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Title Entry-Books of Correspondence: Letters to the Colonial Office. British Guiana, 1864-1868
Author Murdoch, Thomas William Clinton; Walcott, Stephen
Date 8 Jan 1864 - 7 Dec 1868
Document Type Correspondence
Reference CO 386/96
Library / Archive The National Archives
Collection Name Colonial Office: Land and Emigration Commission, etc.
Description Copies of out-letters regarding indentured labour in British Guiana, mostly addressed to Sir Frederic Rogers, some for the attention of the Secretary of State. The correspondence is primarily concerned with the health of migrants and mortality rates on board migrant vessels, but also covers colonial legislation, liberated Africans, conditions on estates in British Guiana, the supply of labour, sanitation, and proposals to extend the recruitment of indentured migration to the United States and further regions of China. 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; Journey Conditions; Departures: Port Conditions and Organisation; Remigration
Country (from) India; China; United States of America
Country (to) British Guiana; Jamaica; Surinam; Trinidad
Places London, England; Georgetown, British Guiana; St Helena; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States; Grenada
Ports Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Whampoa, China; New York City, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Nationality Indian; Chinese; Asian; American; African; European
Ships Trevelyan; Conway; Clarence; Ashleta; Fusilier; Lady Elgin; Orient; British Trident; Oasis; Jason; Copenhagen; Ganges; Golden Empire; Golden Sea
People Rogers, Sir Frederic; Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, Richard); Duke of Newcastle (Pelham-Clinton, Henry Pelham); Hincks, Sir Francis
Keywords eligibility, death, shipping, surgeon, agent, disease, medical examination, labour, labourer, sugar, agent, Bounty Emigration, indentured labour, female emigration, child migration, slavery, sanitation, measles, cholera, diet, starvation, coolie, Liberated Africans
Language English
Copyright Crown Copyright documents © are reproduced by permission of The National Archives London, UK