The Gin Craze
In Our Time
BBC
4.6 • 9.9K Ratings
🗓️ 15 December 2016
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In a programme first broadcast in December 2016, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the craze for gin in Britain in the mid-18th century and the attempts to control it. With the arrival of William of Orange, it became an act of loyalty to drink Protestant, Dutch gin rather than Catholic brandy, and changes in tariffs made everyday beer less affordable. Within a short time, production increased and large sections of the population that had rarely or never drunk spirits before were consuming two pints of gin a week. As Hogarth indicated in his print 'Beer Street and Gin Lane' (1751) in support of the Gin Act, the damage was severe, and addiction to gin was blamed for much of the crime in cities such as London.
With
Angela McShane Research Fellow in History at the Victoria and Albert Museum and University of Sheffield
Judith Hawley Professor of 18th century literature at Royal Holloway, University of London
Emma Major Senior Lecturer in English at the University of York
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time. There's a reading list to go with it on our |
| 0:04.1 | website and you can get news about our programs if you follow us on Twitter at BBC In Our Time. |
| 0:09.9 | I hope you enjoyed the programs. Hello, the gin craze gripped Britain in the 18th century when |
| 0:15.0 | the government feared that poor people were drinking far too much cheap gin, damaging their own health |
| 0:20.1 | and the safety and well-being of all. The roots of the craze were traced to William of Orange, |
| 0:24.7 | whose Dutch gin became a loyal Protestant drink and his new laws made beer expensive and that |
| 0:29.8 | anyone distilled and sell gin very cheaply at home. Soon you could get you could drink for a penny |
| 0:35.4 | and get drunk for tons. Her guard later highlighted the horrors of alcohol in his gin lane, |
| 0:40.9 | made us tougher and tougher laws of being imposed to end what was seen as a dangerous over-consumption |
| 0:45.8 | by the masses. When me to discuss the gin craze are Angela McShane, research fellow in history |
| 0:51.9 | at the Victorian Albert Museum and University of Sheffield. Judith Hawley, professor of 18th |
| 0:56.8 | century literature at Royal Holloway University of London and Emma Major, senior lecturer in |
| 1:01.2 | English at the University of York. Judith Hawley, how entrenched was the drinking of strong alcohol |
| 1:06.8 | and spirits in late 17th century Britain? Well everybody drank, I mean there were some |
| 1:13.0 | abstinuous puritans, men and women, men and women adults and children. Children would have |
| 1:19.2 | a... What were you talking about children aged? Eight on most? Thirty on most? Yeah, young kids would |
| 1:24.0 | have a glass of beer for breakfast, small beer, so it's weaker than what we might drink now, |
| 1:29.6 | but everybody drank. They drank throughout the day, water was very bad and there were lots and lots |
| 1:34.4 | of brewed beverages. Spirits weren't drunk so much, but you'd find people from every age, both |
| 1:41.6 | genders and every class drinking quite a range of alcoholic drinks. There are lots of things which |
| 1:46.4 | we don't have, really drink very much, any more, various kinds of punches and cordles and mixed |
| 1:54.0 | drinks, but drinking was quite socially stratified, so there'd be ale houses where which were run |
... |
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