Irish emigrants to South Africa, 1820

Known as the ‘Clanwilliam settlers’, the story of emigrants from Cork and elsewhere who were sent to South Africa in 1820 is worth recalling. This group headed off into the unknown and were amongst the first of large scale Irish emigration in the 19th century. The scheme was orchestrated by a man called William Parker from Cork who it appears ran into difficulty before the emigrants left Ireland. Here the Irish Examiner of 1982 recalls their story:

In addition to the Parker collection, there were parties from England, from Baltinglass in Co. Wicklow and Longford. The Baltinglass group walked the 140 miles to Cork, only their luggage was drawn on log-wheeled carts.

The English emigrants travelled from the Thames directly to Cork harbour aboard East Indian, a threemaster, and both she and the second transport, ' , Fanny, sailed from Cork for the Cape on February 12, 1820.

There was a month's delay in departure, and Parker made use of it in drawing up a strict code of conduct to be observed both aboard ship and in their new homes. Among them was a rule that those who wanted to drink alcohol on the Cape were required to do so in their own homes. He also sought to have strict observance of the Protestant faith even though many of the Irish travellers adhered to Catholicism. One of the intending passengers, John George Newsom, a former Mayor of Cork , so incensed by a fellow passenger-in waiting who vilified the English, threatened to horse whip him, changed his mind and went ashore for good instead.

It would appear that the emigrants who finally got away on February 12, 1820, fared reasonably well on their voyage which lasted roughly two and a half month. One of their ships, Fanny, put into St. Jago in the Cape Verde Isles where the captain, officers and heads of the parties were wined and dined and the ship was freshly provisioned. Inevitably there were rows aboard the ships, particularly on windless days, and not least when one of the leaders insisted on the Catholics aboard attending Protestant services on Sundays. Such was the monotony aboard ship during windless days that male passengers volunteered to man a longboat propelled by oars with Fanny in tow.

There must have been consternation at the Cape of Good Hope when the two ships from Ireland arrived. Communications with London were no faster that the ships, and the Colonial Secretary found he had 2,000 more settlers to cater for than he expected, and a further complication arose on a rather vague suggestion from London that parties from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales should be located separately, and' amidst further confusion the Acting Governor scattered the newcomers widely, sending the Irish to Clanwilliam despite an official report that there was not sufficient land to give each adult male a grant of 100 acres.

There was complete consternation aboard the emigrant ships when Parker returned from a reconnaissance of the  proposed Irish settlement and reported on its total inadequacy and unsuitability. He still led a party inland on a journey, presumably on foot, lasting six days, and there in winter rains and bitterly cold winds, Parker's party spent months which took their own toll of lives. To make matters worse Parker allocated the most arable land to his own cronies who had loaned him money.

Parker, it seems, had visions of establishing a "New Cork" by the sea but it came to nought and eventually he returned to his native Passage West where he is buried! At the time he left the Clanwilliam settlement was reduced to just two families, all others had departed to more fertile and hospitable land.

Unfortunately there was another troublemaker among the newcomers, the Rev. Mr. McCleland who started a little school for settlers' children and then got into the habit of not attending himself. Remonstrated, he closed the school and turned it into a wine cellar. Such was the feeling against him that one of the settlers wrote to the Government Commissioners reporting happier times after McCIeland's departure…

No English church existed in the Clanwilliam area — nor Irish either for that matter — and many of the settlers from the old world chose to worship with the Dutch, and many too married into Dutch families.

For more information search the pages of the Irish Newspaper Archive (www.irishnewsarchive.com )