Content deleted Content added
Flap Shack (talk | contribs) mNo edit summary |
|||
| (7 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{short description|Historical event in Great Britain}}
[[Image:William Hogarth - Gin Lane.jpg|thumb|250px|''[[Gin Lane]]'' by [[William Hogarth]], 1751; it depicts what was by then considered a "drug crisis".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Allred |first=Nicholas |date=2021 |title=Mother Gin and the Bad Examples: Figuring a Drug Crisis, 1736–51 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/ecf.33.3.369 |journal=Eighteenth-Century Fiction |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=369–392 |doi=10.3138/ecf.33.3.369 |issn=0840-6286}}</ref>]]
The '''Gin Craze''' was a period in the first half of the 18th century when the consumption of [[gin]] increased rapidly in
Parliament passed five major Acts, in 1729, 1736, 1743, 1747 and 1751, designed to control the consumption of gin. Though many similar drinks were available and [[alcohol (drug)|alcohol]] consumption was considerable at all levels of society, gin caused the greatest public concern. Although it is commonly thought gin or Jenever was the particular drink that became popular, at that time the word "gin" was also used as a general term for drinks distilled from grain.
Line 7:
==Increased consumption of gin==
Gin was popularised in England following the accession of [[William III of England|William of Orange]] in 1688. Gin provided an alternative to French [[brandy]] at a time of both political and religious conflict between Britain and France. Between 1689 and 1697, the Government passed a range of legislation aimed at restricting brandy imports and encouraging gin production. Most importantly, the monopoly of the London Guild of Distillers was broken in 1690, thereby opening up the market in gin distillation. The production and consumption of English gin, which was then popular
Economic protectionism was a major factor in beginning the Gin Craze; as the price of food dropped and income grew, consumers suddenly had the opportunity to spend excess funds on spirits. By 1721, however, [[Middlesex]] [[magistrate]]s were already decrying gin as "the principal cause of all the vice & debauchery committed among the inferior sort of people".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4727944/A-tonic-for-the-nation.html|title=A tonic for the nation|date=2002-06-09|access-date=2010-08-30|author=Kate Chisholm|newspaper=Telegraph}} In a review of ''The Much-Lamented Death of Madam Geneva'' by Patrick Dillon.</ref> In 1736, the Middlesex Magistrates complained: <blockquote>It is with the deepest concern your committee observe the strong Inclination of the inferior Sort of People to these destructive Liquors, and how surprisingly this Infection has spread within these few Years ... it is scarce possible for Persons in low Life to go anywhere or to be anywhere, without being drawn in to taste, and, by Degrees, to like and approve of this pernicious Liquor.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=7rYRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA326 The Pamphleteer, Volume 29 By Abraham John Valpy]</ref></blockquote>
Line 17:
By 1743, England was drinking 2.2 [[Imperial (UK) gallon#Measures of volume|gallons]] (10 litres) of gin per person per year. As consumption levels increased, an organised campaign for more effective legislation began to emerge, led by the [[Bishop of Sodor and Man]], Thomas Wilson, who, in 1736, had complained that gin produced a "drunken ungovernable set of people". Prominent anti-gin campaigners included [[Henry Fielding]] (whose 1751 "Enquiry into the Late Increase in Robbers" blamed gin consumption for both increased crime and increased ill health among children), [[Josiah Tucker]], [[Daniel Defoe]] (who had originally campaigned for the liberalisation of distilling, but later complained that drunken mothers were threatening to produce a "fine spindle-shanked generation" of children), and – briefly – [[William Hogarth]]. Hogarth's engraving ''[[Gin Lane]]'' is a well known image of the gin craze, and is often paired with "[[Beer Street]]", creating a contrast between the miserable lives of gin drinkers and the healthy and enjoyable lives of beer drinkers.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gately|first1=Iain|title=Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol|date=2008|publisher=Gotham|location=New York|isbn=978-1-592-40464-3|page=171}}</ref>
The Gin Craze began to diminish after the [[Gin Act 1751]]. This Act lowered the annual licence fees, but encouraged "respectable" gin selling by requiring licensees to trade from premises rented for at least £10 a year. Historians suggest that gin consumption was reduced not as a result of legislation but because of the rising cost of grain. Landowners could afford to abandon the production of gin, and this fact, coupled with population growth and a series of poor harvests, resulted in lower wages and increased [[food prices]]. The Gin Craze had mostly ended by 1757. The government tried to ensure this by temporarily banning the manufacture of spirits from domestic grain. There was a resurgence of gin consumption during the [[Victorian era]], with numerous "[[Gin palace
==See also==
* [[Dipsomania]]
* [[Dutch courage]] – One version of the history states that [[jenever]] (or Dutch gin) was used by English soldiers for its calming effects before battle.
* [[Prohibition#United Kingdom|Prohibition in the United Kingdom]]
Line 41 ⟶ 42:
[[Category:History of alcoholic drinks]]
[[Category:Alcohol and health]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Alcohol in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:British distilled drinks]]
| |||