Guides to Our Sources
Emigration Records
- Introduction
- Records at North Devon Record Office
- Records at Devon Record Office
- Records held at the The National Archives
- Printed sources North Devon Local Studies Centre
- Printed sources - Westcountry Studies Library
Introduction
Neither county record offices nor The National Archives hold comprehensive lists of emigrants. Lists of emigrants on particular ships were compiled at the port of disembarkation (where passengers left the ship). Even today, there is no compulsory record of the emigration of individuals.
Nevertheless, there are various types of record held in the UK which may prove useful if you are looking for a relative who emigrated.
Records held at North Devon Record Office
There is a fair amount of evidence surviving for the transportation of convicts, to America until 1776 and Australia from 1787 to 1868, with some being sent to South Africa between these periods. Some cases can be found in the papers of Devon Quarter Sessions. We also hold other useful crime-related records including a selection of transportation bonds and contracts 1726-1776.
In the early 19th century, there was a labour shortage in the colonies and a corresponding belief at home that the British Isles were overcrowded. Therefore, both the state and local authorities began to offer assisted passage to those who wanted to emigrate. Poor Law Unions were allowed to to support emigration of adults after 1834 and of children over 16 after 1850. The records of local Poor Law Unions are therefore worth checking.
Records held at Devon Record Office
For the few sources relating to transportation of convicts, see our webpage on crime and punishment.
There are a few letters, papers and references to emigrant families in parish, family and estate collections held at this office.
Records held at the The National Archives
The National Archives hold registers of emigrants leaving England and Wales for the Americas 1773-1776, passenger lists from 1890 onwards, and passport registers 1795-1898 (although it is important to note that passports were not issued to everyone who emigrated during this period).
Records of felons transported abroad can be found in the indictments, depositions, etc. of the Assize Courts for the South-Western Circuit 17th-18th centuries, and also the Admiralty Board registers of convicts on ships 1819-1834.
The National Archives also has its own set of Poor Law Union records which include material on parish-assisted emigration from 1834 to 1890; these can include lists of persons with occupations and destinations, though there is no such comprehensive list.
The Chancery Patent Rolls contain entries relating to grants of lands and offices abroad. The declared accounts of the Audit Office c1779-1827 include references to pensions and allowances paid to emigrants; some of these include lists of individuals.
Other general records relating to emigration include Privy Council registers from 1540 to the present day, which contain entries concerning the petitions and letters of emigrants and potential settlers; plantation books 1678-1806 which include copies of orders and letters concerning colonial officers; medical journals of the Admiralty Board, including those of convict ships 1817-1853 and emigrant ships 1815-1853; Colonial Office entry books from 1814 onwards, which can list applications for land grants; and, also from the Colonial Office, original correspondence of potential colonists 1817-1896.
Emigration to the Americas
The Colonial Office’s papers on ‘America and the West Indies, Original Correspondence, etc’ contains much information on the life and work of people in the American colonies. The ‘Colonial Papers, General Series’ cover the same area for the specific period 1574-1738.
Registers of ‘Licenses to Pass Beyond The Seas’ include lists of persons travelling abroad, mainly to Holland, 1624-1632 and of emigrants to the American colonies 1634-1639 and 1677.
The Treasury Solicitor’s West New Jersey Society Records 1675-1921 include correspondence, deeds and registers of transfers of shares, all relating to the division of land in West and East New Jersey.
The Treasury’s ‘Warrents Relating To Money’ include lists of criminals transported to America from 1719 to 1744.
References to grants of lands in East Florida 1765-1783, estates in New Jersey, and the wills of persons in Philadelphia 1775 can be located in the ‘Chancery Masters’ Exhibits’.
After the American War of Independence there were a number of claims for compensation from British loyalists; these ‘American Loyalists Claims’ 1776-1831 and 1780-1835 can be found amongst the papers of the Audit Department. Similar claims by loyalists in East Florida, ceded to Spain in 1783, can be found amidst the papers of the East Florida Claims Commission.
Emigration to South Africa
The Colonial Office’s ‘Cape Colony Original Correspondence’ includes settlers’ letters and papers concerning land grants at the Cape of Good Hope 1814-1825. Entry Books for the colony exist from 1795, along with registers from 1850 giving the names of individual colonists.
Emigration to Australia
Convict Transportation Registers 1787-1871 list transported convicts, not only to Australia but also to the Americas and South Africa, by the ships that transported them. They can be used in conjunction with Criminal Registers, which give names and sometimes personal information on all persons charged with indictable offences.
The Home Office’s ‘Convicts, New South Wales and Tasmania’ lists the convict population, sometimes with their families, 1788-1859. Perhaps more useful, though, is the census of 1828, which also includes the reasons for each person’s arrival on the colony, the name of their ship and year of arrival.
The Colonial Office also holds entry books relating to convicts 1788-1825, New South Wales; the same office’s ‘New South Wales Original Correspondence’ includes a list of settlers and convicts 1801-1821. The Treasury Solicitor’s ‘General Series Papers’ include a set of transportation contracts 1842-1867.
The Colonial Office’s records also include entry books from 1786 and registers of arrivals from 1849.
Correspondence concerning Army pensioners encouraged to emigrate to New South Wales and New Zealand 1846-1851 can be located amidst the papers of the War Office.
Publications held at North Devon Local Studies Centre
The Americas
Bibliography of Ship Passenger Lists, Harold Lancour, 1963, The New York Public Library
The Complete Book of Emigrants 1607-1699, Peter Wilson Coldham, 1987, 1990, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. (2 vols.)
A List of Emigrants from England to America 1718-1759, Jack and Marion Kaminkow, 1966, Magna Charta Book Company
Passengers who arrived in the United States September 1821-December 1823, 1969, Magna Carta Book Company
American Colonists in English Records, George Sherwood, 1969, Genealogical Publishing Company
English Adventurers and Virginian Settlers, Noel Currer-Briggs, 1969. Phillimore & Co. Ltd. (3 vols.)
Australia
Bound for Australia, David T. Hawkings, 1987, Phillimore & Co. Ltd.
General
Emigrants and expats: a guide to sources on UK emigration and residents overseas, Kershaw, Roger, The National Archives, 2002
Sailing ships and emigrants in Victorian times, Alison Grant, Longman, 1972
Publications held in Exeter Libraries
These printed sources are in the Westcountry Studies Library [WSL] or the Exeter Central Library [EL], which are both in Castle Street, Exeter.
Emigrants and expats: a guide to sources on UK emigration and residents overseas, Roger Kershaw, The National Archives, 2002 [WSL 929.3]
The Devon-American story, Charles Owen (ed.) , Exeter : Exeter Rare Books, 1980 [WSL p973/DEV/DEV]
Emigrants in chains: a social history of forced emigration
to the Americas 1607-1776, Peter Wilson Coldham, Alan Sutton Publishers, 1992 [EL 973.2 ]
Emigrants from England, 1773-1776, New England Historic Society, 1913. Reprinted from the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vols. 62,63,64,65 [EL stack 929.1]
Passage to America: a history of emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland to America in the mid-nineteenth century, Terry Coleman, Pimlico, 1992 [EL 301.32842073]
The Cornish in America, A.L. Rowse, Macmillan, 1969 and Dylansow Turran, 1991 [EL 325.7094237]
The Cornish miner in America: the contribution to the mining history of the United States by emigrant Cornish miners - the men called Cousin Jacks, Arthur Cecil Todd, The Arthur H. Clark Co., 1995 [WSL 338.2730973]
Cornish emigrants to Ontario, compiled by the Toronto
Cornish Association, 1998 [WSL 304.871]
Cornish Methodists and emigrants, John Rowe, Cornish Methodist Historical Association, 1967 (Series: Cornish Methodist Historical Association Occasional Publications, no.11) [WSL LS:301.328/COR]
British Emigration to Australia, R.T. Appleyard, Weidenfeld, 1964 [EL 325.2420994]
The search for prosperity: Emigration from Britain, Richard Garrett, Wayland, 1973 [EL 301.3250941]
Emigration from Europe, 1815-1914, C. Erickson (ed.), 1976 [EL301.325]
British emigration policy: 1815-1830, H J M. Johnston, Clarendon Press, 1972 [EL 325.242]
Sailing ships and emigrants in Victorian times, Alison Grant, Longman, 1972 [EL 387.542 ]
