Background
Jack Rattenbury was born in Beer in 1778. His mother, Anne Newton, came from Beer, and his father, John Rattenbury, came from Honiton.
Jack Rattenbury was born in Beer in 1778. His mother, Anne Newton, came from Beer, and his father, John Rattenbury, came from Honiton.
In 1837 after thirty years at sea as a fisherman, pilot, seaman and smuggler he wrote about his life in a book called Memoirs of a Smuggler with the help of a local Unitarian clergyman. Going to sea from the age of nine, Jack Rattenbury first became involved in smuggling at the age of sixteen. He died aged sixty-five, and was buried on 28 April 1844 in Seaton churchyard, at an unmarked spot close to the north transept.
The Beer Quarry Caves were of great use to smugglers as they could be used to store contraband, hidden from the excise officials.
One cave that was used was the Adit between Branscombe and Beer Head. In 1879 Sir Walter Besant and James Rice published a book of stories, "Twas in Trafalgar Bay, about Rattenbury.
In 1900 Sabine Baring-Gould wrote a novel about him entitled Winefred: a story of the chalk cliffs. Author Mary Upton wrote a 2007 novel about him entitled Rattenbury: a novel based on the memoirs of a West Country smuggler.
