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Title Emigration. North America, 1850 and 1851
Date 24 Dec 1849 - 6 Jan 1852
Document Type Correspondence; Manuscript
Reference CO 384/88
Library / Archive The National Archives
Collection Name War and Colonial Department and Colonial Office: Emigration Original Correspondence.
Description Correspondence from various government offices regarding emigration from Great Britain to North America, including material regarding shipwrecks and the Passengers' Act, with particular reference to provisions on passenger ships and poor treatment of passengers. Also includes a colonisation circular from 1849 detailing passenger numbers and destinations, as well as prices of produce and land in all the Colonies and wages.
Series Description This series contains correspondence relating to British settlement in North America and Australasia, and to Indian indentured labour in the West Indies. Until 1857 it consists of domestic letters alone. The series then ceases and is not resumed until 1872.
Biographical Note / History A Colonial Land and Emigration Commission was created in 1840 to undertake the duties of two earlier and overlapping authorities under the supervision of the secretary of state: the Colonisation Commissioners for South Australia and the Agent General for Emigration. In 1855 it became the Emigration Commission. The commission's powers were gradually given up to the larger colonies as they obtained self-government, and after 1873 it was responsible only for controlling the importation of Indian labour into sugar-producing colonies. It was abolished in 1878 and an Emigration Department was then set up in the Colonial Office. This department was merged with the General Department in 1894, and abolished altogether in 1896.
Theme(s) Journey Conditions
Country (from) Great Britain
Country (to) Canada; United States of America; Australia; New Zealand; South Africa; Falkland Islands; Mauritius; Sri Lanka; Bermuda
Places Quebec, New Brunswick, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's Islands, Canada; Cape of Good Hope, South Africa; Sydney, Tasmania, West Australia, South Australia, Australia; Edinburgh, Scotland; New York City, New Orleans, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Ports London, Liverpool, Plymouth, England; Dublin, Londonderry, Sligo, Limerick, Cork, Belfast, Waterford, Ireland; Glasgow, Greenock, Scotland; Port Philip, Australia; Hong Kong, China
Nationality English; Irish; Scottish
Ships America; American Eagle; Anglo-American; Attilla; Blanche; Brooksby; Caleb Grimshaw; Camillus; Cato; Christiana; Columbine; Columbus; Cornelia; Daniel Webster; Devonshire; Eglinton; Excelsior; Granada; Great Britain; Hemisphere; Hendrick Hudson; Huguenot; Independence; Indian Queen; James; John Bull; John Currier; Kate Hunter; London; Margaret Evans; Martha J. Ward; Milton; Niagara; Parliament; Plymouth Rock; Prince Albert; Princeton; Robert C. Winthrop; Sardinia; Sir Robert Peel; Star of the West; Sunbeam; Switzerland; Townsend; USS Bache; Vandalia; Victoria; Vivid; Washington Irving; Washington; Western Star; Western World; Westminster; Wisconsin; Xeregano; York Town
People Trevelyan, Sir Charles Edward; Walcott, Stephen; Merrivale, Herman; Murdoch, Thomas William Clinton; Elliot, Thomas Frederick; Lord Howick (Grey, Henry); Lord Palmerston (Temple, Lord Henry John)
Keywords land grant, occupations, wages, Passengers' Act, provisions, journey conditions, cotton, coffee, tallow, shipwreck, trade, American packet ships, emigrant, penalty
Additional Information This volume includes searchable printed documents.
Language English
Printed Documents in this Volume Extract From Despatches Relative to Emigration
The "Black Star" Line of Packet Ships, Liverpool to New York
Important to Emigrants! For Boston
Colonization Circular. Issued by Her Majesty's Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners
"Black Star" Line of Packets, Liverpool to New York
To All Owners, Masters and Consignees of Vessels Arriving at the Port of New York, the Commissioners of Emigration of the State of New York Give the Following Notice
Emigrant Ship "Washington". Return to an Address of the Honourable the House of Commons, Dated 19 February 1851
– for, a "Copy of a Letter Addressed to the Land and Emigration Commissioners by Lord Hobart, Enclosing a Letter From Mr. Vere Foster to His Lordship, Detailing the Treatment to Which He Was Subjected in Common with the Other Passengers, on Board the Emigrant Ship 'Washington' in the Month of November 1850, While on Her Passage From Liverpool to New York, With a Copy of the Answer Returned to Lord Hobart by the Commissioners
and Also, Copies of Any Correspondence Between the Commissioners and the Emigration Officer at Liverpool on the Subject
Papers Relative to Emigration
Division of Property
Copyright Crown Copyright documents © are reproduced by permission of The National Archives London, UK