Smuggling Database | David Chan Smith, Historian 11/371

Dark Markets Observatory

Smuggling Prosecutions in England and Wales c. 1722-1732

This is a raw version of the data that was transcribed and compiled from reports ordered by the British House of Commons in 1733. In that year and following debate over the Excise Bill, the House ordered a summary of all prosecutions for smuggling throughout England, Wales, and Scotland for the preceding 10 years.

While the Scottish report has not yet been located, the reports for England and Wales were found

at the National Archive, Kew, England (references T64/146-149).

Corrected data will be provided in early March, 2026

If you think this data might be useful, please feel free to email me with ideas about formatting, visualizations or connections with other sources. If you detect errors, please also let me know. dasmith@wlu.ca

Thanks to Jessica Duncan and Nicholas Morrison for their excellent assistance putting together this database. Jessica used TransKribus to create the transcription and Nicholas proofed the copy.

This research is supported in part by funding from Canada's Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Index	Year	Persons	Place	County	Circumstances	Outcome
64	1726	Francis Wright	Buttley Ferry Suffolk	Suffolk	Imported & run without payment of Duty	These persons were prosecuted for this fraud (& other Goods) - process Issued against Loveday White & Wright but they absconded; Burtons Christian name was never known & wee never had any Account where Thos Hantry, John Bull, Samuel Ixer, William Gunhill were to be found; Joseph Bull is Dead; Ablett was never taken upon this Information but there is another Cause at Issue agt him for another fraud.
64	1726	William White	Buttley Ferry Suffolk	Suffolk	Imported & run without payment of Duty	These persons were prosecuted for this fraud (& other Goods) - process Issued against Loveday White & Wright but they absconded; Burtons Christian name was never known & wee never had any Account where Thos Hantry, John Bull, Samuel Ixer, William Gunhill were to be found; Joseph Bull is Dead; Ablett was never taken upon this Information but there is another Cause at Issue agt him for another fraud.
64	1726	Samuel Ixer	Buttley Ferry Suffolk	Suffolk	Imported & run without payment of Duty	These persons were prosecuted for this fraud (& other Goods) - process Issued against Loveday White & Wright but they absconded; Burtons Christian name was never known & wee never had any Account where Thos Hantry, John Bull, Samuel Ixer, William Gunhill were to be found; Joseph Bull is Dead; Ablett was never taken upon this Information but there is another Cause at Issue agt him for another fraud.
64	1726	Joseph Bull	Buttley Ferry Suffolk	Suffolk	Imported & run without payment of Duty	These persons were prosecuted for this fraud (& other Goods) - process Issued against Loveday White & Wright but they absconded; Burtons Christian name was never known & wee never had any Account where Thos Hantry, John Bull, Samuel Ixer, William Gunhill were to be found; Joseph Bull is Dead; Ablett was never taken upon this Information but there is another Cause at Issue agt him for another fraud.
64	1726	Thomas Hantry	Buttley Ferry Suffolk	Suffolk	Imported & run without payment of Duty	These persons were prosecuted for this fraud (& other Goods) - process Issued against Loveday White & Wright but they absconded; Burtons Christian name was never known & wee never had any Account where Thos Hantry, John Bull, Samuel Ixer, William Gunhill were to be found; Joseph Bull is Dead; Ablett was never taken upon this Information but there is another Cause at Issue agt him for another fraud.
64	1726	William Gunhill	Buttley Ferry Suffolk	Suffolk	Imported & run without payment of Duty	These persons were prosecuted for this fraud (& other Goods) - process Issued against Loveday White & Wright but they absconded; Burtons Christian name was never known & wee never had any Account where Thos Hantry, John Bull, Samuel Ixer, William Gunhill were to be found; Joseph Bull is Dead; Ablett was never taken upon this Information but there is another Cause at Issue agt him for another fraud.
64	1726	Henry Loveday	Buttley Ferry Suffolk	Suffolk	Imported & run without payment of Duty	These persons were prosecuted for this fraud (& other Goods) - process Issued against Loveday White & Wright but they absconded; Burtons Christian name was never known & wee never had any Account where Thos Hantry, John Bull, Samuel Ixer, William Gunhill were to be found; Joseph Bull is Dead; Ablett was never taken upon this Information but there is another Cause at Issue agt him for another fraud.
64	1726	John Bull	Buttley Ferry Suffolk	Suffolk	Imported & run without payment of Duty	These persons were prosecuted for this fraud (& other Goods) - process Issued against Loveday White & Wright but they absconded; Burtons Christian name was never known & wee never had any Account where Thos Hantry, John Bull, Samuel Ixer, William Gunhill were to be found; Joseph Bull is Dead; Ablett was never taken upon this Information but there is another Cause at Issue agt him for another fraud.
64	1726	William Ablett	Buttley Ferry Suffolk	Suffolk	Imported & run without payment of Duty	These persons were prosecuted for this fraud (& other Goods) - process Issued against Loveday White & Wright but they absconded; Burtons Christian name was never known & wee never had any Account where Thos Hantry, John Bull, Samuel Ixer, William Gunhill were to be found; Joseph Bull is Dead; Ablett was never taken upon this Information but there is another Cause at Issue agt him for another fraud.
65	1726	Edward Langrum	Walton on the Naze	Essex	Imported & run without payment of Duty	These persons were prosecuted for these & other frauds - Sandall & Batney became Evidences Process Issued against Frost, Hullock & Richard Bruce but they absconded & could not be taken. We never knew where Samuel Golding was to be met with - a verdict was obtained agt Joseph Bruce upon another Information & he run away - a verdict was obtain'd agt Edward Langrum & he is Charg'd in Execution in the Fleet prison - Edward Long was arrested & Judgmt was obtained upon his Bail Bond & he paid the money Recoverd. Prosecution Stopt agt Eady on Account of his poverty.
65	1726	Samuel Golding	Walton on the Naze	Essex	Imported & Run without payment of Duty	These persons were prosecuted for these & other frauds - Sandall & Batney became Evidences Process Issued against Frost, Hullock & Richard Bruce but they absconded & could not be taken. We never knew where Samuel Golding was to be met with - a verdict was obtained agt Joseph Bruce upon another Information & he run away - a verdict was obtain'd agt Edward Langrum & he is Charg'd in Execution in the Fleet prison - Edward Long was arrested & Judgmt was obtained upon his Bail Bond & he paid the money Recoverd. Prosecution Stopt agt Eady on Account of his poverty.
65	1726	William Eady	Walton on the Naze	Essex	Imported & Run without payment of Duty	These persons were prosecuted for these & other frauds - Sandall & Batney became Evidences Process Issued against Frost, Hullock & Richard Bruce but they absconded & could not be taken. We never knew where Samuel Golding was to be met with - a verdict was obtained agt Joseph Bruce upon another Information & he run away - a verdict was obtain'd agt Edward Langrum & he is Charg'd in Execution in the Fleet prison - Edward Long was arrested & Judgmt was obtained upon his Bail Bond & he paid the money Recoverd. Prosecution Stopt agt Eady on Account of his poverty.

Dark Markets Observatory Smuggling Prosecutions in England and Wales c. 1722-1732

Dark Markets Observatory

Smuggling Prosecutions in England and Wales c. 1722-1732