The Crime Book

(Wang) #1
137
See also: Bonnie and Clyde 26–29 ■ The Beer Wars 152–53

ORGANIZED CRIME


giving them access to cheaper
goods. However, this changed in
October 1747, when the smugglers
sought to recover £500 (about
£70,000 today) worth of contraband
tea, spirits, and coffee by attacking
the custom house in Poole, Dorset,
where the goods were held.
The gang had been smuggling
the goods from Guernsey to
Christchurch aboard The Three
Brothers when their ship was
intercepted by the Swift, a revenue
vessel commanded by Captain
William Johnson. Although the
gang evaded capture by escaping
in a rowing boat, the goods were
confiscated and taken to Poole.
Determined to recover their
merchandise, in the early hours of
8 October, gang leader Thomas
Kingsmill and 30 armed men broke
into Poole Custom House and
absconded with more than 1,500 kg

(3,000 lb) of tea. A £200 (£30,000)
reward was offered for the capture
of the smugglers, and former soldier
William Sturt formed the Goudhurst
Militia to stand up to the gang.
No one came forward to
incriminate the smugglers. The
following year, however, a comment
made by Fordingbridge shoemaker
Daniel Chater, who was acquainted
with one of the gang, led to the
arrest and imprisonment of John
“Dimer” Diamond. Chater had
been given a small bag of tea by
Diamond as the gang passed
through the town of Fordingbridge,
drawing a large crowd of onlookers.
Proud to be singled out by this
gesture, Chater had bragged to
neighbours about his friendship
with Diamond.
Diamond was subsequently
arrested and plans were made
to take Chater to the court at
Chichester to testify against
the smuggler.
Alerted to the impending trial,
fellow gang members William
Jackson and William Carter

abducted Chater and customs
officer William Galley from the
White Hart Inn near Rowlands
Castle, where the pair had stopped
for refreshment on their way to
Chichester. Tying the men to a
horse, the smugglers took them to
the Red Lion Inn at Rake and into
nearby fields. They murdered them
in cold blood, burying Galley alive
and throwing Chater headfirst
down a well.

Final retribution
The gruesome violence used
against Galley and Chater turned
public opinion overwhelmingly
against the smugglers. The
ringleaders were arrested, tried,
and found guilty of raiding the
custom house in Poole. On
26 April 1749, Kingsmill and
three of his associates were
executed by hanging at Tyburn
gallows in London. Kingsmill’s
corpse was hung in chains at
Goudhurst – a town he had once
threatened to burn to the ground
for turning against him. ■

Shoemaker Chater and revenue
officer Galley are kidnapped, tied to
a horse, and flogged by members of
the Hawkhurst Gang before their
brutal murder.

They are so immensely rich
that they bribe ye private
men... [who] at this time
harbour the outlawed persons
in their houses and are the
support of the whole affair.
Mr Pelham

136-137_The_Hawkhurst_Gang.indd 137 13/01/2017 15:10

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