Passengers to Natal per Natal Star 1864 and 1868

Natal Star: two Passenger Lists

This barque, departing London in November 1863, was reported in the Natal Government Gazette January 1864, listing as passengers: 

ANDREW William
ANDREW Anne C
ANDREW Alice
ANDREW Margaret
ANDREW Mary
ANDREW William B
ANDREW Louisa A
BRYANT Phoebe
BRADLEY Sarah
BRADLEY Sarah (mother & dau?)
BRAITHWAITE Agnes
HODGKINS John
HODGKINS Arabella
HODGKINS Alfred
HODGKINS Lancelot
HODGKINS Clement
IRVINE David
MAXTED William
MAXTED Jane E
MAXTED Eva C
MAXTED Wm J
MCGREAT Bridget
SPENCER John
SPENCER Sarah
TOLLINGTON Thomas
TOLLINGTON Elizabeth
WOODHOUSE George
YOUNG Samuel

A Notice indicated that 'Friends of the above Emigrants, who are desirous of communicating with them as soon as possible after arrival, may forward their letters under cover to the Secretary to the Immigration Board who will transmit them to the Port Captain for delivery on board the vessel.
Jas CRAW, Secretary, Immigration Board, Pietermaritzburg, January 29th 1864.'

All the passengers listed above travelled 3rd class. Agents were Muirhead Findlay & Co. (Natal Mercury 19.9.1868)

'The A1 Magnificent Clipper Ship 'Natal Star' F. AIRTH Commander will immediately on discharge of Inward Cargo load for London (with liberty to call) and having portion of her Cargo engaged, will have despatch. Her Passenger Accommodation is known to be unequalled. For Freight or Passage apply to Muirhead, Findlay & Co. Agents'.
(Natal Mercury 22.9.1868). After leaving Natal on September 26 the vessel was bound for Algoa Bay with 4 passengers.

A later voyage of the same vessel, arriving Durban 17 September 1868, brought:

ALEXANDER Mr
AMOS David
BALLANTYNE Bertram (Mastr
BALLANTYNE Elizabeth (Miss)
BALLANTYNE James,
BALLANTYNE James (Mastr)
BALLANTYNE Jennie (Miss)
BALLANTYNE Jessie (Miss)
BALLANTYNE Jessie (or Janet) (Mrs)
BALLANTYNE John (Mastr)
BALLANTYNE Margaret (Miss)
BALLANTYNE Peter (Mastr)
BALLANTYNE Walter (Mastr)
BALLANTYNE William (Mastr
BLAKE (Misses) (2)
CAPEL Agnes (Miss)
CAPEL Edward (Mastr)
CAPEL Elizabeth (Miss)
CAPEL Ellen (Miss)
CAPEL John
CAPEL John (Mastr)
CAPEL Lincoln (Mastr)
CAPEL Mary (Miss)
CAPEL Mary (Mrs)
CAPEL Rosa (or Rose?) (Miss)
CAPEL Samuel (Mastr)
CAPEL William (Mastr)
COOLIE (COOLEY?) James
CRAIG Miss Margaret
DAVIS Norris Edward
DAY H
DICKSON Elspeth (Mrs)
DICKSON J R
DONALDSON Annie (Miss)
GAVIN John
HALL William
INGRAM John
KIEMAN Sophie (Mrs)
KIEMAN William
KING Andrew Dow
LLOYD Ann Maria Grimes (Mrs)
LLOYD Annie Stacey (Miss)
LLOYD Bill (sic) George (Mastr)
LLOYD Charles Bannister (Mastr)
LLOYD Charlotte Frances (Miss)
LLOYD Ellen Priest Cantherley (Miss)
LLOYD Hugh Wroughton (Mastr)
LLOYD Llewellen (sic) Henry (Mastr)
LLOYD Margaret Jane (Miss)
LLOYD Mary Elizabeth (Miss)
MILLER Alexander C (Mastr)
MILLER Mary C (Mrs)
MILLER Mary Jane (Miss)
MILLER W C
RITCHIE G
RITCHIE Helen (Mrs)
RITCHIE Isabella H (Miss)
ROOKE Henry A F
SHEPHERD Margaret (Miss)
SHEPHERD W A
SIMPSON E (Mrs)
SIMPSON James P
SOMERVILLE Andrew
STONE John Blackwood
STONE Mrs
WATTS James William
WILSON Annie Isabella (Miss)
WILSON Archibald (Mastr)
WILSON George Walter (Mastr)
WILSON Maggie (Miss)
WILSON Mrs
YOUNG Charles de Laventz/Laurentz

Natal Star (sailing vessel) 366 t Capt STEWART: one of the clipper packets of John T Rennie's Aberdeen Direct Line. Others of this line (which competed with the Bullard King line for many years) included Natal, Transvaal, Tugela, Prince Alfred, Maritzburg, Umgeni, L'Imperatrice Eugenie etc; most of these were under 500 tons. The Aberdeen Line vessels made the passage from London direct to Durban in 49 to 95 days (the record sailing of 49 days being that of Prince Alfred).

On this particular voyage, Natal Star departed London 20.6.1868, arriving at Natal 17.9.1868. She was carrying 70 passengers and a general cargo. Though her Captain was Stewart, the Mate, for reasons unknown, was in command on this run. All the passengers listed above travelled 3rd class. Agents were Muirhead Findlay & Co. (Natal Mercury 19.9.1868)

Note the unusual detail of forenames given - valuable information for family historians.

The Natal Star was wrecked in a gale at East London on 19 July 1874, without loss of life.
[Cape Archives CC 3/7/2/2]

Passages to Natal 1865: Government-aided scheme

PUBLIC AID TO IMMIGRANTS:

Free Passages are not granted in England to Natal. People resident here can, however, nominate their relations or friends for assisted passages in the Emigration Commissioners' ships, on giving to the Colonial Government a guarantee for the repayment of the passage monies, at the rate of £10 per statute adult, within 12 months after the landing of the immigrants. Married persons, with the members of their families over 12 years of age, are required to repay the advance at the rate of £10 per annum. Any excess of passage-money beyond the £10 is made good out of colonial funds.

When the Emigration Commissioners have colonial funds in their hands for the purpose, they can likewise grant assisted passages to eligible candidates, provided such candidates can pay to the Commissioners, before embarkation, towards their passage, for each adult person of the age of 12 years and upwards - 2 children between the ages of 1 and 12 counting as an adult - £3 pounds 6s and 8d, with £1 for bedding and mess utensils on the voyage. The immigrant must however enter into a bond to repay to the Colonial Government £6 13s and 4d for each such adult, at a rate of £10 per annum in the case of a family. In the case of a single individual, the amount is to be repaid within 12 months after arrival.

This scheme has not latterly been promoted to any particular extent; although now that the tide of emigration from Great Britain is about turning from America in consequence of the long-continued war, and directing itself into other channels, we think that it may be again advanced with benefit to the colony. English people in general, if not the Scotch and Irish, have become convinced that there is no safety for life and property in the North American states; Canada has never been a resort for any large numbers of the poorer emigrating class; and the southern colonies are gradually becoming better known than formerly, and more highly appreciated.

[from The Natal Almanac & Yearly Directory 1865]

Rennie's Aberdeen Line brought
 many colonists to Natal.

Passengers to Natal: 1866

The arrival at Natal of the Aberdeen Direct Clipper, Umgeni, one of John T Rennie’s line, was reported in the Natal Mercury of 27 February 1866. A passenger list in the Shipping Intelligence column offers an example of how information as well as pointers towards further research can be gleaned from such a source.*

A group of Government Immigrants on board is a reminder that the scheme introduced in 1857, enabling those already settled in Natal to nominate and stand surety to others wishing to settle in the Colony, was still operating. The sureties could be relatives or prospective employers to whom the immigrants were contracted.

There were cabin passengers on the Umgeni, too, notably three missionaries including Rev. August Prozesky who worked among the Zulus at Konigsberg (Newcastle, Natal) from 1868 – 1900, and built the Lutheran Mission Church there.**

Passengers per Umgeni from London (as reported in the Natal Mercury):
Cabin: Revds. Carl Richter, Theodore Glockner and August Prozesky; Mr and Mrs John Gavin and child, Mrs Robert Forrest, Mrs Payne, Miss A Hubbard.

Government Immigrants:
Mrs E E Parker
Mrs E Gadd
Mrs F Hansen
Mrs S Keith
Messrs:
Bath
Campbell
Goodwin
Hosking
McCabe
Milne
Thos Williams
Misses:
M A McIntosh
M Mullins
M Roper
A Forester
Mr & Mrs Barrett
Mr & Mrs Drew & infant
Mr & Mrs Harmsworth
Mr & Mrs Harmsworth jnr
Mr & Mrs Jacob & 4 children
Messrs Hansen (2)
M Cleeves

Selecting a few names at random, interesting stories emerge: Thomas Bath was contracted to the sugar planter John Vacy Lyle of the farm Fenton Vacy on the North coast of Natal. A by-product of this estate was the fiery Fenton Vacy rum. The 19 year-old Maria Roper, whose surety was the tailor Ebenezer Beves, later became Mrs Beves: whether this was planned prior to Maria’s arrival in Natal, or a case of love at first sight, history doesn’t relate.

Annie Forester appears to be a solo passenger but in fact, aged 8, was travelling with her mother and stepfather, Mary and George Drew and the Drews’ infant son, Ernest. Fanny Hansen, with her two sons Benjamin and George, was joining her husband, William Hansen, a bricklayer who had settled earlier in Durban. The Barrett couple – John and Sarah - were going to employment on a farm at Weenen. John Campbell’s surety was the mason, William McIntosh, in Pietermaritzburg. Mrs Parker is a mystery passenger as she doesn't appear in the immigration records; perhaps she called herself by a different surname  for her new start in the Colony.

John Gavin, a well-known colonist who originally arrived in Natal on the Globe, made more than one voyage between the Colony and England. He was to meet a dreadful fate in 1875, falling into a pan of boiling sugar juice.

The Aberdeen Clipper Umgeni, 1864

The ship Umgeni brought further immigrants to Natal in five sailings between 1866 and 1874. The following year she was re-rigged as a barque - fewer crew members were then required to sail her. She ended her career as a coal hulk at the port of Durban.








*   Stating the obvious? Perhaps, but a blog visitor asked: ‘What’s all the fuss about passenger lists? They’re just lists of names.’ Indeed.

** The book Hope Farm: Mission Stories was translated from the German by Prozesky’s great grandson Oscar Prozesky.