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Title Entry-Books of Correspondence: Letters from Mr. Elliot, Agent General for Emigration, 1839
Date Apr-Oct 1839
Document Type Correspondence
Reference CO 386/23
Library / Archive The National Archives
Collection Name Colonial Office: Land and Emigration Commission, etc.
Description The majority of letters refer to the organisation of emigrant ships, ship's surgeons and passengers. Many letters also refer to emigration schemes and rules for providing bounty emigration to Western Australia. Emigration to Canada is another topic which features frequently. There is an index at the back of this document listing dates, recipients and a brief summary of each letter's subject.
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; Politics, Legislation and Governance
Country (from) Great Britain
Country (to) Australia; Canada; United States of America
Places London, England; New South Wales, Western Australia, Australia; Edinburgh, Scotland
Ports Gravesend, Liverpool, England
Nationality English; European; Scottish; Irish
Ships Algius; Neptune; Brilliant; Palmyra; Prince Regent; Boyne; Lady East; Cornwall; SS Orestes; Bussorah Merchant; Florist; James Pattison
People Elliot, Sir Thomas Frederick; Pym, John; Mallet, J L; Burnett, Sir William; Parry, Sir Edward; Leyburn, William; Bernard, Edward; Pennington, J G
Keywords government, emigration, agent, administration, surgeon, shipping, employment, agent, application, assisted emigration, free passage, colonisation, colony, bounty emigration, emigration scheme, emigrant selection, eligibility, unmarried, female emigration, poverty, convict, family, regulations, provisions, passenger, iron, freight, railway, finance, wages, accounts, poor laws
Language English
Copyright Crown Copyright documents © are reproduced by permission of The National Archives London, UK