building in Stamford, England that I think he referred to!
Watching an antique show (Flog It) on tele just now, and blow me, the man just told “me” that the term “daylight robbery” was originally a literal complaint.
From what I caught of his explanation, during the Georgian Period in English history they introduced a tax on windows – think I remember learning about this at school – which led to many windows being blocked up, with brick & stone, to avoid the tax – and that is the origin of the expression “Daylight Robbery”. Fascinating!
This is very interesting, Julz, I’ve often wondered about that term. I thought it just meant that a lot of robberies take place at night, under the cover of darkness, and a ‘daylight’ robbery just meant the theives were full of bravado.
so does this mean that the government was taxing windows, resulting in people bricking in their windows, thus they had no daylight…..
a very LITERAL term….
good goddess, who could have thought a government would stoop so low as to tax LIGHT!!!!
very interesting….. thanks for this informative article!
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yes, there was a period in the Georgian era, when, I think, the government needed money, and instead of creating a mansion tax, as Vince Cable (Liberal Party & a Minister in the now dissolved coalition) wanted to bring in.
ie same idea – tax the rich and their big houses – so they hit on the idea of taxing windows – glass was really expensive in those days, so only the rich could afford lots of windows.
However, the rich as always, find a way round any new tax collecting ploys, and just bricked up the windows!
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wow! Thanks for this information. I always enjoy hearing the meaning behind some of our phrases.
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thanks are due to Paul Martin, presenter of Flog It – smile
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