Today in History—October 23: The War of Jenkins’ Ear Begins

On this day in 1739, the story of an ear in a jar started a war. (Sometimes these intros just write themselves.)

The ear had been in the jar for nearly a decade (ew), but the conflict between Spain and Britain had been brewing much longer.

Spain heavily restricted trade in its Caribbean American empire, and Britain was upset about being shut out of a lucrative market. A 1713 treaty made exceptions for British ships selling enslaved people and one token merchant ship per year. But at sea, Spanish guarda costas (armed customs officials) pounced on British ships, allegedly searching for goods being smuggled in for sale. These searches often involved roughing up the crew.

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To be fair, some British ships were engaged in illicit trade in the Spanish colonies. But plenty of cargo ships seized were not.

In 1731 Brit Robert Jenkins was captaining one such ship, en route from Jamaica to London, when Spanish guards boarded it in the West Indies. Finding no contraband, they tied Jenkins to the mast and cut off his ear; then they ransacked his ship, taking everything, right down to the ship’s navigational instruments. Jenkins straggled back to England and spent the next several years toting his ear around in a jar and telling that story.

The story made its way to Parliament, where it helped whip up outrage and swayed public opinion in favor of going to war with Spain.

Plus, the Tory opposition smelled an opportunity: Prime Minister Robert Walpole—a Whig who both opposed military action for commercial goals and thought war would be too expensive—had been in charge for long enough, they reckoned.

Britain’s declaration of war on Spain was ratified on this day. Walpole was forced to go with the flow of Parliament. He attempted to resign, but the king refused to accept it.

Instead, Walpole was saddled with a war he didn’t want. It quickly became apparent that the conflict wouldn’t be the rout Britain had hoped. The costly dispute instead stretched for almost a decade, becoming tangled up with the War of the Austrian Succession.

It was never really about the ear.