EMIGRATION TO NEW YORK IN 1830

How it was all arranged

In an earlier note I told of the two families of Blencowes from Bicester who have been listed as immigrating into the United States but who seem never to have left home. The remainder of the party, 105 persons, set out from Bicester for Liverpool on 24 May 1830. We do not know how they fared on the ocean crossing or after they arrived in the United States but the story of the preparation for the voyage is a fascinating one. It does not support the view that the paupers were being shipped out of the country merely to save the cost of maintaining them in their home parish. A real effort was made to help make a new start in life.

When the Napoleonic Wars ended the release of men from military service and the greatly-reduced demand for clothing and footwear for the armed forces led to serious unemployment; weavers and shoemakers in Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire were particularly badly affected. Towns such as Bicester and Long Buckby suffered extreme poverty. The idea of helping paupers from Bicester to emigrate to the United States arose because a party had recently been sent from Kings Sutton, a village about 16 miles away, not far from Banbury. On Sunday 9 May 1830 Messrs Waters, Foster and Neal went from Bicester to Kings Sutton to find how it had been organised and what the costs had been.

They were told that 36 persons had emigrated, 9 men, 5 women and 22 children. The cost had been met by a levy of 6d per acre paid by local landowners and by a charge of 6d per £ on the local rate (the equivalent of a municipal tax). The group had been sent to Liverpool by wagon, taking 8 days for the journey of about 140 ml and at a cost of £15 (£20 had been paid to a contractor but another parish had reimbursed Kings Sutton for some other passengers). The party had waited for three days in Liverpool before embarking staying "At Mr John Browns nr Princes Dock" at a cost of 7s per adult and 4 s per child.

The passages to New York had been arranged with the brokers Beckets & Donovan at a cost of £2 15s per adult £1 10s per child. On arrival the fee for medical examination was one Spanish dollar per person, the dollars were purchased through a bank (at 4s 3d each) in Liverpool before departure. Provisions for the voyage had been estimated at 20s per adult and 7s per child but an account of the actual amount paid out survives:

The emigrants had been provided with money, once on board, to cover immediate expenses after landing; a couple with 6 children had received £14, a couple with 3 children £10, single men had been given £2 10s each; compared with anticipated earnings of $1 per day this does not seem unreasonable. The total expenditure had been £218 14s 10-1/2d.

Reports received had been good. The emigrants found they could earn $1 per day and the cost of food was low they "can procure the finest Flour at 3/6 per Bushel, Beef & Mutton I-1/2d per lb, in fact they are so well satisfied of the advantage [they?] derive from being there that they are pressing their friends and relatives to join them

In an era before tape recorders (or even carbon paper!) the conduct of the interview had been recorded in question and answer form; some verbatim extracts give something of the flavour of the times:

In the same folio, so presumably on the way back from Kings Sutton, there is a 'Communication with Mr Arne of Banbury':

After this meeting affairs seem to have moved forward with remarkable speed and efficiency. The Committee proposed to provide shoes to each person, strong calico shirts for everyone, smock frocks [!] a gown for each woman and child, stockings, etc. It appears that working parties were set up to help each group of 6 or 10 emigrants. On 17 May one group was sent a parcel of cloth:

The work involved in stitching clothes for a hundred people - in the days before Mr Singer's invention - must have been enormous.

Amongst the various estimates for the journey to Liverpool jotted down on various pieces of paper is one for beer on the journey.

This would have been "small beer", not very alcoholic; in days when coffee and tea were expensive luxuries this would have been the normal drink at meal times.

The affair had obviously attracted more than local attention. A letter of 22 may 1830 from Messrs Edwards & Poole of Liverpool quoted an article in the Morning Chronicle and offered their services to provide shipping. Recognising that many families prefer going to the United States they suggested, however, that Canada would be better 'being a British Settlement and having British laws and religion. Also Van Diemens Land and New South Wales have a perfect climate [there are] thousands of acres ... are a perfect Garden. We have a large vessel the "Czar" sailing in June. Shipping agents must have kept a close eye on the press, another letter on 22 May from Mr Rolls of Yolands & Co. offered 'two vessels to sail at close of this month and numerous ones during June ... Passage E6, Children under 10 £5 10s, under 7 £3 IOs He mentioned yet another alternative destination: 'Many emigrants have gone lately to the fertile and improving region of Ohio by way of Quebec. Passage and provisions £5'.

Meanwhile another letter dated 25 May had been received from Hertford asking for information, that town was considering assisting emigration also. Mr George at Bicester replied on 27 May; the letter had reached him by stage coach, probably via London, it might not have got there so speedily in 1994! George's reply gives us a precise date and time of the group's departure: 'I am at liberty to say that on Monday morning last [May 24th] by 4 o'clock One Hundred and five persons were for warded in Waggons on their way to Liverpool from this place with the expectation of getting a passage to America & also that proper persons were sent to make the passage arrangements.

So, just 15 days after the meeting in Kings Sutton, our emigrants are off on the road that would lead them to the New World. What a triumph to get things moving so quickly and to send them off apparently so well provided for! But why did they go by road instead of canal boat? Well, that's another story!

Jack Blencowe, Oxford, England

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updated: 20 January 2003