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Title Entry-Books of Correspondence: Letters to the Colonial Office. British Guiana, 1860-1863
Author Murdoch, Thomas William Clinton; Walcott, Stephen; Rogers, Frederic
Date 13 Jan 1860 - 30 Dec 1863
Document Type Correspondence
Reference CO 386/95
Library / Archive The National Archives
Collection Name Colonial Office: Land and Emigration Commission, etc.
Description Copies of out-letters regarding indentured labour in British Guiana sent to the Colonial Office, some for the attention of the Secretary of State. The correspondence covers laws passed by the legislature of British Guiana, compliance with regulations on board migrant vessels, mortality rates and migrants' health, the supply of labour, liberated Africans, misconduct and abuses committed by ships' officers, return passages, the payment of indentured labourers, and various outstanding payments. An index is included at the end of the volume.
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) Politics, Legislation and Governance; Journey Conditions; Departures: Port Conditions and Organisation
Country (from) India; China; Azores; South Africa; St Helena; Canary Islands; Madeira
Country (to) British Guiana; French Guiana
Places London, England; Demerara, British Guiana; Cape Verde; Mauritius
Ports Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shanghai, China
Nationality Indian; Chinese; Asian; Portuguese; Spanish; African; European
Ships Thomas Hamlin; Whirlwind; Canning; Hanover; Red Riding Hood; Lord Elgin; Royal George; Gosforth; Alnwick Castle; Henry Moore; Shackamaxon; Maryborough; Persia; Clarendon; Arabia; Claremont
People Merivale, Herman; Baron Taunton (Labouchere, Henry); Duke of Newcastle (Pelham-Clinton, Henry Pelham); Wodehouse, Philip Edmond; Rogers, Frederic; Elliot, Sir Thomas Frederick; Hincks, Sir Francis
Keywords eligibility, remittance, death, shipping, surgeon, agent, disease, contract, medical examination, labour, labourer, sugar, agent, Bounty Emigration, assisted emigration, indentured labour, return passage, female emigration, child migration, slavery, sanitation, coolie, Liberated Africans
Language English
Copyright Crown Copyright documents © are reproduced by permission of The National Archives London, UK