Discover the age when the coasts of Britain were awash with illegal goods
From the picturesque cliffs of rural Cornwall, to the quaint harbour town of Poole – the shores of 18th and early 19th century Britain were dangerous places to be. Due to import taxes, smuggling was rife across the country. Largely the work of a series of highly organized criminal gangs, they would stop at nothing, even murder, in the distribution of their illicit cargo. These smugglers used ingenious methods and their cruelty even earned some a place in popular folklore, notorious still to this day.
As a result this period has become known as the ‘golden age of smuggling’. A time in which all manner of items, from alcoholic spirits and tobacco to ordinary tea, were brought illicitly into the country. A vast and rich topic, we’ve selected some of the most blood curdling facts and chilling tales surrounding these vicious criminals. So come with us as we dip our toes into the murky waters of the smugglers.
Why Smuggling?
In 1651 and 1660, the Navigation Acts were introduced. These strict laws limited trade to exclusively British ships and meant only they could bring items in and out of the country. This was problematic enough, but the issue was compounded by the tendency of Georgian governments to use high taxes as a means to raise funds. These taxes could be placed on all sorts of goods, perhaps best demonstrated by the notorious tea tax, an astronomical 119%.
As such the smuggling of tea became common. According to a 1745 report, cited by Hanna Hodacs in her book Silk And Tea In The North, illegally introduced tea consumed in Britain was triple the amount brought in legally. Hodacs goes on to state that, “in the late 1770s and early 1780s seven and a half million pounds of tea was believed to have been smuggled into Britain.”
But it was not just tea that was smuggled into the country. Items such as tobacco and brandy were equally profitable ventures for the criminal gangs, particularly after the tea tax was lowered. According to Jeff Horn in Economic Development In Early Modern France, William Pitt the Younger stated that in 1787, 3-4 million gallons of French alcoholic spirits entered Britain illegally compared to 600,000 legal gallons, though this was likely exaggerated.
