Black Act - Background

Background

Following the South Sea Bubble's collapse in 1720, Britain suffered an economic downturn that led to heightened social tensions. A small element of this was the activity of two groups of poachers, based out of Hampshire and Windsor Forest respectively. The first flurry of activity came from the Hampshire group, and began in October 1721 when 16 poachers assembled in Farnham to raid the park of the Bishop of Winchester. Three deer were carried off, and two others killed; four of the poachers were later caught, with two released due to a lack of evidence and the others pilloried and sentenced to a year and a day in prison. The poachers became known as the "Blacks", due to their practise of blackening their faces to prevent identification; most famously, the Hampshire groups were the "Waltham Blacks". In response to the convictions, the poachers decided to attack the Bishop's property again, demonstrating "a calculated programme of action, and a conscious social resentment" that distinguished them from normal poachers. In the reprisal attack, 11 deer were taken and many more killed, leading to a royal proclamation offering £100 for information that led to the arrest of the gang. This was followed by a series of raids highlighting a "fairly direct class hatred", that culminated in the raid of a shipment of wine ordered for the Prince of Wales. This proved to be the final straw, with Sir Francis Page, a "notorious hanging judge", sent to the Winchester Assizes to preside over any prosecutions, forcing the Hampshire Blacks underground.

The Windsor Blacks then began their activities, copying the Hampshire group. Their main target was Caversham Park, owned by the Earl of Cadogan, with a series of increasingly audacious raids in 1722 and 1723 including one in which a gamekeeper's son was killed. In response to these actions, the government introduced the Black Act, formally "An Act for the more effectual punishing wicked and evil disposed Persons going armed in Disguise and doing Injuries and Violence to the Persons and Properties of His Majesty's Subject, and for the more speedy bringing the Offenders to Justice", to Parliament on 26 April 1723; it came into force on 27 May.