Gin · History · Short entry
Gin Act of 1729
The first Gin Act required retailers to buy a £20 annual licence and set a duty of 5 shillings a gallon. It was widely evaded and repealed in 1733.
1729
£20 annual retail licence and excise duty of 5s per gallon on distilled spirits.
Why it mattered
To check the spread of gin shops, which unlike alehouses were not licensed.
The first attempt
Gin sellers, unlike alehouse keepers, needed no licence, and in 1726 the Middlesex justices counted at least 6,000 retailers of spirits in London. The 1729 Act required retailers to pay £20 for an annual licence and levied 5 shillings a gallon. Andrew Hanham judges it "largely unsuccessful": it had wide exemptions, illicit sellers multiplied, and landowners who sold grain to distillers pressed for its repeal, which came in 1733.
How it connects
Region
- event-in London
History
- precursor-of Gin Act of 1736
- precursor-of Act encouraging distilling from corn (1690)
Continue exploring
- CountryUnited Kingdom97 entries in the atlas so far
- HistoryAct encouraging distilling from corn (1690)1690
- HistoryGin Act of 17361736
- RegionLondonLondon, United Kingdom
- StoryFrom juniper water to London ginSchiedam, the Dutch genever town, Netherlands
- StyleLondon gin (London dry gin)Legal category
- HistoryGin Act of 175125 June 1751
- HistoryHogarth's Gin Lane (1751)1 February 1751