CORNISH-L Archives

From: Sandy <>
Subject: Kiddleywinks - Hamilton Jenkin
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 13:12:31 -0600

Listers,

I don't think anyone posted this...and so I thought I would. I think it
provides a bit more insight into the kiddleywinks.

from pages 202-203 "Cornwall And Its People," by A.K. Hamilton Jenkin

FYI,....The following excerpt picks up from a discussion concerning the
1825 legislation which reduced the duty on English-made spirits...after
which apparently the rise in drinking throughout all of England was
considerable. According to Jenkin, the philosophy behind the
legislation was to bring drink within everyday financial means...thereby
reducing the incidence of abuse inherent in special occasion drinking.
(give me all I want, and I won't need to be excessive <g>) Jenkin
contends the philosophy was documentably flawed.;-) He continues...

"This increase in spirit drinking....was one of the chief causes which
led to that still more amazing piece of legislation, the famous Beer Act
of 1830. Shocked by the gross excesses which had resulted form the
reduction of the spirit duties, social reformers believed that by
providing the population with an unrestricted supply of cheap beer, a
means would be found of sweeping away gin-drinking with its attendant
evils, whilst at the same time assisting agriculture by increasing the
demand for barley and hops. Accordingly, in Oct 1830, this strangely
conceived Act became law. After that date, any householder, other than a
sheriff's officer, could get a license to sell beer, provided he paid
two guineas, and produced one surety for £20 or two for £10 each. The
only power possessed by the magistrates over these houses was to close
them in case of riot. The result was that multitudes of little dram
shops, known in Cornwall as 'kiddleywinks' or simply 'winks', came into
being in every town, village, and hamlet throughout the country. Such
beer-houses, of course, had their critics and opponents from the start.
The latter claimed that they were the haunts of thieves and proligates,
whilst their keeprs were accused of acting as receivers of stolen goods.
In these houses, it was stated, plots were hatched, and all manner of
evil was set on foot against the propertied classes and the State. No
doubt many of these charges were gross exaggerations, whilst in not a
few cases they were clearly sponsored by publicans who were becoming
seriously alarmed at the competition created by this new type of
drink-shop. At the same time it can scarcely be doubted that within
these houses, many of which were situated in lonely places, and all of
them exempt from any authoritative supervision, deeds were sometimes
perpetrated which lent colour to the worst charges advanced against them
by their enemies."

Regards,

Sandy
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