Redhill Reformatory Emigrants to Natal/South Africa - Part 2 N - W

Continuing the list of Redhill emigrants; see yesterday's post on this blog for the first portion of the list.

Facts in this order - Birth/Admitted to School/emigration date (if known):

37. Nalder Francis 20.10.1858/30.1.1874
38. Oliver Isaac 7.11.1840/20.6.1852
39. Parratt John  1866/17.12.1879/to S Africa 27.8.1884 Tartar
40. Paul John 1868/10.9.1881/to S Africa 24.7.1884 Garth Castle
41. Pilcher William Edward 1867/11.7.1879/to S Africa 24.7.1884 Garth Castle
42. Porter Edward 1863 (Battle, Sussex)/21.7.1879/to Natal 28.6.1884 Mexican
43. Porter Horace 1868 (Battle, Sussex)/21 7 1879/to Natal 28.6.1884 Mexican
44. Pulford William 25.2.1840/5.4.1854
45. Pritty John 1845/25.8.1860
46. Quin George 1847/13.5.1861
47. Rayner Samuel 1866/13.9.1881/to S Africa 27.8.1884 Tartar
48. Reed James 15.4.1840/13.4.1854
49. Reeves William Henry 11.1.1844/13.10.1858
50. Rowe John 30.3.1840/7.3.1854
51. Shackleford Edward 1845/14.12.1858
52. Shaw John (Wm Thos) 13.2.1874 (Kilburn, Middx)/26.1.1889
53. Shorter George Henry 17.9.1865 (Hadlow, Kent)/8.7.1880/to S Africa 27.5.1884 Hawarden Castle
54. Sinmer (real name Limmer) Charles Arthur 1862/29.6.1875
55. Smith Charles W 1840/23.2.1852
56. Smith (real name Saundaycock) George 26.1.1859/27.4.1874
57. Smith John George 1845/2.2.1860
58. Stammers Christopher James 10.8.1865 (Sible Hedingham, Essex)/7.3.1881/to Natal 11.4.1884 Drummond Castle
59. Swan Charles 1868 (Watford, Herts)/9.8.1879/to S Africa 24.7.1884 Garth Castle
60. Swift William 25.12.1865 (Nottingham)/3.7.1879/to Natal 28.6.1884 Mexican
61. Thomas William Edward 1.11.1866 (St Leonards, Sussex)/14.8.1880/to Natal 24.7.1884 Garth Castle
62. Titley Joseph 25.12.1842/8.9.1857/to Natal Aries
63. Ware William 1866 (Bridgwater, Somerset)/23.5.1879/to S Africa 27.5.1884 Hawarden Castle
64. Waugh James 16.12.1841/18.12.1852
65. Webb Edward 1842/13.2.1854
66. Weldon alias Williams Peter 1841/3.1.1854
67. Williams (real name Jenkinson) Robert (real name Peter) 1843/15.6.1857/to Natal Aries
68. Williams (right name Warren) Henry (right name John) 2.4.1844/16.1.1860/to Natal Dudbrook
69. Willis alias Lloyd John alias George 1841/20.6.1854
70. Wood George Thomas 13.6.1864 (Chatham, Kent)/8.11.1879/to S Africa 27.8.1884 Tartar


Researcher Peter Bathe would like to hear from any descendants of the Redhill emigrants, or from anyone with an interest in the topic, and can be contacted at p[dot]bathe[at]hotmail[dot]com

Redhill Reformatory emigrants Natal/South Africa – Part 1 A-M

Rather than ship troublesome boys straight to the colonies, the British Government worked with various charities, including the Philanthropic Society, to train boys, mostly in farming work but also as blacksmiths and carpenters, etc, and then selected the most suitable for immigration to Canada, Australia and South Africa.

The Philanthropic Society’s Farm School was at Redhill in Surrey. The boys would spend between three and five years at the school (depending on the term of their original sentence) before they sailed to the colonies.

In the second half of the 19th century, the Society sent some 70 boys to South Africa, most going to Natal.

By combining the records of the Farm School, data from the British census, and the records published so far as part of the eGGSA Passenger Project, it has been possible to collate some information about these immigrants, which is presented here in two parts – boys with surnames beginning A to M and those from L to Z.

The boys are listed alphabetically by surname, followed by two key dates – a date of birth and the date the child was admitted to the Farm School. Where known, a place of birth has been added.

Finally, where there is a known date of arrival in South Africa, this has been noted, together with the ship the boy sailed on.


Birth/Admitted to School/emigration date (if known):

1. Ayton William 1842/1.8.1853
2. Baigent Alfred Thomas born 2.6.1872 (London)/admitted to school 19.3.1888
3. Bloomfield (real name Bailey) George (real name Alfred) 15.9.1842 27.10.1858
4. Bathe George William 12.7.1847 (Plumstead, Kent)/16.11.1861/to Natal 10.1865
5. Berridge Robert James 28.6.1864 (Rotherhithe, Surrey)/25.12.1879/to Natal 10.4.1883 Kinfauns Castle
6. Brian alias Hill Thomas 1847/27.10.1860
7. Broadley John 1841/17.3.1854
8. Carr Samuel 1852/16.4.1866
9. Chidgey Joseph 4.11.1846/18.1.1861
10. Cockbill James 1.9.1862 (Westminster)/2.7.1878/to S Africa 23 2 1882 Anglian
11. Cosford George 10.3.1867 (Derby)/5.5.1879/to Natal 11.4.1884 Drummond Castle
12. Dixon John Henry 5.7.1866/29.6.1881/to Natal 28.6.1884 Mexican
13. Dongworth Henry 4.5.1846/29.5.1857/to Natal 1861 William Ackers
14. Dudderidge Charles 9.1.1849/28.3.1861
15. Eary George 1840/20.6.1854
16. Edgell John 18.10.1849/26.12.1861/to Natal 10.1865
17. Freeman (real name Smith) William James 24.11.1876/20.5.1892
18. Friend (real name Hall) John 26.2.1873/22.6.1887
19. Gaiter Hodgson Smith 27.1.1866 (Wellington, Shropshire)/21.7.1879/to S Africa 27 5 1884 Hawarden Castle
20. Hale William 1865 (Radstock, Somerset)/2.2.1878/ to S Africa 23 2 1882 Anglian
21. Harmsworth George James 27.2.1866 n(Clapton, Middx)/15.3.1879 to S Africa 27 5 1884 Hawarden Castle
22. Harris William (Benjn Geo Chas) 16.4.1863 (Millwall, Essex)/21.5.1879/to Natal 10.4.1883 Kinfauns Castle
23. Hoffmann Arthur 7.1.1866 /27.8.1881/to S Africa 27 8 1884 Tartar
24. Horn (real name Murphy) William 1866 (Dover, Kent)/6.5.1880/to Natal 10.4.1883 Kinfauns Castle
25. Jones George Henry 1846/22.11.1860
26. Keynton Laurence 1846/13.10.1860
27. King Thomas John 1865 (Rochester, Kent)/12.4.1879/to Natal 11.4.1884 Drummond Castle
28. Kirk John 1846/27.7.1858
29. Lamas James 1850/31.10.1866
30. Leatham Henry George Milton 1862/20.9.1875
31. Long Maurice 28.10.1858/9.12.1872
32. Lovett John 22.3.1842/6.7.1853
33. Marsh William 2.1.1864 (London)/20.4.1880/to Natal 11.4.1884 Drummond Castle
34. McCarthy Michael 30.9.1866 (Kensal New Town, Middx)/30.3.1881/to Natal 11.4.1884 Drummond Castle
35. Moore Henry 2.7.1859/11.3.1873
36. Murphy James 1848/8.2.1860

To be continued.

Guest post from researcher Peter Bathe.

More emigrants from Redhill Farm School, Surrey

After further research, Peter Bathe can now offer additional information on Redhill Farm School emigrants. He reports:


There were 29 ex Redhill boys who emigrated to Port Elizabeth, all of whom came to the school in 1847 or 1848, and so probably emigrated between 1850 and 1853. After then, the boys were noted as having emigrated to Natal and then, in the 1880s, more generally as 'to South Africa'.

The popularity of southern Africa as a destination for the boys waxed and waned. Of the boys who were admitted to the school between February 1852 and June 1856, 13 went to Natal (probably arriving between 1855 and 1861).

No boy from the next three years’ intakes was sent to Natal, but seven of those admitted between May 1857 and December 1858 did (including Henry Dongworth, admitted May 1857, arrived Natal 1861).
Again there was a gap when none of the boys admitted in 1859 went but then 12 from January 1860 to December 1861 admissions sailed for Natal (including George Bathe, admitted November 1861, emigrated October 1865)

Two boys from the 1866 intake and six of those admitted to the school between December 1872 and September 1875 went to Natal or were noted as having gone to South Africa. (This last group would have arrived between 1875 and 1880)

The biggest migration occurred in the period 1882 to 1884. A total of 26 boys who had entered the school between February 1877 and September 1881 went to Natal in seven groups – and these are all listed in the database currently in process of development by eGGSA i.e. the Passenger List Project.
See previous post http://molegenealogy.blogspot.com/search?q=eggsa+passenger+list+project.

After this period, emigration to South Africa tailed off, with only four more boys going, one each from the intakes of 1887, 88, 89 and 92.

Names of Redhill boys who emigrated to Port Elizabeth will follow in a future post.

Redhill, Surrey: the Philanthropic Society's Farm School
for the reformation of juvenile offenders

Passenger List Project Update: eGGSA

Good news for family historians: the eGGSA Passenger List Project has been updated and now includes the Natal Immigration Board's list of immigrants 1850 to 1904, as well as the passenger lists from the departure notices in the British Mail 1879 to 1881. The database includes details of 27,000 passengers and 800 voyages.

http://www.eggsa.org/arrivals/eGGSA%20Passenger%20Project.html

This is an ongoing eGGSA project and the finished, searchable data is provided on the eGGSA web site.

The volunteers who are doing the work (photographing the records, co-ordinating the transcribers, transcribing, proof-reading and database creation) are members of the eGGSA, Eastern Cape, Natal Midlands, West Gauteng and Western Cape branches of the GSSA and live on four continents, Africa, Europe, America and Australia.

Passenger list of the William Ackers, 1861.

Passenger lists as a primary source in SA family history research

The above photo is of a passenger list taken from a handwritten register of arrivals at Port Natal in 1849 i.e. a record made at the time of the event and therefore considered to be primary evidence.
Even at normal size - zoom in for a closer look - the text is by no means easy to read.

Family historians in search of an ancestor's arrival in South Africa clamour for passenger lists. To find an original list mentioning an immigrant ancestor written in a register at the port of arrival is a rare and precious thing. There has been no concerted national effort to index the registers which have survived. In Natal it's fortunate that the European Immigration Registers have been preserved, though they are not all-inclusive. There is also an index (not online) to these arrivals covering from about the mid 1840s to the turn of the century. 

If you're lucky enough to discover in the original register an entry which seems likely to refer to your ancestor, and if you are able to read the handwriting, you should acquire some interesting facts.

From left to right (as seen in the typical example above) the columns of the register show: month, day, name of ship, type of ship, name of master, tonnage of vessel, port of departure, date of departure (that is from the port of embarkation, London in this instance). The passengers' names are written across the width of all these columns (no nice tidy alphabetical lists, if that's what you expected) and continued over the central binding, which has separated slightly (be aware of that when matching up lines of text). Generally, though, the condition of the register is good for its age - over 150 years. Careful handling of these volumes is important.

The arrival date of the barque Washington is given here as 18 July: in fact the vessel reached Natal on 17 July so why does the register offer the following day? The answer is that like many other ships of that era, the Washington had had to wait in the 'roads' (roadstead or outer anchorage) before suitable conditions of wind and tide made it possible to cross the Bar (the sandbank at the entrance to the harbour) and enter the Bay. When compiling our family narrative, which day should feature in an account of the ancestor's arrival at the port? The detail concerning tonnage of the ship often varies from source to source - if you care about getting it right.

In these early volumes (and the 1840s are early for Natal) no personal information such as occupation or age is given for the passengers. This would be one good reason to check newspaper reports at that time for any published versions of a passenger list and to do a comparative exercise.

There could be several versions of a passenger list particularly if the ship was carrying a large group of immigrants as part of a private or government scheme. Mistakes could arise prior to embarkation: passengers might get cold feet at the last minute and decide not to emigrate after all, family members might fall ill, perhaps die. Such names might not be removed from the passenger list - i.e. the list carried on board - before the ship sailed. When the vessel arrived at its destination, the Port Captain would draw up a list of the passengers who landed. The immigration agent would have his own list. By the time the reported list appeared in the press there were likely to be several discrepancies - incorrect initials, misspelled surnames, omissions.

A local newspaper published the passenger list of the Washington twice, because of errors in names shown in the first printing. Yet the first list offered occupations of the immigrants, a useful detail omitted in the second printing and not appearing in the handwritten register's version. Probably the occupations were included in the immigration agent's list made available to the press.

The Washington, because it was one of the Byrne settler ships, is well-documented in other published sources. John Clark's book, Natal Settler Agent, gives detailed lists of all the Byrne passengers and the ships which brought them to Natal. His sources included private correspondence and other documents of Moreland, Byrne's agent. So, if your ancestor travelled on the Washington it's probably not essential to access the original handwritten passenger register: but it is rewarding on some deeper level to see the ancestor's name as recorded at the point of arrival in the country of destination.

For further information on tracing ancestors through passenger lists, use the search facility on this blog or browse the archived posts using the menu at right.

The Natal Witness 18 July 1849: 2nd version of
Washington passenger list.

Update 2012: the eGGSA Passenger List Project is a work in progress and can be accessed at 

http://www.eggsa.org/arrivals/eGGSA%20Passenger%20Project.html