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Title Entry-Books of Correspondence: Letters to the Colonial Office. Trinidad, 1854-1862
Date 9 Feb 1854 - 18 Dec 1862
Document Type Correspondence
Reference CO 386/98
Library / Archive The National Archives
Collection Name Colonial Office: Land and Emigration Commission, etc.
Description Copies of out-letters referring to the shipping of 'coolies' from India and China, and the charter of emigrant vessels. Letters refer to the lack of immigration funds and fundraising to increase this. The transportation of African emigrants to Trinidad is also discussed. There is an index at the back, listing the letters by year and colony and detailing the main subject matter and dates of their composition.
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) Colonisation Companies and Emigration Societies; Religion, Ethnic Identity and Community Relations; Ships and Shipping Lines
Country (from) India; China; St Helena
Country (to) Trinidad; British Guiana
Places West Indies; Penang, Malaysia; St Lucia
Ports Madras, Calcutta, India; Hong Kong, China
Nationality Indian; Asian; English; European; Chinese; African
Ships Daniel Rankin; White Star; Shand; Australia; Scindian; Eveline; Chatham; Labrador; Conway; Hunter; Ceres; Mary Ann; Clarence
People Herbert, R G W; Elliot, Sir Thomas Frederick; Merivale, Herman (1806-1874); Murdoch, Thomas William Clinton; Walcott, Stephen; Evans, William
Keywords surgeon, emigrant, emigration, shipping, passenger list, administration, indentured labour, suicide, death, colony, agent, loan, finance, return passage, construction, natural resources, colony conditions, wages, timber, mining, employment, languages, translation, neglect, application, health and sickness
Language English
Copyright Crown Copyright documents © are reproduced by permission of The National Archives London, UK