Alfred Collins
(Last updated 21.04.02ef)
The Coastguard Service was originally the result of a reorganisation of other existing services aimed at countering the immense smuggling activity that prevailed during the first quarter of the 19th century. It has subsequently undergone many further reorganisations and is now responsible for ship and coastline safety.
Smuggling in Britain has existed for many centuries. Whenever a tax or duty was placed on the export or import of materials or goods there have been individuals who have tried to exploit the opportunity of trade by illegally importing or exporting those goods. The export of tin from Cornwall, iron from Sussex and wool from many parts of Britain all gave rise to smuggling activity. The taxes placed on imports of luxury items (silk, tea, coffee, brandy and gin) also led to illegal imports of such magnitude that it has been estimated that by the middle of the 18th century 50% of the spirits consumed in Britain was smuggled.
To ensure that taxes and duty was paid Customs Officers were appointed at ports and the official export of some goods was restricted to specific ports. The Board of Customs collected import taxes on goods via their network of Customs Officers at ports.
By the 17th century the Board of Customs had a small fleet and this could be backed by efforts from the Royal Navy. Ashore the Customs Officers could, in theory, call upon the local units of dragoons. However, against them were the vast majority of the public who welcomed cheaper goods and high illegal earnings as well as the local land owners who were often investors in the trade.
In 1698 the Treasury and Board of Customs established the Riding Officers in Kent and Sussex to help combat the rise in smuggling. By the early 18th century this force was around 300 men. It was further expanded to cover most of the British coastline.
At sea the small fleet of Revenue sloops could not effectively tackle the bigger and better armed smuggling vessels. Warren Lisle, Surveyor of Sloops of the South Coast from 1740 to 1779, succeeded in obtaining new larger and better armed vessels. These were clinker built cutters with a large spread of sail and a very long bowsprit. By 1782 there were 40 vessels in service totalling 4000 tons and carrying 700 crewmen and 200 guns. From this period the Revenue Service began to gain the upper hand.
In 1809 the Preventive Waterguard was formed. They were based in Watch Houses around the coast and boat crews patrolled their allotted stretch of coast each night. At this time there were 42 Revenue cruisers and 59 boats covering the three divisions comprising the British coastline. So at this time there was a triple defence line: at sea the Preventive cruisers, inshore the boats of the Waterguard and ashore the Riding Officers.
At the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 Captain Joseph McCulloch proposed the creation of a unified service to guard the coast of Kent where he was at that time commander of a Royal Navy ship supporting the Revenue Service. He proposed that the shore patrols, the in-shore water patrol and the off-shore cruiser activity should all be united under a single command. So in 1816 the Coast Blockade Service was created under McCulloch's command on the Kent coastline between North Foreland and Dungeness. This proved to be highly successful but not popular. By 1820 there were 6708 officers and men, including 2375 men on 31 Royal Navy ships, operating at a total cost of just under £521000. There was considerable scope for confusion and duplication because of the fragmented approach. In 1821 a committee examining the operation of the Customs recommended the combination of all services (except the Coast Blockade which would remain under the Admiralty) under the control of the Board of Customs. Officers would be recommended by the Admiralty. The Coastguard Service came into operation in 1822. In 1831 the Coast Blockade was absorbed into this new service.
Coastguards served on ships and on shore. Men on shore were moved away from their home location for fear of collusion. Coastguard Stations were equipped with living quarters for married men as well as single quarters. Each station was commanded by a Chief Officer (normally a Royal Navy lieutenant). Beneath him were Chief Boatman, Commissioned Boatman and Boatman ranks. The size of the station determined the number of each rank. By 1839 there were over 4553 Coastguards.
The first Coastguard Instructions were issued in 1829 and included a section on lifesaving and lifesaving equipment. The Manby lifesaving equipment was already in widespread use.
In 1831 the Admiralty determined that the Coastguard Service should be a reserve force for the Royal Navy. As a consequence the regulations for recruitment of officers and men were laid down.
In 1856, at the end of the Crimean War, control of the Coastguard Service was
transferred to the Admiralty. By this time smuggling was on the wane and the
lifesaving role and Naval Reserve aspects were more significant. After the First
World War there was a significant reduction in the manpower of the Coastguard
Service. Control of the Service changed hands 5 times
after 1923.
Books and Pamphlets:
Webb, W. Coastguard! HMSO, 1976
Provides a wealth of useful
background information on the organisation, pay scales, benefits etc. of the
Coastguard Service.
Waugh, Mary. Smuggling in Devon & Cornwall 1700-1850: Countryside
Books 1991 (ISBN 1 85306 113 1)
Smuggling in Kent & Sussex 1700-1840:
Countryside Books 1994 (ISBN 0 905392 48 5)
These books provide good
reference material in an easily read form. They give an excellent background to
the fight against smuggling. They do not provide much genealogical information.
Rodger, N.A.M. Naval Records for Genealogists. Public Record Office Handbook No. 22, HMSO 1998, (ISBN 1 873 162 58 8) Detailed guide to the PRO Holdings on Royal Naval Records. It includes the records of the Coastguard Service. A good finding aid.
Anon. The Coastguard. Public Record Office, Military Records
Information 44, 1999. Http://www.pro.gov.uk/leaflets/ri2044.htm
This is a useful 5 page pamphlet giving details of the holdings at the PRO
on the Coastguard Service. A must for the genealogist.
Milton, Mrs. F. R. Index to Coast Guards working on a 16 mile stretch of
Sussex Coast around Eastbourne taken from the Census for 1841, '51, '61, '71
& '81
Part 1 of 3 (1989)
Index to Parish Register Entries concerning
Coast Guards and their Associates in the Eastbourne Area c1813-c1841.
Part 2
of 3 (1989)
Index to Coastguards in the District of Eastbourne from the
Censuses 1831-1891.
Supplement to Coastguard Series 1 (Part 3 of 3) (1994),
Family Roots FHS
Local genealogical listings for Eastbourne based
Coastguards.
Arnold-Foster, Rear Admiral D. At War with the Smugglers Ward, Lock
& Co. 1936.
The story of Dr Arnold's father, William Arnold, Collector
of Customs, Isle of Wight 1777 -1801. Good account based on contemporary letters
and Customs Outport Letters.
Most newspapers of the period regularly reported the battles and skirmishes between coastguards and smugglers. These accounts often give the names of the coastguards involved. Good examples are the West Briton which covered the Devon and Cornwall area and the Sussex Weekly Advertiser published from Lewes in Sussex. These newspapers also carried advertisements placed by the Board of Customs offering rewards for information about smugglers who may have injured coastguards. The names of the coastguards concerned are mentioned. Filmed copies are usually available through Local Libraries.
The major records concerning the Coastguard Service are held at the Public Record Office, Ruskin Avenue, Kew, Surrey http://www.pro.gov.uk/The records of the precursors to the Coastguard Service are also held there.
Records of service for coastguards are held in ADM 175
England 1816 to
1918
Scotland 1816-1866
Ireland 1816-1869
These records are indexed by station so it is necessary to know where a man served. One way of doing this is from the place of birth of his children given in later censuses. Coastguards were moved fairly frequently so they may have served at 3 to 5 locations. Often, this pattern of service can be seen from the census records for their children.
Many men entered the service from the Royal Navy so they will have had previous records of service there. First postings in the Coastguard Service for the period 1819-1866 can usually be traced from the registers of nominations for appointments. There are some nominal indexes available for these in ADM175/97-101. These records are held on microfilm
Men who served on Revenue cruisers can be traced from the ships establishment and record books 1816-1879, ADM175/24-73. For the period 1824-1857 their records can be found in the Ships' Musters: Coastguard and Revenue Cruisers, ADM 119. These are usually original bound volumes of Muster Records for a particular ship. Again it is important to know which cruiser he was on. When a man transferred from a cruiser to another or to a shore station this event will be recorded in the Muster Records. This enables you to continue your search forward or backward.
Pension records are another source of information. One sometimes finds an individual in a census who is recorded as a "coastguard annuitant". Such a person had survived the rigours of the service and usually retired in his 50's with a pension. Those who received their pension from the Admiralty (e.g. after 1866 when the Admiralty had full control of the service) are recorded in Additional Pension Books covering 1866-1926, ADM 23.
Other civil pensions were paid by the Paymaster General and are recorded in
Coastguard Civil Pensions, PMG 23.
There are other record classes which deal
with coastguards but the most significant for the genealogist are those above.
For a more detailed treatment Rodger's Handbook listed above gives useful
information as does the PRO pamphlet.