Gloucestershire: Tobacco growing in the Cotswolds

Introduction.

History has recorded that tobacco, has been grown in England since the early sixteen hundreds, and many short essays and references have been made regarding this fact. Nobody, or so I believe, has done more research into this subject and industry than Doctor Joan Thirsk, who has written several papers on the subject, such as, Projects for Gentleman, and Economic Policy and Projects. Doctor Thirsk, and I have corresponded on and off for a number of years, and her contribution to my Family Records, have been invaluable, especially in regard to the growing of tobacco, and other information that she has supplied to me from The Public Records Office.

I would not dream of attempting to better the work that Dr Thirsk has already done on the subject, but, I will attempt to enlarge on her past efforts, and being unrestricted to space, try to inform readers in a fuller and more accountable book, the Family connections with the growing of tobacco.

The Lord Sudeley, the present Seventh Baron, and representative of the Ancient and Honourable Family of Tracy, has shown great interest in his Ancestors, and my Family, have, more I must admit in the past than presently, been intertwined with friendship and trade. We are both descended from the same original Grandfather Tracy, myself way back, and he more recently on the female line.

Many other references other than Doctor Thirsk , have been made regarding the growing of tobacco in the Cotswolds, but, I would hope that this book will help put right some serious mistakes that have been made in the past by those authors.

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Data transcribed by Colin Hinson from:
A document written by
Gerald H. Stratford in 1988.
Reproduced here by permission
© Gerald H. Stratford.