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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | Entry-Books of Correspondence: Letters to the Colonial Office, 1839-1840 |
| Author | Elliot, Sir Thomas Frederick |
| Date | 31 May 1839 - 21 Apr 1840 |
| Document Type | Correspondence; Financial Papers |
| Reference | CO 386/44 |
| Library / Archive | The National Archives |
| Collection Name | Colonial Office: Land and Emigration Commission, etc. |
| Description | Copies of out-letters, mostly written by Sir Thomas Frederick Elliott to Sir James Stephen, some for the attention of the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. The correspondence largely relates to emigration societies, conditions on board migrant ships, the appointment of surgeons and officials, wages, expenses, the fitting-out of ships, taxation, the purchase of land in North America and Australia, and the establishment of new settlements, such as the town at Port Essington. 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; Ships and Shipping Lines; Journey Conditions; Motives for Emigration |
| Country (from) | Great Britain; Ireland |
| Country (to) | Australia |
| Places | Nova Scotia, Lower Canada, New Brunswick, Canada; South Africa; Tasmania, Australia; London, England; Waterford, Ireland |
| Ports | Port Phillip, Victoria, Port Essington, Northern Territory, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Nationality | English; European; Scottish; Irish |
| Ships | Neptune; David Clarke; Juliana; China; Colborne; William Roger; Oresto; Lady Nugent; Isabella Watson |
| People | Stirling, Admiral Sir James; Stephen, Sir James, Marquess of Normanby (Phipps, Constantine Henry); Earl Russell (Russell, Lord John) |
| Keywords | emigration, administration, politics, money, accounts, child migration, female emigration, expenses, medical staff, agent, shipping, medical examination, pauper, poverty, journey conditions, disease, small pox, diet, victualling, assisted emigration, emigration society, agent, labourer, claims, land grant |
| Language | English |
| Copyright | Crown Copyright documents © are reproduced by permission of The National Archives London, UK |
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