* A huge Thank You to The History Press for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.
Hawkhurst: Murder, Corruption, And Britain’s Most Notorious
Smuggling Gang | By Joseph Dragovich.
Do you love tea? You might be drinking a cup whilst you read
this review, but did you know that tea has a violent and bloody history? One
part of that history is the smuggling or illegal trade of tea. It made criminal
empires, and gangs brought tons of untaxed tea into Britain. The anti-smuggling
ban of 1736 made little difference, the threat of hanging instead of transportation
did not deter the smugglers! In his new book, author Joseph Dragovich,
discusses one of the most infamous smuggling gangs: The Hawkhurst gang. Dragovich reveals why the gang were so successful and their eventual downfall.
Tea was big business, which I can only liken to modern
day drug smuggling. There were many corrupt figures in the operation of the
illegal trading of tea, such as: politicians and customs officers. The
Hawkhurst Gang were most active along a stretch of coast between Hastings and
Folkstone, in the middle of which lies Lydd, in this area alone the gang made
at least forty-eight smuggling runs in 1743-1744. The author writes that ‘the
quantity of tea coming over the beaches almost certainly dwarfed the legitimate
trade.’
The Hawkhurst gang, were of course not the only gang of the
time, however, they were different in that they broke the unspoken ‘rules’ of
smuggling and ‘their violence spiralled out of control’. I found this book
fascinating and although I knew that tea had a very dodgy past, and I had heard
of the Hawkhurst gang in passing, I learned a lot of new information. The
author clearly did an incredible amount of research. Hawkhurst has everything:
Murder, ambushes, corrupt officials, trials, hangings and of course tea!!
Highly recommended.
You can buy your own copy here.
Comments
Post a Comment