Reference
CRT154/9
Title
Newspaper cuttings relating to emigrants from Bedfordshire
Date free text
1846 & 1852
Production date
From: 1846 To: 1852
old accession number 8021
Scope and Content
1. Report of shipwreck of emigrant ship Cataraqui with the loss of 414 lives including 37 people from the Bedford Union: Edmund Gardener, wife and 7 children of Great Barford; Benjamin Carter, wife and 3 children; Jacob Newell, wife and 1 child; Beecher Bushby, wife & 7 children of Bolnhurst; Joseph Herbert, wife and 4 children; Ephraim Safford, wife and 4 children of Colmworth. February 1846
2. Account of an encounter on a train with a family being funded to go to Australia by the parish. The father, an agricultural labourer tells of the impossibility of existing on 7s per week and how they are pleased to be emigrating. Includes copy of a letter from an emigrant to his family in Bedfordshire. He is working in the gold mines and making good money. June 1852
3. Extracts from a letter received by Mr Shepherd of Bedford from William Worrall, formerly a shopkeeper in Bedford, who emigrated approximated 1850 telling of life in Melbourne, wages to be earned, cost of living and standard of living. Includes a note from his wife telling of their shop. October 1852
4. Letter from Bedford emigrant Thomas Keep to Bedford chemist Mr Sergeant. It describes their 'most splendid voyage', the campsite they are initially living in, the agricultural work available, the diggings and the wages to be earned. April 1853
Level of description
item