The glass tax was introduced in Great Britain in 1746, during the reign of King

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. Originally, these acts taxed initially raw materials used for glass making. Glass was at that time sold by weight, and manufacturers responded by producing smaller, more highly decorated objects, often with hollow stems, known today as "Excise glasses". The impact of these taxes was that many glassworks had to move their businesses to bordering countries, most frequently to Ireland. In 1780, the government granted Ireland free trade in glass without taxation, resulting in the establishment of glassworks in

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

and

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. After the campaigns against those acts, glass tax was shifted in 1811 to all products made from glass, for examples green glass bottles, windows and

flint glass Flint glass is optical glass that has relatively high refractive index and low Abbe number (high Dispersion (optics), dispersion). Flint glasses are arbitrarily defined as having an Abbe number of 50 to 55 or less. The currently known flint gl ...

. The heavy decorative glass objects and large windows became the symbol of wealth in this time period. This also meant that only the very wealthy could afford green houses and the fruit grown in them. In 1825 the excise on glass were amended again, including raw materials as well as rising the taxation rates on finished glass goods. Gradually the industry declined, until the glass tax was abolished by Sir

Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835 and 1841–1846) simultaneously serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer ...

's government in 1845. A contemporary account in the medical journal ''

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823. The journal publishes original research articles, ...

'' described the glass tax as an "absurd impost on light":

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* * {{refend History of glass History of taxation in the United Kingdom Taxation in Ireland Abolished taxes