|
In the first attempt at Government-sponsored emigration, a proclamation at Edinburgh in February 1815 sought
'to encourage settlers to proceed to the British Provinces in North America and for this purpose a certain number of vessels will be appropriated for the conveyance of such persons .... Lands will be granted to them, either in Upper or Lower Canada .... A grant of one hundred acres will be secured to each family and all their male children will be entitled, on attaining the age of twenty-one years, to a similar grant'.
Rations would be offered from public stores for the first few months and tools provided at cost.
'Should any number of families... be desirous of settling in the same neighbourhood in Canada, care will be taken to allot them lands as nearly as possible contiguous to each other; and a sufficient portion of land will be appropriated in the midst of such settlers for a church and for the maintenance of a clergyman and a schoolmaster.'
If a group chose a minister and a schoolmaster to go with them, a salary of £100 for the minister and £50 for the teacher would be provided.
The government conditions stipulated a deposit of £16 for each adult male, £2 2s for each adult female, with children below the age of 16 carried free. The stated reason for this was 'to prevent persons from availing themselves of a passage to the United States' and this explains the government's generosity in initiating the scheme. They wanted to ensure the 'surplus population' did not go to the United States and would be available for the defence of British North America both militarily and, not expressed so overtly, in diminishing the French and Catholic influence.
There was a huge response to the offer and the government soon decided to limit the number of emigrants to two thousand. The deposit requirement, though, proved a major deterrent and, by April, when the emigrant ships were first supposed to leave, only 304 people had signed up. One might reasonably speculate that the deposit thwarted the government's original intentions: rather than providing a cheap defensive force for Canada from the lower orders, it merely continued the flight of capital from Scotland. Another consequence of the delay in reaching the numbers was that those emigrants who had committed to the voyage had arrived in Glasgow in April ready to sail and now their supply of money and provisions was diminishing rapidly. By the end of May, around 140 of them, with Alexander MacNab as their spokesman, petitioned the government for living expenses. They further requested a schoolmaster to teach the children. John Halliday (or Holliday), a Dumfriesshire man, served as the schoolmaster even before official approval had been received and continued in this role in Lanark County, Ontario. The issue of living expenses was not resolved until 23rd June, the day before the first group left Glasgow for the emigrant ships.
The transport vessels started arriving further down the Clyde at Greenock from mid-June and the emigrants were to be towed to them in a schooner. This started early on the morning of 24th June. One of their number, a Mr Gibson, described the event,
'Many of the families departing had met with much kindness and attention from the good inhabitants of Glasgow, hundreds of whom now accompanied them to the river, and saw them safely aboard the steamboat and schooner employed to convey them to Greenock. As they were to leave Glasgow at three o'clock in the morning, many of them came down to the Broomielaw the evening before, and remained on the wharf all night. The air was calm and serene but few were disposed to sleep. Interesting conversation filled up the passing hours, and the social glass went round oftener than once, for the tee-total scheme had not then even been thought of. At two in the morning the embarkation commenced amidst hurry, noise and confusion. Soon after three, the steamboat taking the schooner in tow passed down the river amidst the shouts of thousands who lined the shore bidding adieu to their departing friends. The scene to many of the emigrants was the most affecting they had ever, witnessed. They were bidding a final farewell to their native land.'
from A Man Austere, Isabel Skelton quoted in John Halliday: A Most Forthright Man, Clarence Halliday, 1962
As the groups of emigrants were gathered together at Greenock, the Dumfries contingent asked that they be kept together. They were, therefore, assigned to the Atlas, the first vessel of the four to sail, on 11 July. She was followed in the next three days by the Dorothy and the Baltic Merchant then, at the beginning of August, by the Eliza. It appears that 714 set sail from Greenock with 699 arriving safely in Quebec.
The elevated economic status of the emigrants can also be gauged by the same Mr Gibson's remarks on the rations; no scrabbling for already discarded morsels here. They were
'ample in quantity .... but the quality of the bread and beef did not please .... The rum however was good as well as the pork, pease and oatmeal, and made some amends for the deficiency of other articles.'
The first three vessels reached Quebec on 4 September with the Eliza docking on 1 October. The delays in Glasgow meant they were too late to reach the farms assigned to them in the Eastern District: at Lochiel, in what is now Glengarry, the Bay of Quinte and along the Rideau River. This local authorities were left to look after the 700 settlers during the long winter. Single men were given work in Kingston while the rest were accommodated in various points along the St Lawrence. By Spring they were able to set off for their new homes.
Ports
Ships
Parishes
Recommended Books
|
|
