| Author: | Kent Barker | ISBN: | 9781465875259 |
| Publisher: | Kent Barker | Publication: | September 1, 2011 |
| Imprint: | Smashwords Edition | Language: | English |
| Author: | Kent Barker |
| ISBN: | 9781465875259 |
| Publisher: | Kent Barker |
| Publication: | September 1, 2011 |
| Imprint: | Smashwords Edition |
| Language: | English |
Two gangs dominated smuggling in South East England in the first half of the Eighteenth Century – the Men of Mayfield and the Seacocks of Hawkhurst.
One smuggler rode with both. He was Gabriel Tomkins. Originally a humble bricklayer from Tunbridge Wells, he rose to be leader of the Mayfield Gang in his early twenties, planning and executing audacious smuggling runs along the south coast, landing tea and brandy and tobacco.
But then, remarkably, he became a Revenue Officer dedicated to fighting smuggling. He had charge of the Customs House in Dartford and was bailiff to the Sheriff of Sussex before eventually returning to a life of crime and joining the notorious Hawkhurst Gang.
During his colourful career he was sentenced to transportation for shooting an officer, provided key evidence to an official Parliamentary enquiry on smuggling and finally, in 1750, was executed for highway robbery.Author and historian Kent Barker has scoured contemporary records for details of Gabriel Tomkins’s extraordinary tale. With the help of these and other accounts he has pieced together the life and times of Tomkins and presents it as if told by the rogue himself on the eve of his execution.
The story is an authoritative history of smuggling during its most dramatic period between 1700 and 1750. It details much of what is known about the Hawkhurst and Mayfield gangs, recounts the smuggler’s dramatic defeat at the ‘Battle of Goudhurst’ and shows how punitive laws led to the notorious and grizzly murders of William Galley and Daniel Chater.
Two gangs dominated smuggling in South East England in the first half of the Eighteenth Century – the Men of Mayfield and the Seacocks of Hawkhurst.
One smuggler rode with both. He was Gabriel Tomkins. Originally a humble bricklayer from Tunbridge Wells, he rose to be leader of the Mayfield Gang in his early twenties, planning and executing audacious smuggling runs along the south coast, landing tea and brandy and tobacco.
But then, remarkably, he became a Revenue Officer dedicated to fighting smuggling. He had charge of the Customs House in Dartford and was bailiff to the Sheriff of Sussex before eventually returning to a life of crime and joining the notorious Hawkhurst Gang.
During his colourful career he was sentenced to transportation for shooting an officer, provided key evidence to an official Parliamentary enquiry on smuggling and finally, in 1750, was executed for highway robbery.Author and historian Kent Barker has scoured contemporary records for details of Gabriel Tomkins’s extraordinary tale. With the help of these and other accounts he has pieced together the life and times of Tomkins and presents it as if told by the rogue himself on the eve of his execution.
The story is an authoritative history of smuggling during its most dramatic period between 1700 and 1750. It details much of what is known about the Hawkhurst and Mayfield gangs, recounts the smuggler’s dramatic defeat at the ‘Battle of Goudhurst’ and shows how punitive laws led to the notorious and grizzly murders of William Galley and Daniel Chater.
