Smuggling
Introduction to Smuggling in Kent
It was Adam Smith who maintained that while a smuggler could be blamed for violating the laws of his country, he rarely violated those of natural justice, and would have made an excellent citizen 'had not the laws of his country made that a crime which nature never meant to do so'. In fact the smuggling story is thoroughly discreditable, and especially so in Kent and Sussex during the 18th century, when large gangs terrorised the countryside, at times resorting to blackmail, extortion and murder to maintain control.
In the long struggle between the free traders and the various preventive services there was hideous violence, needless suffering, villainy and greed, but also determination, skill and courage on both sides. This was a significant episode in our social history. For more than a century the black economy played a major role in everyday life, probably accounting in peak years for a quarter of all of England's overseas trade, and employing up to 40,000 at a time.
Smugglers in Kent and Sussex, nearest to both the London market and the continental suppliers, were leaders in the field. If Excise returns made to the Prime Minister around 1782 are to be believed, a quarter of all the smuggling vessels then operating around the coasts of England and Wales are based there, and a third of all the tea and well over half the gin being fraudulently landed came into these two counties. Inevitably these were also the most heavily protected coasts; at one point almost a quarter of all the Coastguards covering the entire British Isles were concentrated here.
In this fraught situation, successful smugglers disguised their activities whenever possible. One of the few whose career in known in some detail is Gabriel Tomkins, who started as a bricklayer in Tunbridge Wells. He then became in turn the leader of a smuggling gang, a Custom House officer and an outlawed highwayman, and ended on the gallows in 1750. The stories which can be pieced together from letters written at the time, and the recorded reminiscences of men who took part, reveal a wealth of unexpected detail. Who today would expect the battles which once raged on the seafront at Bexhill, along the main streets of Worthing or in sedate London suburbs? It was not simply a question of 'brandy for the parson and baccy for the clerk' but of French prisoners slipping away on board the oyster boats of Whitstable, and seamen from Deal rowing across the Channel swathed in gold guineas to pay Napoleon's troops.
The aim of this section has therefore been to set authentic detail from the smuggling epoch alongside the places where these events occurred. For visitors who may wish to investigate for themselves, there are suggestions on attractive places to visit and walks to try, associated with the smuggling story, and evocative of what took place two centuries ago. As it happens, contraband was landed on virtually every holiday beach from Whitstable round to Selsey Bill and beyond. All manner of struggles took place on the chalk hills of Dover and their counterparts along the Seven Sisters coast of Sussex.
Almost all the centres which were once gang headquarters are now exceptionally attractive Wealden villages, and there are several castles and many fascinating churches and inns which deserve investigation. The house where George Ransley, leader of the last Kent gang, sold contraband spirit to enthusiastic customers can still be seen, and that at Brookland from which the local doctor was led blindfolded to treat smugglers injured in a famous battle on Romney Marsh.
Exploring the smuggling countryside of Kent is a form of industrial archaeology, and the revival of interest in what took place here is part of a wider awareness of the fascination of the English landscape. What is more, we are once again a smuggling nation, though the methods, the participants and the contraband have greatly changed.
A website devoted to the subject can be found by following this Smugglers of Old link.
| Smuggling in Kent is divided into the following sections |
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| Smugglers & the Preventivemen |
| How Smuggling Came About |
| The North Kent Coast from Gravesend to Pegwell Bay |
| Places to Visit in the North Kent Area |
| The East Kent Coast from Sandwich Bay to Fairlight Head |
| Places to Visit in the East Kent Area |
| The East Kent Coast View Points and other Visits |
| Key Dates in the Smuggling Story |
| Members of Smuggling Gangs |
| Glossary of Terms |