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Title Emigration General, 1885. Land Board, Volume 1
Date 11 Jan 1855 - 16 Jan 1856
Document Type Correspondence; Manuscript
Reference CO 384/94
Library / Archive The National Archives
Collection Name War and Colonial Department and Colonial Office: Emigration Original Correspondence.
Description Correspondence of the Land Board, including general administration regarding salaries and staff appointments, violations of the Passengers' Act and penalties, and estimates of expenditure and payment requests. Also includes correspondence regarding the cholera outbreak in Birkenhead in 1844 and the resulting expenses for ports and individual ships, and details about the foundation of a new hospital as well as reports on old hospitals in other ports such as Cork. Documents relating to passenger welfare, particularly in relation to German emigrants, are also included, along with a report on emigration regulation in the Australian Colonies.
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) Departures: Port Conditions and Organisation; Journey Conditions
Country (from) Great Britain; Ireland; Germany
Country (to) United States of America; Canada; Australia
Places Birkenhead, England; Donegal, Londonderry, Northern Ireland; Glasgow, Scotland; New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Australia
Ports London, Liverpool, Bristol, Plymouth, Southampton, England; Belfast, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Londonderry, Sligo, Tralee, Waterford, Ireland; Greenock, Scotland
Nationality English; Scottish; Irish; Argentinian; German
Ships Clara; Catalan; HMS Inconstant; Themis; Dirigo; Conway; Covenanter; Star Queen; Queen of England; Black Hawk
People Grey, Sir George; Lord Palmerston (Temple, Lord Henry John); Trevelyan, Sir Charles Edward; Murdoch, Thomas William Clinton; Merrivale, Herman; Elliot, Thomas Frederick
Keywords cholera, disease, coal, anti-Passengers' Act, health and sickness, hospital, Foreign Enlistment Bill, journey conditions, expenditure, shipwreck
Language English; French
Document(s) linked to Emigration General, 1855. Public Offices and Individuals. Volume 2
Copyright Crown Copyright documents © are reproduced by permission of The National Archives London, UK