| Dr Syn and the Smugglers - the truth! | |
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Many people do not realise, and even when told, only half believe, that he is fictional. He was the creation of Russell Thorndike, brother of Dame Sybil Thorndike, and, like her, an actor on the stage. However, the idea for the character was conceived in highly dramatic circumstances, fully in keeping with the fictional adventures. Russell and Sybil were in a touring theatrical company. Stopping one night in Spartanburg, South Carolina, a murder took place on the steps of the hotel in which the Thorndikes were staying. The body of the victim was not removed until the next morning, so in the circumstances the Thorndikes were unable to sleep. They passed the night brewing tea and inventing the first adventure of Dr Syn. By the time he dies, Russell Thorndike had published seven Dr Syn titles and the character had become world famous both through the books and several films. The setting was Romney Marsh in the late eighteenth century. The Vicar of Dymchurch, alias 'Dr Syn'. and his errant parishioners opposed the forces of Law and order, who generally lost. Good knockabout stuff, just right for the Disney studios who made two of the films. The actuality was rather different; much blood was spilt and horrific crimes committed in the struggles between smugglers and the preventive men. |
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Most books on smuggling concentrate on the action, but the political background is also interesting. Apart from their use in raising revenue for the Sovereign's exchequer, Customs and Excise taxes had also come to be used as an economic weapon in the world-wide struggle against the French monarchy. In the 1770's the same taxes on tea which the English smugglers were tying to evade were infuriating the American colonists to the point where they were seeking their independance. After the revolution of 1789,the French, now governed by Napoleon, tried to close the seaboard and ports of the whole of Europe to British trade. The British Government then turned to the smugglers and encouraged them to break the blockade, which they did very effectively. Both the Government and the common people therefore had mixed feelings towards smuggling and smugglers. It was a situation rather like modern spying, with its agents and double agents in a very grey moral situation. There was little sympathy then for the army, and not much more of the officers of the Customs and Excise service. The taxes collected had little relevance to the man in the street, so if they did not actively aid the smuggler, nor did they inform against him. Many of them were his customers. There were threats made and carried out, but equally silence could be cheaply bought, particularly since the large families and low total population, many people were relatated. The front line against the smugglers was the sea, which had the advantage for the Government in that the boats used were naval vessels, under naval discipline, and therefore had no outside pressures to deter them from their duty. A typical incident was the capture and trial of the crew of a lugger, ' The Four Brothers', in 1823. She was manned principally by Folkestone men, though when their names were listed at the trial many also had Dutch names. This was because it was the custom for a baby to be christened in both countries, so that later, if caught by the authorities in one country, he could claim to be the citizen of the other. Thus Richard Boxer was otherwise known as Hendrick Aliason. At the trial, the main evidence for the prosecution was given by the Lieutenant in charge of the naval cutter which captured 'The Four Brothers'. He said he was stationed off Dungeness when he saw the lugger, although the smugglers claimed to be abreast of Dieppe! Wherever they were, the cutter fired a gun to warn 'The Four Brothers' to stop for searching. The signal was ignored, so the cutter gave chase and began firing. The pursuit continued for an hour and a half, shots being exchanged on both sides, as the vagaries of wind and tide allowed, the cutter gradually gaining until able to close and board the lugger. Ten minutes after this, during which time the two crews were presumably fighting the 'Four Brothers' men asked for a quarter. Fighting stopped for a short time and apparently the ships had drifted apart, as a boat was lowered. Suddently another shot was fired from the lugger and a sailor was killed. All the crew were now arrested and put aboard the naval cutter. 'The Four Brothers' was searched. Eight thousand bales of tobacco, fifty-four casks of gin and brandy and thirteen chests of tea were found. The vessel was armed with four six-pound carronades (a small canon) and a large quantity of small arms. The normal crew for a vessel her size was judged to be six or seven, but twenty-six were aboard. More than 150 years later it is obvious that they were smugglers, so the verdict was surprising. After much legal argument and examination of witnesses, the jury found that as the majority of the crew was foreign, and the ship and cargo wholly foreign property, the prisioners were not guilty. Thus the dual nationality ploy had succeeded. An account by an old smuggler in 1875 who was one of the crew of 'The Four Brothers' admitted that it was a smuggling attempt. Although found not guilty, being imprisoned from January to April awaiting trial cannot have been a pleasant experience, and was some punishment. The contraband, having successfully crossed the Channel, would sometimes be unloaded directly on to the shore, or if time or tide was unsuitable, might be concealed for later collection. Barrels could be moored to the seabed by ropes an anchors or a sack of shingle, to weight down the barrels. Knowledge of the height of the current tides was needed, or the smugglers' haul would be revealed by a low tide for all to see, or take! Many houses and inns had hiding places for smuggled goods. Some wre of considerable engineering skills, such as one in Brighton where a cooking range was on wheels and , by a system of pulleys, could be moved forward to reveal the smuggled silks and laces behind. Such was the widespread nature of the smugglers' trade that casks might even be hidden in open scrubland, lightly concealed, with a few casks marked by the smugglers as an indication to the local people of the ones from which they could tap, the reward for their silence. If there was not such an arrangement with the locals, smugglers would be unmerciful to anyone suspected of 'poaching'. In 1748 a farm labourer, believed to have taken two bags of tea from a smuggler's cache, was interrogated and so badly beaten and kicked that he died. His body was put into a weighted sack and thrown into a large pond. it was not until the body was discovered some months later and one of the smugglers was persuaded to turn King's evidence that the whole horrible story came out. It was even rumoured at the time that when the tea was finally moved, none in fact was missing. Many smugglers were inn-keepers, their inns convenient in many ways: as an inconspicuous gathering place, a larger than average building with stables for hiding places and , of course, an outlet for smuggled spirits. Others were blacksmiths, carpenters and horse-dealers, all trades with applications in smuggling as well as a day-to-day occupation to give a visible means of support. The history books say much about the subsidies Britain paid to the European countries to fight Napoleon's France. It is less well known that one of the items smuggles out of the is country at the time was gold to support Napoleon. As much as £30,000 might be carried on a trip, in a specially build galley, with six to twenty-four oarsmen. Much of this was carried through Folkestone, being the shortest sea crossing. When the weather was bad the smugglers would be faced with the problem of concealing large sums of money. A Folkestone fisherman's son is said to have been given a job in a bank, a most unusual event, because his parents concealed one hurndred thousand guineas one night. Another incident, which took place just outside Folkestone harbour, was when a galley, in imminent danger of being boarded, abandoned the money overboard. Later smugglers came and retrieved the money, all of this within sight of the Folkestone customs house! |
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This information is taken from Folkestone Local History Leaflet No. 2 - Dr Syn and the Smugglers - by Brian Boreham
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