Riding officer
Encyclopedia
The Riding Officer was an occupation common during the 18th century around the coastlines of Britain
. The principal duty of the office was to visit the coast within their predefined riding range, to meet and correspond with the other riding officers either in person or by letter, and to inquire and learn if there were any smuggled goods upon the coast, or landed, and to get the best information regarding this booty
, and to acquaint the Officers of the Customs all over the shire
. He always kept a journal reporting all his activities.
He was paid between twenty to forty pounds a year, and was forbidden to take fees or gratuities. He was also expected to buy, care for and accommodate his own horse. He was appointed by a constitution of the Treasury
, and had a deputation from the Commissioner of Customs and Excise. He took the oaths of office, and gave bond and security. He received printed instructions for his conduct with his deputation. He endeavored to get information as to any illicit practices, and makes seizures whenever he could.
had established the Board of Customs and then in 1690 he formed the body of mounted customs officers known as Riding Officers. The Riding Officers had been established on the south coast in 1690, however the force was totally inadequate for the job, with only eight men patrolling the whole of the Kent coast. By 1698 there was realisation that the force was not up to the task, so the scope of the force (now called the Landguard) was widened, and in Kent their numbers were initially increased to 50 and later to 300.
The riding officers were hampered by the fact that their attempt at preventing smuggling was land based. The smaller patrol routes were necessary in areas that were particularly rife for smuggling such as East Sussex
and Robin Hood's Bay
in Yorkshire
. Their job was to venture out in all weathers and ride back and forth looking out for smugglers, suspicious ships moored offshore or small boats bringing in contraband
. So eventually a Waterguard was also established, and at the turn of the century twenty-one vessels were responsible for patrolling the coasts.
The 18th century opened with England
still reeling from recent revelations about the extent of illegal exports of wool
to France
. In 1697 eight 'owlers' (illegal exporters rather than smugglers who were illegal importers) were earmarked for solemn impeachment. They escaped by making a full confession and paying a total of £20,000 in fines. Parliament then rushed through an act forbidding anyone who lived within a fifteen-mile distance from the sea from buying wool unless he could produce documentary evidence that he intended to sell it inland from the 'exclusion zone'. To enforce the legislation, the government appointed a number of 'riding officers'. The first surveyor general
of riding officers. Captain Henry Baker, wanted to mount a vigorous campaign against the owlers. Among his plans was the hiring of spies and double agents in Calais
and Dieppe
. During his incumbency wool smuggling
in Sussex
and Kent
was drastically reduced. In 1703 he was sufficiently confident to recommend that the number of riding officers could be reduced to save money. Unfortunately he was soon proved wrong but his successor lacked his crusading zeal. In any case, after the Act of Union 1707 anti-smuggling resources were switched away from England
to Scotland
. By the Georgian era
the system had spread to cover the entire country.
When Daniel Defoe
rode through Hythe
towards Rye
in the 1720s he saw riding officers and dragoon
s searching the marshes for wool smugglers '... as if they were huntsmen beating up their game ...' Though the officers sometimes scored successes, they were usually so outnumbered that they could only stand and watch as the wool was carried on board ship straight from the horses' backs, and taken immediately to France.
A riding officer's duties included tackling the bands of smugglers (which would often greatly outnumber him) wielding just a cutlass
and pistol
, he could if he deemed it necessary fetch soldiers to assist in the arrest. This was a rare occurrence as the isolated and exposed coastlines common to smuggling
were often many, many miles from any garrison or barracks. Roads and communications were so poor that troops could take days to arrive. Indeed, in Yorkshire
the roads were so bad that even the pay packet for the Riding Officer sometimes failed to get through. In January 1722, a customs officer at Whitby
sent a plaintive message back to headquarters: 'if you have now got money I beg you'll favour me with a line that I may send for it, for our officers be in great want having rec'd no salaries since last midsummer quarter.' He was also responsible for prosecuting any captured felons, financing the court case from his own pocket.
Because of the known ineffectiveness of the customs officials at the ports, much was expected of the riding officers of the land guard. Mounted patrols were particularly important in the fight against smugglers in wartime when the navy had other duties. Riding officers in the north of England
were particularly involved in guarding the passes from Scotland
into England
. In peacetime the riding officers were supposed to co-ordinate closely with the cutters at sea. But the land guard never made a serious dent in contraband activity. The central government did not provide enough money to employ a full-time force of professionals. As a result, the posts of riding officers were filled by apothecaries, brewers, and other tradesmen, who carried out their duties in their spare time in a manner totally convenient to themselves, falsifying records if necessary. Some were in league with the smugglers they were supposed to be tracking down. But not even the honest ones were brave or numerous enough to deal with armed smuggling gangs. As a contemporary remarked: 'Nor could they be increased to render effectual service unless one half of the inhabitants could be hired to watch the other.'
It was an extremely dangerous job and often resulted in the officer being severely beaten and often murdered. If the Riding Officer did confront a crowd of smugglers, he was often the loser. In 1740 Thomas Carswell was shot as he tried to arrest members of the notoriously violent Hawkhurst Gang
who operated on the south coast of England between Dorset
and Kent
. The following year at Lydd
, two Officers were seized by the smugglers they were supposed to be pursuing, trussed up and taken to Boulogne-sur-Mer
. The next night they were returned and reunited with their horses which, in the meantime, had been used to transport the smuggled goods. A single riding officer was rash enough to intervene at Hurst Beach near Southampton
when fourteen armed smugglers were running a cargo. He suffered concussion of the skull and weeks in hospital from the thrashing he took. In places such as Robin Hood's Bay
and Rye, East Sussex
, everyone would have been part of the business of smuggling
. It was part of the local economy. In the 18th century Robin Hood's Bay
had one of the highest per capita incomes in the kingdom. Strangely enough no one wanted that to stop. What made the position even worse was that the riding officer was always recruited from the area to which he was assigned. This made him a social outcast amongst his own family and friends (as most of the villagers would be hiding the goods or a member of the smuggling fraternity themselves). It was a very lonely vocation, having to ride out every night in all weathers for hours at a time looking for suspicious activity not knowing if you would be returning home safely.
It was notoriously difficult to get convictions in local courts as the juries were either sympathetic to the smugglers or took part in the activity themselves. Even the local Justice of the Peace
might be in the pay of the criminals or making a petty profit from the contraband
. A Riding Officer could theoretically earn a bonus (sometimes upward of £20) for the conviction of a smuggler. The catch was, he had to pay for the costs of the prosecution. With the chances of a conviction so low, it was hardly worth the effort in the first place.
So the Riding Officer was cold, wet, outgunned and poorly paid and in essence useless. In his annual report in 1783, Sir William Musgrave, the Commissioner of Customs and Excise, said that Riding Officers were 'of very little service, 'tho' a great Burthen to the Revenue'.
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
. The principal duty of the office was to visit the coast within their predefined riding range, to meet and correspond with the other riding officers either in person or by letter, and to inquire and learn if there were any smuggled goods upon the coast, or landed, and to get the best information regarding this booty
Booty
Category:Article Feedback Blacklist...
, and to acquaint the Officers of the Customs all over the shire
Shire
A shire is a traditional term for a division of land, found in the United Kingdom and in Australia. In parts of Australia, a shire is an administrative unit, but it is not synonymous with "county" there, which is a land registration unit. Individually, or as a suffix in Scotland and in the far...
. He always kept a journal reporting all his activities.
He was paid between twenty to forty pounds a year, and was forbidden to take fees or gratuities. He was also expected to buy, care for and accommodate his own horse. He was appointed by a constitution of the Treasury
Treasury
A treasury is either*A government department related to finance and taxation.*A place where currency or precious items is/are kept....
, and had a deputation from the Commissioner of Customs and Excise. He took the oaths of office, and gave bond and security. He received printed instructions for his conduct with his deputation. He endeavored to get information as to any illicit practices, and makes seizures whenever he could.
Detail
In 1671 Charles IICharles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
had established the Board of Customs and then in 1690 he formed the body of mounted customs officers known as Riding Officers. The Riding Officers had been established on the south coast in 1690, however the force was totally inadequate for the job, with only eight men patrolling the whole of the Kent coast. By 1698 there was realisation that the force was not up to the task, so the scope of the force (now called the Landguard) was widened, and in Kent their numbers were initially increased to 50 and later to 300.
The riding officers were hampered by the fact that their attempt at preventing smuggling was land based. The smaller patrol routes were necessary in areas that were particularly rife for smuggling such as East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
and Robin Hood's Bay
Robin Hood's Bay
Robin Hood’s Bay is a small fishing village and a bay located five miles south of Whitby and 15 miles north of Scarborough on the coast of North Yorkshire, England. Bay Town, its local name, is in the ancient chapelry of Fylingdales in the wapentake of Whitby Strand.-Toponymy:The origin of the name...
in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
. Their job was to venture out in all weathers and ride back and forth looking out for smugglers, suspicious ships moored offshore or small boats bringing in contraband
Contraband
The word contraband, reported in English since 1529, from Medieval French contrebande "a smuggling," denotes any item which, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold....
. So eventually a Waterguard was also established, and at the turn of the century twenty-one vessels were responsible for patrolling the coasts.
The 18th century opened with England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
still reeling from recent revelations about the extent of illegal exports of wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. In 1697 eight 'owlers' (illegal exporters rather than smugglers who were illegal importers) were earmarked for solemn impeachment. They escaped by making a full confession and paying a total of £20,000 in fines. Parliament then rushed through an act forbidding anyone who lived within a fifteen-mile distance from the sea from buying wool unless he could produce documentary evidence that he intended to sell it inland from the 'exclusion zone'. To enforce the legislation, the government appointed a number of 'riding officers'. The first surveyor general
Surveyor General
The Surveyor General is an official responsible for government surveying in a specific country or territory. Originally this would often have been a military appointment, but is now more likely to be a civilian post....
of riding officers. Captain Henry Baker, wanted to mount a vigorous campaign against the owlers. Among his plans was the hiring of spies and double agents in Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
and Dieppe
Dieppe, Seine-Maritime
Dieppe is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in France. In 1999, the population of the whole Dieppe urban area was 81,419.A port on the English Channel, famous for its scallops, and with a regular ferry service from the Gare Maritime to Newhaven in England, Dieppe also has a popular pebbled...
. During his incumbency wool smuggling
Smuggling
Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
in Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
and Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
was drastically reduced. In 1703 he was sufficiently confident to recommend that the number of riding officers could be reduced to save money. Unfortunately he was soon proved wrong but his successor lacked his crusading zeal. In any case, after the Act of Union 1707 anti-smuggling resources were switched away from England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. By the Georgian era
Georgian era
The Georgian era is a period of British history which takes its name from, and is normally defined as spanning the reigns of, the first four Hanoverian kings of Great Britain : George I, George II, George III and George IV...
the system had spread to cover the entire country.
When Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...
rode through Hythe
Hythe, Kent
Hythe , is a small coastal market town on the edge of Romney Marsh, in the District of Shepway on the south coast of Kent. The word Hythe or Hithe is an Old English word meaning Haven or Landing Place....
towards Rye
Rye, East Sussex
Rye is a small town in East Sussex, England, which stands approximately two miles from the open sea and is at the confluence of three rivers: the Rother, the Tillingham and the Brede...
in the 1720s he saw riding officers and dragoon
Dragoon
The word dragoon originally meant mounted infantry, who were trained in horse riding as well as infantry fighting skills. However, usage altered over time and during the 18th century, dragoons evolved into conventional light cavalry units and personnel...
s searching the marshes for wool smugglers '... as if they were huntsmen beating up their game ...' Though the officers sometimes scored successes, they were usually so outnumbered that they could only stand and watch as the wool was carried on board ship straight from the horses' backs, and taken immediately to France.
A riding officer's duties included tackling the bands of smugglers (which would often greatly outnumber him) wielding just a cutlass
Cutlass
A cutlass is a short, broad sabre or slashing sword, with a straight or slightly curved blade sharpened on the cutting edge, and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or basket shaped guard...
and pistol
Pistol
When distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol...
, he could if he deemed it necessary fetch soldiers to assist in the arrest. This was a rare occurrence as the isolated and exposed coastlines common to smuggling
Smuggling
Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
were often many, many miles from any garrison or barracks. Roads and communications were so poor that troops could take days to arrive. Indeed, in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
the roads were so bad that even the pay packet for the Riding Officer sometimes failed to get through. In January 1722, a customs officer at Whitby
Whitby
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a combined maritime, mineral and tourist heritage, and is home to the ruins of Whitby Abbey where Caedmon, the...
sent a plaintive message back to headquarters: 'if you have now got money I beg you'll favour me with a line that I may send for it, for our officers be in great want having rec'd no salaries since last midsummer quarter.' He was also responsible for prosecuting any captured felons, financing the court case from his own pocket.
Because of the known ineffectiveness of the customs officials at the ports, much was expected of the riding officers of the land guard. Mounted patrols were particularly important in the fight against smugglers in wartime when the navy had other duties. Riding officers in the north of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
were particularly involved in guarding the passes from Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
into England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. In peacetime the riding officers were supposed to co-ordinate closely with the cutters at sea. But the land guard never made a serious dent in contraband activity. The central government did not provide enough money to employ a full-time force of professionals. As a result, the posts of riding officers were filled by apothecaries, brewers, and other tradesmen, who carried out their duties in their spare time in a manner totally convenient to themselves, falsifying records if necessary. Some were in league with the smugglers they were supposed to be tracking down. But not even the honest ones were brave or numerous enough to deal with armed smuggling gangs. As a contemporary remarked: 'Nor could they be increased to render effectual service unless one half of the inhabitants could be hired to watch the other.'
It was an extremely dangerous job and often resulted in the officer being severely beaten and often murdered. If the Riding Officer did confront a crowd of smugglers, he was often the loser. In 1740 Thomas Carswell was shot as he tried to arrest members of the notoriously violent Hawkhurst Gang
Hawkhurst Gang
The Hawkhurst Gang was a notorious criminal organisation involved in smuggling throughout southeast England from 1735 until 1749. One of the more infamous gangs of the early 18th century, they extended their influence from Dorset, where they successfully raided the customs house at Poole, to the...
who operated on the south coast of England between Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
and Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. The following year at Lydd
Lydd
Lydd is a town in Kent, England, lying on the Romney Marsh. It is one of the larger towns on the Marsh, and the most southerly town in Kent. Actually located on Denge Marsh, Lydd was one of the first sandy islands to form as the bay evolved into what is now called the Romney Marsh...
, two Officers were seized by the smugglers they were supposed to be pursuing, trussed up and taken to Boulogne-sur-Mer
Boulogne-sur-Mer
-Road:* Metropolitan bus services are operated by the TCRB* Coach services to Calais and Dunkerque* A16 motorway-Rail:* The main railway station is Gare de Boulogne-Ville and located in the south of the city....
. The next night they were returned and reunited with their horses which, in the meantime, had been used to transport the smuggled goods. A single riding officer was rash enough to intervene at Hurst Beach near Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
when fourteen armed smugglers were running a cargo. He suffered concussion of the skull and weeks in hospital from the thrashing he took. In places such as Robin Hood's Bay
Robin Hood's Bay
Robin Hood’s Bay is a small fishing village and a bay located five miles south of Whitby and 15 miles north of Scarborough on the coast of North Yorkshire, England. Bay Town, its local name, is in the ancient chapelry of Fylingdales in the wapentake of Whitby Strand.-Toponymy:The origin of the name...
and Rye, East Sussex
Rye, East Sussex
Rye is a small town in East Sussex, England, which stands approximately two miles from the open sea and is at the confluence of three rivers: the Rother, the Tillingham and the Brede...
, everyone would have been part of the business of smuggling
Smuggling
Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
. It was part of the local economy. In the 18th century Robin Hood's Bay
Robin Hood's Bay
Robin Hood’s Bay is a small fishing village and a bay located five miles south of Whitby and 15 miles north of Scarborough on the coast of North Yorkshire, England. Bay Town, its local name, is in the ancient chapelry of Fylingdales in the wapentake of Whitby Strand.-Toponymy:The origin of the name...
had one of the highest per capita incomes in the kingdom. Strangely enough no one wanted that to stop. What made the position even worse was that the riding officer was always recruited from the area to which he was assigned. This made him a social outcast amongst his own family and friends (as most of the villagers would be hiding the goods or a member of the smuggling fraternity themselves). It was a very lonely vocation, having to ride out every night in all weathers for hours at a time looking for suspicious activity not knowing if you would be returning home safely.
It was notoriously difficult to get convictions in local courts as the juries were either sympathetic to the smugglers or took part in the activity themselves. Even the local Justice of the Peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
might be in the pay of the criminals or making a petty profit from the contraband
Contraband
The word contraband, reported in English since 1529, from Medieval French contrebande "a smuggling," denotes any item which, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold....
. A Riding Officer could theoretically earn a bonus (sometimes upward of £20) for the conviction of a smuggler. The catch was, he had to pay for the costs of the prosecution. With the chances of a conviction so low, it was hardly worth the effort in the first place.
So the Riding Officer was cold, wet, outgunned and poorly paid and in essence useless. In his annual report in 1783, Sir William Musgrave, the Commissioner of Customs and Excise, said that Riding Officers were 'of very little service, 'tho' a great Burthen to the Revenue'.
See also
- HM Coastguard
- HM Customs and Excise
- Bow Street RunnersBow Street RunnersThe Bow Street Runners have been called London's first professional police force. The force was founded in 1749 by the author Henry Fielding and originally numbered just six. Bow Street runners was the public's nickname for these officers, "although the officers never referred to themselves as...
, London's first professional police organization, founded in 1749 - Jonathan WildJonathan WildJonathan Wild was perhaps the most infamous criminal of London — and possibly Great Britain — during the 18th century, both because of his own actions and the uses novelists, playwrights, and political satirists made of them...
- Charles HitchenCharles HitchenCharles Hitchen was a "thief-taker" in 18th century London who was also famously tried for homosexuality....
, one of Wild's rivals - Thief-takerThief-takerIn English legal history, a thief-taker was a private individual hired to capture criminals. The widespread establishment of professional police in England did not occur until the 19th century...