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Title Emigration Commissioners, 1857. Volume 1. January to July
Date 29 Dec 1856 - 13 Aug 1857
Document Type Correspondence; Manuscript
Reference CO 384/98
Library / Archive The National Archives
Collection Name War and Colonial Department and Colonial Office: Emigration Original Correspondence.
Description Volume one of two containing correspondence in relation to emigration commissioners and related topics. Includes a list of female passengers and details of what protection they require, lists of agents and commissioners employed by the Emigration Commission and salaries, and a list of ships. Also includes land and emigration returns, violations of the Passengers' Act, land claims and reports on emigrant and passenger regulations.
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
Country (to) Australia; Jamaica; New Zealand; Trinidad; British Guiana; Falkland Islands; Canada; United States of America
Places Devon, Cornwall, Woolwich, England; South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, West Australia, Australia; Wales
Ports Liverpool, London, Plymouth, Birkenhead, Southampton, England; Glasgow, Greenock, Scotland; Dublin, Belfast, Londonderry, Sligo, Galway, Limerick, Tralee, Cork, Waterford, Ireland
Nationality English, Scottish, Welsh
Ships Northern Lights; Octavia; Constantine; Lord Raglan; Agincourt; Flora; Fitz James; Victoria Regia; Velocity; Royal Albert; Oriental; Australia; Sea Park; Aliquis; Eden; City of Bristol
People Murdoch, Thomas William Clinton; Merrivale, Herman; Elliot, Thomas Frederick; Trevelyan, Sir Charles Edward; Rogers, Frederick
Keywords commissioner, agent, salary, passage broker, mining, colony, skilled migration, female women, land grant, railways, Passengers' Act, insurance, legislature, trade, hospital
Additional Information This volume includes searchable printed documents.
Language English
Document(s) linked to Emigration Commission, 1857. Volume 2. August to December. Public Offices, A to Z
Printed Documents in this Volume Instructions to Agents for the Selection of Emigrants
Instructions for the Management of the Distilling Galleys on Board Her Majesty's Ships
Copyright Crown Copyright documents © are reproduced by permission of The National Archives London, UK