(Southey): British 1820 Settlers to South Africa

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Party	Southey
Leader	George Southey
Number in the Party	49
Area Party originated from	Somersetshire, England
Area allocated to the party	Bush River
1820 Settler Ship	Kennersley Castle,
Surnames in party	Baker, Berry, Biggs, Fouracre, Glass, Grant, Hutchings, Ingram, Laskey, Parsons, Sawyer, Skinner, Southey, Stark, Style, Thomas, Unknown,
Other Information	A party of 49 from Somersetshire led by George SOUTHEY sailed in "Kinnersley Castle". They were located in Lower Albany.
Settler Handbook Content:	No. 39 on the Colonial Department list, led by George Southey, a gentleman of Wellington, Somerset, described by his fellow-emigrant Thomas Philipps as 'a plain, respectable man'. Wellington was a centre of the depressed woollen industry, and Southey informed the Colonial Department in his application to emigrate that there were 'many industrious men with families in this neighbourhood who would be glad to embrace the opportunity, and they are not disaffected persons who want to live in anarchy but men that would be content to work hard for seven shillings per week if they could get constant employment'. This was a semi-proprietary party; Southey paid the deposits for six indentured servants (Ingram, Stark, Thomas Berry, Parsons, Sawyer and Hutchings) and James Berry, a lad 'brought from the workhouse'. Four free settlers in the party, Thomas, Glass, Style and William Berry, were parish-assisted; Southey advanced part of the deposit money for James Thomas, who received financial help from the parish of Wellington to enable him to take his wife and all his children to the Cape. (This was expediency rather than charity on the part of the local authorities, who feared that Thomas's family, if left behind, would be 'chargeable to the parish'.) Thomas Glass's deposit was paid by the parish of Wellington and Thomas Style's and William Berry's by the neighbouring parishes of Holcombe and Bradford. The Biggses, father and sons, were last minute replacements and not bound to Southey in any way; they left the party on landing at Algoa Bay. Deposits were paid for 14 men, one of whom deserted too late to be replaced, and the party embarked at Bristol in the *Kennersley Castle* regular transport which sailed on 10 January 1820, reaching Table Bay on 29 March and Algoa Bay on 29 April. A daughter, Sophia, was born at sea to the wife of William Berry. The party was located on a tributary of the Bush River. LIST OF SOUTHEY'S PARTY BERRY, James 14 (servant of George Southey). BERRY, Thomas 21. Husbandman. BERRY, William 27. Husbandman. w Mary 34. c Eliza 4, Thomas 2, Sophia (born at sea). BIGGS, John 19. Mason. BIGGS, John 42. Mason. c William 13. GLASS, Thomas 35. Sawyer. w Ann 33. c Elizabeth 15, John 13, Daniel 9, Thomas 6, James 4, Ann 1. HUTCHINGS, James 19. Husbandman. INGRAM, Thomas 27. Husbandman. PARSONS, James 26. Husbandman. SAWYER, Thomas 21. Husbandman. SKINNER, Elizabeth 30 (with the family of George Southey). SOUTHEY, George 39. w Jane 39. c Sophia 16, William 13, Richard 11, George 9, Elizabeth 7, Henry 4, Canon 1. STARK, William 26. Husbandman. STYLE, Thomas 40. Carpenter. w Mary 36. c Hannah 13, Sarah 10, Elizabeth 8, James 6, Ann 4. THOMAS, Eliza 18 (daughter of James Thomas). THOMAS, James 38. Husbandman and naval pensioner. w Mary 30. c Jane 10, Humphrey 6, Isaiah 2, Arabella. *Main sources for party list* Agent of Transports' Return of settlers under the direction of George Southey (Cape Archives CO 6138/2,66); Special Commissioner William Hayward's notes (Cape Archives CO 8544). At least 17 children are known to have died on board the *Kennersley Castle* during the voyage, and these may have included William Style aged 2 and Ann Thomas aged 4, whose names appear in the London sailing list (Public Record Office CO 48/47) but not in the Agent's Return. *Further reading* The voyage to the Cape in the *Kennersley Castle* is described in Philipps, 1820 Settler, ed A Keppel Jones (Pietermaritzburg, Shuter and Shooter, 1960). from THE SETTLER HANDBOOK by MD Nash page 123

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