Using a rich collection of contemporary sources, this study focuses on one group of English immigrants sent to Upper Canada from Sussex and other southern counties with the aid of parishes and landlords. In Part One, Wendy Cameron follows the work of the Petworth Emigration Committee over six years and trace how the immigrants were received in each of these years. In Part Two, Mary McDougall Maude presents a complete list of emigrants on Petworth ships from 1832 to 1837, including details of their background, family reconstructions, and additional information drawn from Canadian sources. Paternalism strong enough to slow the wheels of change is embodied here in Thomas Sockett, the organizer of the Petworth emigrations, and his patron, the Earl of Egremont, and in Lieutenant Governor Sir John Colborne in Upper Canada. The friction created as these men sought to sustain older values in the relationship between rich and poor highlights the shift in British emigration policy. In these years of transition immigrants sent by the Petworth Emigration Committee could accept assistance and the government direction that went with it, or they could rely on their own resources and find work for themselves. Once the transition was complete, the market-driven model took over and immigrants had to make their own best bargain for their labour.
Collected from published, archival, and private sources, these letters place the Petworth immigrants in the context of their times and challenge the image of English immigrants to 1830s Upper Canada as officers and gentlewomen. Wendy Cameron, Sheila Haines, and Mary McDougall Maude have carefully annotated the letters to sketch the stories of individual writers, link letters by the same author or members of the same family, and explore the connections between writers. What eventually happened to some of the writers is also revealed in this engaging collection. English Immigrant Voices provides a valuable insight into the rural poor and their experiences in emigrating to a new land.
This set is comprised of the following 2 volumes: Assisting Emigration to Upper Canada: The Petworth Project, 1832-1837 English Immigrant Voices: Labourers' Letters from Upper Canada in the 1830s
In each of the years from 1832 to 1837, emigrants from Sussex and neighbouring counties in southeast England were sent off to Upper Canada (Ontario) on ships by the Petworth Emigration Committee. . . . [This project is an example of] parish-aided emigration."--Pref.
This set is comprised of the following 2 volumes: Assisting Emigration to Upper Canada: The Petworth Project, 1832-1837 English Immigrant Voices: Labourers' Letters from Upper Canada in the 1830s
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