Emigration and the Labouring Poor: Australian Recruitment in Britain and Ireland, 1831-60

by Robin F. Haines

Overview

Robin Haines has analysed the origins, occupations, literacy, and mobilization of emigrants recruited in the UK on behalf of colonial legislatures. Her exploration of strict selection procedures shows that the symbiosis between the clergy, empire-minded philanthropic societies, and parishes, which combined to fund the emigrants' considerable pre-departure expenses, increased the opportunities for underemployed rural and domestic workers during an era of farm rationalization and industrial restructuring. Although poor, hybrid state and private funding enabled them to relocate to Australia where their skills were in demand.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780333660492
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	06/18/1997
Edition description:	1997
Pages:	397
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

List of Tables - List of Maps - Acknowledgements - Abbreviations - Introduction - The Context - Who were Australia's Government-assisted Emigrants? - Recruiting in the Countryside - English Poor Law Recruitment - Irish Poor Law Recruitment - Promotion: Philanthropy, Commerce, and Colonization - Experiments in Charitable Cooperation - Scottish Recruitment: the Highland and Island Emigration Society - 'Noughting will give me more pleasure than to send for you' - Endnotes - Appendices - Bibliography - Index

Editorial Reviews

'...a rich and detailed work, with much to say to scholars in a range of fields.' - Elizabeth Elbourne, Agricultural History

From the Publisher