22 January 1720 – 26 April 1749) was an English outlaw and one of the leaders of the notorious Hawkhurst Gang of smugglers that operated, from its base in Kent, along the South Coast of England from 1735 until 1749.

"[2] In October 1747, members of the gang led a successful raid against a government Custom House in Poole, which was holding about thirty hundredweight (3,360 lbs) of tea, thirty-nine casks of brandy and rum, and a small bag of coffee captured from the smugglers' ship Three-Brothers in September.

The shipment from Guernsey, worth about £500, had been organised by the Hawkhurst Gang working with a group from east Hampshire and was intended to be landed at Christchurch Bay, but was captured by a revenue vessel Swift commanded by Captain William Johnson on 22 September 1747.

[citation needed] At a meeting in Charlton Forest, Richard Perin, who had gone to Guernsey to buy the goods, made an agreement with the local men to recover the contraband.

Kingsmill's demands not being met, when the gang attacked on the appointed day during the Battle of Goudhurst they approached heavily armed with many stripped to the waist to display their scars and tattoos in an act of bravado and intimidation.

[5] The Militia held their ground and were well enough trained to shoot dead Kingsmill's brother George in the first volley of a battle fought around St. Mary's church.