Gin Places

The Rise of Gin Places

When Charles II died in 1685, he left no legitimate heir to the throne. His brother, who had been living in France, returned and was crowned James II. His strong Catholic faith put him at odds with the Protestant majority. One of Charles's illegitimate sons, the Duke of Monmouth, led a revolt against James, but was defeated. The revolt's survivors were dealt with ruthlessly by the Lord Chief Justice Jeffries (see the Prospect of Whitby & the Town of Ramsgate ).

James wanted England to have a Roman Catholic monarchy, similar to that of France under Louis XIV. Fearing the worst, a group of statesmen invited James's Dutch nephew, William of Orange, who was married to James's daughter Mary, to contest the throne of England. William landed with his army at Torbay, Devon in November 1688. James was deserted by his few supporters and fled to France and his bloodless overthrow became known as the Glorious Revolution. William and Mary shared the crown of England and agreed to a shift of power back to Parliament.

William III hated France and encouraged a ban on trade. French brandy and wines were very popular in England, and the ban sparked a huge increase in smuggling. As a substitute, William encouraged the distilling of 'Geneve' or Gin as it was known in England. Restrictions on distilling Gin were removed and by the early 1700's the country was awash. The availability of so much cheap alcohol proved devastating, particularly amongst the poor.

In the mid eighteenth century, Gin's perils were immortalised in William Hogarth's engravings, ' Beer Street' and ' Gin Lane'. The characters in the former are plump and healthy, but in ' Gin Lane' there is death and chaos, a mother so drunk that her baby falls from her arms. Gin's effect was such, that in London, despite improvements in sanitation, its population actually fell. Londoners were drinking themselves to death.

Gin's hold on the population was temporarily slowed through new laws to curb production and sales. The imperative to do something about it came from the disapproving middle classes and the new industrialists who needed a sober workforce.

In the mid 1820's anti-smuggling measures led the duty on spirits being drastically lowered. Statistically spirits consumption increased, but this probably had more to do with a switch from smuggled to legitimate drink. Even so there was an alarming increase in the number of 'gin shops', many were former pubs which had been converted.

Unlike the pubs they replaced, the gin-shops served no food and had no seating. They were usually in poorer areas and designed for fast turn-over, the poor had little money so were not encouraged to stay once they had spent what they had.

The success of the gin-shops coincided with developments in plate glass production and gas lighting. These new products were employed to the full, creating a dazzling spectacle of light and reflection. They stood out in the dark streets like beacons. To the poor they were palaces - Gin Palaces.