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Petworth Immigration Scheme

Privacy Level: Open (White)
Date: 1832 to 1837
Location: England, Canadamap
Surnames/tags: Ontario immigration emigration
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This page is maintained by the Ontario Team, part of the Canada Project. You are welcome to add Petworth emigrants to the list below.

Earl of Egremont
The Petworth Emigration Scheme, sponsored by George Wyndham, the 3rd Earl of Egremont, and promoted by Thomas Sockett, the Anglican Rector of Petworth[1], sent around 1800 working-class people from the south of England to southwestern Upper Canada (now Ontario) between 1832 and 1837.[2]. The scheme was part of a larger initiative in Britain during the 1830s, in which churches, charitable organizations and private individuals were active in promoting emigration as a solution to overcrowded urban slums, unemployment and rural poverty in Britain.

The Voyage
The crossing by sailing ship took about seven weeks to Lower Canada (now Québec), with very cramped living conditions, a six-foot-square berth for three adults or six children. Cooking was done by the passengers using stoves on deck. Ships used included the England, the Heber, the British Tar and the Diana. The voyage was longer but cheaper than going to the United States because the migrants were providing a return cargo for ships bringing timber to England. Wood-fired steam tugs would tow the ships up the St. Lawrence River to Montreal where the passengers had to transfer to barges known as Durham boats to ascend the St. Lawrence Rapids to Prescott before catching a steamer to Kingston and York (Toronto).[3]. When the Rideau Canal was opened the rapids could be avoided by using the Ottawa River and the canal.

The Emigrants
About 1800 people were sent to Canada by the scheme, mostly from 1832 to 1837, although 170 emigrated from 1838 to 1850 on ships of other agents. The emigrants consisted of unemployed single men and families dependent on a lone wage earner. Field workers were more heavily represented than those working with livestock. They were seasonally employed and the series of poor harvests that culminated in the Swing Riots suggested poor employment prospects would continue. Skilled rural artisans and trades people were also represented in the Petworth emigrants. Although they possessed enough standing to be distinguished from agricultural labourers in status and wage, the seasonal nature of their work resulted in similar instability. As they made a good wage during the summer months, they were expected to make ends meet year round and were overlooked by the vestry when it came to off-season assistance[4]. Former soldiers often did not settle easily into life back home and had the incentive of being entitled to claim 100 acres (40 hectares) of uncleared land, while other migrants were given five acres (2 hectares)[5].

In 1839 a group of emigrants from Colonel George Wyndham's Irish estates were sent to Upper Canada on the Waterloo. They were superintended by a half-pay naval officer Charles Rubidge, who had settled in Upper Canada. Wyndham eventually sponsored nearly as many emigrants from Ireland as his father had from England.

External Links

WikiTree Profiles of Petworth Emigrants


WikiTree Profiles of Colonel Wyndham’s 1839 Irish Emigrants

Sources

  1. ↑ ISBN 978-1-904109-16-7 Sheila Haines and Leigh Lawson, Poor Cottages & Proud Palaces. The life and work of the Reverend Thomas Sockett of Petworth 1777-1859 The Hastings Press 2007.
  2. ↑ Moving Here, Staying Here: The Canadian Immigrant Experience at Library and Archives Canada - "Right of Passage: Debates"
  3. ↑ Peter Jerrome, Petworth from 1660 to the present day. The Window Press 2006 p107
  4. ↑ Cameron, Wendy; Maude, Mary McDougall (2000). ""Pauperism [is] almost universal": Who Were the Petworth Emigrants?". Assisting emigration to Upper Canada : the Petworth Project, 1832-1837. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 0773520341. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  5. ↑ ISBN 978-1-904109-16-7 Sheila Haines and Leigh Lawson, Poor Cottages & Proud Palaces. The life and work of the Reverend Thomas Sockett of Petworth 1777-1859 The Hastings Press 2007 p158




Images: 3
Moses Chantler and Sarah Hoad Chantler
Moses Chantler and Sarah Hoad Chantler
Homestead in Upper Canada
Homestead in Upper Canada
Rules and Regulations for Emigrants on the "British Tar"
Rules and Regulations for Emigrants on the
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Categories: England, Emigrants | Upper Canada, Immigrants | Petworth, Sussex