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Title Sedgwick Migration Scrapbook 2: Arrival in New Zealand with Boys, 1911
Date Feb-Mar 1911
Document Type Correspondence; Photograph; Newspaper
Reference RCMS 31/1/24-47, Box 1, Volume 1, Folder 2
Library / Archive Cambridge University Library
Collection Name Thomas E. Sedgwick's Migration Scrapbooks, 1910-1914
Description Papers, newspaper clippings, photographs and ephemera relating to the first party of boys sent from Liverpool and London to New Zealand under the care of Thomas Edward Sedgwick in 1911. The various items relate to the arrival of the group in Wellington on 25 January 1911. Many of the newspaper articles outline more specifically the locations of farms in New Zealand to which different groups of boys were sent. Other articles relay heavy criticism of the scheme, condemning it as a human failure and a case of white slavery. Government correspondence also refers to opportunities available for further farm-hands across New Zealand, and to reports made on events following the arrival of the S.S. Authentic.
Biographical Note / History In 1911 Thomas Edward Sedgwick organised for a group of 50 boys to be sent from England to New Zealand on board the S.S. Authentic before the outbreak of the First World War. They were sent as part of an experiment to ascertain whether young British boys might help alleviate a shortage of farm labourers in New Zealand and offer a solution to the declining levels of employment opportunities in the crowded British cities. They were trained in all aspects of farming life, and the wages they earnt were paid to the Labour Department while the boys were awarded weekly pocket money.
Theme(s) Arrivals: Ports and Early Experiences; Motives for Emigration
Country (from) Great Britain
Country (to) New Zealand; Australia; Canada
Places London, England; Otaki, Whangarei, Rotorua, Whakatane, Masterton, Akaroa, Tangiwai, Makatote, Ongarue, Queenstown, Christchurch, New Zealand
Ports Liverpool, England; Hobart Town, Tasmania, Australia; Lyttleton, Port Nelson, Wellington, Auckland, New Zealand
Nationality English; European
Ships SS Authentic
People Sedgwick, Thomas Edward; McIntosh, Hugh; Gibson Smith, Canon
Keywords emigration scheme, shipping, children, agriculture, farming, labour, employment, government, farm school, clothing, colony conditions, port, apprenticeship, wages, finance, passenger list, passage money, steamboat, Church of England, religion, newspaper, politics, slavery, immigration, child labour, child migration, push factor, unemployment, application, railway, climate, housing, customs, harbour, poverty, social class, charity, Banardos, Salvation Army, discrimination, fare, ticket, steerage
Language English
Copyright Cambridge University Library