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press-gangs
press-gangs. The British crown possessed an ancient right to seize for naval service ‘seamen, seafaring men and persons whose occupations or callings are to work upon vessels and boats upon rivers’. The 18th-cent. jurist Blackstone stated that ‘The power of impressing men for the sea service by the royal commission … is of very ancient date, and has been uniformly continued by a regular series of precedents.’ The power was implicitly recognized in statutes from the late 14th cent. onwards. The term ‘impress’ derives from the ‘imprest’ money paid to recruits for the armed forces. Several attempts to replace this system of arbitrary conscription failed. A 1696 scheme for registering seamen for limited periods of service was abandoned in 1711. Pitt's Quota Acts of 1795 also failed to remove the need for impressment. Press-gangs hunting seamen came either from individual warships or from the Impress Service which developed within the navy in the later 18th cent. and reached its peak of sophistication during the Napoleonic War. In 1809 the service employed 24 captains and 56 lieutenants. With death rates in the navy very high, particularly in the West Indies, seizure by a press-gang was no light matter. Impressment fell into disuse after 1815, as social changes made its harshness unacceptable, but no satisfactory alternative for manning the navy was developed until much later in the 19th cent.
Norman McCord |
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Cite this article
JOHN CANNON. "press-gangs." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "press-gangs." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-pressgangs.html JOHN CANNON. "press-gangs." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-pressgangs.html |
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press‐gangs
press‐gangs The British crown possessed an ancient right to seize for naval service ‘seamen, seafaring men, and persons whose occupations or callings are to work upon vessels and boats upon rivers’. Several attempts to replace this system of arbitrary conscription failed. A 1696 scheme for registering seamen for limited periods of service was abandoned in 1711. Press‐gangs hunting seamen came either from individual warships or from the Impress Service which reached its peak during the Napoleonic War. With death rates in the navy very high, particularly in the West Indies, seizure by a press‐gang was no light matter.
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Cite this article
JOHN CANNON. "press‐gangs." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "press‐gangs." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-pressgangs.html JOHN CANNON. "press‐gangs." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-pressgangs.html |
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pressgang
pressgang A detachment of sailors empowered to seize men for service in the British navy. The use of the pressgang had been sanctioned by law since medieval times but the practice was at its height in the 18th century. All able-bodied men were liable for impressment, although in fact the pressgangs confined their attention to the seaport towns, where they were able to find recruits with suitable experience. The navy continued to rely on the pressgangs until the 1830s, when improvements in pay and conditions provided sufficient volunteers. The system was also used to a lesser extent by the army but discontinued after 1815.
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Cite this article
"pressgang." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "pressgang." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-pressgang.html "pressgang." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-pressgang.html |
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pressgang
pressgang •bang, Battambang, bhang, clang, Da Nang, dang, fang, gang, hang, harangue, kiang, Kuomintang, Kweiyang, Laing, Luang Prabang, meringue, Nanchang, Pahang, pang, parang, Penang, prang, Pyongyang, rang, sang, satang, Shang, shebang, Shenyang, slambang, slang, spang, sprang, Sturm und Drang, tang, thang, trepang, twang, vang, whang, Xizang, yang, Zaozhuang
•Xinjiang, Zhanjiang, Zhenjiang
•Palembang • whiz-bang • charabanc
•pressgang • chaingang • Wolfgang
•strap-hang • ylang-ylang • boomslang
•Semarang • boomerang • linsang
•Sittang • mustang
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Cite this article
"pressgang." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "pressgang." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-pressgang.html "pressgang." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-pressgang.html |
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