1836 Mass Exodus in Downton...

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Mass Exodus from Downton to Quebec in Canada...

Between 1601 and 1834 responsibility for the poor was placed in the hands of Overseers of the Poor in each parish. Records were kept in each parish that included poor rate lists, detailed accounts of sums of money, food and clothing allocated to the poor, examinations of mothers of illegitimate children and bastardy bonds requiring fathers to support their illegitimate children. There may have also been records of poor children being bound into apprenticeships along with other documents pertaining to settlement.

Survival of such records today is very patchy. Some parishes kept better records than others and some parish records simply don't exist any more.

Downton and it's surrounding areas main form of industry was agriculture for hundreds of years. As well as keeping food on the family tables, men were farming to keep money in the family pockets. Although in the 1800s Downton was only a village, it still had it's social hierarchy and being a pauper was considered to be a huge character flaw.

The agricultural depression of the 1820s ran through until the mid 1830s. Thousands of agricultural labourers were without work right throughout England. Wiltshire was struck particularly hard. The harvest of 1828-1830 and been terribly poor and the parish put the men to work on roads and in the gravel pits.

Between 1830 and 1836 times only got worse. Although there was plenty of land to accommodate people, but pauperism had become a social disease.

In 1836, atleast 10% of Downton's population (one in every ten people) left in a parish sponsored emigration to the colony of Upper Canada. His Majesty's government changed the law to allow parishes to borrow funds to pay for passage of paupers to British Colonies in other countries. Since pauperism was such a social disgrace and society could offer no permanent aide, it was considered the best option for the poor to emigrate. I strongly suspect that their idea of solving the problem was to get rid of the problem all together.

The prospect of the glory of emigrating to Canada was highlighted by a "Here and There" picture, depicting life in Downton as it currently was and how life would be in Canada for those who chose to emigrate.

 The following notice was then published:

Downton February 28th 1836

Notice is hereby given, that all Fathers of Families, and all single persons, who wish to emigrate to Canada, are to attend a meeting of the vestry, tomorrow at three o'clock in the afternoon, at the vestry room ,at the church, for the purpose of securing their passage and other necessary arrangements

By order of the Select Vestry

A total of 220 people secured passage to Canada. The majority of them were from Downton.

In 1834 many ships had been wrecked en route to Quebec and some 731 lives were lost. Alcohol was highly to blame for many of the wreckages and a complete ban of alcohol on vessels was requested as the substance was also being carried in the North American Trade. There had also been many complaints from Lower Canada in regard to the huge inundation of emigrants and the spreading of diseases throughout the communities and the fact that emigrants were arriving in Quebec and Montreal with no means to support themselves.

Downton parish borrowed £1,000, on which Lord Radnor agreed to pay the interest. With the help of John Denham Pinnock, Esq. a suitable ship was found. On April 7, 1836, two hundred and twenty souls from Downton, along with fifty nine others from Standlynch and Whiteparish left on the King William, which was chartered on behalf of the parish to carry emigrants to Canada.

The King William arrived in Quebec around May 28 of the same year, according to A. C. Buchanan, Acting Chief Agent of Emigration in Quebec, Canada. Everybody was in considerably good health and no lives had been lost. Each head of family was given sufficient finances to secure themselves fresh provisions and further monies were given upon their arrival in Montreal - after A. C. Buchanan had secured passage for them to Montreal.

Below is a table of all the emigrants who left Downton for Quebec. I haven't counted each individual, so I haven't a clue if everyone is listed. I created the table myself and there is no particular order to it, except to state that I have tabled each individual in family groups. The term "Married" refers to the man whose name it is beside and it does not necessarily mean that the woman beside him is his spouse. A "*" means that the information is unknown or illegible and couldn't be read clearly. Also, the spelling is how the spelling was, so to speak. If it's a typo, it's deliberate!

Emigrant List, Downton, Wiltshire, April 7 1836

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