Useful sources for information on immigration and emigration

Liverpool was the primary port for emigration, some 60 per cent of emigrants set out from there. The years 1847-1851 saw 2,769 passenger ships sail from Liverpool, carrying 765,159 passengers to ports worldwide. In the 100 years between 1830 and 1930, several million emigrants passed through Liverpool to start new lives abroad.

In the early days emigration was an option only for the desperate or very tough. There was little chance of returning home and postal communication was of a poor standard. The trip could take 35 to 40 days on average but up to twice as long in bad weather. Conditions on board were often horrific; especially travelling ‘steerage’ (the cheapest quarters), where malnutrition and disease were rife. In the earliest years emigrants literally camped between decks, sleeping on narrow wooden bunks. They provided and cooked their own food and took their own utensils and bedding. Washing and toilet facilities were minimal. There was almost no privacy and ventilation below deck was negligible. Regulations were gradually passed, however, to improve conditions. For example, in 1842 each passenger had to have at least 10 square feet of space between decks. In 1849 the food ration was to increase and in 1852 sickbays were meant to be provided. Unfortunately, government regulations for the inspection of emigrant ships were barely enforced because of the lack of officers, so the emigrant’s journey often remained an extremely uncomfortable experience.

Conditions for emigrants began to improve with the advent of the steam powered ship. The steamship was faster than the sailing packet, virtually cutting the voyage time to America in half. The steamship City of Glasgow set the precedent in 1850 when a profit was made by carrying 400 emigrants in steerage. By 1863, 45 per cent of British emigrants to America travelled by steam and just three years later this figure had risen to 81 per cent. In 1903 the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company introduced the transatlantic crossing, whilst Lake Champlain made the first sailing from Liverpool to Quebec and Montreal in April with 1,017 steerage passengers. The major sailing packets continued till after the Civil War, but three of the five largest (Red Star, Blue Swallowtail and Dramatic Lines) all closed down before 1878. By the summer of that year even the famous Black Ball Line was forced to close down. The Red Swallowtail Line was the last to go in 1880.

The first known settlers to arrive in America from England landed at Virginia in April 1607. This set the precedent for a sea traffic that increased dramatically from a stream of intrepid adventurers to a flood of desperate emigrants searching for a new and better life. The tide of emigration to America and Canada reached its peak in the nineteenth century, largely due to the potato famine of 1845 which especially hit Ireland. Between 1847and 1854 it is estimated that 1,600,000 Irish left their home land never to return. The majority of this number set out for the United States and Canada, but sadly many never reached their destination. Calculations indicate that over the following 60 years another 6 million left Ireland, never to return, with 80 per cent settling in the USA.

Other emigrants desiring a new life in America and Canada included those who sought political or religious freedom, convicts and those who went as ‘indentured labourers’. By the 1830’s America had gained a reputation for freedom and equal opportunities which was a powerful magnet for the oppressed peoples of Europe. Nineteenth century thinkers advocated the large scale emigration of paupers as a way to alleviate the problem of poverty. A number of societies were formed to assist emigrants, but in reality most emigrants had to fund themselves.

The Black Ball Line was the first and most famous American packet ship line to carry emigrants from Liverpool to America from 1818, later eclipsed by the Black Star Line in the 1850s.

In 1855 the world’s first immigrant landing depot was opened at Castle Garden in Manhattan. The next 40 years saw 7,690,606 foreigners pass through this gateway to the nation. By 1890 however, money and criminal problems forced Castle Garden to close, replaced by the more efficiently controlled depot on Ellis Island, in New York Bay, which functioned until 1954.

Growing resistance to high levels of immigration in America led to the Emergency Immigration Restriction Law in 1921 which introduced a quota system which set a limit on the number of immigrants allowed into the USA. The Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 set an upper limit of 150,000 immigrants in any one year. Each nationality was assigned a percentage of this amount according to its contribution to the existing population. In 1952, the Immigration and Naturalisation Act codified existing legislation.

Prior to 1851 very few free emigrants had made the passage to Australia. But the discovery of gold at Bathurst, New South Wales by Edward Hammond Hargraves in 1851 caused a great gold rush, which gave a major impetus to the Liverpool-Australia emigrant trade. In 1854, 41,491 people emigrated from Liverpool to Australia, with 107 vessels making the voyage.

Liverpool was famed for its excellent ships and skilled mariners, attracting gold seekers from throughout the country to its port to demand fast passage to Australia. This led to the development of several small Liverpool shipping enterprises into successful packet lines, especially the firms of James Baines, Pilkington & Wilson, and Gibbs, Bright & Co. The Black Ball Line and the White Star Line were to dominate the Australian packet scene.

Ships had been regularly sailing from Britain to Australia long before the gold rush days, for quite a different reason. Between 1787 and 1868, 158,702 male and female convicts landed in Australia from Britain and Ireland. Roughly 1,321 prisoners came from other places such as India, Canada, Bermuda and Mauritius, mostly soldiers sentenced to transportation due to military crimes. Many other prisoners started out on the voyage to Australia but never made it due to the appalling conditions on board. Colonisation of Western Australia started in 1829. Between 1850 and 1868 10000 convicts arrived in the state.

Emigrants to Australia and New Zealand were categorised in the records according to the method by which their passages were paid. Passenger Lists are described according to the type of passenger which they document:

• Free Passengers - fare was fully paid by the Government
• Assisted Passengers - Fare partly paid by the Government
• Unassisted Passengers - Paid own fare
• Bounty Passengers - Fare paid by an agent who in turn received a sum of money from the Government
• Nominated/Remitted Passengers - Friends/ relatives in new country paid for emigrants’ passage.

To start with, it is vital to try to establish the full names of family members and exact relationships within the family. Make sure that you know dates of birth, marriage, death and emigration, as you need these dates in order to gain entry to official records.

Once you have as many facts about your ancestors as you can personally gather, then you will probably want to consult passenger lists before going on to use other records to trace the emigrant’s descendants. Remember that passenger lists are generally to be found in the country of destination.

We have included, in the attached table, contact details for a number of institutions that hold collections relevant to immigration and emigration and may hold records that will help you with your research. Please contact these institutions directly to enquire about the records they hold and to find out details about access and opening times.

Researchers should check availability, accessibility and opening times with the repositories listed before making a personal visit.

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