Gravesend sweetmeat, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

Gravesend sweetmeat n.

[Gravesend, a town on the Thames estuary]

a shrimp.

1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1874		Newcastle Courant 10 Apr. 3/6: ‘Gravesend sweetmeats’ are shrimps.
1882		A.S. Palmer Folk Etymologies 431/2: So shrimps are ‘Gravesend sweetmeats,’ and potatoes ‘Irish apricots’ or ‘Munster plums’.
1897		Gentleman Farmer I 555: An Essex lion is a calf; a Field-lane duck is a baked sheep's head; Glasgow magistrates or Norfolk capons are red herrings; Irish apricots or Munster plums are potatoes; Gravesend sweetmeats are shrimps.
1900		Reno (NV) Eve. Gazette 28 Apr. 2/2: The shrimp is a ‘Gravesend sweetmeat.’.
1913		Nottingham Eve. Post 22 Sept. 3/4: A bloater to [a londoner] is a ‘Whitechapel pheasant,’ ‘Gravesend sweetmeats’ are shrimps.
1919		Free Trader-Jrnl (Ottowa, IL) 8 Dec. 7/3: Gastronomic Animals [...] Gravesend sweetmeats are shrimps.