Here is a good description taken from
http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/UKCustoms.html"The proximity of Britain to the continent meant that smuggling was an ever present threat and the resultant evasion of duties on imported goods was a loss of valuable revenue for the British Government. Customs men operated within ports, collected duties on goods and endeavoured to prevent evasion of duties, a small fleet of Revenue cruisers patrolled the coastal waters,
and a force of Riding Officers patrolled the coastline to ensure that smugglers were unable to land their goods. The Board of Excise was set up in 1643 to collect duties on certain British goods. "
The job was clearly very dangerous. They were the guys at the coal face, and it was clearly very dangerous.
On
http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/smugglers.htm we read
"There were many bloody, desperate fights with the Excise-men in the lonely creeks, and an entire boatload of Excise-men were found with their throats cut on the Sunken Island near Mersea, in the early 1800's. They now buried beneath their upturned boat in Virley churchyard. "
I wonder how my ancestor, John Trenerry, ended up, as he was an excise officer at the end of the 18th century and early 19th century. He lived in the Devon Gloucestershire area, but his widow was in Bristol with their son in the 1830's.
Anyone heard of JOHN TRENERRY?
