1820 British Settler

George Pigot 47, Gentleman farmer and retired Major of Dragoons, and Leader of this Party, together with his wife Elizabeth Tomkinson 32 (who he married less than one month before embarkation), and 2 daughters, were members of Pigot's Party of 54 Settlers on the Settler Ship Northampton.

Party originated from Berkshire.

Departed Portsmouth, 13 December 1819. Arrived Table Bay, Cape Town on 26 March 1820. Final Port - Algoa Bay, Port Elizabeth on 30 April 1820.

Area Allocated to the Party : a block of land, named Pigot Park, on the left bank of the Blaauwkrantz River.

Children :

• Catherine Pigot 17
  
• Eliza Sophia Pigot 15
  

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Major George Pigot (9th Dragoon Guards) was a wealthy gentleman farmer who left his home at Chievely, Berkshire in December 1819, to lead a party of 54 settlers on the ship 'Northampton'. They arrived at Algoa Bay on 30 April/2 May 1820. With him was his new wife Elizabeth Tomkinson (married 3 Dec 1819 shortly before departure) and two daughters: 18-yr-old Catherine and 16-yr-old Sophia. The latter kept a journal during the voyage which tells us much about daily routine on board during the journey as well as the early life of the settlers in the Eastern Cape. (The Journals of Sophia Pigot, 1819-1821; Volume 3 of the Graham's Town series; Edited by Margaret Rainier and published for Rhodes University by A. A. Balkema, 1974). Elizabeth returned to England after George's death in 1830 but both daughters remained in South Africa.

Major George Pigot was the illegitimate son of Lord George Pigot of Patshull (twice Governor of Madras, 1st and last Baronet of Patshull) by Catherine Hill. Although illegitimate (Lord George Pigot never married and so had no legitimate children), Major George Pigot was recognised and bore the family name and escutcheon.

He built Pigot Park (on the Blaaukranz River in Albany, east of Grahamstown) which, unfortunately was burnt to the ground in December 1835 during the Sixth Frontier War.

George Pigot’s will was proved in 1831 (Prerogative Court of Canterbury) at which time he was described as of Bathurst, Albany, and mentions his wife Elizabeth, daughters Catharine Pigot and Sophia Moodie, and his brothers, Richard and Hugh Pigot. After arriving in South Africa he established the “Pigot” breed of dairy cattle. He is also said to have introduced merino sheep to the eastern Cape ('The Journals of Sophia Pigot', edited Margaret Rainier, p. 125).

Following dates extracted from "Dark Bright Land" by V M Fitzroy: 1787 George became an ensign in the 1st Staffordshire Regiment and was stationed in Ireland for some years; 1794 he was at the capture of Martinique and Guadeloupe; 1795 helped to quel negro riots in the Windward Islands; 1806 with the 9th Light Dragoons, sent to Monte Video; showed courage and decision of action in an attack on Buenos Aires. His interests lay more in the land so he exchanged to a reducing regiment, having a wish to cease active service, and retired as Major in 1808. Farmed in Staffordshire (resident at Fox Hill, Staffs in 1808) and then Berkshire (moved there ca.1811), where he settled in Chievely with his daughters Kate and Sophia and his mother's sister Mary Barbara Hill.

Several links concerning the South African settler, George PIGOT:

correspondence with Lord BATHURST, 1819: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/SOUTH-AFRICA-IMMIGRANTS-BRITIS...

And a general survey of his S. African party of emmigrants, indluding wife Elizabeth, & two daughterrs: http://www.genealogyworld.net/nash/pigot.html

London Metropolitan Archives: George PIGOT Esq of the parish of Chievely, Berks, bachelor [sic] married Elizabeth TOMPKINSON, spinster, by Licence on 3 December 1819 in St.Pancras Old Church. Both signed their names: Witnesses: Hugh PIGOT, Catherine PIGOT, Sophia PIGOT and Catherine WENTOR

letters from George Pigot re plans to emigrate: http://www.eggsa.org/1820-settlers/index.php/p/971-2011-01-04-10-56...

letters from George Pigot (1821): http://www.eggsa.org/1820-settlers/index.php/post-1820-letters/p-wr...

letter from George Pigot (1823): http://www.eggsa.org/1820-settlers/index.php/post-1820-letters/p-wr...

http://www.archive.org/stream/britishsouthafri00camp#page/124/mode/2up for a list of SETTLERS ARRIVED ON BOARD THE “NORTHAMPTON” which arrived at Table Bay, 26h March 1820 (as per Appendix III, ‘List of the Settlers of 1820’, published in 'British South Africa, A History of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope from its Conquest 1795 to the settlement of Albany by the British Emigration of 1819'; published 1897).