Emigrants in Chains: A Social History of Forced Emigration to the Americas of Felons, Destitute Children, Political and Religious Non-conformists, Vagabonds, Beggars and Other Undesirables, 1607-1776In a story largely untold until now, Peter Coldham's groundbreaking study demonstrates once and for all that the recruitment of labour for the American colonies was achieved in large measure through the emptying of English prisons, workhouses, brothels, and houses of correction, as felons, rogues and social outcasts were transported fated to toil in the tobacco-growing colonies of Virginia and Maryland. Supported by a massive array of documentary evidence and first-hand reports, the author lays the focus on the emergence and use of transportation as a means of dealing with an unwanted population, dwelling at length on the processes involved, the men charged with the administration of the system of transportation or engaged in transportation as a business, then proceeding with a fascinating look at the transportees themselves, their lives and hapless careers, and their reception in the colonies. Few transportees contrived to return to their native country when their sentences expired, and it must be assumed that most such involuntary emigrants were assimilated into colonial society. Their untold story may lack the romance of the cavaliers of Virginia and Maryland - the heroic ring of a dispossessed aristocracy - but it has the stark accent of truth. This is a story to challenge common perceptions and attitudes about the peopling of the American colonies. |
From inside the book
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Page 51
... Majesty's commands . . . about the rebels your Majesty designs for transportation , but I beseech your Majesty that I may inform you that each prisoner will be worth £ 10 if not £ 15 apiece , and that if your Majesty orders them as you ...
... Majesty's commands . . . about the rebels your Majesty designs for transportation , but I beseech your Majesty that I may inform you that each prisoner will be worth £ 10 if not £ 15 apiece , and that if your Majesty orders them as you ...
Page 168
... Majesty's Colonies and Plantations in America , but as they have no power to contract for themselves , and therefore that it is not safe for merchants to transport them or take them into such services ; be it enacted by the authority ...
... Majesty's Colonies and Plantations in America , but as they have no power to contract for themselves , and therefore that it is not safe for merchants to transport them or take them into such services ; be it enacted by the authority ...
Page 172
... Majesty's Colonys or plantations in America and to be Transported and Conveyed to such person or persons as shall on or before the thirty first of this Instant January Contract and Agree with the said Miles Man to convey them as soon as ...
... Majesty's Colonys or plantations in America and to be Transported and Conveyed to such person or persons as shall on or before the thirty first of this Instant January Contract and Agree with the said Miles Man to convey them as soon as ...
Contents
Introduction | 11 |
The Convicts and Their Background | 11 |
The Prisons | 19 |
Copyright | |
13 other sections not shown
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Emigrants in Chains: A Social History of Forced Emigration to the Americas ... Peter Wilson Coldham No preview available - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
Aberdeen aforesaid allowed America Mddx Bond Assize Bailey Sessions Papers Barbados Bristol Burstead Captain cargo City of London Colin Somervell colonies contract contractor convict ships court crew crime criminal Darby Lux Darby Lux Maryland death deck Elizabeth emigrants England English escape felons hanged indentured servants jail Jamaica John John Kidd Jonathan Forward Jonathan Wild justices Justitia labour land London Record Loney Virginia Lord Majesty's Master Middlesex Moll Flanders Newgate Newgate prisoners obliged offenders Old Bailey Old Bailey Sessions pardon parish Parliament passengers Patapsco Merchant penalty plantations planters poor prisoners punishment received Record Office Reid reported reprieved returning from transportation robbery rogues sailed Sargent sent sentenced shillings ship's slave sold stealing taken tation thieves Thomas tobacco took trade transported felons Tryal Tyburn voyage whipping William women wrote Лу