Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:29:23.941Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

“THE FIT AND UNFIT”: SUITABLE SETTLERS FOR BRITAIN'S MID-NINETEENTH-CENTURY COLONIAL POSSESSIONS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2005

Robert Grant
Robert Grant
Affiliation:
School of Advanced Studies, London
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

IN 1830, 57,000 PASSENGERS DEPARTED BRITISH PORTS for overseas destinations. By 1840, the figure had risen to 185,000; by 1850, it had reached 281,000, a five-fold increase in just twenty years. Although these figures relate to all departees, they nevertheless give some indication of the sheer scale of mid nineteenth-century emigration from Britain, and it should be no surprise that a sizeable industry developed to supply the growing number of passengers, to meet their victualling needs, provide tools, equipment, and accommodation, as well as information about prospective destinations. The emigrant's departure was urged on by an outpouring of enthusiastic writings in mainstream periodicals and newspapers, by emigrant handbooks, illustrated volumes, and hand-colored prints. These descriptions of new, alluring, distant lands were set off against equally stylized construals of the old country in which the relative independence available to colonial settlers was contrasted with the unfavorable situation many faced in Britain. Addressing himself to the agricultural laborer in 1843, for example, John Chase bade him scan the changeable British skies, consider the bitter winter, poor accommodation, endemic sickness, his wife and children starving, the apothecary's bill accumulating, while the tax gatherer and landlord hovered at the door. Then look at the Cape, Chase urged, with its celestial climate, where sickness was the exception, where doctors pined for want of patients and apothecaries were impoverished for want of custom, where the tax gatherer was never seen and the landlord was the emigrant himself (243–44).

Type
EDITORS' TOPIC: VICTORIAN TAXONOMIES
Information
Victorian Literature and Culture , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , March 2005 , pp. 169 - 186
Copyright
© 2005 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alessio Dominic. 1997 “Domesticating ‘the Heart of the Wild:’ female personifications of the colonies, 1886–1940.” Women's History Review 6.2: 239– 67.Google Scholar
Allen J. 1848. The Emigrant's Friend, or Authentic Guide to South Australia…and New Zealand. London: the Author
Angas George French. 1846. South Australia Illustrated. London: Thomas McLean
Baetjer Katharine, ed. 1993. Glorious Nature: British Landscape Painting, 1750–1850. London: Zwemmer 47– 60.
Barker Mary Anne. 1871. Station Life in New Zealand. London: Macmillan
Beste J. Richard. 1855. The Wabash: or Adventures of an English Gentleman's Family in the Interior of America. London: Hurst & Blackett
Brees Samuel. 1847. Pictorial Illustrations of New Zealand. London: John Williams and Co., Library of Arts
Brown William. 1849. America: A Four Years' Residence in the United States and Canada. Leeds: Printed for the Author
Bunbury Selina. 1854. Perseverance under Difficulties: Being Anecdotes of Persons who have Attained to Eminence under Adverse Circumstances. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
Carrier N. H. and J. R. Jeffery. 1953. External Migration: A Study of the Available Statistics, 1815–1950. London: HMSO
Chambers Robert. 1845. Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation. London: Wiley and Putnam
Chase John Centlivres. 1843. The Cape of Good Hope and the Eastern Province of Algoa Bay. London: Pelham Richardson
Chisholm Caroline, and Richard Horne. 1850 “Pictures of Life in Australia.” Household Words 1.13 (22 June): 307– 10.Google Scholar
Cohen Henning, and William Dillingham, eds. 1964. Humor of the Old Southwest. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company
Condliffe John. 1930. New Zealand in the Making: A Survey of Economic and Social Development. Chicago: Chicago UP
Cooke William. 1811. The Thames; or Graphic Illustrations of the Seats, Villas, Public Buildings, and Picturesque Scenery on the Banks of that Noble River. London: W. B. Cooke
Craik George. 1847. The Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties. Illustrated by Female Examples. London: C. Cox
Craik George. 1845. The Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties; Illustrated with Anecdotes. 3 vols. London: Charles Knight
Creighton Donald. 1937. The Commercial Empire of the Saint Lawrence, 1760–1850. Toronto: The Ryerson P
Damousi Joy. 1997. Depraved and Disorderly: Female Convicts, Sexuality and Gender in Colonial Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge UP
Daniell William. A Voyage Round Great Britain…With a Series of Views, illustrative of the Character and Prominent Features of the Coast. 8 vols. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1814– 1825.
De Kiewiet Cornelius. 1941. History of South Africa. Social and Economic. Oxford: Clarendon P
De Kiewiet Cornelius. 1937. The Imperial Factor in South Africa: A Study in Politics and Economics. Cambridge: Cambridge UP
Dickens Charles, and Caroline Chisholm. 1850 “A Bundle of Emigrants' Letters.” Household Words 1.1 (30 March): 19– 24.Google Scholar
Dooley Allan. 1992. Author and Printer in Victorian England. Charlottesville & London: UP of Virginia
Dorrian Mark, and Gillian Rose, eds. 2003. Deterritorialisation: Revisioning Landscapes and Politics. London: Black Dog Publishing
Earp G. Butler. 1849. Handbook for Intending Emigrants to the Southern Settlements of New Zealand. London: W. S. Orr and Co.
Egan Jack. 1999. Buried Alive: Sydney 1788–1792: Eyewitness Accounts of the Making of a Nation. St Leonards: AIIen & Unwin
Eliot Simon. 1994. Some Patterns and Trends in British Publishing 1800–1919. London: The Bibliographical Society
Elwell Simeon. 1878. The Boy Colonists: or, Eight Years of Colonial Life in Otago. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co.; Oxford: Thos. Shrimpton & Son
Epstein James. 1982. The Lion of Freedom: Feargus O'Connor and the Chartist Movement, 1832–1842. London: Croom Helm
Erickson Charlotte. 1994. Leaving England: Essays on British Emigration in the Nineteenth-Century. Ithaca & London: Cornell UP
Feather John. 1988. A History of British Publishing. London: Croom Helm
Fishkin Shelley. 1996. Lighting Out for the Territory: Reflections on Mark Twain and American Culture. New York: Oxford UP
Fitton Edward. 1856. New Zealand: Its Present Condition, Prospects and Resources. London: Edward Stanford
Fleming Francis. 1853. Kaffraria, and its Inhabitants. London: Smith, Elder, and Co.
Frost Alan. 1980. Convicts and Empire: A Naval Question, 1776–1811. Melbourne & Oxford: Oxford UP
Hancock William Keith. 1943. Argument of Empire. Harmondsworth: Penguin
Hancock William Keith. 1930. Australia. London: Ernest Benn
Hauk Richard. 1971. A Cheerful Nihilism; Confidence and “the Absurd” in American Humorous Fiction. Bloomington: Indiana UP
Haygarth Henry. 1848. Recollections of Bush Life in Australia. London: John Murray
Hitchins Fred. 1931. The Colonial Land and Emigration Commission. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P
Hursthouse Charles. 1857. New Zealand, or Zealandia, the Britain of the South. 2 vols. London: Edward Stanford
Hursthouse Charles. 1861. New Zealand, the “Britain of the South:” with a Chapter on the Native War, and our Future Native Policy. London: Edward Stanford
Jameson Anna. 1852. Sketches in Canada. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans
Kennaway Laurence. 1874. Crusts. A Settler's Fare Due South. London: Sampson, Low, Marston, Low, & Searle
Lawrence William. 1840. Lectures on Comparative Anatomy, Physiology, Zoology, and the Natural History of Man. 8th ed. London: John Taylor
Levine Philippa. 1990. Feminist Lives in Victorian England: Private Roles and Public Commitment. Oxford: Basil Blackwell
Linkon Sherry Lee. 1998 “Reading Lind Mania: Print Culture and the Construction of Nineteenth-Century Audiences.” Book History 1: 94– 106.Google Scholar
Lloyd E. 1846. A Visit to the Antipodes. London: Smith, Elder, and Co.
Louis Roger, ed. 1998. The Oxford History of the British Empire. 4 vols. Oxford, Oxford UP
Lower Arthur. 1946. Colony to Nation: A History of Canada. Toronto: Longmans, Green and Company
Lynn Kenneth. 1959. Mark Twain and Southwestern Humour. Boston: Little, Brown
MacCrone Ian. 1937. Race Attitudes in South Africa: Historical, Experimental and Psychological Studies. London: Oxford UP
McCarroll James. 1863. Letters of Terry Finnegan to the Hon. Thomas D'Arcy McGee. Toronto: the Author
M'Culloch Thomas. 1860. Letters of Mephibosheth Stepsure. Halifax: H. W. Blackadar
Meredith Louisa. 1844. Notes and Sketches of New South Wales. London: John Murray
Michie Archibald and Henry Morley. 1852 “Going Circuit at the Antipode.” Household Words 4.93 (3 January): 344– 48.Google Scholar
Money Charles. 1871. Knocking About in New Zealand. London: Samuel Mullens
Mundy Godfrey. 1852. Our Antipodes: or, Residence and Rambles in the Australasian Colonies. 3 vols. London: Richard Bentley
Nead Lynda. 2000. Victorian Babylon: People, Streets and Images in nineteenth-century London. New Haven: Yale UP
New Zealand Company. 1843. Letters from Settlers & Labouring Emigrants in the New Zealand Company's Settlements. London: Smith, Elder and Co.
O'Connor Feargus. 1841. The Remedy for National Poverty and Impending National Ruin. London: the Author
Ogle Nathaniel. 1839. The Colony of Western Australia. London: James Fraser
Oliphant Lawrence. 1855. Minnesota and the Far West. Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood and Sons
Oxley Deborah. 1996. Convict Maids: The Forced Migration of Women to Australia. Cambridge & Melbourne: Cambridge UP
Patmore Coventry. 1854. The Angel in the House. London: John W. Parker & Son
Pickering Charles. 1850. The Races of Man; and their Geographical Distribution. London: H. G. Bohn
Polack Joel. 1840. Manners and Customs of the New Zealanders. 2 vols. London: James Madden & Co.
Power W. Tyrone. 1849. Sketches in New Zealand with Pen and Pencil. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans
Pyke Vincent. 1889. Wild Will Enderby; A Story of the New Zealand Gold Fields. London: Hutchinson & Co.; Dunedin: Wise, Caffin & Co.
Read Donald. 1961. Feargus O'Connor, Irishman and Chartist. London: Edward Arnold
Reed Alfred Hamish. 1945. The Story of New Zealand. Wellington: Reed
Shaw Alan. 1966. Convicts & the Colonies. London: Faber & Faber
Shepperson Wilbur. 1957. British Emigration to North America. Oxford: Basil Blackwell
Sidney Samuel. 1853. The Three Colonies of Australia. 2nd rev., edn. London: Ingram, Cooke, and Co.
Slick Sam [pseud., Thomas Haliburton]. The Clockmaker. London: Richard Bentley
Slick Sam 1853. Sam Slick's Wise Saws and Modern Instances. London: Hurst and Blackett
Slick Sam 1836. Slick of Slickville. London: G. Routledge
Smiles Samuel. 1859. Self-Help; with Illustrations of Character, Conduct, and Perseverance. London: John Murray
Smith Thornley. 1850. South Africa Delineated. London: John Mason
Stanfield Clarkson. 1836. Stanfield's Coast Scenery. A Series of Views in the British Channel, from Original Drawings taken Expressly for the Work. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
Stephens John. 1839. The Land of Promise. London: Smith, Elder, and Co.
Stewart Adela B. 1908. My Simple Life in New Zealand. London: Robert Banks & Son
Sturt Charles. 1849. Narrative of an Expedition into Central Australia. 3 vols. London: T. and W. Boone
Swainson William. 1859. New Zealand and its Colonization. London: Smith, Elder and Co.
Taylor W. Cooke. 1840. The Natural History of Society in the Barbarous and Civilized State. 2 vols. London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longmans
Terry Frederick Charles. 1855. Landscape Scenery Illustrating Sydney [Australian Keepsake]. London: Sands & Kenny
Thomas Daniel, ed. 1988. Creating Australia. Sydney: Macmillan
Thompson George. 1827. Travels and Adventures in Southern Africa. 2 vols. London: Henry Colburn
Tobin Beth Fowkes. 1999. Picturing Imperial Power: Colonial Subjects in Eighteenth-Century British Painting. London: Duke UP
Townsend Joseph. 1849. Rambles and Observations in New South Wales. London: Chapman and Hall
Tucker Sarah. 1855. The Southern Cross and Southern Crown. London: James Nesbit and Co.
Wakefield Edward Gibbon. 1849. A View of the Art of Colonization. London: John W. Parker
Wakefield Edward Gibbon. 1833. England and America. 2 vols. London: Richard Bentley
Wakefield Edward Jerningham. 1845. Adventure in New Zealand. 2 vols. London: John Murray
Ward Harriet. 1848. The Cape and the Kaffirs. London: Henry G. Bohn
Ward John. 1839. Information Relative to New Zealand. 2nd ed. London: John W. Parker
Wentworth William. 1819. Statistical, Historical, and Political Description of the Colony of New South Wales. London: G. & W. B. Whittaker
Willis Nathaniel. 1842. Canadian Scenery. 2 vols. London: George Virtue
Wills William Henry. 1852 “Official Emigration.” Household Words 5.110 (1 May): 155– 56.Google Scholar
Wilson Elizabeth. 1991. The Sphinx and the City: Urban Life, the Control of Disorder, and Women. Berkeley: U of California P