Background
By the early 19th century, several factors had led to an increase in the population of rural Sussex. The introduction of the smallpox vaccine at the end of the previous century, and other improvements in healthcare, had allowed birth rates to exceed death rates in the young. Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, England was at peace, and no longer needed a large standing army, so young men who had returned from the wars were being discharged, and were looking for work. In the first 30 years of the 19th century, the population of England & Wales increased from around 9 million to about 14 million, a 55% increase. Sussex saw the population increase from 159,000 to 273,000, a 71% increase.
At the same time, there was increased mechanisation on farms, reducing the demand for agricultural labour.
As many became destitute, the poor relief was very ad hoc and arbitrary, with committees of local landowners and clerics trying to help feed and provide shelter for the rural poor. As the levels of poverty increased, so did the poor rate and other taxes, resulting in farmers reducing the wages of their labourers.
In 1830, there was an increase in civil unrest by desperate farm workers, culminating in the Swing Riots. These started in Kent, but soon spread into Sussex, with hay stacks being set alight and machinery destroyed, with the labourers demanding better conditions and improved wages.
In November 1830, the riots came to a head in Horsham, when about 1000 labourers assembled and marched on the church where they demanded a minimum wage of 2s 6d a day. The ringleaders were promptly arrested and thrown into the county gaol.
To help alleviate rural poverty, some parishes tried to persuade the poor to emigrate to the new colonies in Canada or Australia, or to move to northern England to find work in the mills. Assisted emigration had the beauty of removing a number of people whose unemployment and poverty constituted a threat to social order.
At Petworth, George Wyndham, the 3rd Earl of Egremont was a more generous landowner than many. He reduced the rents payable by his tenant farmers, and introduced a wage scale where a married labourer with two children would be paid 2s a day.
Revd. Thomas Sockett, the Rector of Petworth, and Lord Egremont’s personal chaplain, was chairman of the Petworth Vestry, and had administered poor relief in the town for over 20 years. In 1831, he reported that the town paid relief to over 100 men and financially supported some 330 people when wives and children were included. His view was that these people would be better off if they were sent to the colonies, at the same time reducing the strain on the poor rate. He approached Egremont to obtain his support for the introduction of an assisted emigration scheme. In his view, assisted emigration would restore a balance between land and labour.
The Petworth Emigration Committee
With Egremont convinced of the benefits, Sockett was ready to start such a scheme. On 1 March 1832, he established the Petworth Emigration Committee comprising himself, William Knight, a corn chandler, and Thomas Chrippes, an auctioneer and cabinet maker, under the sponsorship of Lord Egremont. The scheme was centred on the Petworth Estate, but they were hoping to attract men from neighbouring parishes and generally across southern England. Their objective was to help the poor to migrate to Upper Canada by providing assisted passages and tracts of land.
Petworth emigrants would be sponsored by the Earl of Egremont, who would pay the £10 cost of the voyage (£5 for children, free for infants), and make a grant of £5 per adult and £3 10s per child towards the cost of necessary clothes and household goods which they would require. Other parishes and landowners were encouraged to contribute similar amounts.
The list of necessary items read as follows:
Families should take their:
Bedding
Blankets
Sheets etc.
Pewter plates or wooden trenchers
Knives, forks and spoons
Metal cups and mugs
Tea kettles and saucepans
Working tools of all descriptions
A large tin can or watering pot would be useful.
Single men must have:
A bed or mattress
Metal plate or wooden trencher
Some kind of metal cup or mug
Knife, fork or spoon
Men were also advised to take the following items of clothing:
A fur cap
A warm greatcoat
A flushing jacket and trousers
A duck coat and trousers
Two Jersey frockcoats
Four shirts
Four pairs of stockings
Three pairs of shoes
A bible and a prayer book
A similar list was provided for women and children.
Passengers were also advised to bring a small tin case in which to keep important documents, including certificates of marriage and baptism, discharge papers for former soldiers and character references.
Migrants from Petworth and nearby villages were urged to buy what they needed from Mr Chrippes, who kept a store at his auction office.
From the outset, the committee was determined that the vessels they chartered would be of a high standard, and not repeat the problems of Irish migrant ships which were generally overcrowded, and disease riddled. The PEC drew up an agreement with the shipping agents, which specified the date on which the ship would receive passengers together with their stores and provisions. Prior to sailing, the ship was fitted out with a double row of berths, each six feet square, running the whole length of the ship. Partitions were constructed to separate single men and boys from families, and water closets were to be provided between decks. A storeroom and water cistern were also constructed, and two cooking hearths on deck were provided for the passengers. Rations were provided by the PEC.
The PEC appointed a superintendent to maintain discipline among the passengers and to be responsible for the medicine chest. If the superintendent was not medically trained, a surgeon was also to be appointed. The ship’s captain was also charged with returning the medicine chest after the voyage and ensuring that none of the passengers returned to England.
The first ship to sail was the 1300 ton Eveline which was due to leave Portsmouth on 11 April 1832. The available places were filled almost immediately after they were advertised, so the committee chartered a second ship, the 1425 ton Lord Melville. The two ships carried a total of 605 passengers and reached Quebec on 28 May. Although the sea was rougher than expected, the whole party, other than two babies who died at sea, reached Quebec safely and generally in good health. A much smaller ship, the England, soon followed carrying a further 164 migrants to Quebec, mostly from Wisborough Green.
On arriving at Quebec, the ships were towed up the St Lawrence River to Montreal, where they were transferred to barges to ascend the St Lawrence Rapids, eventually reaching York (now Toronto) on 8 June.
On reaching York, migrants went their separate ways. Many found work in York, where it was claimed to be possible to earn enough in three days to keep a family for a week. The Canadian government granted five acres to each family, considered sufficient to develop a small farm; ex-soldiers could claim 100 acres, provided they could show their demobilisation papers. Most settled in the area to the west of York between Lakes Huron and Erie.
Sockett promoted the scheme by writing to parishes across Sussex and southern England and sent out flyers.
Migrants were encouraged to write home, to persuade others to follow. A typical letter from a migrant from Petworth read:
The country is discouraging at first, but the longer one is in it, the better one begins to like it. Any stout, hard-labouring man, with a family, may do better in this country than he can do at home.
Many of these letters were collected by Sockett and published in pamphlets, with others being printed in local newspapers.
In the first year of the scheme, the three ships carried a total of 769 passengers. Most of these came from villages where the Earl of Egremont held land, with 75 travelling from Lurgashall and 58 from Kirdford, as well as 49 from Petworth itself. Migrants also travelled from other parts of the country, including 102 from the Dorking area of Surrey. In later years, there were large contingents from Cambridgeshire, the Isle of Wight and from Wiltshire.
After the 1832 sailings, the PEC sent a further six ships until the scheme ended with the death of the Earl in November 1837. Altogether, over 1800 people went to Canada under the Petworth scheme.
Sockett continued to assist migrants from Sussex to Canada on a piecemeal basis until 1850, with approximately 150 travelling in small groups, although George Wyndham only paid for the passage but little else.