The Gin Craze
As we continue our exploration into the histories and the production of gin in the UK, we come to a particularly turbulent point in its history. You’ll soon understand how gin developed it’s nickname Mothers Ruin! Below, we look at parliaments role in the Gin Craze, and how the early production of gin in England quickly became out of control.
In the early days of making gin, methods of distillation were relatively simple and, thanks to government efforts to boost domestic production, anyone could distil gin legally as long as they advertised a ‘notice of intent’ on their premises.
This initiated a huge wave of gin-making in England, and thousands of gin shops sprang up around England between 1695 and 1735. The resulting spirit was harsh at the best of times and, to make it drinkable, ‘Common Gin’ was often flavoured with turpentine or, to achieve somewhat of a sweeter spirit, might even be distilled in the presence of sulfuric acid! The result may have been inexpensive compared to other drinks, including beer, but it was barely palatable and often toxic. However, because of its astonishingly low price, it began to be widely drunk by the urban poor.
At a time when a common labourer could earn 16-18d. (pennies) per day and a pound of cheese may cost 4d., just 1d. would be enough to buy enough gin to get drunk—and 2d. enough to get dead drunk!
This period was marked by the rapid growth of cities and towns and a correspondingly high demand for cheap housing. Living conditions in the resulting slums were appalling, yet in spite of this—or more likely because of this—people were intent on producing and consuming huge quantities of gin in their homes. In 1726 it was estimated that there were 1,500 stills in residential houses, and people were even said to be producing gin in their bathtubs.
Matters were getting out of hand. In 1723 the death rate in London outstripped the birth rate and gin was blamed for lowering fertility and raising mortality. In the face of this, the British government finally started to try to curb the flow of gin that, it was said, was producing a ‘drunken ungovernable set of people”.
Gin Lane, a print issued alongside Beer Lane in 1751 by English artist William Hogarth. Produced towards the end of the so-called Gin Craze, it portrays the evil consequences of gin with the happy, healthy scene in Beer Lane.