sponsored emigration c1858

[rsla]

When the “Escort” sailed from Liverpool for South Australia on April 30, 1859 she had on board a full load of emigrants for South Australia. There was a small number of cabin passengers, and just over 160 were sailing under “General Orders” and just over 150 under “Remittance Orders”. I believe that those on Remittance Orders were nominated by or on behalf of land owners or current settlers in the colony. What intrigues me is that the Irish component was almost all in the “Remittance Order” category, and of these, by far the largest group, (one young married couple, 22 single women and 21 single men), came from Clare. I do not know whether they were from any particular part of Clare, but it still seems to be far from a chance grouping.
My wife’s great-grandmother, who was then an 18 year old “domestic servant”, was one of the 22 single women. The family story suggests that following the famine, she may have been orphaned, but this has not been confirmed. I do not know where she went when she first arrived in South Australia, but I did discover that within three years after she arrived in South Australia she was employed by an Irish family (SHANNON) who owned a sheep property, but I have now ascertained that this particular family came from Londonderry, so any assignment to them would have been unlikely to have been because of a personal nomination.
I know that there had been earlier schemes in England, Ireland and Scotland where workhouses, local authorities or large land owners had paid for, or subsidised emigration programmes, but I have not been able to find any similar records relating to Clare at this time. As far as I can tell, the Earl Grey and Petworth schemes had concluded by then. I believe that economic and social conditions in the Clare area would still have been conducive to a programme such as this, but does anyone have information, whether documented or family folk-lore, about such a programme in Clare at this time?
I would be grateful for any information or pointers.
Robert SLATER
South Australia

[gabrielle]

My grandfather, Michael O'Brien, emigrated from Scarriff, Co. Clare, to South Australia in 1857. His older sister, Bridget O'Brien and her cousin, Denis Nash, arrived in 1854 aboard the "Confiance" having been sponsored under the R.B.Collie Land Scheme. I have been unable to discover anything about this scheme in Australian records. Do you think it may have been an English land scheme?
Good luck in your research, Gabrielle Finn

[rsla]

I am sorry for the delay in replying, but unfortunately the delay has not helped me to find any information. I can find no reference in my materials to any such land scheme. I had wondered whether it had any possible links to Collie in Western Australia, but it seems doubtful, given the origin of the name of the area, and that they came to SA. It may be that R. B. COLLIE was an early land purchaser in South Australia, and thus gained the right to nominate some settlers for immigration to the Colony. If that was the case it was probably not a major scheme as such, and so not recorded as a separate programme. I expect that it will be a while before I get to the old land title records office in Adelaide again, but when I do I will try to remember to look for the name.
Regards
Robert SLATER

[carmo]

This link provides a brief description of the types of assistance to emigrants. Hope it helps.
http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/fh/passengerl ... nirish.htm