be guilty and liable to capture and hanging. The Royal Navy got involved as well, charged with setting up a coastal blockade, a duty later taken on by HM Coastguard.
Smuggling could be quite lucrative and several of the organisers became quite wealthy, owning substantial properties. The leader of the Seasalter Company was a good example as was Joss Snelling of Broadstairs (named after ‘Joss Bay’ or vice versa?).
Many people went in fear of the gangs but the notorious Hawkhurst Gang met its match in 1747. They showed no mercy to anyone who got in their way. However, in Goudhurst a soldier, George Sturt, returned from the wars and decided that enough was enough and formed a militia group to defend his village. The Gang got wind of this resistance to their ‘authority’ and attacked Goudhurst but were driven off, with three of their number getting killed in the process.
Mr. Baldwin pointed out that smuggling did not end years ago illustrating the point with a book published a few years ago entitled ‘God’s Smuggler’, about a Christian, Brother Andrew, who smuggled many Bibles into Communist countries in the latter half of the 1900s.
And so, a most interesting talk came to an end but smuggling apparently hasn’t!
Notes of the meeting held on Friday 9th March 2012
Our guest speaker, Cyril Baldwin, presented an illustrated talk on ‘Brandy, Baccy and a hundred years of Smuggling’ to 32 members and 9 visitors.
He dealt mainly with smuggling activities in Kent and Sussex, which were prime areas for this activity centuries ago. The principal aim of the smugglers (also known as ‘owlers’) was tax avoidance, whether for exports or imports. The Cinque Ports (Hastings, New Romney, Hythe, Dover and Sandwich) were exempt from taxes in return for their obligation to provide men and ships for the King in the event of war or for other reasons and other towns wished to benefit as well.
France was only thirty miles away, a ready market for English wool, but an export tax of £3 per bale was levied. It has been estimated that some 150,000 packs were shipped to France each year, of which some 50% went tax free! The penalty for smuggling was death by hanging and, it is suggested, the phrase ‘might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb’ originated from the smugglers’ incentive to maximise their income because of the risks involved. Some Kent smugglers were hanged at Gallows’ Field, Sandwich.
On their return trips the boatmen brought back spirits, tobacco and tea, which were also liable to heavy taxation if found by the Revenue Officers. They arrived in vast quantities and were resold quite cheaply – so much so that gin, it was said, was used in some Kentish villages for window cleaning! As a result of the ready availability of spirits, alcoholism became a real problem.
Such was the extent of smuggling in this corner of the country that Lords of the Manors and farmers were often accessories by allowing their land or buildings to be used for storage in return for ‘little gifts’ of contraband.
By the end of the 1600s the use of firearms by smugglers was becoming commonplace and remained so for the next two hundred years or so.
Often 200 – 300 men and sometimes as many as 500, would be involved in the sailing and landing of a shipment. There were oarsmen, flashers (signallers), batmen (protection gangs using bats), tubmen (who carried two 45lbs kegs of spirits each), etc., etc.) In those days when a farm labourer, which many were, only earned seven shillings a week a little extra always helped.
Some gangs were large and well known, and often feared. There was the Aldington gang. led by George Ransley and the Hawkhurst gang, to mention but two. The Hawkhurst Gang used the Mermaid Inn, Rye as a base, in which there were secret passages and from which tunnels ran enabling the gang to come and go at will. The main characters in the gangs often used nom-de-plumes, so that the Revenue Officers would not realise who other people were referring to in general conversation. One, Slippery Sam, was hung, aged 30, for killing a Revenue man.
Deal was renowned for its use by smugglers and was a real thorn in the flesh for the Prime Minister, William Pitt. Smuggling was a daily event with some 200 young men regularly involved. In 1781 Pitt sent a detachment of soldiers to Deal but the smugglers got wind of it and the soldiers found nothing. On another occasion the soldiers, under orders, cut every boat they found into three sections thus making further use impossible! Such was the local support for the smuggling trade that it is said that, on one occasion, a magistrate jailed a Revenue Officer instead of the smuggler who appeared before him!
Signalling to boats was a problem and a special lantern was devised, to be seen only by incoming boats. It restricted the angle of view of the light to approximately 2 degrees, preventing others, especially the Revenue men, from seeing the signal. Other ruses were developed - special windows were constructed in some house roofs for lights; women holding their brooms in particular ways, windmill sails being parked at angles other than the traditional way, all indicating to those in the know whether there was danger or not. Because of the prevalence of smuggling it became illegal to carry a lamp within a mile of the coast.
Apart from barns on farms other more devious storage arrangements came into use – table tombs in graveyards, ‘bagmen’ carrying contraband hanging in bags under their clothes and ‘bootleggers’ carrying contraband within their seaboots. In Wiltshire a group of smugglers were forced to hide their loot in a pond but returned at night with rakes. This attracted the attention of the Revenue men. When asked what they were about they pretended that they were raking a cheese (referring to the moon’s reflection) from the water. No doubt the Revenue men walked away shaking their heads at the stupidity of these ‘simple’ Wiltshire folk leaving them to recover their contraband at their leisure.
John Wesley, the well-known Methodist preacher, detested smuggling and, as a result, gave up drinking tea of which, it was estimated, 3 out of every 4 cups drunk were made from smuggled tea.
Smuggling took a downturn when a law was introduced whereby anyone thought to be involved in smuggling could have their names published in the London Gazette by the authorities. The named person had forty days to prove their innocence otherwise they were deemed to be guilty and liable to capture and hanging. The Royal Navy got involved as well, charged with setting up a coastal blockade, a duty later taken on by HM Coastguard.
Smuggling could be quite lucrative and several of the organisers became quite wealthy, owning substantial properties. The leader of the Seasalter Company was a good example as was Joss Snelling of Broadstairs (named after ‘Joss Bay’ or vice versa?).
Many people went in fear of the gangs but the notorious Hawkhurst Gang met its match in 1747. They showed no mercy to anyone who got in their way. However, in Goudhurst a soldier, George Sturt, returned from the wars and decided that enough was enough and formed a militia group to defend his village. The Gang got wind of this resistance to their ‘authority’ and attacked Goudhurst but were driven off, with three of their number getting killed in the process.
Mr. Baldwin pointed out that smuggling did not end years ago illustrating the point with a book published a few years ago entitled ‘God’s Smuggler’, about a Christian, Brother Andrew, who smuggled many Bibles into Communist countries in the latter half of the 1900s.
And so, a most interesting talk came to an end but smuggling apparently hasn’t!