Nottingham was an area hard-hit by unemloyment and unrest during the summer of 1819, and under the chairmanship of His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, the Lord Lieutenant of the county, a public subscription was raised to assist the unemployed to emigrate to the Cape under the government scheme. Contributors to the emigration fund included the Duke of Portland and other noblemen with seats in Nottinghamshire. The actual selection of the emigrants and the administration of the fund were carried out by the Clerk of the Peace for Nottinghamshire, ES Godfrey, assisted by the Rev JT Becher of Southwell, who was actively interested in poor relief. The lists of proposed emigrants from Nottingham were only sent to the Colonial Department in late October and November, and the final selection of parties had already been made; however, the distinguished patronage of the Nottingham party ensured its acceptance in spite of the lateness of the application. Deposits were paid for 60 men and their families under the leadership of Thomas Calton, a surgeon who had been appointed as supervisor by the subscribers' committee. Articles of Agreement, closely based on those of Bailie's party, bound the settlers to mutual help. Each man would be given his own 20-acre allotment as well as use of the commage, but when title to the land was eventually granted it was not be vested in the settlers themselves but in Godfrey and Becher as representatives of the subscribers' committee.

Although the organisers insisted on individual references from the parish authorities, the composition of the party changed continually 'from unfitness in some and unwillingness in others' and in December, when preparations were being made to leave Nottingham, Godfrey was 'still apprehensive of many desertions from the list'. The party travelled from Nottingham to Liverpool by road, the women and children by coach and the men on foot, marching for three days alongside the convoy of baggage wagons. The equipment provided by the subscribers' fund included agricultural implements, carpenters' and blacksmiths' tools and supplies, clothes, Bibles and writing materials and wooden chests for the emigrants' personal belongings. A number of people were at first refused permission to board the Albury because their names did not tally with those in the list held by the Agent of Transports, but an urgent appeal to the Colonial Department resulted in an official instruction to the Navy Board to embark any substitutes presented by Calton, so long as the total numbers did not exceed those of the original list. Several would-be emigrants had followed the party from Nottingham in the hope of last minute vacancies, and in fact cancellations and substitutions occurred almost until the time of sailing.

The embarkation proved so troublesome and his people at first so unruly that Calton complained, 'Were it not for some that I can trust I believe I would run away'. Because of delays with the delivery of the baggage, some of the emigrants had to sleep on bare boards. Calton had to buy vegetables, candles and tin chamber pots, as the emigrants had spent what money they had. One woman of doubtful character was turned away by the Albury's Captain 'for fear she would ruin all the sailors'. Calton predicted that the framework knitters in the party, 'better talkers than workers', had little chance of becoming successful settlers.

The Albury's departure was delayed by bad weather but she finally sailed from Liverpool on 13 February 1820, arriving in Simon's Bay on 1 May and in Algoa Bay on 15 May. The deaths are known to have occurred at sea of two infants, John Cross and Susannah Hartley, and of an adult settler, John Sykes, whose widow was disembarked at Simon's Bay to await an opportunity to return to England. The birth of a daughter, Elizabeth , to the wife of George Sansom has been traced by E Morse Jones. Dr Calton died unexpectedly on 8 July while the party was encamped at Algoa Bay awaiting transport to its location, and Thomas Draper was elected supervisor in his place.

The party was located on the Torrens River, and the location was named Clumber after the seat of the Duke of Newcastle.

LIST OF CALTON'S PARTY

ALLISON, Francis 40. Labourer. w Elizabeth 30. c William 11, Mary 9, Elizabeth 6, Samuel 4, Ann 2.

ATKIN, Elizabeth 30 (sister-in-law of George Palmer). c Sarah 13.

BAGER, George 36. Gardener.

BILSON, Thomas 26. Sawyer. w Mary 27. c Eliza 5, Thomas 4, John.

BRADFIELD, Edmund 22. Turner.

BRADFIELD, Ellen 20 (daughter of John Bradfield).

BRADFIELD, John 25. Draper.

BRADFIELD, John 46. Framework knitter. w Mary 45. c Mary 16, Richard 12, Thomas 10.

BRADFIELD, Joseph 19. Framework knitter.

BRANFORD, Edward 23. Ropemaker.

BROOKS, Thomas 24. Saddler and harness maker.

BROWN, George 22. Labourer.

CALTON, Thomas 18. Grocer.

CALTON, Thomas 40. Surgeon. w Martha 39. c Charles 12, Henry 10, Sarah 7, Mary 3, Frederick 1.

CROOKS, William 23. Labourer.

CROSS, John 36. Wheelwright. w Mary 31. c Matilda 9, William 7, Charles 6, Mary Ann 3, John (died at sea).

DENNISON, George 36. Sergt, 35th Regt. w Hannah 29. c Ann 7, George 5, Henry 2, Charlotte.

DRAPER, Thomas 33. Gardener. c Thomas 8.

DRIVER, Edward 23. Grocer.

EDLESTON, Thomas 45. Labourer.

ELLIOT, Mark 21. Framework knitter. w Sarah 20. c Alfred 1.

ELLIOT, William 25. Framework knitter. w Elizabeth 22. c Nathaniel 3, William 1.

FOULDS, Henry 22. Labourer.

GOULDING, George 21. Carpenter.

GOULDING, Thomas 30. Gardener. w Elizabeth 27. c George 6, William 4.

HARRIS, James 19. Framework knitter.

HARTLEY, Ann 20 (daughter of Thomas Hartley).

HARTLEY, Mary 22 (daughter of Thomas Hartley).

HARTLEY, Thomas 18. Blacksmith.

HARTLEY, Thomas 48. Blacksmith. w Sarah 39. c Hannah 16, Elizabeth 13, Sarah 10, Jeremiah 7, Henry 4, Susannah (died at sea).

HARTLEY, William 24. Blacksmith. w Sarah 25.

HODGKINSON, George 21. Labourer.

HOLLAND, Henry 22. Stonemason.

HUNT, Sarah 20 (daughter of William Hunt).

HUNT, William 44. Tailor. w Mary 50. c Ann 13, Elizabeth 10.

JACKSON, Samuel 33. Framework knitter. w Dorothy 33. c Samuel 4, William 2, Elizabeth 1.

JARMAN, Thomas 26. Brickmaker.

KEETON, Benjamin 19. Labourer.

MEATS, William 27. Labourer.

MORRIS, John 28. Labourer. w Esther 25. c William 8, Jane 6.

MUGGLESTON, George 36. Carpenter. w Sarah 46.

NELSON, Thomas 28. Labourer. w Mary 24. c William 3, Matilda 1.

PALMER, George 36. Framework knitter. w Millicent 32. c Gervase 14, Benjamin 12, George 8, Matilda 2.

PALMER, Thomas 22. Framework knitter.

PIKE, Thomas 19. Labourer.

PIKE, William 41. Framework knitter. w Mary 44. c Sarah 17, William 16, Elijah 6, Rosa 4.

POOLE, Matthew 34. Gardener and viticulturist.

RADFORD, Joseph 19. Framework knitter.

RADFORD, Richard 21. Labourer.

SANSOM, George 24. Labourer. w Dorothy 23. c Elizabeth (born at sea).

SHEPHERD, Henry 28. Framework knitter. w Hannah 26. c William 6, Eliza 3, Ann.

SMITH, John 20. Labourer.

SYKES, John 32. Farmer (died at sea). w Elizabeth 36.

SYKES, William 44. Carpenter.

TARR (or TORR), Thomas Henry 28. Carpenter. w Ann 28. c Selina 7, James 4, Eliza 3, George 1.

THIELE, William 19. Lawyer's clerk.

TIMM, Thomas 40. Framework knitter. w Elizabeth 40. c Charles 13. Edward 12, Thomas 9, Eliza 7, Louisa 5.

VALENTINE, Peter 24. Cordwainer.

WEBSTER, Thomas 21. Tailor.

WRIGHT, Joseph 22. Framework knitter. w Elizabeth 21.

WRIGHT, William 23. Framework knitter.

Main sources for party list


Agent of Transports' Return of settlers under the direction of Thomas Calton, and Articles of Agreement (Cape Archives CO 6138/2, 59-61 and 101-2); the Godfrey papers held in the Nottinghamshire Record Office, County House, Nottingham. The spelling of names conforms with the signatures to the Articles of Agreement, except for Thomas Tarr. His name in all the party lists and in Special Commissioner Haryward's notes, is spelled 'Torr', and his signature to the Articles of Agreement is clearly written 'Thomas Torr'; however, his Will (drawn in 1856) is signed 'Thomas Henry Tarr', apparently in the same hand. His children all spelled their name Tarr, and this is the spelling used in official documents relating to the family from at least the 1840s. The reason for the variation in spelling is not know. The Christian names of Thomas Tarr's wife and elder daughter are given in the Nottingham lists of the party as Mary and Ann; the Agent's Return gives their names as Ann and Selina, which are confirmed as correct by Thomas Tarr's Death Notice.

The names of William Pike's youngest children are given variously in the party lists as Elisa or Elizabeth and Robert or Mary; family records show that they were Elijah (6) and Rosa (4).

Further reading


Clive M Burton, Settlers to the Cape of Good Hope: organisation of the Nottinghamshire Party 1819-1820
(Port Elizabeth Historical Society, 1971);
Doris Stirk, Southwell Settlers (Southwell, the author, 1971).

from THE SETTLER HANDBOOK by MD Nash page 52