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Title Entry-Books of Correspondence: Letters to the Colonial Office. North America, 1843-1847
Author Wood, C Alexander; Rogers, Frederic; Murdoch, Thomas William Clinton; Villiers, Sir Edward; Elliot, Sir Thomas Frederick; Lefevre, Sir J G S
Date 24 Mar 1843 - 26 Aug 1847
Document Type Correspondence
Reference CO 386/82
Library / Archive The National Archives
Collection Name Colonial Office: Land and Emigration Commission, etc.
Description Copies of out-letters, mostly addressed to Sir James Stephen and Benjamin Hawes, some for the attention of the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. The correspondence largely relates to land grants to military settlers, land claims, land sale, colonial legislation, emigrant numbers, relief for destitute migrants, disease, overcrowding and death on board migrant ships, the number of migrants settling in Canada, and financial matters. 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; Motives for Emigration; Journey Conditions; Arrivals: Ports and Early Experiences
Country (from) Ireland; Great Britain
Country (to) Canada
Places Montreal, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Lower Canada, Canada; County Donegal, Ireland; London, England
Ports Liverpool, England; Belfast, Northern Ireland; Youghal, Galway, Berehaven, Ireland; Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Nationality English; European; Irish; German
Ships Rochester; Swatara; Danube; Elizabeth and Sarah; Charles; Margaret Thompson; Sir James MacDonnell; Recovery; Linden; Eliza and Ann; Lady Constable; Barbados; Florence; Time; Mary; Carisbrooke; England
People Bagot, Sir Charles; Lord Howick (Grey, Henry); Gladstone, William Ewart; Earl of Derby (Smith-Stanley, Sir Edward); Lord Cathcart (Cathcart, Charles)
Keywords timber, land claim, land grant, land sale, military road, army veteran, navy veteran, legislation, administration, female emigration, labour, labourer, poverty, agriculture, fishing and fishermen, agent, regulations, child migration, shipping, assisted emigration, workhouse, orphan, emigration society, railway, assisted emigration, quarantine, customs, fever, death, surgeon, medical examination
Language English
Copyright Crown Copyright documents © are reproduced by permission of The National Archives London, UK