Chairman: Lynton Jones

Speaker:  Chris McCooney “Smuggling on the South Coast.”  His talk traces the violent heyday of the contraband trade that came in the 18^th century when heavy taxes on tobacco, tea, brandy and gin made the illegal importation of these supposed luxuries highly profitable.  The second half of the talk is devoted to the notorious Hawkhurst Gang and dispels many misconceptions; the smugglers were not “honest thieves” but outlaws who protected their infamous trafficking by resorting to wholesale corruption, terrorism, and murder.