Northfleet History Group - October 2012 Meeting.
BRANDY, BACCY and 100 YEARS OF SMUGGLING
Cyril Baldwin
Cyril Baldwin
Cyril Baldwin began his talk at our October meeting by asking if any members of the audience had ever come through Customs after a holiday abroad with an extra bottle of wine or spirits in their suitcase. Not many admitted to doing so, but Cyril suspected that most people took a chance on bringing back a little bit extra above their allowance. He went on to explain that such tiny infringements of the law were as nothing compared to the highly organised smuggling gangs which operated in England in the 18th and 19th centuries, and which were far more unsavoury than the romantic image penned by Rudyard Kipling and others, of the ‘gentlemen riding by’.
Customs duty was originally imposed by the King as a means of raising revenue to pay for expensive foreign wars. It applied not only to such things as wines, spirits and tobacco being imported, but also, at one time, to wool being exported, and was such an onerous tax that smuggling became big business.
Smugglers would wrap packets of tea, which was heavily taxed, around their bodies and put bottles of spirits down inside their wading boots, earning them the nickname ‘bootleggers’. Smuggling gangs would station a ‘flasher’ on top of the cliffs to make lantern signals to approaching ships and many ingenious types of lanterns were devised to prevent the light being seen inland. They would also have a number of ‘batmen’ on the beach, armed with sticks, to protect the precious contraband being unloaded and taken inland. Almost all attempts at stamping out this illicit activity were to no avail, even though the death penalty was imposed.
This very detailed and often amusing talk was followed after the tea interval by a presentation by our Hon. Treasurer, Brian Bennett, who took a brief but interesting look at the life of Samuel Honeycombe, the Victorian builder who had premises on Northfleet Hill and lived at 15 London Road, in the house which, in 1940, was destroyed by a German bomb. He was appointed Surveyor and Inspector of Nuisances, and in 1885, became the first captain of the Northfleet Fire Brigade.
Customs duty was originally imposed by the King as a means of raising revenue to pay for expensive foreign wars. It applied not only to such things as wines, spirits and tobacco being imported, but also, at one time, to wool being exported, and was such an onerous tax that smuggling became big business.
Smugglers would wrap packets of tea, which was heavily taxed, around their bodies and put bottles of spirits down inside their wading boots, earning them the nickname ‘bootleggers’. Smuggling gangs would station a ‘flasher’ on top of the cliffs to make lantern signals to approaching ships and many ingenious types of lanterns were devised to prevent the light being seen inland. They would also have a number of ‘batmen’ on the beach, armed with sticks, to protect the precious contraband being unloaded and taken inland. Almost all attempts at stamping out this illicit activity were to no avail, even though the death penalty was imposed.
This very detailed and often amusing talk was followed after the tea interval by a presentation by our Hon. Treasurer, Brian Bennett, who took a brief but interesting look at the life of Samuel Honeycombe, the Victorian builder who had premises on Northfleet Hill and lived at 15 London Road, in the house which, in 1940, was destroyed by a German bomb. He was appointed Surveyor and Inspector of Nuisances, and in 1885, became the first captain of the Northfleet Fire Brigade.
