From the 'cape of despair' to the Cape of Good Hope: letters of the emigrant poor in early nineteenth-century England

TY - JOUR

T1 - From the 'cape of despair' to the Cape of Good Hope

T2 - letters of the emigrant poor in early nineteenth-century England

AU - Tosh, John

PY - 2017/9/28

Y1 - 2017/9/28

N2 - This article draws on an unusually rich archive to explore the motives and mentality of poor English emigrants in the early nineteenth century. In 1819, the Colonial Department advertised a subsidised emigration scheme to South Africa. 2000 people wrote letters of application preserved in the National Archives. In studying the emigrant poor, historians have been primarily dependent on numerical data derived from passenger lists. The letters of application of 1819 allow more nuanced conclusions about the circumstances and the aspirations of the poor emigrant at a time of severe economic distress. The correspondence shows which trades were particularly drawn to emigration, particularly the framework knitters and the weavers who had lost not only their regular income but their trades. The letters also shed light on the gender tensions which lay beneath the surface of what was promoted as family migration. Most telling of all, the letters show that among the poor there was more to the decision to emigrate than fatalism and passivity. Poor emigrants expected to have to work for their living, but with the reward of greater security, enhanced prosperity, and – in the case of the male majority - the achievement of ‘independence.’

AB - This article draws on an unusually rich archive to explore the motives and mentality of poor English emigrants in the early nineteenth century. In 1819, the Colonial Department advertised a subsidised emigration scheme to South Africa. 2000 people wrote letters of application preserved in the National Archives. In studying the emigrant poor, historians have been primarily dependent on numerical data derived from passenger lists. The letters of application of 1819 allow more nuanced conclusions about the circumstances and the aspirations of the poor emigrant at a time of severe economic distress. The correspondence shows which trades were particularly drawn to emigration, particularly the framework knitters and the weavers who had lost not only their regular income but their trades. The letters also shed light on the gender tensions which lay beneath the surface of what was promoted as family migration. Most telling of all, the letters show that among the poor there was more to the decision to emigrate than fatalism and passivity. Poor emigrants expected to have to work for their living, but with the reward of greater security, enhanced prosperity, and – in the case of the male majority - the achievement of ‘independence.’

KW - emigration; poverty; unemployment, gender

U2 - 10.1080/03071022.2017.1368233

DO - 10.1080/03071022.2017.1368233

M3 - Article

SN - 0307-1022

VL - 42

SP - 480

EP - 500

JO - SOCIAL HISTORY

JF - SOCIAL HISTORY

IS - 4

ER -