August 2006
Application for Emigration to South Africa, 1819
Reference: C/QACP/5/1/4/14
The British Government established the South African or Cape Emigration Scheme in 1819. The scheme was designed to organise and support emigrants to South Africa, and was fuelled by increased unemployment at home and political difficulties abroad.
In Nottinghamshire a local committee was established, which had responsibility for the scheme in this county. It was a small committee, and included the Dukes of Newcastle and Portland. Most of the work was undertaken by the Clerk of the Peace, Edward Smith Godfrey.
For many, emigration overseas offered the chance to escape poverty and destitution at home. A large series of application letters sent to the committee by people all over the county survive at Nottinghamshire Archives. They detail people's individual cases and their desperation to be considered for inclusion on the emigration scheme.
In this letter, Henry Holland, a stone mason at Newstead Abbey, writes to Edward Smith Godfrey on behalf of himself and others. They wished 'to proceed as Colonists to the Cape of Good Hope, haveing (sic) nothing in view but the Cape of Despair in this our Native Land'.
In the end, 158 people emigrated to the Cape, leaving Liverpool on 30 January 1820. Henry Holland was one of the successful applicants, and his name appears on a document entitled Return of Settlers Proceeding To The Cape Of Good Hope, which lists those who emigrated as part of the scheme.
- Read the letter in more detail here
- Read a transcript of the letter here
- View the Return of Settlers here
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