Folk law | It's all Sir Walter Raleigh's fault

We associate Elizabethan exploration and colonisation in the New World with the forefather of the British Empire, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and his half brother Sir Walter Raleigh (pictured). It is well known that tobacco was first brought to Europe by Sir Walter (who called it tobah) but few realise that Compton Castle, the seat of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, was where the first tobacco was smoked in England. Raleigh subsequently introduced the clay pipe to the court of Elizabeth I; though popular with Elizabethan courtiers, tobacco did not start to be regularly imported until the beginning of the 17th century.

The mass production of cigarettes and matches in the late 19th century made smoking an affordable pastime. Excise duty on tobacco was a good source of revenue so, instead of trying to dissuade people from taking up the habit, early smoking laws actually encouraged it! For example, section 12 of the Revenue Act 1884 permitted the sale of tobacco in railway carriages under the licence of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue. On 3 June 1897, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in parliament that it was desirable to extend the power of sale to omnibuses and tramway cars.

Interestingly, this particular parliamentary debate triggered the first suggestion that smoking in public places was, perhaps, anti-social. The Member for Stockton, Mr Samuel, thought 'it would be a serious inconvenience to ladies if gentlemen were permitted to smoke in omnibuses and tram cars'. Tobacco smoking restrictions were next debated in the House 50 years later. On 29 April 1947, the prime minister was asked whether he considered it advisable to prohibit smoking in Underground trains, government offices and the non-smoking part of the House of Commons library.
The question received a contemptuous response: Mr Glenvil Hall (the financial secretary to the Treasury) replied on the prime minister's behalf: 'No, sir. But my right hon. friend hopes that, in the national interest, there will be a voluntary reduction in smoking, both in government offices and elsewhere.' But no support came from the government.

Ignoring the evidence

The link between smoking and cancer was made in the early 1950s but little was done about the prevalence of smoking until a decade later. During the swinging 60s cigarette smoking had reached the height of popularity, which led to the first calls from the Royal College of Physicians to restrict tobacco advertising. Television advertisements for cigarettes were banned in 1965 but pipe tobacco and cigars were considered less harmful.

In parliament on 29 March 1965, Mr G Campbell MP asked the minister of health if he was satisfied that no danger to health attached to the smoking of pipe tobacco. The minister cautiously replied: 'No. All forms of smoking carry some danger to health, but I am advised that the risks from pipe smoking are considerably less than those from cigarette smoking.'

This view was supported by the Royal College of Physicians in 1971 in a report called Smoking and Health Now, but medical advice in Switzerland and Germany at the time had already pronounced that pipes and cigars were as dangerous as cigarettes. Whatever the 1970s medical evidence showed, the law allowed cigar/pipe adverts to be shown on television until 1991.

'Warning by HM government: smoking can damage your health.' These words appeared on packets of cigarettes as a result of the Regulation of Labelling and Advertisement of Cigarettes introduced by Sir Gerald Nabarro, the parliamentarian who brought us the clean air legislation of 1955. Non-television tobacco advertisements continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s until the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002 banned most remaining forms of advertising.

Pocket money pastime

Early anti-smoking laws were not too concerned with inveterate adult smokers but the health hazards derived from smoking in young adults and children attracted national attention. In 1908/09, cigarettes were sold for five a penny, which meant many children could buy them from their pocket money. As long ago as 1872 it was an offence for the holder of a licence to sell spirits to any person under the age of 16 and parliament used the analogy of the illicit sale of liquor to legislate against the sale of tobacco to children and young persons.

One hundred years later, juvenile smoking was the impetus behind a further change in the smoking laws. From April this year, all large stores now cover up tobacco displays and this will extend to corner shops and other small retail outlets by 2015.

The campaign for a smoke-free law reached its zenith on 16 November 2004 when a public health white paper proposed a smoking ban in most public places in England and Wales by 2008. On 1 July 2007 the Health Act 2006 made it an offence to smoke in enclosed public spaces and workplaces.

There is nothing spectacular about the Health Act 2006 '“ just another technical statute '“ but history of the law leading up to the Health Act 2006 is interesting as it reflects diametric social attitudes to smoking from the end of the 19th century to the modern day.