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Title Entry-Books of Correspondence: Letters to Emigration Agents, Colonial Secretaries, etc. Miscellaneous
Date 30 Dec 1837 - 17 Dec 1846
Document Type Correspondence
Reference CO 386/121
Library / Archive The National Archives
Collection Name Colonial Office: Land and Emigration Commission, etc.
Description Letters refer to the chartering of various emigrant vessels, mostly to Australian and Canadian provinces, 'coolie' ships and the payment of bounty for single, female emigrants.
Series Description This series contains original correspondence, entry books and registers of the Agent General for Emigration, the South Australian Commissioners and the Land and Emigration Commission. Amongst the miscellaneous contents are registers of births and deaths of emigrants at sea 1854-1869, lists of ships chartered 1847-1875, registers of surgeons appointed 1854-1894, and volumes of The Colonial Gazette 1838-1842.
Biographical Note / History A Colonial Land and Emigration Commission was created in 1840 to undertake the duties of two earlier and overlapping authorities which were both under the supervision of the Secretary of State. These were the Colonisation Commissioners for South Australia, established under an Act of 1834, and the Agent General for Emigration, appointed in 1837. The new commission dealt with grants of land, the outward movement of settlers, the administration of the Passengers' Acts of 1855 and 1863 and, from 1846 to 1859, the scrutiny of colonial legislation. In 1855 it became the Emigration Commission. In 1873 the administration of the Passengers' Acts was transferred to the Board of Trade. The commission's powers were gradually given up to the larger colonies as they obtained self-government, and after 1873 its only duties were the control of the importation of Indian indentured labour into sugar-producing colonies and it was abolished in 1878.
Theme(s) Ships and Shipping Lines; Politics, Legislation and Governance
Country (from) Great Britain
Country (to) Australia; Canada; Sierra Leone; New Zealand
Places South Australia, Australia; Quebec, New Brunswick, Canada; British Guiana; Trinidad; Jamaica
Ports Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Nationality English; European; African; Chinese; Asian
Ships Maitland; Lady Nugent; Lady McNaughton; Asia; Charles Kerr; Julaina; Neptune; Orestes; Crescent; Orleana; Simon Taylor; Sir Charles Napier; King William; Westminster; Phoebe; Lady Bruce; Princess Royal; Queen Victoria; Isabella Watson
People Walcott, Stephen; Gipps, Sir George; Montague, John; Buchanan, A C
Keywords emigration, agent, colony, colonisation, settlement, administration, land, government, shipping, supplies, medicine, regulations, application, free passage, transport, finance, convict, women, emigrant selection, bounty emigration, emigration scheme, expenses, indentured labour, forced migration, gratuity
Language English
Copyright Crown Copyright documents © are reproduced by permission of The National Archives London, UK