Most stories of smuggling understandably concentrate on the smugglers/free traders, seeing things through their eyes as they attempt to evade the long arm of the Law. We are fortunate in having an account by an Exciseman in the Museum’s archives in the form of a petition for early retirement on the grounds of ill-health. Does he over-state his case, I wonder, or does this give us a glimpse of the degree of violence involved?
The origin of the petition is unknown. It covers 17 printed pages on paper which looks to be from the C19 and is contained in a very slim booklet about A5 in size between stiff red covers. The card binding is obviously of a later date as the end papers have a William Morris feel to them: so, perhaps 1920 or later. If there was a title page or frontispiece, then these are now missing. No dates are given for any of the events recorded in the text, and the only dates given are against the final signatures of two medical certificates.
The text can be read here and Tony Pawlyn has left us an analysis of the content here.