Away to Zion! Early Mormon proselytisation in Australia

During the Nineteenth Century thousands of converts to the Church of Latter-day saints travelled from Europe to America. This represented an enormous transfer of human capital to the new world, facilitated by the lure of an emerging faith and perhaps the tempting promise of a new start. Less is known about those that travelled the pacific route, some even coming from the Australian colonies. While the Church of Jesus Chirst of Latter-day saints first began to establish a presence in the colony of Van Diemen's Land, later Tasmania, during the 1850s, the religion did not establish a strong footing there for another century. So, how and why was Mormon proselytisation so successful during the Nineteenth Century? And what challenges did the Mormon movement face in the Australian colonies, specifically Tasmania?

The Mormon story began with a 'divine restoration ' that occurred at the village Palmyra, Manchester, New York in 1820. A young prophet named Joseph Smith Jnr (1805-1844) had a vision of Jesus who forgave him his sins and instructed him not to join any established church. In 1822, he claimed to experience three visits by an angel named Moroni, who tasked him with finding and translating a trove of ancient records in the form of golden plates. This archive detailed the history of a group of Israelites (the Nephites and Lamanites) who had left Jerusalem around 600 BCE only to become extinct around 400 CE. This history had been written by the last Nephite prophet, Mormon. Smith's translation was published in 1830 as The Book of Mormon. Naturally the ideas of Smith and his followers attracted criticism and persecution, one incident even leading to their prophet's premature demise. Originally based in Illinois, Mormons began to seek their independence, crossing the Great Plains and settling in the Salt Lake Valley.  Under the leadership of their second President, Brigham Young, they attempted to form their own state 'Deseret' (partly across the territory that had already been designated by the US government to be Utah). The 'democratic theocracy' of the Mormons clashed multiple times with US administrations, particularly on the practice of polygamy. Regardless, this new faith endured and the commitment by the Mormon church to proselytise has continued through the Twentieth and into the Twenty First centuries, to the extent that today there are 14 million members of the church, two thirds of which live outside the United States. (1)

C. C. A. Christensen, The Hill Cumorah, Before 1912.

Public domain via Wikimedia Commons (i)

Between 1840 and 1890, approximately 90, 000 Mormon converts were transported from Europe to the American territories. (2) In the 1840s the former President of the British Mission, Thomas Ward, proposed the formation of a joint stock company; it's purpose was to provide a commercial service to trade goods between Britain and the United States and at the same time provide free - or at least subsidised - passage for European Mormons to migrate. This proposal survived many iterations but eventually failed, causing many British Mormons to lose their savings but their desperation and disappointment reflected the difficulty many converts experienced in arranging passage in pursuit not only of salvation but also of a better life. (3)  But many converts did find a way to migrate. A hostile editorial commentary on Mormonism copied from the Globe and published in the Louisville Commercial in 1880 argued that 'the vast majority of converts come from the ranks of dissent', adding that 1500 of the 'poor ignorant creatures'.... departed from Liverpool that year alone and as many from Glasgow'. The accusation was made that '...before embarkation, converts have fancy pictures sketched for them of a happy land where...all is fraternity...', although it's noted that '...Poverty of a very stern order exists in Utah as elsewhere...'. The point is also made that a migrant would have as a good of a chance as making a success as a farmer in Australia, New Zealand or Canada. (4) The allure experienced by these converts must have been strong enough to resolve the cost but also the very real risks of continental migration. Even so, the only known voyage carrying Mormon pioneers to be shipwrecked was the Julia Ann that departed from Sydney under the command of Captain Benjamin F. Pond in September 1855. (5)

Recruitment to the church was also drawn from the recent European diaspora of the time. The life story of Samuel Rose Parkinson preserved by his journal reflects the often-complex migratory journey of many converts to Mormonism. Born in 1831, a native of Lancashire, Samuel first migrated to the Australian colony of New South Wales in 1839 but returned in 1846. He and his parents migrated to St. Louis, Missouri in 1848 (soon after assisting his sister and her own family in a classic pattern of chain migration). It was there he joined the church after marrying a convert in 1852 and finally travelling with his own family and sister to Utah in 1854. (6) Recruitment was often a source of controversy, particularly when converts were young and even married women. Martha Maria Humphreys (nee Bucknell) a married woman living in the Hunter Valley, was converted in 1852 by young minister of church named John McCarthy. A letter she wrote to her parents in December 1853 is still extant in archives of the Mitchell Library; Marjorie Newton explains that the letter reveals the 'millennialism' evident among converts, a sense of urgency to remove to 'Zion' before the day of final judgment. The letter also betrays and awareness and support for the doctrine of polygamy. It is also clear that at least at the time of composing the letter, her husband was engaged elsewhere and was unaware of her plans - although it is not known if he and the older sons planned to join the rest of the family at a later date. Martha departed aboard the ill-fated Julia Ann with two daughters and younger son on 7 September 1855. She and her daughter Mary were drowned although the other two children survived. There was a subsequent scandal involving Martha's brother William Wentworth Bucknell another convert who along with his wife and family were intending to emigrate on the Jenny Ford in September 1856. However, an attachment to a servant he intended to bring with them led to a dispute, the ultimate result of which was Bucknell's excommunication. Bucknell's wife and two sons subsequently emigrated as converts and he duly complained to the Governor that they had been seduced away! (7)

Joseph Keppler. In Memorium Brigham Young, 1877.

Public domain via Wikimedia Commons (ii)

There were other serious challenges to the establishment of the Mormon church in the Australian colonies. The primary one was of course, remained the issue of polygamy.  In 1873 on the occasion of a Mormon minister coming to conduct sermons in Sydney, the Melbourne's Advocate reported that: '...we scarcely think that many fair Australians will be found willing to exchange even the chance of a whole husband, all to herself here, for a mere fraction of a husband at Salt Lake.' (8) The practice of polygamy combined with the habit of recruiting converts was to long remain a fixation for the local media: the following year the Tasmanian Tribune noted that regarding a tour by Elder Geddes he defended plural marriage on 'material and Scriptural grounds' although it is noted, perhaps with some relief, that '...no rumour has yet floated abroad as to his having made converts...' (9) As a reult of pressure and persecution from the US government, the church effectively ceased the practice of polygamy following a general conference in 1890. (10) Despite segments of the media afterwards continuing to focus on the persistence of the practice outside of the mainstream church, interest and respect for the faith among the general Australian population seemed to improve from that time. (11) Anti-Mormon activists succeeded in having entry banned for all Mormon missionaries across the British Empire following the end of World War One, but it was lifted by 1920. A decade later, the onset of the Great Depression made it more difficult for missiony work to be supported. Despite these challenges, the church continued to find acceptence and expand. The first Australian state to recognise the Mormon church as an official religious denomination was Victoria in 1923. (12) 

As previously noted, it took a century for the Mormon movement to become frimly established in Tasmania. While, the Church of Latter-day Saints began to establish a presence in Tasmania from 1854, progress was slow and there was active resistance to their mission. Regardless, congregations were first established in the 1890s. (13) Resistance to early missionaries were apparently strongest in Launceston and Elders Burr Frost and Robert Owens experienced 'considerable opposition' on their arrival there in 1854. Permission was eventually obtained from the local Mayor for Mormons to hold street meetings in 1897. The Tasmanian region first became known as the 'Tasmanian Conference' led by a 'presiding elder' based in Hobart. Local members worked as Sunday School teachers, secretaries and organists. The first local member to be ordained an Elder was Tracy William Watkins in 1894. The church was finally recognised by the state in 1931 allowing its priesthood to perform such functions as marriages and funerals. The same year the term conference was changed to district. Between 1926 and 1951, the membership grew from 1169 to 2187. In 1937 the standing of the district was raised when the formation of a 'stake of Zion' in Tasmania was approved by church authroities. Membership more than doubled in the decades between 1955 and 1976 from 3506 to 7071. Two of the more progressive initiatives institued by the church were a local branch of the Mormon Women's organisation, the State Relief Society during the depression and a welfare farm in the early post-war period. (14)

Sydney Australia Temple (Carlingford), 2010.

Public domain via Wikimedia Commons (iii)

The mass migration of Mormon converts to the United States likely reflects several push/pull factors among them: poverty, fraternity and perhaps most importantly of all, a compelling, 'new' christian faith. Certainly for many British converts if the motivations were purely material, it probably would have been a more practical  to simply migrate to one of the promising colonies such as Australia, New Zealand or Canada. It hard to reconcile the contemporary argument that the new faith was only a convenience for the dispossesed as the process of conversion was clearly most often a heartfelt and genuine one; for instance, many early missionaries faced many hardships including open hostility and poverty away from their families in order to proselytise their faith. Among the converts there was in fact, an underlying sense of urgency among converts to escape 'Babylon' and find 'Zion' before the impending day of judgement. In truth, the church itself was established during a age of great migration and drew on various European diaspora, including the British and Irish colonials. The missionary experience in Tasmania reflects many of the broader challenges the church faced in its first century or more of development. It was most of all, a threat to the established christian denominations and the hostile reception in Launceston was particularly notable. The practice of polygamy, which had in truth been effectively dropped by 1890, was used as a tool of derision and to some extent negative propaganda. Other challenges - such as the ban against missionaries entering in the British Empire following the First World War and then the Great Depression from 1929 - stunted the development of the church in the newly federated country. However the strong contribution and model behaviour of the church's menbership eventually saw it win mainstream acceptance, offical recognition and growth. 

- Colin Mallett, 19 December 2025.

Endnotes

(1)  D. Michael Quinn, 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)' in The Columbia Guide to Mormonism in American History, Paul Harvey, Edward J. Blum & Randall Stephens (eds), Columbia University Press, 2012, pp. 352-64, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/harv14020.23, accessed 30 September 2025.

(2) Keith L. Brown, 'As they sailed to Zion: The Voyage of the Julia Ann', History of Mormonism website, https://historyofmormonism.com/2014/10/12/sailed-zion-voyage-julia-ann/, accessed 30 September 2025. There were in fact 593 known voyages that carried converts from Europe to America.
(3) Ronald D. Watt, 'Mission to Britain' in The Mormon Passage of George D. Watt: first Britsh convert, scribe for Zion, University Press of Colorado, 2009, https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt4cgrhc.8, accessed 30 September 2025, pp. 60, 64. 

(4) Author Unknown, 'The Mormons in England', Louisville Commercial, 31 October 1880, p. 7, https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.31322241, accessed 30 September 2025.

(5) Fred. E. Woods, 'The unbelievable true story of Saints shipwrecked on their way to Zion', Latter-day Saint Life website, https://www.ldsliving.com/the-unbelievable-true-story-of-saints-shipwrecked-on-their-way-to-zion/s/78234, accessed 30 September 2025. Although five lives were lost, the surviving passengers and crew were rescued and continued their voyage.

(6) William C. Parkinson, 'Biography of Samuel Rose Parkinson', Hagan Family History Website, https://www.hagan.me/fhist/parkinson/SamuelRoseParkinson.html, accessed 30 September 2025.

(7) Marjorie Newton. ' "Seduced Away": Early Mormon Documents in Australia', Brigham Young University Studies, 35 (3), 1995-6, pp. 152, 154, 163, https://www.jstor.org/stable/43042071?seq=1, accessed 30 September 2025. Ironically, while it appears Bucknell went on and married the servant girl, his first wife later returned with her sons to the colony making him effectively, a bigamist.

(8)  'A Mormon Minister in Sydney', Advocate, 26 April 1873, p. 13,  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article170298808, accessed 26 September 2025.

(9) 'A Mormon in Tasmania', Tasmanian Tribune, 29 December 1874, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201483955, accessed 26 September 2025.

(10) 'About the Mormons', Tasmanian News, 12 January 1895, p. 4., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article173870258, accessed 26 September 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article173870258, accessed 26 September 2026.  According to Elder Pond in the interview, no more than 2% of their people ever engaged in the practice. Men remained married to their first wives and provision was made for the disenfranchised wives. 

(11) An example of a typical salacious headline being: 'Harems in Mexico', Tasmanian News, 23 January 1896, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article177536945, accessed 26 September 20206. Indeed, the publication of a clipping from New York's Independant in 1898 claiming that polygamy was still flourishing in Utah, prompted a visiting missionary to Tasmania, William Harvey, to write a letter to the editor explaining that the practice was indeed formally abandoned with the publication of a manifesto by their president Wilfred Woodruff dated 24 September 1890 after a legal challenge had been lost and to ensure that the Mormon population conformed with the 'law of the land'. He added that any Mormons still engaging in the practice were doing so in defiance of the teachings of the church. See: 'The Mormons and Polygamy', Mercury, 4 June 1898, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9423641, accessed 26 September 2026. The film, 'The Mormon Maid, 1917,  was released in Australia in 1918 and presented a negative view of the church, emphasising the banned practice of polygamy. Refer to: Preben Villy Scott & Donald Arthur Woolley, The History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: Tasmania 1854-2001 (2nd Edition), self--published, Ulverstone, 2001, p.5.

(12) Scott & Woolley, The History of the Church, pp. 4-5.Subsequent to the lifting of the ban, in 1921, Elder David O. McKay of the Council of Twelve toured Australia, visiting all conferences except Perth. This perhaps marked a turning point in the long process of the Mormon faith becoming mainstream in Australia.

(13) Neil Chick, 'Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints', Companion to Tasmanian History website, https://www.utas.edu.au/tasmanian-companion/biogs/E000207b.htm, accessed 30 September 2025. In fact the first Mormon missionaires believed to have arrived in the colony were John Murdoch and Charles Wandel in 1851. The first Elder to visit was Robert Owen in 1854 on his return home from a mission to India. See: Scott & Woolley, The History of the Church, p. 4.

(14) Scott & Woolley, The History of the Church, pp. 4-6, 8, 11, 86, 92, 123, 127.

Figures and Illustrations

(i) C. C. A. Christensen, The Hill Cumorah, before 1912, Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Hill_Cumorah_by_C.C.A._Christensen.jpeg, accessed 8 October 2025.

(ii) Joseph Keppler, In Memoriam Brigham Young, 1877, Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:In_memoriam_brigham_young_3.jpg, accessed 8 October 2025. 

(iii) Scott Contini, Sydney Australia Temple (Carlingford), 2010, Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sydney_Australia_Temple_(Carlingford).jpg, accessed 8 October 2025. 

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Advocate (Melbourne)

Mercury (Hobart)

Tasmanian News (Hobart)

Tasmanian Tribune (Hobart)

Secondary Sources

Newton, Marjorie. ' "Seduced Away": Early Mormon Documents in Australia', Brigham Young University Studies, 35 (3), 1995-6, pp. 149-65.

Quinn, D. Michael. 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)' in The Columbia Guide to Mormonism in American History, Paul Harvey, Edward J. Blum & Randall Stephens (eds), Columbia University Press, 2012, pp. 352-64, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/harv14020.23, accessed 30 September 2025.

Scott, P. V. & Woolley, D. A. The History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: Tasmania 1854-2001 (2nd Edition), self--published, Ulverstone, 2001.

Watt, Ronald D. 'Mission to Britain' in The Mormon Passage of George D. Watt: first British convert, scribe for Zion, University Press of Colorado, 2009, pp. 58-81, https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt4cgrhc.8, accessed 30 September 2025. 

Online Sources

Author Unknown, 'The Mormons in England', Louisville Commercial, 31 October 1880, p. 7, https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.31322241, accessed 30 September 2025.

Brown, Keith L. 'As they sailed to Zion: The Voyage of the Julia Ann', History of Mormonism website, https://historyofmormonism.com/2014/10/12/sailed-zion-voyage-julia-ann/, accessed 30 September 2025.

Chick, Neil. 'Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints', Companion to Tasmanian History website, https://www.utas.edu.au/tasmanian-companion/biogs/E000207b.htm, accessed 30 September 2025.

Parkinson, William C. 'Biography of Samuel Rose Parkinson', Hagan Family History Website, https://www.hagan.me/fhist/parkinson/SamuelRoseParkinson.html, accessed 30 September 2025. 

Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page.

Woods, Fred, E. 'The unbelievable true story of Saints shipwrecked on their way to Zion', Latter-day Saint Life website, https://www.ldsliving.com/the-unbelievable-true-story-of-saints-shipwrecked-on-their-way-to-zion/s/78234, accessed 30 September 2025. 

'A new career of usefulness': Anglo-Indians in Tasmania

William Fullerton of Rosemount, EIC, Surgeon in Patna, and Mayor of Calcutta, receiving a visitor, attended by servants with fly-whisks (chauri),1764.

Public domain via Wikimedia Commons (i)

During its long history, the East India Company developed from a minor Seventeenth Century maritime trading enterprise into a Nineteenth Century imperial power that transformed both the British economy as well as the social and political landscape of the emerging nation of India.  Following the decisive Battle of Plassey in 1757, concerns were raised over its capacity to maintain its dual role as both sovereign and trader while resisting the temptations of self-interest. Reforms both legislative and cultural were implemented from that time that helped shaped its workforce overwhelmingly from one comprised of ambitious grifters into a class that prided itself on its ethic of public service (and arguably a flawed belief in their role as civilisers!). Some Anglo-Indians were even to retire to the colony of Van Diemen's Land, later Tasmania. So then, what connections were maintained between the East India Company and the most remote of all British colonies, Tasmania and what role and legacy, if any, did these Anglo-Indians have its development?

The Mugal Emperor Akbar receiving Sir John Mildenhall, Queen Elizabeth I's ambassador, 1599. 

Public domain via Wikimedia Commons (ii)

William Dalrymple sharply noted in his book The Anarchy that when the East India Company was formed in September 1599, Shakespeare was still writing his play Hamlet! The company was formed in part as an opportunistic reaction to the success of the Dutch in the new world. Under the leadership of Thomas Smythe, an auditor for the City of London who had experience trading with the Greek Islands and Allepo, sufficient capital was raised by subscription and Elizabeth I was presented with a petition for a charter to allow trading in the East Indies (1) During its earliest history, the Company was a minor participant in trade to the East, experiencing decided obstruction from both the Dutch and the Portuguese. The first company ship arrived in 1608 but did not receive an edict to trade until 1612 when the defeat of four Portuguese galleons by two company ships, impressed the emperor. (2) The company persisted during its first century of operation, establishing forts, building alliances and fostering trade. The Glorious Revolution in 1688 established the English stock market and this energised its fortunes alongside the wider British economy. (3) The separation of the company's management from its share ownership led to the creation of an elected Court of Directors answerable to the stockholders. The company acquired a territorial empire after 1757 and was transformed into an Imperial power. In short, H. V. Bowen has observed that the company '...played an important part in tying together the City of London, the state, the Empire in a series of entangling relationships that enabled resources to be mobilised at home and abroad, thereby helping to facilitate the emergence of Britain as the greatest financial, imperial, industrial and military power on the world stage.' (4)

India House, the Sale Room, 1809.

Public domain via Wikimedia Commons (iii)

To a certain degree, the tyranny of distance between the United Kingdom and India both tested and tempted, providing impetus and latitude for abuses. For much of its history there was as much of a delay as several months in communication. There was often tension between East India House and the presidencies when discrepancies between official reports and direct observations became evident - even if it wasn't clear if they could be attributed to incompetence or corruption! (5) A Parliamentary enquiry in 1695 into bribery and insider trading led to the imprisonment of its Governor. (6) Many in established English society, despised the 'nabobs' or Britons who had made fortunes in the region. In their estimation at least, some returned to marry above their station, buy seats in parliament and generally destabilise the economy! Robert Clive, during his second Governorship, recognised that poor compensation and adverse conditions encouraged the pursuit of self-interest. (7) The Regulatory Act of 1773 insisted that all gifts were to be declared to the company and mostly returned. The later Pitt Act of 1784 further sought to reform company behaviour. However, the impeachment of Governor General William Hastings in 1786 - who had been elected to implement reforms and establish a supreme court - suggested there were lingering concerns over company practices and the discipline of its workforce. (8) 

Haileybury College, 1894.

Public domain via Wikimedia Commons (iv)

A key component of reform was a focus on the proper training and general preparation for a career in either administrative or military service within the company. Until the close of the Eighteenth Century, appointments had always been based on patronage; the assumption being that class itself was evidence of both education and capacity. The Marquess Wellesley was the first to pitch the concept of a structured education for recruits. Subsequently the College of Fort William was established at Calcutta in 1800 - attendance being mandatory for all writers regardless of their assigned presidency. This innovation was deeply resented by the Directors of the Company who preferred the idea of an English based college where greater selectivity of candidates could be exercised. (9) An English college, Haileybury, was established in 1809.  The Charter of 1813 made it mandatory for all trainee 'writers' to attend. (10) While open to youths aged between 15 and 22, there were persistent accusations of elitism. Entrance was dependent on a nomination from a director and the fees were notoriously expensive. The college operated for over half a century and often serviced multiple generations of the same families. The curriculum was a blend of economics and languages. The academic staff were poached from Oxford and Cambridge and included Thomas Robert Malthus, who taught there for over three decades. The company also established a military training college at Addiscombe. Brian Gardner in his history of the company argued that this reform was largely successful in its ambition noting that in retrospect the 'Haileybury and Addiscombe men ran India not just for themselves and their careers, as their predecessors had mainly done, but for the company, and with a sense of duty towards the Crown, and often towards India itself.' (11)

A View of East India House, Leadenhall Street, London, 1802.

Public domain via Wikimedia Commons (v)

As the early Nineteenth Century progressed, the situation in India for young men pursuing a career became both more socially palatable and fiscally rewarding for those who operated affairs by the book. Gardner acknowledges that previous to those reforms, many men became alcoholics or opium addicts in an attempt to meet the challenges of India. The length of the journey was gradually diminished: down to four months with the introduction of the steamship route by the 1820s, and two months via the overland, Mediterranean express route in the 1830s. Slowly pay and leave benefits improved. Social life also improved with many women travelling to India to find potential husbands who could eventually look forward to a retirement back in England with a healthy pension. (12) Indeed, by the early Nineteenth Century, the Anglo-Indians had become to be regarded as a distinct social group later defined by Malcolm Allbrook in An Anglo-Indian Community in Britain as 'Britons born in India of British parents or Britons who spent long periods in India, many of whom self-identified as Anglo-Indian.' Many believed that India had benefited from their presence, and they adopted the label with pride, and it often came to influence their family, social and business networks. A central tenant of that society appears to have been the ideal of colonial service, particularly in India. (13) 

James Prinsep, pencil sketch of Augustus Prinsep by his brother James Prinsep, 1816.

Public domain via Wikimedia Commons (vi)

The colony of Van Diemen's Land proved to be a popular destination for Anglo-Indian servants of the company on furlough. (14) Between 1829 and 1830 Augustus Prinsep and his family visited the island colony and an account titled A Journey from Calcutta to Van Diemen's Land, was published posthumously by his wife in 1833. Prinsep's Journal, made up of letters composed between 1829 and 1830, reflected an increasing interest in the colony, he particularly saw it as both a place of opportunity to own land and simultaneously make a significant contribution to the Empire. (15) Although the island was initially intended as a stop-over on their way to New South Wales, by the end of their stay it was clear that both he and his wife Elizabeth were considering settlement there and explained their reasoning:

...we have almost come to a determination, that it will be preferable to come hither three or four years hence, with a little money, than to stay, and dare disease and death in Bengal; indeed, there are here so many advantages, that were any calamity to fall upon any of our hitherto lucky family, the sufferers might still have a chance of happiness, and plenty, by coming to Van Diemen's Land.

The advantages Prinsep listed throughout his correspondence are both economic and natural. He argued that the island offered many industries to invest in including 'building-land, sheep, cattle, bank-stock, or whale fishery shares', In addition, he observed everywhere the natural beauty, the fertility of the land and the ample cheap labour available to settlers with a modest amount of capital. While he admits that 'most of our new friends have sprung from the lowest democracy' he significantly qualifies the colony's long-term potential by emphasising the importance that a '...little more respectability may perhaps be imported from England or from India....'. (16) Prinsep's experiences firstly reflect the increased flexibility and benefits available to company servants from the 1820s. After a decade's service it was firstly possible to claim home leave. With a medical certificate it was possible to be granted a leave of absence with no restrictions on where it might be spent. Furthermore, wages up to a thousand pounds per annum was payable for at least fifteen months. (17) His account also inadvertently indicates a sense of an obligation for colonial service on the part of the educated and landed classes to benefit the expanding empire. (18) 

Augustus Prinsep, panoramic view of Hobarton, 1829/30.

Public domain via Wikimedia Commons (vii)

Most company servants retired back to England, but some chose the colonies, and specifically Tasmania to settle. Several notable Anglo-Indians who eventually selected Tasmania as their place of settlement included Charles Fenton, Charles Swanston, and Edward Braddon. (19) Also among them was Edward Dumaresq, who after accepting a cadetship in the East India Company's service, became a junior officer in the Bombay Native Infantry as well as gaining some experience as a Surveyor in Gujarat. When his health broke down in 1823, he initially took sick leave in Mauritius. It was when voyaging to the Australian colonies during his recovery that he first became familiar with the island.  After being invalided out of the service and briefly returning home, he soon after emigrated with relatives and personally selected Van Diemen's Land to settle. (20) Most if not all of these Anglo-Indians who settled in the colony appear to have joined the company after 1800, by which time it had instituted levels of mandatory and standardised training; this may help to explain why they shared a common appreciation of the importance of colonial service.

Johan Joseph Zoffany RN, Patrick Heatly, c. 1783-89.

Public domain via JSTOR (viii)

The first scheme to attract Anglo-Indians to settle in the colony known as the 'Indiana Institution' and launched in 1824, failed. The proposal was aimed at Anglo-Indian Englishmen who had married Indian wives and their descendants. But instead, the colony largely remained a place of investment in property for servants of the company who had an eye on their future. (21)  Still the standards necessary to secure a land grant were clearly high, as Prinsep himself was refused. (22) Another official scheme to facilitate Anglo-Indian migration to the colony was established in 1867. Its innovator was a Colonel Andrew Crawford (1815-1899), an East Indian Company military officer who had furloughed there in the 1840s with his wife and her family at Richmond and had purchased land before returning to India. Tasmanian Parliament amended the Immigration Act to allow the Governor to set aside 9, 700 acres of land for Anglo-Indian migrants around Castra near Ulverstone; concurrently a committee named Castra and Co. was established in the Bombay Presidency for the purpose of recruitment. It was estimated that the Crawford scheme would inject 10, 000 pounds into the local economy per annum. (23) 

Colonel Michel Maxwell Shaw, an Anglo-Indian who arrived in Tasmania in 1868 as a part of Crawford's scheme, had a letter he had written to the Indian Times republished in the Mercury describing his 150-acre property and recommending the colony as a place where small fortunes might become large while 'farms are awaiting owners'.  He expressed the sentiment that settlement by quality migrants was almost a patriotic duty, noting that the presence of a hundred or more gentlemen in the district would not only increase land values but also help to act as a brake on a wasteful colonial government (24).  While still enlisted in the Queen's Indian Army, Shaw had published a pamphlet entitled 'Tasmania and Missionary Emigration in Joint Stock and Co. and Co-operative Action' extolling the virtues of Tasmania as a 'superior field for British emigrants'. (25) Responding in a letter home to an enquiry from a cousin about opportunities in the colony in 1878, Shaw related that it was '...astonishing how comfortable a small farm can make one.' He explained that properties could be bought for a modest sum and developed easily to a point where they could be largely self-sufficient thanks to plentiful natural resources and operated by local labour, perhaps to be later sold at a profit. Significantly though, almost as an afterthought reflected on the good one of an appropriate class and skill set could achieve: 'There is a great opening for pious families out here. They become great centres of usefulness.' (26) Regardless, of the forty-three Anglo-Indians who purchased land under the Crawford scheme, only twenty were still resident in the colony by 1880. Many did not even clear their properties! While their economic impact was limited, their overall influence on the political, social and cultural development of the colony was likely considerable. (27)

Edward Braddon attending the last meeting of the Federal Council of Australasia, 1899.

Public domain via Wikimedia Commons (ix)

Yet the ethic of colonial service was not exclusive to servants of the East India Company. Perhaps the most famous of all Anglo-Indian migrants to the island was Edward Braddon. Braddon had travelled to India in 1847 to work in a cousin's merchant firm and afterwards managed indigo plantations, served during the Indian Mutiny and then spent almost two decades as a civil servant. (28) Forced into an early retirement, Braddon migrated to Tasmania later recalling: 'I went to Tasmanian in 1879 with the full intention of becoming a farmer, not because I knew anything whatever about agricultural matters, but because I believed there was nothing much in them to learn.' Inevitably then, he shifted his focus away from his meagre 50 acres towards civic engagement culminating in his election to the House of Assembly. (29) In early 1893 as Agent-General of Tasmania, Braddon delivered a paper to the Indian section of the Society of Arts in London titled 'Australasia for Anglo-Indian Colonisation' spelling out the advantages of migration to the Australasian colonies for Anglo-Indians following years of service or residence in India. Braddon was of the view that while many were ready for 'a new career of usefulness', many were disadvantaged by the depreciation of the rupee and that colonial migration opened far more opportunities than a return to the homeland, both for themselves and their sons. (30) Setting out to prove both his points concerning the potential for self-improvement and colonial service, Braddon became Premier of the colony in 1894. He also became a prominent federalist who made a considerable contribution towards the achievement of federation among the Australasian colonies. (31)

The remarkable rise of the East India Company opened up opportunities not only for the economic and military expansion of the British empire but also for individuals to develop both skills and fortunes which they often reinvested in the colonies. In response to early corruption and self-interest, a doctrine of colonial service was instilled in the final generations of the company's workforce. Initially a place of furlough and modest investment, the opportunities available attracted a small number of Anglo-Indians to settle there. While arguably of a class more used to managing labour than engaging in it, these Anglo-Indian migrants were to have a lasting impact on the social, political and economic development of the island colony and later state. It is somehow comforting to consider that despite all the suffering and damage caused by colonialism, some degree of good may have finally come of it all. 

-  Colin Mallett, 19 September 2025.

Endnotes

(1) William Dalrymple, The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company, Bloomsbury Publishing, Sydney, 2019, pp. 1-2 & 6. 

(2) Brian Gardner, The East India Company: A History, Granada Publishing Limited, London, 1971, pp. 28-39.

(3) Nicholas P. Dirks, The Scandal of Empire and the Creation of Imperial Britain, Belknap Press of Havard University Press, Cambridge & London, 2006, p. 8.

(4) H. V. Bowen, The Business of Empire: the East India Company and Imperial Britain, 1736-1833, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2006, pp. 20, 28. In fact, it could be argued that holding the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company was analogous in prestige and responsibility to that of a government minister. 

(5) H. V. Bowen, The Business of Empire, pp. 157-8.

(6) Dirks, The Scandal of Empire, p. 8.

(7) Gardner, A History, p. 101. Robert Clive began his colourful career for the company aged only 17 and built a reputation for bravery. He returned to England in 1860 but returned in 1864 to help reform operations. He was investigated himself for corruption in accepting bribes but exonerated in 1772. See: Dirks, The Scandal of Empire, p. 16. 

(8) Dirks, The Scandal of Empire, p. 9-20. Hastings had arrived as a writer himself in his teens and risen through the ranks to become Governor or Fort William at Calcutta in 1772 following Clive's departure. See: Gardner, A History, p. 104. 

(9) Gardner, A History, pp. 188-9. Fittingly the property selected, 'Hailey Bury' in 1806 had previously been owned by a director.

(10) John Bowen, 'The East India Company's Education of its own servants', The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1955, 4(3):105—23, pp. 5-7, 114-5.

(11) Gardner, A History, pp. 188-192. While closed in 1858, Haileybury reopened four years later as a public school with no links with the East India Company but retaining a strong association with India, see specifically p. 291. The intergenerational character of the company is reflected in the fact that the father of utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill, followed his own father by joining the company aged 17 in 1823. See: p. 194. The company lost control of India following the 1857 mutiny, the final meeting of its Court of Directors taking place on 1 September 1858 and was finally dissolved when its last charter expired in 1874. Refer to pp. 291-2, 296.  

(12) Gardner, A History, pp. 182-7.

(13) Malcolm Allbrook, Henry Prinsep's Empire: Framing a Distant Colony, Australian National University Press, Canberra, 2014, pp. 82, 85, 96. 

(14) For instance, in February 1825 Major Tod and Captain Wilson of the Company arrived in Hobart via the Philip Dundas and it was observed in a local paper that the town would be soon '...much thronged with the fashionable sick of India and Mauritius...'. Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen's Land Advertiser, 'Hobart Town', 25 February 1825, p.2,  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1090565, accessed 4 June 2025.

(15) Elizabeth Mercer, 'Anglo-Indians', the Companion to Tasmanian History online, 2006, https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/A/Anglo-Indians.htm, accessed 23 May 2025. 

(16) Augustus Prinsep, The Journal of a voyage from Calcutta to Van Diemen's Land: comprising a description of that colony during a six month's residence, Tasmanian Facsimile Editions no. 3, Melanie Publications, Hobart, 1981, pp. 106-7, 117). Balancing that enthusiasm, on his journey to Launceston Prinsep observed that between Hobart and Launceston '...not a single grant of fresh land is to be had...' and also warned that as the population inevitably grew that there would be a possibility of a housing shortage that would push rents up. Refer to pp. 82, 115.

(17) Gardner, A History, p. 183. 

(18) Prinsep, Journal, pp, i-v. Augustus Prinsep (1803-1830), a son of the Vicar of Bicester, was admitted to Haileybury in July 1819. He graduated in 1821, third in his class and was appointed as a writer, arriving in Calcutta in July 1822. He advanced rapidly, eventually becoming Commissioner of Pergunnah Palamow in 1826. He was no less than the seventh child among his siblings to work in India indicating that there was indeed a strong sense of colonial service evident in the family. His health never recovered, and he died at sea on another voyage in October 1830. Anglo-Indians were certainly seen to be beneficial to colonial society; when the Prinsep family decided to remain on the island rather than moving on to mainland it was reported in the Australian that 'Mr. Prinsep, of Calcutta, it is said, proposes settling in Van Diemen's Land. He had already enriched the island with two high bred horses.' Refer to: Australian, 'Shipping News', 10 February 1829, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36865531, accessed 4 June 2025. 

(19) Allbrook, Framing a Distant Colony, p. 97.

(20) Roger Page, 'Edward Dumaresq (1802-1906)', Australian Dictionary of Biography online, n.d., https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dumaresq-edward-2002, accessed 23 May 2025.

(21) Mercer, 'Anglo-Indians'. Augustus Prinsep 

(22) Prinsep, Journal, p. v. This was despite that on his application to Surveyor-General George Frankland, Prinsep indicated that he had an income of 1600 per annum, had an inclination to farm and cited Michael Fenton and John Henderson as character referees! 

(23) G. T. Stilwell, 'Andrew Crawford (1815-1899)', Australian Dictionary of Biography online, n.d., https://adb.anu.eu.au/biography/crawford-andrew-3285/, accessed 21 May 2025. 

(24) Mercury, 'A Settler's Opinion of Tasmania', 10 November 1868, p. 3. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8855548, accessed 21 May 2025.

(25) The pamphlet was based on Colonel Crawford's research but 'confirmed by reference to other authorities'. Refer to: Launceston Examiner, 'Review', 29 August 1866, p.2,  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36637633, accessed 23 May 2025.

(26) Col. Michael Maxwell Shaw of Dean's Point, Latrobe (retired) to relatives abroad [letter], 17 December 1877, Correspondence (NS163), Shaw Family (NG163), Tasmanian Archives, NS 159/1, 163/1/1.

(27) Shaw for instance, was a prolific contributor of correspondence to the local press particularly on the topic of temperance and even original poetry. For the first see these examples: Weekly Examiner, 'Col. Shaw upon Temperance', 10 February 1872, p. 4 , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article233098467, accessed 23 May 2025 & Daily Telegraph, 'Col. Shaw's Opinion', 24 May 1888, p. 3,  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149496661, accessed 23 May 2025. For the second refer to: Devon Herald, 'Babylon', 8 October 1879, p. 3,  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article173146720, accessed 23 May 2025 & Devon Herald, 'Two Lovely Girls', 19 November 1879, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article173146893, accessed 23 May 2025.

(28) Scott Bennett, 'Edward Braddon', the Companion to Tasmanian History online, 2006, https://utas.edu.au/library/conpanion_to_tasmanian_history/B/Edward%20Braddon.htm, accessed 23 May 2025.

(29) Australian Star, 'Australasia and Anglo-Indians', 17 May 1893, p. 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article227185651, accessed 23 May 2025. 

(30) Tasmanian, 'Australasia as a field for Anglo-Indian colonisation', 27 May 1873, p. 23, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201155926, accessed 23 May 2025. 

(31) Scott Bennett, 'Sir Nicholas Edward Coventry Braddon (1829-1904)', Australian Dictionary of Biography online, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/braddon_sir_edward_nicholas_coventr-5330, accessed 23 May 2025.

Figures and Illustrations

(i) Dip Chand, Portrait of East India Company Official, Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_East_India_Company_official.jpg, accessed 22 May 2025.

(ii) English School (20th Century), The Origin of the East India Company, Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_origin_of_the_East_India_Company_(colour_litho)_by_English_School.jpg, accessed 22 May 2025.

(iii) Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) and Augustus Charles Pugin (1762-1832) after John Buck (fl. 1791-1819), Joseph Constantine Stadler (fl. 1780-1812), Thomas Sutherland (1785-1838), J. Hill and Harraden (aquatint engravers), Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Microcosm_of_London_Plate_045_-_India_House,_the_Sale_Room_(tone).jpg, accessed 22 May 2025.

(iv) Unknown artist, Haileybury College, Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Haileybury_college.jpg, accessed 22 May 2025. 

(v) Yale Centre for British Art, CCO, A View of East India House, Leadenhall Street, London by Anonymous, Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anonymous_-_A_View_of_the_East-India_House,_Leadenhall_Street,_London_-_B1977.14.17469_-_Yale_Center_for_British_Art.jpg, accessed 22 May 2025. 

(vi) James Prinsep, pencil sketch of Augustus Prinsep by his brother James Prinsep, 1816, Wikimedia Commons, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Augustus_Prinsep_by_James_Prinsep_1816.jpg, accessed 30 May 2025. 

(vii) Augustus Prinsep, panoramic view of Hobarton, 1829/30, Wikimedia Commons, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Panoramic_view_of_Hobarton_%28S3446%29.png, accessed 30 May 2025.

(viii) Johan Joseph Zoffany RN, Patrick Healty (1783-9), JSTOR via Yales' Visual Resources of the Middle East Collection, https:/jstor.org./stable/community/.28498053, accessed 22 May 2025. 

(ix) National Library of Australia, Edward Braddon 1899, Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edward_Braddon_1899.jpg, accessed 22 May 2025.

Bibliography

Primary Sources:

Australian (Sydney)

Australian Star (Sydney)

Daily Telegraph (Launceston)

Devon Herald (Latrobe)

Hobart Town Gazette and Van Diemen's Land Advertiser

Launceston Examiner (Launceston)

Mercury (Hobart)

Prinsep, A., The Journal of a voyage from Calcutta to Van Diemen's Land: comprising a description of that colony during a six month's residence, Tasmanian Facsimile Editions no. 3, Melanie Publications, Hobart, 1981. [Originally published by Smith, Elder and Co., Cornhill, London, 1833.  Fergusson no. 1695]

Tasmanian (Launceston)

Weekly Examiner (Launceston)

Tasmanian Archives, Correspondence, Shaw Family, NS 159/1, 163/1/1

Secondary Sources:

Allbrook, Malcolm, Henry Prinsep's Empire: Framing a Distant Colony, Australian National University Press, Canberra, 2014.

Bowen, H. V., The Business of Empire: the East India Company and Imperial Britain, 1736-1833, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2006.

Bowen, John, 'The East India Company's Education of its own servants', The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1955, 4(3):105—23.

Dalrymple, William, The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company, Bloomsbury Publishing, Sydney, 2019. 

Dirks, Nicholas P., The Scandal of Empire and the Creation of Imperial Britain, Belknap Press of Havard University Press, Cambridge & London, 2006.

Gardner, Brian, The East India Company: A History, Granada Publishing Limited, London, 1971.

Online Sources:

Bennett, S., 'Sir Nicholas Edward Coventry Braddon (1829-1904)', Australian Dictionary of Biography online, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/braddon_sir_edward_nicholas_coventr-5330, n.d., accessed 23 May 2025.

Bennett, S., 'Edward Braddon', the Companion to Tasmanian History online, https://utas.edu.au/library/conpanion_to_tasmanian_history/B/Edward%20Braddon.htm, 2006, accessed 23 May 2025.

Jstor, https://jstor.org

Mercer, E., 'Anglo-Indians', the Companion to Tasmanian History online, 2006, https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/A/Anglo-Indians.htm.

Page, R., 'Edward Dumareaq (1802-1906)', Australian Dictionary of Biography online, n.d., https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dumaresq-edward-2002.

Stilwell, G. T., 'Andrew Crawford (1815-1899)', Australian Dictionary of Biography online, n.d.,  https://adb.anu.eu.au/biography/crawford-andrew-3285/.

Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page.

Bound for the Cape of Good Hope: the fate of the Osler Party, 1820.

On 11 November 1820, a letter was published in the Royal Cornwall Gazette detailing the experiences of a party of settlers who had migrated from Falmouth to the Cape Colony at the tip of South Africa. (1) It was written by William Mallett, a 45-year-old mason from Penryn, who along with his wife Elizabeth and 10 other families, had travelled aboard the ship Weymouth to Cape Town and finally to Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha) with the intention of settling in a new land. The letter depicted the hopes, optimism and challenges experienced early on in a venture that ultimately failed. What was the historical context of Osler party to South Africa in 1820?  Who were William and Elizabeth Mallett of Penryn and what was their fate? Why did the venture fail and was that typical of the wider scheme to Anglicise the Cape Colony?

The Amazon at Port Elizabeth, Algoa Bay, Uitenhage Division, 1852 by T. Baines & W. Simpson.

Baines, T (artist); Day and Son (engravers); Rudolph Ackermann (publishers); Simpson, W (engraver), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (i)

This specific expedition was led by Benjamin Osler, a merchant from Falmouth, and took the form of a joint stock party with each member providing their own deposit. (2) But this was part of a larger migration program in post-Napoleonic Britain which saw approximately one million subsidised to emigrate to the colonies by 1840. There were 90, 000 applicants for the South African scheme but only 4, 000 were accepted along with another thousand who were self-funded. Settlers were granted 100 acres as part of a scheme that in regard to the Cape Colony as much about stablising and expanding interior settlement as it was about providing a solution to growing poverty and inequity at home that had been exacerbated by an extended period of conflict. (3) Perhaps William Mallett's personal enthusiasm to migrate is reflected in the fact that he wrote to the Secretary of State for the Colonies on 6 November 1819 having engaged to participate, enquiring about the particulars of the voyage specifically the date and point of departure (!). (4) It can be assumed that part of that anxiety related to the fact that he had already paid the nominal deposit of 10 pounds. The Malletts were probably representative of many of the self-funded migrants in that they were mostly skilled and possessed some small amount of capital. (5)

The acquisition of the Cape Colony by the British had been itself an inadvertent result of the Napoleonic wars. The Prince of Orange had ordered its surrender to the British in 1795 following the French invasion of the Netherlands. Dutch rule was reasserted from 1803 but in 1806 as part of a wider geopolitical strategy, the British retook the colony and were to rule it for another century. (6) The Netherlands formally transferred sovereignty in 1814. (7) The remaining Dutch elite were an asset to the British and combined with significant reforms, the economy had begun to grow. (8) While there are some accounts that the English looked down at the Dutch residents as being 'lazy', William Mallett was to comment in 1820 that the local Dutch farmers 'appear very civil people'. (9) The great source of anxiety by those attempting to Anglicise the territory was indigenous resistance and expansion on the Eastern frontier. (10) 

Map of the Eastern Frontier, Cape of Good Hope, c. 1835 —note the indicated locations of settler farms within the division of Albany.

I created the map, based partly on the source map: Eastern frontier of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope from Algoa Bay to the Great Kei River, which appears opposite page 620 of ‘The autobiography of Lieutenant-general Sir Harry Smith’ by G.C.B. Bart, Chapter xlviii, published 1903, as part of the online Build a Book initiative. JMK 11:03, 26 December 2007 (UTC), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (ii)

Overall, William Mallett's letter home reflects the early enthusiasm and optimistic hopes for the colony.  The voyage appears to have been long, but relatively smooth. The ship made the Canary Islands on 24 January, anchoring at Palma. An encounter with a Spanish pirate brig was probably the first reminder of the dangers associated with migration in the period. While the brig stood across their bow, the Weymouth fired in response and brought her to, letting them go after an inspection. On 21 February they experienced their first squall which William described it as 'terrible', followed by another before they reached the equatorial line on 2 March. The heavy rain had thankfully replenished the ship's fresh water supply. They clearly enjoyed the journey as there are mentions of fishing, including catches of turtles, sharks and a 'fine dolphin'. After crossing the Tropic of Capricorn on 2 April, they finally spotted the Cape of Good Hope on 25 April. On 9 May the ship sailed from Table Bay for Algoa Bay, which is still 500 miles distant from Cape Town! They anchored there on 18 May, disembarked within two days and began a trek that took them 120 miles overland, involving five to six wagons. This was clearly a hard journey as he notes that as there were no lodgings available, all the party had to sleep either inside or under their wagons. Thankfully they arrived at Bathurst Town on 30 May. (11) 

1820 Settlers camped near the Big Fish River, Date Unknown by Frederick Timpson.

J. J. Redgrave & Edna Bradlow, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons (iii)

As hard as life must have been, William Mallett at least appears to have felt no regrets about undertaking the migration. By the time he came to write his letter on 3 July 1820, the couple resided in a little hut complimented by a tent. He related the news that they have been able to grow or acquire plenty of food as he mentions due to the 'healthiest climate in the world' that '...anything will grow any time of the year, and we can get two or three crops a year.' Regardless, they were receiving subsidised rations from the government which included a pound and a half of mutton, a pound of bread and a 'noggin' of brandy per day for 6d. They were able to purchase tea for 3s a pound, rice, sugar, soap, candles and more (presumably from Bathurst). They had also started to accumulate livestock in the form of five sheep. Significantly he notes that they possessed 'no desire to leave it again to return to England'. But this was still the wild frontier, and he indicates the aided a party of several men including a preacher who had been lost in the wilderness. The preacher returned to the party the following Sunday and they were able to form a 'class of eleven' which he suggested was the first Methodist church formed by the settlers in the new country. Even so, by July there appear to be hints that a shift to nearby Bathurst was on the cards. Mallett wrote: '...I do expect to remove into Bathurst soon to live, the officers tell me I shall be wanted in soon; our wages is about 2s. per day, it is a most delightful spot, and we shall have land enough there.' This alludes to a realisation that the 100-acre allotments at Pendennis were inadequate for their needs. (12) 

In fact, in July 1820, William Mallett remained so optimistic of the opportunities offered by the colony that he appears to have been encouraging relatives to join him. In the letter he declares: 'Send me Jonathan, and it will be better than a fortune for him; let him go to London and he will get a passage in an East Indiaman cheap, and if he comes to Cape Town, or Simon's Town, he can get a passage to Algoa bay, and there he can come up with the waggons...' This is likely a clue as to William's identity. A Jonathan Mallett was born at Penryn around 1799 to a John Mallett and his wife Prudence (formerly Tresidder). Our William was likely John's brother making Jonanthan his nephew. Jonathan didn't migrate himself but remained in Penryn and married Mary Fittock in 1828; at least three of their sons (Jonathan junior, William and Jaspar) as well as a grandson (Alfred) also became masons. A William Mallett who had been born at Penryn around 1779 married a Margaret Piper and together they had at least two children (Elisabeth born around 1800 and Jenefer born around 1803). We can't be certain this is the same person as our letter writer as his occupation is not listed on either baptism record, but a witness to the wedding was indeed a John Mallett. It is possible then that by 1819, William might have already been widowed and remarried before making the decision to emigrate. William and Elizabeth Mallett were not accompanied by any children to the Cape Colony and as they were both aged in their mid-forties by that time, a lack of fecundity may have even been an advantage when venturing into the unknown. (13)

Map of Osler's Party Land allocation (Pendennis), 1820, (now Grove Hill in the Mansfield Game Reserve), prepared by Colin Mallett

Prepared with google maps and based on 'Settler Farm Outline: Pendennis' by Paul Tanner-Tremaine, British 1820 Settlers to South Africa Website (iv)

The 'new town' established by the Osler party, about 12 miles South of Bathurst, was named Pendennis in honour of the old country. Yet within a couple of years Osler and most of his family had relocated back to Cornwall. He was succeeded by another member of the party, a shoemaker named John Dale, but the party gradually dissipated. Philip Payton has argued that this was most likely due to a lack of agricultural skill among the party members, in addition to a lack of adequate finance. Some members gravitated to nearby Grahamstown, while the Malletts themselves relocated to Uitenhage near Port Elizabeth. (14) Robert Ross has observed that hardship made most settlers understand that it was a direct connection with the government that provided opportunity. (15) Aran S. McKinnon has further suggested that many other circumstantial factors played a role in the failure, including persistent drought, crop disease, floods and indigenous resistance. (16)

Indeed, in March 1823 a statement was sent to the Secretary of State for the Colonies and signed by approximately 170 British settlers. The general sentiment was that the colonial government did not understand what support was needed in such a foreign environment. There were two central criticisms expressed concerning the scheme. Firstly the 100-acre grant was seen as inadequate, and it is indicated that about 4000 acres was required for a settler to achieve subsistence level. Secondly the settlers were hampered by the systematic withholding of two thirds of the deposit which they claimed it had been stipulated they were to be repaid on relocation. The removal of the magistracy, troops and government support from the settlement of Bathurst appears to have compounded those problems as well as providing encouragement for indigenous resistance—which all served to further distract them from their role as farmers. The lack of access to a wider market due as much to administrative policy as geographic isolation, also hampered their progress. It's understandable then that many settlers were drawn back to 'more profitable pursuits' in the more distant population centres. (17) Among the signatories was a 'J. Weeks' who is likely the James Weeks, baker and confectioner, who had been a member of the Osler Party who by that time relocated to Grahamstown and eventually died there in 1835. (18)

1820 Settlers National Monument

Witstinkout, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (v)

The Osler party of 1820 was part of wider scheme of migration aimed at stabilising and developing the newly acquired Cape of Good Hope Colony. The experiences detailed in the letter written by William Mallett, a member of the Osler party, give a firsthand insight into the challenges involved in the process of migration. He belonged to a skilled, working-class family that was perhaps suffering or at least hampered, during a period of economic uncertainty and social unrest. His enduring optimism may have been as much an indication of the levels of frustration with his limited prospects for improvement at home in post-Napoleonic England then it was of the true degree of promise found in the new country.  His ultimate fate, along with that of his wife, is unclear although he seemed determined to remain in the colony apparently relocating to Uitenhage with the dissolution of the Osler Party.  While the subsidised migration scheme was genuine in its methods, it was poorly executed. The migrants were arguably unprepared, allocated inadequate allotments and given insufficient support. The challenges faced by the members of the Osler party then were probably typical of those involved in the scheme. By 1823 there was evident widespread dissatisfaction among the British settlers in the colony with the colony's administration. A settler statement to the Secretary of State for the Colonies prepared that year was signed by a former member of the Osler party. These barriers to prosperity resulted in many abandoning their grants and seeking opportunities in the population centres or in the case of the party leader himself, Benjamin Osler, returning home to England. 

-  Colin Mallett, 4 June 2025.

Endnotes

(1) 'New African Settlements', Royal Cornwall Gazette, 11 Nov 1820. I think it likely that the letter home was based on a diary - perhaps either kept by William or Elizabeth - as the surviving extract relates events, dates and places with a high level of detail. 

(2) M. D. Nash, The Settler Handbook: A New List of the 1820 Settlers, Cameleon Press, Johannesburg, 1987, p. 97.

(3) Aran S. Mackinnon, The Making of South Africa: culture and politics, Pearson/Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River NJ, 2004, p. 54.

(4) National Archives, Kew CO48/41-46, as reproduced here: Sue Mackay, 'William Mallett, 1820 Settler', 1820 Correspondence, eGGSA Library website, 4 April 2015, https://www.eggsa.org/1820-settlers/index.php/correspondence/pre-1820-letters/m-menu/812-sp-1176370976, accessed 3 April 2025. 

(5) National Archives, Kew CO48/47, as reproduced here: Sue Mackay, 'Settler Returns', 1820 Correspondence, eGGSA Library website, 8 April 2015, OSLER's Party - 1820 Settlers South Africa - Correspondence, accessed 3 April 2025. In fact, the total deposit money collected for the voyage prior to departure amounted to 137 Pounds 10 Shillings and the fee appears to have related to the numbers and ages of the members of each family. The entire party of 43 people consisted of 11 men, 8 women, 1 child over and 23 children under 14 years.

(6) Robert Ross, Status and Responsibility in the Cape Colony 1750-1870: a tragedy of manners, Cambridge University Press, Cambridgem 1999,  pp. 40-3.

(7) Hywel Williams, Cassell's Chronology of World History, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 2005, p. 364. The deal involved a payment of 20 million pounds to the Netherlands to acquire the colony. 

(8) Ross, Status and Responsibility in the Cape Colony 1750-1870, p. 46 & MacKinnon, The Making of South Africa, p. 49. Important measures according to MacKinnon were the shift away from the loan-farm system to full private owndership of farms and the widescale importation of merino sheep that facilitated improved wool exports. 

(9) Ross, Status and Responsibility in the Cape Colony 1750-1870, p. 42 & 'New African Settlements'

(10) McKinnon, The Making of South Africa, p. 54.

(11) 'New African Settlements'

(12) 'New African Settlements'

(13) Mallett, Colin, Mallett Research Folder 0, Unpublished Y-DNA research project, F000 MALLETT Folder 0, accessed 2 April 2025. Specifically refer to sections PenrynMallettsM, QQQ & UU. This study on the Malletts of Penryn has been based largely on data accessible on the Cornwall OPC (Online Parish Clerks) database: Gill Hart & Bill O'Reilly, Cornwall OPC database, https://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/, accessed 2 April 2025. Interestingly, several of my Mallett relatives - close and distant - share small autosomal DNA matches with various descendants of John and Prudence Mallett of Penryn. 

(14) Philip Payton, The Cornish Overseas: A History of Cornwall's Great Emigration, University of Exeter Press, Exeter, 2020, p. 64.

(15) Ross, Status and Responsibility in the Cape Colony 1750-1870, p. 61.

(16) McKinnon, The Making of South Africa, p. 55.

(17) National Archives, Kew CO48/61, p. 401 as reproduced here: Sue Mackay, 'Settler Statement, 1823', 1820 Correspondence, eGGSA Library website, 5 January 2011, https://www.eggsa.org/1820-settlers/index.php/correspondence/letters-after-1820/s-writers-surnamed-s/1738-settler-statement-1823 , accessed 2 April 2025. One of the signatories was Major George Pigot, the son of Lord Pigot of Patshull who during his lifetime had served as Governor of Madras.  

(18) Paul Tanner-Tremaine, 'James Weeks', British 1820 Settlers to South Africa website, https://www.1820settlers.com/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I36325&tree=master , accessed 2 April 2025.

Figures and Illustrations

(i) T. Baines (Artist) & W. Simpson (Engraver), 'The Elizabeth at Port Elizabeth, Algoa Bay, Uitenhage Division, Rudolph Ackerman Publishing, 1852, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Amazon_at_Port_Elizabeth,_Algoa_Bay,_Division_of_Uitenhage_RMG_PY0565.tiff , accessed 2 April 2025.

(ii) Unknown creator, 'Map of the Eastern Frontier, Cape of Good Hope, c. 1835', (based on 'Eastern Frontier of the Colony from Algoa Bay to the Great Kei River' in G. C. B. Bart, The Autobiography of Lieutenant General Sir Harry Smith, Chapter xlviii, 1903) https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Eastern_Frontier%2C_Cape_of_Good_Hope%2C_ca_1835.png , accessed 2 April 2025.

(iii) Frederick Timpson, '1820 Settlers camped near the Great Fish River', Date Unknown, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frederick_Timpson_I%27Ons04.JPG , accessed 2 April 2025.

(iv) Colin Mallett, 'Map of Osler's Party Land Allocation (Pendennis), 1820,' prepared on Google Maps application, https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1wjqDxqjI9ERWy5kfpo636BLQm-Q9Iu4&usp=sharing (based on Paul Tanner-Tremaine, 'Settler Farm Outline: Pendennis', British 1820 Settlers to South Africa website,  https://www.1820settlers.com/genealogy/maps/settlermap_pendennis.php), both accessed 2 April 2025.

(v) Unknown creator, '1820 Settlers National Monument', Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1820_Settlers_National_Monument.jpg , accessed 2 April 2022. 

Bibliography

Primary Sources:

National Archives, Kew CO48/41-47, CO48/61

Royal Cornwall Gazette

Secondary Sources:

MacKinnon, A. S., The Making of South Africa: culture and politics, Pearson/Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River NJ, 2004.

Nash, M. D., The Settler Handbook: A New List of the 1820 Settlers, Cameleon Press,Virginia, 1987.

Payton, P., The Cornish Overseas: A History of Cornwall's Great Emigration, (Revised and Updated Edition), University of Exeter Press, Exeter, 2020.

Ross, R., Status and Responsibility in the Cape Colony 1750-1870: a tragedy of manners, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999.

Williams, H., Cassell's Chronology of World History, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 2005.

Online Sources:

Hart G. & O'Reilly, B., Cornwall OPC Database, https://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/, accessed 2 April 2025. 

Mackay, S., 'Settler Returns', 1820 Correspondence, eGGSA Library website, 8 April 2015, https://www.eggsa.org/1820-settlers/index.php/related-records/settler-returns/1949-osler-s-party, accessed 3 April 2025. 

Mackay, S., 'Settler Statement, 1823', 1820 Correspondence, eGGSA Library website, 5 January 2011, https://www.eggsa.org/1820-settlers/index.php/correspondence/letters-after-1820/s-writers-surnamed-s/1738-settler-statement-1823 , accessed 2 April 2025.

Mackay, S., 'William Mallett, 1820 Settler', 1820 Correspondence, eGGSA Library website, 4 April 2015, https://www.eggsa.org/1820-settlers/index.php/correspondence/pre-1820-letters/m-menu/812-sp-1176370976, accessed 3 April 2025.

Mallett, Colin, Mallett Research Folder 0, Unpublished Y-DNA research project, F000 MALLETT Folder 0, accessed 2 April 2025.

Tanner-Tremaine, P, 'James Weeks', British 1820 Settlers to South Africa website, https://www.1820settlers.com/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I36325&tree=master , accessed 2 April 2025.

Tanner-Tremaine, P. 'Settler Farm Outline: Pendennis'. British 1820 Settlers to South Africa website, https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1wjqDxqjI9ERWy5kfpo636BLQm-Q9Iu4&usp=sharing , accessed 2 April 2025.

Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page, accessed 2 April 2025.