Passengers to Natal per Ocean Ranger from St Helena 1874

After the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire in 1832, a shortage of labour prevailed at the Cape. In response to this situation, the Cape government shipped more than 22 000 St Helenians to the mainland between 1873 and 1884.







Passengers per schooner OCEAN RANGER from St Helena arrived at Natal May 5 1874.
(surname, forename and age)

YON Martha 50
YON Sarah 20
BENNETT Martha 40
BENNETT Jane 13
KNIPE William 20
RICHARDS Matilda 18
PETERS Emily 19
LEO Elizabeth 18
JUDD Jane 36
JUDD Charles 13
BOWERS McLaren (?) 23
JOHN Sarah 25
POWELL Wm Henry 30
POWELL Sarah 27
POWELL Jemima 8
POWELL Albert 5
POWELL Ernest 3
HAMILTON Eliza 33
HAMILTON Matilda 15
HAMILTON David 14
MITTENS (?) Elizabeth 50
BENJAMINE William 38
BENJAMINE Ruth 36
BENJAMINE Louisa 16
BENJAMINE Ada 14
BENJAMINE Alfed 11
BENJAMINE Cornelius 8
BENJAMINE Edward 6
BENJAMINE Henry 5
BENJAMINE Edith 4
BENJAMINE Joanna 2
BENJAMINE Infant 6 mths
RICH Ann 30*
SMITH John 32
SMITH Elizabeth 33
SMITH Joseph 12
SMITH John 10
SMITH Hester 8
SMITH William 5
SMITH Walter 3
SMITH Abraham 1
HOYLES James F 19
BRUCE Charles 18
MASON Richard 19
DICKINSON Walter 17
BRUCE Ellen 16
PHILLIPS Harriet 19
GEORGE Rose 30
GEORGE Thomas 25
GEORGE Ann 22
PAYNE Hannah 46
PAYNE Elizabeth 14
HASTIE Margaret 37
SINGER Elizabeth 22
BOWERS Ellen 20
BENNETT Sarah 24
HENRY Sarah 14
MAGGOT Caroline 27
DAWSON Isabella 32
DAWSON Albert 12
GEORGE Mary 16
GEORGE Louisa 18
JONAS Sarah 18
THOMAS Elizabeth 17
BURWICK Eliza 30
LONDON (or LOUDON) Martha 24
DELANY Mary 32
HENRY Eliz. 17
ELLIS Thomas 42
ELLIS Ellen 30
ELLIS Eliz. Jane 16
ELLIS Chas Edw. 14
ELLIS Lena 4
ELLIS John 3
ELLIS Thomas (Inf)
BAGLEY Benjamin 50
FORD Ellen 30
WILLIAMS Sarah 12
CROWIE Saml. 40
CROWIE Louisa 38
CROWIE Margaret 15
CROWIE Joseph 13
CROWIE John 11
CROWIE Eliza 9
CROWIE Martha 9
CROWIE William 7
CROWIE Emma ...

* A telegram dated 13 Mary 1874, sent by the Assistant Protector of Immigrants Durban to the Protector of Immigrants Maritzburg, noted:

Immigrants per Ocean Ranger left for Maritzburg yesterday afternoon. R. Thompson's servant Ann Rich aged Thirty dark complexion deserted from wagons in Durban.

Instructions were to issue a warrant for her arrest. Ann Rich was one of several indentured immigrants (domestic servants and other) on board the Ocean Ranger destined for employment in Natal: in Ann’s case, this was apparently not a welcome prospect. Unfortunately, we know no more of her history.

A deceased estate file dated 1876 is held at Pietermaritzburg Archives Repository for Emma Knipe, described simply as ‘a St Helena girl’. Possibly she was a relative of the William Knipe who was a passenger on the Ocean Ranger in 1874.

St Helena in more recent times

Remembering Captain Elton, liberator of slaves, on this Human Rights Day

James Frederic Elton was born 3 August 1840,  second son of Lieutenant-colonel Roberts W Elton of the 59th Regiment, Bengal army. Elton himself joined the Bengal Army at the time of the Mutiny in 1857 and saw much active service, obtaining the Indian medal with two clasps.

After serving in China and Mexico he went to Natal in 1868, travelling around the country until 1879 when he visited the Tati goldfields.to the mouth of the Limpopo, publishing a volume of his adventures.

In 1871 Elton was sent to make reports on the gold and diamond fields, and was also employed on a diplomatic mission to settle differences with the Portuguese authorities. In 1872 he was appointed government agent on the Zulu frontier. After some months he returned to Natal to recover from an attack of fever. While at Natal, he acted as protector of immigrant native labour and became a member of the executive and legislative councils.

In 1873 Elton left Natal with various missions: one of which was to treat with the governor general of Mozambique and the sultan of Zanzibar, regarding the laying down of a telegraph cable from Aden; a second, to inquire into the emigration of native labour from Delagoa Bay and to confer with the governor-general of Mozambique; and the third, to meet Sir Bartle Frere at Zanzibar, and assist in considering the slave-trade question.

Elton was appointed by Sir Bartle Frere assistant political agent and vice-consul at Zanzibar, with a view to assist in the suppression of the East African slave-trade.

In March 1875 he was promoted to the office of British consul in Portuguese territory, with residence at Mozambique.. He was here engaged in many expeditions for the suppression of the slave-trade from this and other parts of the east coast, in the course of which he made numerous journeys by sea and land, to the south as far as Delagoa Bay and over the Indian Ocean to the Seychelles and Madagascar.

After many further travels and adventures, he died 19 December 1877, aged 37, and was buried under a large baobab tree which overlooks the plains of Usekhe. His four companions, Messrs. Cotterill, Rhodes, Hoste, and Downie, marked the spot by a large wooden cross, and carved his initials on the tree which overshadows his grave.

S Crowder & Sons, Landing and Shipping Agents, Phoenix Wharf, Point, Port Natal,
To Landing 77 Liberated slaves at Port Natal 23 April 1879