Printable FilesEEmigration and emigrants
Emigration and emigrants
Most of those who left the UK went to the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa.
This leaflet provides a guide to records available in the National Archives, on-line or in overseas archives, but it is not comprehensive. The National Archives also has a webinar on emigration:
https://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/webinar-introduction-emigration-sources-family-historians/
USA
US National Archives
www.archives.gov
Library of Congress
www.loc.gov
The Ellis Island Foundation
www.libertyellisfoundation.org
Canada
· Library and Archives Canada
www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx
Australia
National Archives of Australia
www.naa.gov.au
National Library of Australia
www.nla.gov.au
State Library of New South Wales
www.sl.nsw.gov.au
State Library Victoria
www.slv.vic.gov.au
Tasmanian Names Index (Libraries Tasmania)
libraries.tas.gov.au/how-to/Pages/Names-Index-content.aspx
New Zealand
Archives New Zealand
www.archives.govt.nz
South Africa
National Archives of South Africa
www.national.archives.gov.za/index.htm
Other significant collections of emigrant records are available through:
The Society of Genealogists
www.societyofgenealogists.com
FamilySearch
www.familysearch.org/en/
Online records
The National Archives have made many of their records available on line in
collaboration with Findmypast.co.uk :
Outward passenger lists, 1890-1960 – lists of passengers leaving by ship from UK and Irish posts to places outside Europe. Some lists over time have been lost.
Early emigration from Britain, 1636 – 1815 – many emigrants to North America and the West Indies including sub-sets:
Canada 1815 and 1818 – 1822
America and the West Indies 1634 – 1638 and 1740 1761
North America and the West Indies, 1773 – 1775
Registers of travel to Europe, New England, Barbados and other colonies, 1573-1677
Emigration to Barbados, 1678-1680 and 1715
Immigrant Ancestors Project
Sponsored by the Center for Family History and Genealogy at Brigham Young University it uses emigration records, including sources at The National Archives, to locate information about the birthplaces of immigrants in their native countries. A database of millions of immigrants is being created.
http://immigrants.byu.edu/
Emigration to North America
This section covers records and record series specific to colonial era emigration to North America, and is in addition to sources not already referred to.
Records of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1667-1991
The Hudson’s Bay Company archives, covering 1667-1991, are held on microfilm at The National Archives. The original Hudson Bay Company archives are held at the Archives of Manitoba, Canada. The records include names and information about settlers who emigrated to North America and worked for the company.
https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/
Records of the West New Jersey Society, 1675-1921
The West New Jersey Society records held by the National Archives, relate to tracts of land in West and East New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New England and elsewhere. The records contain many names in the original correspondence, minute books, registers of shares, original deeds, and papers about claims.
David Dobson’s Directory of Scottish settlers in North America 1625-1825 (Baltimore, 1984)
Draws on records in the Audit Office accounts, Prince Edward Island original correspondence, Home Office correspondence and papers, Scotland and the Treasury registers.
Records of the American Loyalist Claims Commission
Compensation claims were made by those who remained loyal to the Crown through the American war of Independence. There is an index to these records printed in Lists of the Records of the Treasury, the Paymaster General’s Office, the Exchequer and Audit Department and the Board of Trade to 1837. A similar list of East Florida claims for compensation for territory ceded in 1783 to Spain is in the same volume.
Records of emigrants to America, 1773-1775
Bernard Bailyn’s Voyagers to the West: Emigration from Britain to America on the Eve of the Revolution, utilizes the registers kept by port customs officials of emigrants leaving for the New World – these registers are available on Findmypast.co.uk.
They give a person’s name, age, occupation, reason for leaving the country, last place of residence, date of departure and destination.
Colonial Office Correspondence
Colonial Office records on North America are mostly for colonies which later became part of Canada. Some of the records in this series contain names of people who emigrated.
Emigration to Australia
Many of the records here refer to both convicts and free settlers since, once in Australia, the two were often less distinct than when they set out. The National Archives does not hold lists before 1890.
New South Wales Entry Books
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4393
New South Wales Original Correspondence
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4392
New South Wales Register of Correspondence
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4551
New South Wales Register of Out-Letters
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4560
The website of The National Archives of Australia has more information about emigration to Australia. In addition, details of some 8.9 million free settlers to New South Wales, 1826-1922 can be searched and downloaded online at Ancestry.com.au.
Emigration to New Zealand
The first European settlement of New Zealand was around 1820. The New Zealand Company was formed in 1839 and incorporated in 1841 with power to buy, sell, settle and cultivate land in New Zealand, and details of British emigrants can be found in the company’s records, now held at The National Archives.
It surrendered its charter in 1850 and was dissolved in 1858.
New Zealand Company Original Correspondence, etc.
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4399
Pauper Emigration
The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 said that provision could be made for the emigration of the poor, with the cost being borne by the pauper’s home parish. The National Archives holds various different records in different periods up to 1900.
Child Emigration
Child emigration schemes operated in Britain from 1618 to 1967. An exhibition and website on child migration called “On their own – Britain’s Child Migrants” has been developed by the Merseyside Maritime Museum and the Australian National Maritime Museum. The National Archives also holds some records, but not comprehensive ones.
Emigration and emigrants
Most of those who left the UK went to the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa.
This leaflet provides a guide to records available in the National Archives, on-line or in overseas archives, but it is not comprehensive. The National Archives also has a webinar on emigration:
https://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/webinar-introduction-emigration-sources-family-historians/
USA
US National Archives
www.archives.gov
Library of Congress
www.loc.gov
The Ellis Island Foundation
www.libertyellisfoundation.org
Canada
· Library and Archives Canada
www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx
Australia
National Archives of Australia
www.naa.gov.au
National Library of Australia
www.nla.gov.au
State Library of New South Wales
www.sl.nsw.gov.au
State Library Victoria
www.slv.vic.gov.au
Tasmanian Names Index (Libraries Tasmania)
libraries.tas.gov.au/how-to/Pages/Names-Index-content.aspx
New Zealand
Archives New Zealand
www.archives.govt.nz
South Africa
National Archives of South Africa
www.national.archives.gov.za/index.htm
Other significant collections of emigrant records are available through:
The Society of Genealogists
www.societyofgenealogists.com
FamilySearch
www.familysearch.org/en/
Online records
The National Archives have made many of their records available on line in
collaboration with Findmypast.co.uk :
Outward passenger lists, 1890-1960 – lists of passengers leaving by ship from UK and Irish posts to places outside Europe. Some lists over time have been lost.
Early emigration from Britain, 1636 – 1815 – many emigrants to North America and the West Indies including sub-sets:
Canada 1815 and 1818 – 1822
America and the West Indies 1634 – 1638 and 1740 1761
North America and the West Indies, 1773 – 1775
Registers of travel to Europe, New England, Barbados and other colonies, 1573-1677
Emigration to Barbados, 1678-1680 and 1715
Immigrant Ancestors Project
Sponsored by the Center for Family History and Genealogy at Brigham Young University it uses emigration records, including sources at The National Archives, to locate information about the birthplaces of immigrants in their native countries. A database of millions of immigrants is being created.
http://immigrants.byu.edu/
Emigration to North America
This section covers records and record series specific to colonial era emigration to North America, and is in addition to sources not already referred to.
Records of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1667-1991
The Hudson’s Bay Company archives, covering 1667-1991, are held on microfilm at The National Archives. The original Hudson Bay Company archives are held at the Archives of Manitoba, Canada. The records include names and information about settlers who emigrated to North America and worked for the company.
https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/
Records of the West New Jersey Society, 1675-1921
The West New Jersey Society records held by the National Archives, relate to tracts of land in West and East New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New England and elsewhere. The records contain many names in the original correspondence, minute books, registers of shares, original deeds, and papers about claims.
David Dobson’s Directory of Scottish settlers in North America 1625-1825 (Baltimore, 1984)
Draws on records in the Audit Office accounts, Prince Edward Island original correspondence, Home Office correspondence and papers, Scotland and the Treasury registers.
Records of the American Loyalist Claims Commission
Compensation claims were made by those who remained loyal to the Crown through the American war of Independence. There is an index to these records printed in Lists of the Records of the Treasury, the Paymaster General’s Office, the Exchequer and Audit Department and the Board of Trade to 1837. A similar list of East Florida claims for compensation for territory ceded in 1783 to Spain is in the same volume.
Records of emigrants to America, 1773-1775
Bernard Bailyn’s Voyagers to the West: Emigration from Britain to America on the Eve of the Revolution, utilizes the registers kept by port customs officials of emigrants leaving for the New World – these registers are available on Findmypast.co.uk.
They give a person’s name, age, occupation, reason for leaving the country, last place of residence, date of departure and destination.
Colonial Office Correspondence
Colonial Office records on North America are mostly for colonies which later became part of Canada. Some of the records in this series contain names of people who emigrated.
Emigration to Australia
Many of the records here refer to both convicts and free settlers since, once in Australia, the two were often less distinct than when they set out. The National Archives does not hold lists before 1890.
New South Wales Entry Books
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4393
New South Wales Original Correspondence
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4392
New South Wales Register of Correspondence
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4551
New South Wales Register of Out-Letters
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4560
The website of The National Archives of Australia has more information about emigration to Australia. In addition, details of some 8.9 million free settlers to New South Wales, 1826-1922 can be searched and downloaded online at Ancestry.com.au.
Emigration to New Zealand
The first European settlement of New Zealand was around 1820. The New Zealand Company was formed in 1839 and incorporated in 1841 with power to buy, sell, settle and cultivate land in New Zealand, and details of British emigrants can be found in the company’s records, now held at The National Archives.
It surrendered its charter in 1850 and was dissolved in 1858.
New Zealand Company Original Correspondence, etc.
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4399
Pauper Emigration
The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 said that provision could be made for the emigration of the poor, with the cost being borne by the pauper’s home parish. The National Archives holds various different records in different periods up to 1900.
Child Emigration
Child emigration schemes operated in Britain from 1618 to 1967. An exhibition and website on child migration called “On their own – Britain’s Child Migrants” has been developed by the Merseyside Maritime Museum and the Australian National Maritime Museum. The National Archives also holds some records, but not comprehensive ones.
Printable Files
| handout_emigration.pdf |
