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Objective
The purpose of this project is to record as many of the ORIGINAL settlers (Heads of the family groups) so that researchers can identify family lines and descendants.
Secondly, current researchers who are descendants of the 1820 Settlers will be able to identify fellow researchers.
Project Image - "The British Settlers of 1820 Landing in Algoa Bay", by Thomas Baines, 1853 - Albany Museum Collection Public Domain
Historical Summary
Encouraged by the British government to emigrate to the Cape colony, the first 1820 British settlers arrived in Table Bay on 17 March 1820.
Lord Somerset, British governor in South Africa, saw this as an opportunity to entice British immigrants to the Cape. He thought that the increased manpower in the Cape Colony would also help to maintain peace on the border between the Fish and Sundays Rivers.
In 1819, the British government decided to send emigrants to the Cape. Attractive conditions such as free land were offered and 90 000 applications, of which only 4 000 were approved, were received. From there they were sent to Algoa Bay, today known as Port Elizabeth.
Sir Rufane Donkin (1773-1841) was given the task of organising the 1820 Settlers in Port Elizabeth. He was officially the first governor of Port Elizabeth from the 6 June 1820 - 1821. He married Elizabeth Markham in Yorkshire who travelled with him to India where she became seriously ill and died in August 1818 after their first son George David was born. Sir Rufane Donkin built a memorial to his wife Elizabeth known as the Donkin Memorial on top of a hill above the city center and named the city, Port Elizabeth, in her memory.
Sir Rufane Donkin arrived on June 6, 1820 to superintend the settlement of emigrants in the embryo town. Sir Donkin was a soldier, politician and writer and he saw service all over the world with his regiments, the 44th Foot and the 11th Foot.
How to Participate
If you have an ancestor who was a 1820 Settler:
- Get yourself added as a collaborator
- Navigate to your ancestor's profile
- Under the "More Actions" link choose "Add to Project"
- Select the 1820 British Settlers in South Africa" project
Getting Involved Feel free to follow, request to collaborate
To join the project use the request link under "actions" at the top right of the page.
Visit
Geni's Project Plaza
Working with Projects
Wicked Wiki
Geni Wikitext, Unicode and images which gives a great deal of assistance.
See the discussion Project Help: How to add Text to a Project - Starter Kit to get you going!
Optional:
- Include in the "About Me" section of each person a brief biographical sketch of their lives. Also include their Settler party and ship name and arrival date if known
- Include a photograph/painting of your ancestor if one exists. In the interests of uniformity please use one of the images attached to this project as "flags" for 1820 Settlers where there are no other photos available. It easily identifies the actual person who was on one of the ships when browsing the Tree.
- Your ancestor's profiles should be marked as "public" and not "private".
- All included profiles should include full identifying information including birth and death dates as well as birth and death locations. It would also be very helpful if the immediate family of your pioneer ancestor, (their parents, siblings and children) profiles were public profiles also.
- Do not make public any profiles of living people.
NOTE: All settlers included on this project will have their profiles editable by other geni.com collaborators of this project.
External Links
- The 1820 Settler Correspondence - eGGSA Pages
- A list of the Settler parties of 1820 ship by ship
- 1820 Settlers to South Africa - Paul Tanner-Tremaine's extensive Settler collection
- Destination Albany 1820 - Mike Wright's Settler database
- South African Settlers - ** NEW **
- 1820 Settlers - Extensive table of all Settler parties, ships and surnames - Robin Griffiths
- 1820 Settler Correspondence before emigration
- The 1820 Settlers by Tessa King - Presentation to West Rand GSSA
- Settlers - Wikipedia Information about the 1820 Settlers
- British Settlers to Natal
- 1820 Settlers - The Baldwin Project
- British South Africa online publication - Appendix VI has biographical notes and many of the settlers.
- "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-- ; with notices of some of the British settlers of 1820"
For other groups of settlers see
Pre - 1820 British Settlers in South Africa
Post - 1820 British Settlers in South Africa WIP
Retired Soldiers who settled at the Cape 1818 - 1826
South African British Settlers - un-dated pre 1900
Individual 1820 Parties
marks those parties which have all members linked to trees. Well done!!
(WIP - not all checked - CJB)
Full alphabetical list of 1820 Settlers - sorted on Family name in family groups. 
● Clark's Party. - including Brown's and Stubbs Divisions
Not in M D Nash's Settler Handbook
● Russell's Party Survivors of the sunk Abeona. See below.
● Sephton's Party and Gush's Party
Also -
● 1820 Settlers - Independent immigrants not linked to a Party
● Independent Party on the ship Garland Ship's Captain Alex Brown Not in M D Nash's Settler Handbook
● British Ships to South Africa in the 1800's - HMS Virgo
Plus the tragic -
● Loss of the Abeona On 25th Nov 1821 the Abeona caught fire; of a crew of 21 and 141 emigrants, (161 people), only 49 were saved. The passengers were mostly from Glasgow.
Progress Report
There are 4024 names/numbers added or listed in the above projects - exceeding the number approved (4000, due mainly to private, independent settlers and births at sea]. As at 23rd March 2017 2433 profiles have been linked to the projects - just under 60%. These figures have not all been fine-tuned/checked. There are 2 fewer profile(s) linked to this main page than to the combined party pages - this may change - the number fluctuates as I work though the projects [CJB]. This is an on-going exercise and numbers will be checked periodically.
The following is a guide to the progress made.
Those projects where all names listed have been linked are in bold. There are a few occasions where there are more profiles added than are listed - these will be checked - often the result of people who died before departure etc. In order to keep the numbers in line all members listed/named are included - whether they died pre-departure or at sea.
Ship; Party number; Profiles added
- Bailie's Party 257 198
- Biggar's Party 55 46
- Bowker's Party 23 20
- Bradshaw's Party 64 55
- Butler's Party 27 14
- Calton's Party 167 109
- Charles Campbell's Party 50 22
- Duncan Campbell's Party 28 0
- Carlisle's Party 15 3
- Clark's Party. - including Brown's and Stubbs Divisions 88 50
- Cock's Party 91 64
- Crause's Party 44 44
- Dalgairns' Party 33 23
- Damant's Party 57 35
- Daniell's Party 41 8
- Dixon's Party 48 35
- Dyason's Party 67 60
- Erith's Party 21 16
- Ford's Party 42 42
- Gardner's Party 33 29
- Garland Ind. 59 0
- Greathead's Party 20 8
- Griffith's Party 42 13
- Gurney's Party 24 13
- Hayhurst's Party 107 72
- Holder's Party 39 32
- Howard's Party 60 51
- Hyman's Party 42 42
- Ingram's Party 62 25
- James' Party 60 61
- Liversage's Party 48 41
- Mahony's Party 42 20
- Mandy's Party 44 23
- Menezes' Party 56 41
- Mills' Party 29 19
- Morgan's Party 41 25
- Mouncey's Party 43 14
- Neave's Party 19 5
- Nightingale's Party 39 5
- Osler's Party 35 13
- Owen's Party 53 37
- Parker's Party 250 87
- Parkin's Party 30 15
- Philipps' Party 30 10
- Pigot's Party 54 26
- Pringle's Party 243 22
- Richardson's Party 36 26
- Rowles' Party 27 12
- Russell's Party - Survivors of the sunk Abeona who reached South Africa. 6 0
- Scott's Party 37 14
- Sephton's Party and Gush's Party 344 291
- George Smith's Party 71 50
- William Smith's Party 40 32
- Southey's Party 49 41
- Stanley's Party 32 16
- Synnot's Party 25 11
- Thornhill's Party 35 27
- Turvey's Party 61 46
- Wainwright's Party 24 21
- HMS Virgo 2 - 2
- Wait's Party 48 35
- White's Party 27 6
- Wilkinson's Party 25 7
- Willson's Party 307 170
- Independent immigrants not linked to a Party - 5 Totals - 4024 / 2405
THE SETTLER SHIPS
- Aboena the Government Settler Scheme Greenock
- Albury the Government Settler Scheme Liverpool
- Amphitrite Private Settler Parties Portsmouth
- Aurora the Government Settler Scheme London
- Brilliant the Government Settler Scheme London
- Canada Private Settler Parties London
- Chapman the Government Settler Scheme London
- Dowson Private Settler Parties London
- Duke of Marlborough Private Settler Parties Portsmouth
- East Indian the Government Settler Scheme Cork
- Fanny the Government Settler Scheme Cork
- Garland Private Settler Parties London
- John the Government Settler Scheme Liverpool
- Kennersley Castle the Government Settler Scheme Bristol
- La Belle Alliance the Government Settler Scheme London
- Mary Ann Sophia Private Settler Parties London
- Medusa ✽ The Medusa brought a small party of 1820 Settlers - Commander Hutchinson, landed Simon’s Bay 17th June, 1820
- Nautilus the Government Settler Scheme London
- Northampton the Government Settler Scheme Portsmouth
- Ocean the Government Settler Scheme London
- Salisbury Private Settler Parties London
- Sir George Osborn the Government Settler Scheme London
- Stentor the Government Settler Scheme Liverpool
- Waterloo the Government Settler Scheme
- Weymouth the Government Settler Scheme Portsmouth
- Zoroaster the Government Settler Scheme London
Most of the settler transports sailed in pairs, each pair accompanied by an Agent of Transports appointed by the Navy Board, who was responsible for the embarkataion and supervision of the settlers. Cabin accommodation was reserved for the heads of the larger parties and their families, and 'females above the class of common settlers'. Others heads of parties were permitted to erect their own cabins using temporary partitions.
The London parties embarked at Deptford, but did not set sail at once for the Cape. In some cases they had to wait for the frozen Thames to thaw before the transports could drop down river to Gravesend. After leaving the Thames, they anchored in the Downs off Deal to await favourable winds, and some ships anchored again at Spithead or Torbay to take on extra provisions or ballast, or undergo last minute repairs, before finally setting out on their long voyage. The settlers on board the Northampton, which left Deptford on 9 December 1819, did not see the last of Engalnd until she sailed from Cowes for the Cape on 4 January 1820.
The dates of departure have been taken from settler reminiscences and the shipping reports in the Cape Town Gazette.
✽ Privately chartered ships, carrying settler parties which did not fall within the government-assisted emigration scheme, have not been included in this list.
SCHEDULE OF DEPARTURES
- Chapman left Gravesend 3.12.1819 carrying Bailie's and Carlisle's parties.
- Nautilus left Gravesend 3.12.1819 carrying Crause's, Mandy's, Owen's, Rowles' and Scott's parties.
- Ocean left Gravesend 13.12.1819 carrying Damant's, Dixon's, Howard's and Morgan's parties.
- Northampton left Gravesend 13.12.1819 carrying Clark's, Dalgairns', Mahony's, Pigot's and William Smith's parties.
- Weymouth (HM Store Ship) left Portsmouth 7.1.1820 carrying Biggar's, Bowker's, Duncan Campbell's, Cock's, Ford's, Gurney's, Hyman's, James', Menezes', Osler's and Parkin's parties.
- Kennersley Castle left Bristol 10.1.1820 carrying Bradshaw's, Greathead's, Holder's, Philipps' and Southey's parties.
- John left Liverpool 13.1.1820 carrying Hayhurst's, Liversage's, Mouncey's, Stanley's and Wainwright's parties.
- Stentor left Liverpool 13.1.1820 carrying Griffith's, Neave's, Richardson's, George Smith's and White's parties.
- Aurora left Gravesend 15.2.1820 carrying the main division of Sephton's party.
- Brilliant left Gravesend 15.2.1820 carrying Erith's and Pringle's parties and Gush's division of Sephton's party.
- East Indian Departed first from Deptford, London on 27th Dec 1819 with English Settlers; Arrived Cork 22 January 1920 where the Irish settlers were collected. Departure Cork, Ireland 12 February 1820
- Fanny left Cork 12.2.1820 carrying Butler's, Ingram's and Synnot's parties.
- La Belle Alliance left Gravesend - , and left the Downs 12.2.1820 carrying Willson's party.
- Zoroaster left Gravesend - , and left the Downs 12.2.1820 carrying Dyason's, Thornhill's and Wait's parties.
- Albury left Liverpool 13.2.1820 carrying Calton's party.
- Sir George Osborn left Gravesend - , and left the Downs 16.3.1820 carrying Gardner's, Mills' and Turvey's parties.
- Abeona left Greenock 13.10.1820 carrying Russell's party.
The following is a list of vessels, followed by the names of their commanders, and the dates of their
ARRIVAL IN TABLE BAY OR SIMON'S BAY
- Nautilus Walton Table Bay 17th March, 1820
- Chapman Millbank Table Bay 17th March, 1820
- Garland Brown Table Bay 22nd March, 1820
- Northampton Charlton Table Bay 26th March, 1820
- Hennersley Castle Pinckney Table Bay 29th March, 1820
- Ocean Davis Table Bay 29th March, 1820
- Amphitrite Martin Table Bay 29th March, 1820
- John Pearson Table Bay 19th April, 1820
- Stentor Harris Table Bay 19th April, 1820
- Weymouth Turner Table Bay 26th April, 1820
- Canada Annan Table Bay 26th April, 1820
- Brilliant Bothwell Simon’s Bay 30th April, 1820
- Zoroaster Thompson Simon’s Bay 30th April, 1820
- East Indian Hogg Simon’s Bay 30th April, 1820
- Fanny Sadler Simon’s Bay 1st May, 1820
- Albury Cunningham Simon’s Bay 1st June, 1820
- Aurora Pearson Simon’s Bay 1st June, 1820
- La Belle Alliance Rolfe Table Bay 2nd June, 1820
- Medusa Hutchinson Simon’s Bay 17th June, 1820
- Duke of Marlboro Jeffrey Table Bay 18th June, 1820
- Sir George Osborne Taplin Simon’s Bay 18th June, 1820
- Cumbrian Brownrigg Table Bay 10th Aug., 1820
- Skelton Dixon Table Bay 20th Sept., 1820
- Dowson Jameson Table Bay 15th Oct., 1820
- Westmoreland Polton Table Bay 7th March, 1821
- Waterloo Lyon Table Bay 24th May, 1821
See also - http://www.oocities.org/capecolonysettlers/
Further Reading
- 1820 Settler Family Trees and eastern Cape Families 1800-1900 - Hugo Slater in CD Format - available from CDBooks-r-us
The 1820 Settler Correspondence extensive material
See Also Related Geni Project Pages:
- 1820 Settlers in South Africa who did not stay
- South African Progenitors
- South African Genealogical Reference Centre is there to help with SA genealogical nitty gritty; naming conventions and language usages.
Go to
South Africans' Geni Landing Site. WELKOM CUZZINS!
First port of call for South African GENi
.-0*0-. http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/SOUTH-AFRICA-IMMIGRAN...
Herewith a wonderful excerpt of South African history regarding the background to and arrival of the 1820 Settlers, drawn from "History of South Africa from 1795 to 1872" by George McCall THEAL. Vol I, George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London, 1914.
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Before 1820 the white population of the Cape Colony was almost entirely Dutch, and it was so prolific that it doubled in number every quarter of a century. It was engaged chiefly in agricultural and pastoral pursuits. The only British residents in the country were the principal civil servants, some merchants in Capetown, the staff of the naval arsenal in Simonstown, two or three farmers, a few missionaries, and some mechanics and labourers recently introduced by Mr. Benjamin Moodie (1789 - 1856), Mr. James Gosling, and Mr. Peter Tait.
In 1817 Mr. Moodie, with the concurrence of the secretary of state, engaged about two hundred young men in the south of Scotland, and brought them out as apprentices indentured for three years. Three-fourths of the number were mechanics, and the remainder were labourers. With two or three exceptions, they were without family ties. They cost Mr. Moodie about £20 each for their passages, and so great was the demand for their services that he had no difficulty in selling the indentures for more than double that amount, in many cases to the men themselves. Some of these people settled in Capetown, others in the country districts, and in a short time all of them who were industrious and steady were in prosperous circumstances. By writing to their friends at home they helped to bring the country to the notice of the labouring classes of Great Britain, and it was largely owing to their success that Earl Bathurst came to regard South Africa as a suitable field colonisation. Mr. Moodie himself settled on an excellent farm at Grootvadersbosch, in the district of Swellendam.
Mr. Gosling was an experimental gentleman farmer in the district of Stellenbosch. In 1818 he got out twelve boys as apprentices from a charitable institution termed the Refuge for the Destitute, but his expectations of success were not realised, and some of the lads with criminal instincts turned out badly.
In 1818 a gentleman named Peter Tait took to the colony seven Scotch labourers. He received from the government a tract of land in the district of George, where he considered the prospects of farming so good that in the following year he had nineteen others of the same class sent out to him. All were under indentures, and he was able to obtain a considerable advance upon the cost of passage for as many of these as he cared to dispose of. The men thus introduced throve better than they could have done in Scotland, but Mr. Tait himself lost his capital through the failure of his crops in 1820, 21, and 22, and after struggling on until 1824 gave up farming and returned to Britain.
Some seven or eight hundred time-expired soldiers, principally of the 60th regiment, had recently been discharged in Capetown, but most of these men were foreigners. They readily obtained employment as labourers, though as they were of indifferent character and formed connections with the coloured people, they were more harmful than useful to the colony. Of late, Earl Bathurst had been offering land in South Africa to persons desirous of emigrating, in extent proportionate to their means of cultivating it, but as no other inducement was held out, the offer was almost without result.
For some years after the termination of the long war with France there was much distress among the labouring people of Great Britain, as the country could not furnish employment at once for the large numbers who directly or indirectly had been occupied in carrying on the contest. The only remedy seemed to be emigration to other parts of the empire where the condition of things was different, where there was land without people, or work to be dons and no one to do it. This was the state of the Cape Colony, with its genial climate, its sparsely inhabited territory, and its undeveloped resources.
On the 28th of July 1817 the subject of emigration to South Africa on a large scale was first mooted in a despatch from Earl Bathurst, in which Lord Charles Somerset was called upon for an expression of opinion. The governor replied on the 18th of December, enthusiastically favouring the scheme. He described the territory between the Sunday and Fish Rivers, known as the Zuurveld or Albany, in glowing terms, and certainly, judging from its appearance in favourable seasons, he was justified in doing so. It has always been the case in South Africa that any advantages possessed by a locality are recognised at first sight, and its faults only become known by experience. Thus the governor knew no other bane than Kaffir marauders, for which a dense population behind his frontier defensive line would be an effectual remedy. He described the climate as delicious, and the soil as fertile. Wool, corn, tobacco, and cotton, he affirmed, could be produced for exportation. It was a land where, in his opinion, steady and industrious mechanics and labourers would be certain to succeed.
The plan he recommended was that parties of working people should be sent out, each under a competent head who should receive a grant of land proportionate in size to the number of his retainers. Apart from such a system being one which he as a member of an aristocratic family would naturally favour there was a special reason, in his opinion, for its adoption in the eastern part of the Cape Colony. It would provide in the best manner for defence against the Kaffirs, as a number of men would be always ready on every estate to repel marauders. It was indeed the common system of the colony, for instances were very rare of the owner of a plot of ground cultivating it with his own hands. In the west the proprietors of the cornfields and vineyards had numerous slaves. In the midland and north-eastern districts the graziers always had Hottentots and other coloured dependents upon their farms. But the parallel was not complete. What answered well where the labourers were of an inferior race might not succeed where the proprietor of the ground and the dependents were of the same blood and of the same, or nearly the same, station in society.
The imperial government then resolved to send to South Africa some of the surplus population of Great Britain and Ireland, and in 1819 parliament was asked to grant £50,000 for the purpose. The money was voted without demur, and measures were immediately taken to carry out the scheme. The first step was to call for applications from persons desirous of taking out emigrants, which was done by inserting notices in the leading newspapers.
The conditions were that each applicant should engage to take with him at least nine other able-bodied males over eighteen years of age. Passages, including provisions for the persons composing such parties and their families, would be provided free of charge to the port of landing, but the responsibility of the government for further maintenance would then cease. Ground to the extent of one hundred acres for each male over eighteen years of age would be allotted at once, and at the expiration of three years a title-deed would be issued free of all charges to the head of the party for as many hundred acres as there should be then such males remaining on it. No taxes were to be payable for the ground during the first ten years, and thereafter the annual quitrent was not to exceed £2 per hundred acres. Each person taking out emigrants was to deposit with the government £10 for every man with his wife and two children and every unmarried male over eighteen years of age, and where there were more than two children in a family £5 for every one in excess between fourteen and eighteen, and £5 for every two under fourteen years of age. One-third of this deposit was to be returned when the party landed, one-third when the ground was occupied, and the remaining third three months thereafter. Agricultural implements, seed corn, and rations for a short period were to be supplied to any who might need them at cost price, to be paid for out of the deposit money. The head of a party was to be at liberty to make any arrangements with his people that he and they might consider best for their mutual advantage; and every party of one hundred families was to have the privilege of selecting a clergyman of any denomination of Christians to accompany it, to whom a salary would be paid by the colonial government.
In reply to this invitation so many applications were received that the government had fully twenty times as many to choose from as could be sent out with the means provided by parliament. A careful selection was then made, which ended in the approval of fifty-seven heads of parties, who undertook to take out one thousand and thirty-four Englishmen, four hundred and twelve Scotchmen, one hundred and seventy-four Irishmen, and forty-two Welsh-men, about two-thirds of whom were to be accompanied by wives and children. Before embarking, however, a good many changes were made in the lists of names, and one party of four hundred Scotch families under Captain J. Grant withdrew altogether.
The parties were variously constituted. Only a few, and they the smallest of all, consisted of servants bound by agreements to their head. Many consisted of groups of persons each of whom had a few servants, together with some who were dependent on their own labour alone, and who elected a head merely as an intermediary with the government. Such parties agreed to divide the ground that was to be granted to the head in fair proportions among them. Others consisted entirely of independent units, with only a nominal head, and these agreed that each man was to receive one hundred acres of the grant, and each one contributed his own deposit money. One such party, from Nottingham, was supplied by public subscription with the necessary funds. In a few instances parishes furnished the os to families who, in consequence of dearth of employment, were likely to become burdensome on them.
Many of the leaders of parties were military or naval officers, who, in consequence of the peace, were obliged to live on half pay. There were four large English parties : of one hundred and two men, seventy-two women, and hundred and thirty-three children, under Mr. Thomas Wilson, accompanied by the reverend William Boardman, a clergyman of the English Episcopal church ; one of one hundred and one men, eighty-two women, and one hundred sixty-one children, under Mr. Hezekiah Sephton, accompanied by the reverend William Shaw, a clergyman of the Wesleyan church ; one of ninety men, fifty-eight women, and hundred and eight children, under Mr. John Bailie ; and of sixty men, thirty-four women, and seventy-three children, under Mr. Thomas Calton. There was an Irish party seventy-five men, fifty women, and ninety-five children, under Mr. William Parker, accompanied by the reverend Francis McCleland, a clergyman of the English Episcopal Church. The others were all groups ranging from ten to thirty men, with a number of women and children. In some instances the men left their wives and children behind, these did not reach South Africa until several years.
The people who were about to leave Britain and Ireland, where they could then obtain no employment, with the intention of making homes for themselves in a country of which they knew little more than the name, consisted of a men who were unfit for manual labour but who were possession of small capitals, clerks, mechanics of all disciplines, farm labourers, discharged sailors and soldiers, boatmen, fishermen, workers in towns, men in short of most every known occupation. They were not aware that the physical condition of South Africa was very different from that of the land they were leaving, but pictured to themselves wide-spreading cornfields and flourishing villages on their little grants, a hundred acres of land seeming to them a considerable estate.
The first transports—the Chapman and Nautilus—left the Thames on the 5th and 9th of December 1819, and arrived together in Table Bay on the 17th of March 1820. They were followed by the Garland, Canada, Belle Alliance, Brilliant, Zoroaster, Aurora, and Sir George Osborne from London, the John, Stentor, and Albury from Liverpool, the Northampton, Ocean, Weymouth, and Duke of Marlborough from Portsmouth, the Kennersley Castle from Bristol, and the Amphitrite from Torbay. Altogether these ships brought to South Africa one thousand and seventy-nine men, six hundred and thirty-two women, and one thousand and sixty-four children as immigrants. Four Irish parties, under Mr. William Parker, Captain Walter Synnot, Captain Thomas Butler, and Mr. John Ingram, numbering together one hundred and twenty-six men, seventy-three women, and one hundred and fifty children, sailed from Cork in the transports East Indian and Fanny on the 12th of February 1820, and arrived in Simon's Bay on the 30th of April and 1st of May.
It had been Lord Charles Somerset's intention to locate the whole of the immigrants in the Zuurveld, but Sir Rufane Donkin made a different arrangement. Earl Bathurst had directed that each nationality—English, Scotch, and Irish —should be provided with ground by itself, so the acting governor decided to keep the Irish and some of the other parties in the western districts of the colony. The Scotch party under Mr. Thomas Pringle, consisting of twelve men, five women, and seven children, was directed by him to be located in the valley of the Baviaans' river in the sub-district of Cradock, and the principal English parties were to be placed in the Zuurveld. In accordance with this decision, the East Indian and Fanny on their arrival were sent to Saldanha Bay to disembark their passengers. Four parties of mixed Welsh and English, under Captain Duncan Campbell, Lieutenant Valentine Griffith, Lieutenant Thomas bite, and Mr. Joseph Neave, consisting together of fifty men, twenty-five women, and thirty-two children, were landed at Capetown, and the transports containing all the others were sent to Algoa Bay. Captain Moresby, in his Majesty's ship Menai, accompanied the Chapman and Nautilus when they sailed for that bay, and remained there superintend the landing of the immigrants and the stores. between the 10th of April and the 25th of June 1820 one thousand and twenty men, six hundred and seven women, one thousand and thirty-two children, were set ashore the sandy beach below Fort Frederick without a single incident occurring.
The number of immigrants about to arrive was unknown the Cape authorities, but preparations for their reception been made on such a scale at Algoa Bay that there was lack of food or tents for shelter. A surveyor had been d to make a rough chart of the country between the 'e and Fish rivers, and from his sketches and descriptions the soil and water locations were selected for the various 'houses according to their size. One party, under Mr. Charles Gurney, consisting chiefly of fishermen from Deal, and posed of thirteen men, three women, and eight children, erred to remain at Algoa Bay, where they thought they t succeed in the occupation to which they were accused They established themselves near the mouth of the Swartkops river, and called their little station Deal in memory of their old home. Wagons were requisitioned the Dutch farmers of George, Uitenhage, and Graaff Reinet, and with as little delay as possible the other immigrants were sent forward and placed on the ground selected them. Mr. Henry Ellis, who since July 1819 had been deputy colonial secretary, was there to superintend the arrival arrangements until Sir Rufane Donkin should arrive.
The acting governor decided to locate the four Irish Parties in the valley of the Jan Dissel's river at Clanwilliam. It was an unfortunate choice of locality, for the ground capable of cultivation was too limited in extent to support so many people, and the heat in summer is so great that nothing can grow there without irrigation. But under the most favourable circumstances very few of these people could have made a living by agriculture, as the great majority of them were mechanics or town labourers. Mr. William Parker, the head of the largest party, had come to South Africa with the expectation that he would be granted land at the Knysna, where he intended to engage in commerce, and was greatly disappointed when he was informed that the ground there was private property. He then with a companion visited Clanwilliam, and returned to Saldanha Bay, where the East Indian and Fanny were at anchor, with such an unfavourable impression that discontent became general among the immigrants.
The government now offered the Irish parties the choice of being located at Clanwilliam or the Zuurveld, upon which they selected the former, and were conducted to Jan Diesel's Valley in wagons requisitioned from the farmers. Mr. Parker, however, with some of his indentured servants remained at Saldanha Bay, where he formed fantastic plans of founding a town, engaging in commerce, and establishing a large fishery, though his means were very limited. As a matter of course, these schemes came to nothing, and he then threw the blame of his failure upon the government, and particularly upon Lieutenant-Colonel Bird, the colonial secretary, whom he accused of having purposely sought to ruin him. Colonel Bird was a Roman Catholic, and this was before the Catholic Emancipation Act was passed in England. Mr. Parker 'asserted that he was conspiring to subvert Protestantism in the colony, and that as a Catholic it was illegal for him to hold a civil office. He wrote long letters on this subject and his own distress to Earl Bathurst and many leading men in England, and after his departure from South Africa in October 1822 he pestered the colonial office with letters and pamphlets for several years, in the vain hope of obtaining either a lucrative situation or pecuniary compensation for his losses.
A few weeks' experience convinced the settlers at Clanwilliam that it would be an impossibility for so many persona to make a living there. The government also recognised that a mistake had been made, and on the 25th of July offered to remove them to the Zuurveld and supply them with rations free of charge until they could gather crops, in consideration of their loss of time. Most of them accepted the offer, and thereafter became blended with the English settlers in Albany. Some of Mr. Parker's people, whom he had abandoned, preferred, however, to remove to Capetown, where they could obtain employment at high wages, and they were permitted to do so. Mr. Ingram was allowed to purchase the claims of some of the others at a very low rate, and had a title to the ground given to him, so he remained there a couple of years longer, though his party removed to Albany. Captain Walter Synnot remained also, and on the 30th of November 1821 became deputy landdrost of Clanwilliam, in succession to Mr. Olof Martini Bergh. The reverend Francis McCleland, who was in receipt of a salary from government, was retained at Clanwilliam, where after 1822 he had only six English-speaking families to minister to, until November 1825, when he was transferred to Port Elizabeth.
The parties under Messrs. Griffith, White, Campbell, and Neave were sent to the farm Wolvegat purchased by the government for £1,200 for the purpose, adjoining some vacant ground on the Zonderend river, not far from the Moravian mission station Genadendal. But the soil proved so poor that all idea of permanent residence there was soon abandoned by most of the settlers, and on the 25th of July an offer was made to them similar to that made to the parties at Clanwilliam. Lieutenant Griffith preferred to take over from the tenant the lease of the Old Post farm in Groenekloof, and with his brother and some labourers moved to it; Mr. Neave chose to remain where he was; the others accepted the offer of the government, and were conveyed to Albany. Thus the immigrants with very few exceptions were located on the ground that Lord Charles Somerset intended they should be settled upon. At the time of their arrival there were only thirty-eight farms occupied in the whole of that district, so completely had the depredations of the Kaffirs deterred the old colonists from settling there. Of these farms sixteen were subsequently resumed by the government, so that from the first Albany was almost purely a British settlement, although at a later date several Dutch colonists had land granted to them there.
The immigrants had hardly reached their destination when dissatisfaction appeared among them. They found a beautiful country indeed, clothed with grass and dotted over with trees like an English park, but it was not the country they had pictured to themselves before seeing it. The proportion that was capable of being tilled was small, and the hundred acres allotted for each man included that which was fit only for pasture as well as that adapted for the plough. Then in many cases redistribution of locations became necessary, as fresh parties arrived, and those who were moved to inferior ground were loud in their complaints. Besides this, the mechanics and the labourers who were indentured to heads of parties came to hear of the high wages paid in other districts of the colony, and were desirous of breaking their engagements. To keep them together very stringent regulations were made by the government, so that no one could leave his location without a pass from the head of his party, or the district without a pass from the landdrost, under penalty of being apprehended and punished as a vagrant. The majority of the settlers knew nothing of agriculture, and those who had been accustomed to farm life in England had yet to learn a great deal in Africa. Still, with all the dissatisfaction, the settlers generally speaking set to work with the utmost energy. They had obtained seed corn and farm implements from the government on credit, and were furnished with rations on security of the two-thirds of their deposit money that had not yet been repaid. And so large patches of ground were turned over and sown with wheat, and cottages of simple structure were put up to serve until more substantial houses could be built.
On the 29th of April Sir Rufane Donkin left Capetown to visit the new settlement. He found that the cost of conveyance of the immigrants from Algoa Bay inland would absorb the whole of their funds still held by the government, so that nothing would remain to meet the charge for rations. He therefore proposed to the secretary of state that they should be relieved from payment of inland transport, and to this Earl Bathurst consented.
In the centre of the locations Sir Rufane Donkin selected a site for a village, which he intended to be a seat of magistracy. It was on the left bank of the Kowie river, about nine miles or fourteen kilometres from the sea, and was a situation of much natural beauty. He caused building allotments to be laid out, some of which were granted to applicants free of charge, and others were sold. This place he named Bathurst, in honour of the secretary of state, and on the 23rd of May Captain Charles Trappes, of the 72nd regiment, was stationed there as provisional magistrate. Shortly after-wards a commencement was made with the erection of the necessary public buildings. On the hill above the landing-place at Algoa Bay the acting governor erected a monument to the memory of his deceased wife. On the 6th of June he named the rising town upon the shore Port Elizabeth after her, of which notice was given in the Gazette of the 23rd. On the 25th of the same month he reached Capetown again.
Upon the withdrawal of the large party of Highland Scotch, the emigration commissioners selected other families in different parts of Great Britain, who embarked in seven vessels, of which four arrived towards the close of 1820 and two early in 1821. These immigrants were not very numerous, and all of them were located in Albany. The fate of those who left in the other vessel was extremely sad.
The Abeona, a transport of 328 tons burden, sailed from the Firth of Clyde on the 13th of October 1820. She bad a crew of twenty-one officers and men, and there were on board a party of emigrants consisting of twenty-nine men, twenty-one women, and seventy-six children, under the leadership of Mr. William Russell, besides two men, three women, and nine children who had paid their passages, and Lieutenant Robert Mudge, the admiralty agent. On the 25th of November, in latitude 4° 30' N., longitude 25° 30' W., shortly after mid-day a fire broke out in the store-room, caused by the chief mate using a lighted candle when drawing off some spirits. The flames spread with such rapidity that they were immediately beyond control, and only three small boats could be got out. Into these forty-nine persons crowded, when they could contain no more. The boats remained by the burning ship until she disappeared. A little before daybreak next morning the survivors were picked up by a Portuguese vessel from Bahia, and were taken to Lisbon, where they arrived on the 20th of December. Of Mr. Russell's party twenty-one men, twenty women, and fifty-nine children perished, including himself and his family. Of the other passengers, one woman and four children, and of the ship's crew eight men, met the same fate. Of those who were saved, five men and one woman persisted in their wish to settle in South Africa, and were sent out some months later.
At the same time that emigrants were being sent from Great Britain and Ireland at the expense of the government, a number of persons proceeded to South Africa without any aid, on the assurance of the secretary of state that they would receive larger grants of land if they paid for their passages. Some of these settled in Capetown and its neighbourhood, being induced to do so by the prospect of a comfortable livelihood there, others went on to Albany. Altogether, nearly five thousand individuals of British or Irish birth became residents in the colony between March 1820 and May 1821. The cost of conveyance of those who were sent out by the imperial government was 186,760 5s. 4d.
To provide more fully for the maintenance of order in the new settlement, on the 15th of September 1820 Sir Rufane Donkin issued a proclamation by which special heemraden with considerable authority could be appointed, and Messrs. Thomas Phillips, Duncan Campbell, and Miles Bowker were empowered to act in this capacity. This proclamation was followed on the 13th of October by an-other, by which from the date of assumption of duty by a landdrost the portion of the district of Uitenhage east of the Bushman's river, together with the tract of land between the Fish and Keiskama rivers, was created a separate district called Albany. The office of landdrost was offered to Lieutenant-Colonel John Graham, who was then commandant of Simonstown, but illness prevented him from removing, and in March 1821 he died. The situation was then offered to Colonel Moncton, who declined it ; and it was only on the 24th of May 1821 that it was filled by the appointment of Major James Jones, an officer on half pay who had recently arrived in the colony. On the 30th of May Major Jones was installed as landdrost and military commandant of the frontier, and Albany was severed from Uitenhage. Captain Trappes, the provisional magistrate at Bathurst, was now relieved of duty, but on the 4th of January 1822 he was appointed landdrost of Tulbagh in succession to Mr. Jan Hendrik Fischer, who retired. The office of deputy landdrost of Grahamstown, which had been filled since October 1819 by Captain Henry Somerset, was also abolished when Albany became a fully constituted district.
Throughout South Africa the wheat crops in 1820 were attacked by a kind of blight previously unknown in the country, and those in Albany were completely destroyed. This was a very severe blow to the settlers, who had expended their strength chiefly in attempting to produce corn, and who now found their labour fruitless. Under these circumstances many of the mechanics evaded the regulations of the government to keep them on the ground, and made their way to other parts of the country where they could obtain profitable employment. The great majority of the settlers, however, remained on the locations, and it is indeed much to their credit that they did not lose heart altogether, but resolved to bear the disaster bravely and to persevere in the effort to make for themselves comfortable homes. In June 1821 Sir Rufane Donkin again visited the eastern frontier. He found the immigrants in fairly good spirits, and making much greater progress in cultivating the ground than could have been expected from the previous occupations of most of them. Some had purchased a few working and breeding cattle, and had large gardens, with plenty of vegetables, pigs, and poultry. The majority were still of necessity provided with rations by the government, the meal for the purpose being brought from the western districts, where there was still corn left from the exceptionally good crop of 1819. Some of the parties had broken up, and were reorganised under other leaders ; one of the largest had been abandoned by its head, Mr. Thomas Willson, who returned to England to pester the colonial office with his complaints and demands for compensation for his losses. Each member of this party now regarded himself as an independent settler, but the reverend Mr. Boardman was acting as a general director and was the medium of communication with the government With the exception of the Scotch party at Baviaans' river, the large party under Mr. Sephton was the most thriving of them all. They had already built a neat little village, which they named Salem, where they had established a school, and where their clergyman, the reverend William Shaw, conducted services regularly.
The bar at the mouth of the Kowie river had been crossed frequently by a small fishing boat, and it was believed to be passable by sailing craft of light burden. There was a fine sheet of deep water above the bar, and strong hopes were entertained that it would furnish a safe harbour and do away with the long land carriage to and from Port Elizabeth. The health of the settlers was remark-ably good ; there was hardly one who was not more robust and hearty than when in England. Since their arrival the deaths had not exceeded a dozen, and the births had been over a hundred.
The Royal African corps was at this time under orders to return to England to be disbanded. Sir Rufane Donkin thought he could utilise the best men in it as an advanced guard of the colony, by forming a settlement with them in the lower portion of the vacant territory east of the Fish river. It was Lord Charles Somerset's intention to keep the district between the Fish and Keiskama rivers unoccupied except by soldiers, to have it constantly patrolled, and thus to prevent depredations by the Xosas and illegal intercourse between the two races. This design was now set aside by Sir Rufane Donkin, who resolved to fill a portion of it with Europeans. It had been his intention to locate the large party expected from Scotland in the valleys at the sources of the Kat river, and the ground there was surveyed for the purpose ; but the Highlanders changed their minds and remained at home, so that those beautiful and fertile valleys were still open. It was at the other end of the vacant district, however, that he now resolved to settle the discharged soldiers. At an interview with Gaika, after a short and friendly discussion that chief consented to his proposal.
On the 13th of June 1821 the acting governor entered into an agreement with Captains M. J. Sparks and R. Birch, Lieutenants A. Heddle, W. Cartwright, C. McCombie, and J. P. Sparks, Ensigns A. Matthewson, A. Chisholm, and C. Mackenzie, and Assistant-Surgeon R. Turnbull, officers of the Royal African corps, that to each of them should be granted a farm of two thousand morgen of land between the Beka and Fish rivers, free of charge for survey or title, and of quitrent for ten years, on condition that they should engage among them at least sixty men of the corps as servants and occupy the ground personally. The servants were to be provided with rations for nine months, were to receive two months' pay from the 25th of June—the date of disbandment, and each was to have a free grant of one hundred acres of ground at the end of three years' service, if he was an artificer fifty acres extra, if he should marry within three years fifty acres extra and twenty-five acres for each child. They were to be provided with arms and ammunition free of charge. No intoxicating liquor was to be sold within the settlement during the next three years, and neither men nor cattle were to cross the Beka.
On the same conditions, and with the approval of the officers, Mr. Benjamin Moodie, who brought out the Scotch mechanics in 1817, and who was then residing at Grootvadersbosch near the confluence of the Breede and Buffelsjagts rivers, and his two brothers, Donald and John Dunbar Moodie, retired lieutenants of the navy and army, who had recently arrived in the colony, were to receive farms of two thousand morgen each. A little later three brothers Crause, retired officers who were among the settlers in the Zuurveld, entered into a similar agreement.
To the non-commissioned officers of the Royal African corps who had saved some money, an offer was made of grants of land from two to four hundred acres in extent, according to their means, if they would engage a few of the men. They were to have the same privileges of rations, pay, and arms as those who took service with the officers. Six non-commissioned officers, with eighteen private soldiers as their servants, accepted this offer.
In addition to the farms to be granted, a village was laid out, in which all except the servants had plots of ground four acres in extent given to them free of charge. This village Sir Rufane Donkin named Fredericksburg, in honour of the Duke of York. The officers and seventy-eight discharged soldiers engaged as servants, together with the non-commissioned officers and their servants, at once took possession of it, and commenced to build cottages and make gardens. A military post, garrisoned by thirty-three men of the Cape corps, was established close by to protect the settlement in its infancy.
Everything went on well for a few months, but on the 26th of October the landdrost Major Jones issued a notice that as many farms as were required would be surveyed, and then the ownership would be decided by lot. The officers had already selected the ground that they desired to have, but this notice prevented all cultivation except that of the plots in the village. Time went on, and no surveyor appeared. The two months' pay promised to the soldiers was also withheld, which gave great dissatisfaction to the non-commissioned officers' parties. Further, Mr. Benjamin Moodie, who was to have been vested with magisterial authority, changed his mind and remained at Grootvadersbosch, so that there were no means of preserving order at Fredericksburg, and many of the servants were disposed to be unruly. These causes combined made the prospects of the new settlement particularly gloomy at the close of the year 1821.
For some time after the arrival of the British settlers the Kaffirs gave no trouble, but in September 1821 a daring robbery took place. Forty-eight head of cattle were driven off from Mr. Smith's location, and an English boy who was herding them was murdered. Mr. Brownlee, the missionary and government agent at the Tyumie, reported that the robbery was committed by the people of Nambili, a petty captain of Ndlambe's faction, that the cattle had been taken from the robbers by Dushane, and that the matter had been made known to Gaika. Major Jones, with one hundred and fifty infantry, a detachment of the Cape corps, and twenty mounted burghers, then entered Kaffirland to recover the cattle or make reprisals, but on arriving at Nambili's kraal found it abandoned, so he was obliged to return empty-handed. Gaika was strongly suspected of complicity with the robbers, and some time afterwards it was ascertained that several of the stolen cattle had been appropriated by him. He still professed, however, to be a friend of the colony, though it was recognised that no reliance could be placed on his word.
On the 20th of July 1821 Sir Rufane Donkin issued a proclamation for establishing periodical fairs at Fort Wilshire. The method of trading with the Kaffirs by permitting small parties of them to visit Grahamstown was a failure, as they took nothing there except baskets and articles of trifling value, and since the war even this petty traffic had ceased. Sir Rufane Donkin's proclamation provided that, under supervision of government officials, the Xosas could obtain anything they wanted, except spirituous liquors and munitions of war. Licensed traders repaired to the ground adjoining the fort with wagons laden with goods. In the morning of the day appointed for the fair the Xosas were permitted to cross the Keiskama in parties under their chiefs, with their women carrying ivory, hides, and gum. The traders then made presents to the chiefs, and between them they fixed the relative value of everything to be bartered, before the common people were allowed to have any dealings. When these preliminaries were concluded, trade commenced, the chiefs keeping order among their followers and taking usually as a tax about half of what each one purchased.
But this could only meet to a very limited extent the desire for traffic, and now adventurers began to make their way far into Kaffirland, where an ox could be obtained for a few strings of beads or a crown's worth of bangles. Very stringent regulations were issued by the government against this trade, and all unauthorised persons were forbidden to cross the Fish river under severe penalties ; but to no purpose. The annual fair at Fort Wilshire was rapidly turned into a quarterly fair, then into a monthly fair, and next into a weekly market, under official supervision. Still, the illicit commerce was not checked. The gains were so large that the number of persons engaged in it constantly increased, and in the course of a few years many of them acquired a considerable amount of wealth. Traffic of this nature was demoralising, but the government attempted to enforce the restrictive system until the close of 1830, when traders were freely licensed to enter Kaffirland.
In 1820 the commissioners of the admiralty proposed to establish an astronomical observatory at the Cape, and the design received the approval of the king in council. On the 12th of August 1821 the reverend Fearon Fallowes arrived in the colony as astronomer royal. The first observatory was a wooden structure in Capetown, which was only intended, however, to be used temporarily. In 1822 a site was selected on a knoll in the Cape flats, which could be seen from the shipping in the bay, and two years later authority was received from England to construct the necessary buildings. In 1827 they were occupied, though they were still unfinished. The establishment has continued to the present time to be maintained at the expense of the imperial government, and a great deal of very excellent scientific work has been performed by the talented men at the head of it.
In 1817 Dr. Samuel Bailey, who was then practising medicine in Capetown, made a proposal to the burgher senate to establish a hospital for merchant seamen, slaves, and poor people generally, on conditions which would make it partly a private and partly a public institution. The proposal was accepted, and the governor's approval having been obtained, a building was commenced. The burgher senate contributed a portion of the money required, on condition of having the right at any time to take over the institution at a fair valuation. In 1818 the hospital was opened. For about two years Dr. Bailey conducted it on his own account, when his resources being found insufficient for its proper maintenance, the burgher senate took possession of the building, and paid him £4,500 for his interest in it. The institution has ever since been in existence, though in recent years used only for certain chronic and mental diseases. It is now known as the old Somerset hospital.
In 1819 the merchants of Capetown combined to establish a commercial exchange, and for the erection and management of the building chose a committee consisting of Messrs. Abraham Faure, Stephen Twycross, Andries Brink, John Bardwell Ebden, Antonio Chiappini, John Collison, and Daniel Dixon. The capital was raised in one hundred and fifty-eight shares of £37 10s. each, of which the government took twenty-five. On the 25th of August 1819 the north-eastern corner-stone of a large and handsome building on the parade ground, which was in use until recent years, when it was removed to provide a site for the present general post-office, was laid by Lord Charles Somerset with much ceremony, a great number of people being present. The troops were drawn up, the regimental bands were in attendance, and a salute was fired from the castle. After the stone was laid, the governor, the principal civil and military officers, and about two hundred of the leading people of the town and suburbs sat down to tiffin in a huge temporary tent erected close by. The hall was opened for use in 1821.
The knowledge of the natural history of South Africa was at this time greatly increased by the labours of M. Lalande, who was sent out by the government of France, and during the years 1819 and 1820 made a very large collection of animals. Among the specimens which he sent to Paris were some hundreds of previously undescribed insects.
In 1806 the three Roman Catholic clergymen then in Capetown—two military chaplains and a priest maintained by the authorities in Rome to minister to civilians—were required by Sir David Baird to leave the colony, and a construction was afterwards put upon Mr. De Mist's proclamation granting religious equality which its author had not intended it to bear. Under that proclamation no clergy-man could perform service publicly without the governor's permission. Mr. De Mist's motive was to prevent improper persons of any denomination from acting as clergymen, but the wording of the regulation was construed by the early English governors to mean that they could refuse to admit the ministers of any creed that they disliked.
In 1819, however, at the request of the right reverend E. Slater, titular bishop of Ruspa, who was about to proceed from England to Mauritius, Earl Bathurst consented to a clergyman of the Roman Catholic church being stationed in Capetown. On the first of January 1820 the bishop arrived, with the reverend P. Scully, who remained in the colony. His duties for more than a twelvemonth were confined almost entirely to the soldiers, but on the 17th of January 1821 Sir Rufane Donkin made him an allowance of a thousand rixdollars a year as a civil clergyman. Some months later he and his congregation resolved to build a church, when not only the principal civil servants and townspeople, but even the clergymen of other denominations subscribed to the fund, and the burgher senate approved of a site being granted free of charge. The place selected was off Harrington-street, where Trinity church—English Episcopal—now stands. There, on the 28th of October 1822, the foundation-stone of a building was laid, which when completed was used by the Roman Catholics to worship in. When Lord Charles Somerset returned to the colony the stipend to the priest was withdrawn. In January 1826, however, Earl Bathurst sanctioned a salary of £100 a year being paid from the colonial treasury to a clergyman in Capetown, and also to one in Grahamstown whenever he could be obtained.
Practically, after 1821 there was political and civil equality for persons of every religious belief, though it was still vaguely held in theory that Roman Catholics could be excluded from civil offices by laws of England that were binding in South Africa. The doubt remained until January 1830, when an ordinance was issued, declaring Roman Catholics in the Cape Colony to have full civil rights, but imposing restrictions upon members of certain religious orders.
Jack WRIGHT
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From: Sue Mackay <suemackay@onetel.com> Subject: [ZA-IB] Disembarkation dates for the Weymouth Settlers Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 10:47:50 +0100
I checked the dates of discharge given for the various settler parties in the muster roll of the Weymouth against the entries in the log. It seems to me as if the date of discharge listed in the muster roll was probably about a week after the actual disembarkation date. Duncan Campbell's party (listed as D 15 May) all remained behind at the Cape (the log says settlers disembarked at Table Bay on 5 May and 15 May was the ship anchored in Algoa Bay)
The muster roll gives the following discharge dates for the various parties:
- May 23 : Cock, Ford, Hyman, James, and Meneze parties
- May 25 : Biggar, Osler and Parkin parties
- May 30 : Bowker party
- May 31 : Gurney party
The log lists 'disembarking settlers and their luggage' on four separate days, namely 17,18, 19 and 20 May. I think it probable that the parties disembarked in the order listed in the muster roll, but on the dates given in the log. Soldiers came on board on May 22 for passage back to Simons Bay, and the log says that from May 22-24 the Weymouth was assisting HMS Menai after she capsized
Sue Mackay Cardiff UK
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From: Sue Mackay <suemackay@onetel.com> Subject: [ZA-IB] 1820 Muster Roll of WEYMOUTH Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2003 13:32:16 +0000
At the Public Record Office, Kew, London yesterday I consulted the muster roll for the Weymouth for 1820 (ADM37/6146). The muster roll published on this list on 21 February was from ADM37/6145 and was for December 1819, ie just before the ship sailed. I checked this document again to look at the right hand pages (which I didn't copy previously) in case there was more information about the entries marked D or DD. There was, but this information was repeated in the musters taken at the half way point of the voyage, presumably after leaving the Canaries, and on arrival in South Africa. These musters are included in the ADM37/6146 muster roll book for 1820. As the list of names of the settlers is in exactly the same order for all the muster listings, I include below only additional information to the 1819 listing. This is in the same order, so that those who have the muster roll in a Word document can simply scroll down and add information. If anyone wishes a Word file of the muster roll and log of the Weymouth in one document I can send this as an attachment if you contact me privately.
All names on the final muster for the voyage had a D + a date, though usually a " (ditto) from an entry above. D normally means Discharged but in the case of most settlers can be taken to mean Disembarked (DD = discharged dead). Many of the settlers appear to have isembarked on May 23 (Hyman's, James' and Cock's parties) or May 25 (Biggar's party). Presumably with sickness on board they had to wait out quarantine. On my next visit to the PRO I will confirm discharge dates for each party and look again at the log for mid May. I did not copy the 1820 muster roll as basically the names are the same as the 1819 one. CGH below is my abbreviation for Cape of Good Hope.
Male Settlers:
- H'y Goodman D 15 May left at CGH to attend his master vide settlers list 33
- [this is John Bridgeman]
- John Bridgeman D 15 May left behind at CGH thro' ill health
- John Coleman D 20 Feb to No.232
- [in the crew section of the muster the following is noted against 232:
- "John Coleman. Having volunteered to keep the watch and performed seaman's
- duties during the passage in consequence of the ship being short of company
- 21 Feb 1821" - presumably he received full rations from this point in lieu
- of the two thirds allowance given to settlers]
- Edw'd Martin (1) D May 15 left behind at CGH having fractured his leg
- Capt.D.Campbell D 15 May ordered to remain at CGH
- John Stroud D 15 May ordered to remain at CGH
- R't Horton D 15 May ordered to remain at CGH
- John Wills D 15 May ordered to remain at CGH
- Geo Penny D 15 May ordered to remain at CGH
- Ja's Turner D 29 Dec [1819] on shore at Portsmouth
- Cha's Brushwood D 29 Dec [1819] on shore at Portsmouth
- Wm Gladstone D 29 Dec [1819] absent
- John Smith D 29 Dec [1819] on shore at Portsmouth
- John Brown D 29 Dec [1819] on shore at Portsmouth
- John Edgecumbe D 15 May ordered to remain at CGH
- Ja's Penny D 29 Dec [1819] on shore at Portsmouth
- Geo Shepheard D 15 may ordered to remain at CGH
- Ja's Jennings DS [presumably discharged sick?] 6 Jan 1820 Haslar Hospital
- Eph'm Dicks (1) DD 26 Apr
- Cha's Jordan D 15 May ordered to remain at CGH
- Wm Lovelock D 15 May ordered to remain at CGH
- John Kimmish D 15 May ordered to remain at CGH
- John Littlefield (1) D 15 May ordered to remain at CGH
- John Littlefield (2) D 15 May ordered to remain at CGH
- H Booth D 7 Jan 1820 left behind at Portsmouth
- Tho's Sweetman D 6 Jan 1820 > SB366 as a cooper until the ship's arrival at CGH [ in the crew section: 366 Jan 7 Tho's Sweetman age 42 born Deal cooper D 30 Apr ]
Late arrivals on the ship ( 2 Jan 1820) not in time for the December muster
- Wm Glogg
- Benj'n Leach
- Wm Leathern
Female Settlers
- Eliz'th Forward DD 29 Mar
- Susan Campbell D 6 Jan on shore at Portsmouth
- Eliz'th Stroud D 15 May ordered to remain at CGH
- Eliz'th Horton D 15 May ordered to remain at CGH
- Mary Wills D 15 May ordered to remain at CGH
- Nancy Penny D 15 May ordered to remain at CGH
- Eliz'th Brown D 29 Dec [1819] on shore at Portsmouth
- Martha Penny D 29 Dec [1819] on shore at Portsmouth
- Eliz'th Shepheard D 15 May ordered to remain at CGH
- Eliz'th James DD 30 Dec
Late arrivals on the ship (2 Jan 1820) not in time for the December muster
- Eliz'th Parkin
- Maria Glogg
- Ann Leach
- Mary Dean, wife of Cha's Dean (settler no.50) discovered on board after ship sailed
Settlers' Children
First I must apologise for missing the following off the beginning of the 1819 transcription:
- Will',, Jos'h and Srah Farley
- Jacob Trolip
Children of the families of Duncan Campbell's party ordered to remain at CGH obviously disembarked on May 15 with their parents. dates of death of the settler children confirmed as follows:
- Jos Farley DD 20 Feb
- Matha Godfrey DD 18 Feb
- Eliz'th WeeksDD 2 Feb
- Wm Cock DD 8 Feb
- Sarah Whitehead DD 27 Jan
- Sam'l DuglebyDD 15 Jan
- Eliz Horton DD 25 Feb
- Sarah Hobbs DD 5 Feb
- Emma Rogers DD 10 Feb
- Jane Stamford DD 10 Feb
- Sophia Stamford DD 27 Jan
- Mary Ralphs DD 21 Feb
- John Crouch DD 20 Feb
- Wm Miles DD 24 Feb
- S.Wm James DD 12 Jan
- Thomas James DD 2 Jan
- Wm Forward DD 17 Mar
- Joseph Pinnock DD 15 Mar
Late arrivals on the ship (2 Jan 1820) not in time for the December muster
- Wm, John, Robert and Jane Parkin
- Wm and Maria Glogg
- Ann Leach
Born on Board
- Jan 13___ Pedlar
- Jan 28 ___ Green
- Feb 7 ___ Reed
- Feb 20 ___ Biggar
- Feb 29 ___ Epsey
- Mar 8 ___ Godfrey
- Mar 10 ___ Usher
- Mar 22 ___ Hobbs DD 13 Apr
- 7 Apr ___ Sweetman
- 26 Apr ___ Bowker
- 29 Apr ___ Sanders DD 7 May
- 18 May ___ Cronk
Go to
South Africans' Geni Landing Site. WELKOM CUZZINS!
First port of call for South African GENi
See Also Related Geni Project Pages:
this project is in History Link 