Battling the vicious smugglers

Walberton author William Foot is in print with A Time To Fight: A Novel of the Battle of Goudhurst, 1747, self-published through John Aubin Books (William’s pen name). It is available through Amazon.

William, aged 77, said: “This is a fictional reconstruction of the battle of Goudhurst in April 1747 when a hastily-formed town militia led by a recently-discharged soldier of the XVth Regiment of Foot, William Sturt took on the vicious Hawkhurst gang of smugglers and won against the odds. I learnt about this event by visiting Goudhurst and was inspired to reconstruct what happened from the few surviving documentary sources.

“My fiction is based strictly on the evidence, and the majority of the characters are those of real people. The narrative is written day by day from April 14 when Sturt returns to Goudhurst until the day of the battle, April 21, and then for two days afterwards.

"There is a sequel for August 1749, and an afterword explaining how I came to write the book and the sources used.

"It was written throughout the Covid lockdowns, with much help from institutions whose doors were otherwise locked at that time, and it was an engrossing and fulfilling experience to get the work completed as we were all let out again. It is a stand-alone publication although I may do further research into other 18th-century dramas involving smuggling.

“I am a published author (under William Foot) for books on the Second World War defences of England and have also written five self-published novels.”