Nottinghamshire Resources	NOTTINGHAMSHIRE  COLONISTS TO  SOUTH  AFRICA  1820 Rod Neep .
The 1820 Settlers Introduction Planning the emigration Selection of the settlers The journey to the Cape The settlement	Nottingham was going through a difficult period from 1816 to 1820, and a great number of the framework knitters were finding a hard time making any money at all due to a depression in the market for hosiery, brought about by mechanisation. Families were starving, children died in alarming numbers, and the people looked to the councillors of the town for financial assistance. The town couldn't afford such massive amounts of support, and so in conjunction with the government, arranged for a large number of people to be "removed" to the Cape Colony. This is the story of those colonists, from their troubles in Nottingham, through their journey, and during the first year of their settlement in South Africa. The social climate in Nottingham 1812-1820 By far, the most common occupation in Nottingham during this period was that of a framework knitter.  A framework knitter was one who worked, usually based at home, using a stocking frame to produce hosiery. It was the major source of income to the town's people. During the years 1813 to 1820 there were 3,618 baptisms at St. Mary's church to parents where the father was listed as a "framework knitter", out of a total of 8,145 baptisms. During this period there were just 56 "hosiers" in the town. A hosier was one who effectively purchased the produce from the framework knitters and sold it to the various markets over the country, including London.  They acted as a sort of wholesaler. Very often, the hosiers actually owned the stocking frames, and leased them to the framework knitters, guaranteeing a fixed price for the produce they made. Unfortunately for the trade, this was the time of the invention of machines which would make stockings much faster and much cheaper than the work done by the framework knitters. There was a sudden excess of stockings being manufactured ! The prices fell alarmingly, and the hosiers could not afford to pay the framework knitters the usual piece-work rate. The result was that many families began to suffer dreadfully. There were riots, and gangs were involved in breaking up the new machines, for which crime, many people were transported to Australia. There was considerable social unrest, and by December 1819 the town's authorities were so fearful of trouble that they called in troops.  On December 10th four companies of the 52nd Regiment of Foot took possession of Bromley House, and were joined by two other companies the following day. Several wagon loads of ammunition and stores were brought in on the 14th, and on the 15th December the Holme and Watnall troops of yeomanry came into the town. The soldiers at the Nottingham Barracks were also put under orders to act at a moment's notice. Fortunately the soldiers were never needed. By the winter of 1818/19 the demand for produce became almost non-existent. The framework knitters were begging on the streets and house to house in the town, and crowds gathered at the offices of the town's overseers. By August 1819 there were processions through the streets on a daily basis, and on the 16th August a march comprised 5057 men. By the 19th, the marches were headed by a great number of women carrying large signs with the words "Pity our Distress !", "We ask for bread !" and "Pity our children !". During the same week the unemployed people wrote an appeal to the Lord Leiutentant and the gentry and noblemen of the county in which they stated: From the various and low prices given by our employers, we have not, after working from sixteen to eighteen hours per day, been able to earn more than from four to six shillings per week, to maintain our wives and families upon, to pay taxes, house rent, &c., which has driven us to the necessity of applying for parochial aid, which after all has not in many instances left us sufficient to supply the calls of nature, even with the most parsimonious economy; and though we have substituted meal and water, or potatoes and salt, for that more wholesome food an Englishman's table used to abound with, we have repeatedly retired, after a hard day's labour, and been under the necessity of putting our children supperless to bed, to stifle the cries of hunger : nor think that we would give this picture too high a colouring, when we can most solemnly declare, that for the last eighteen months we have scarecely known what it is to be free from the pangs of hunger. The workers put a petition before Parliament, asking for control of prices, and a committee was set up to carry out an enquiry. A bill was introduced, but it was thrown out by the House of Lords. The framework knitters pressed the hosiers to set up a fixed reasonable price for work. But because of the lack of market for the produce, the hosiers could not agree to the prices asked. As a result, the framework knitters resorted to bringing their frames to the houses of the hosiers, hauling them on borrowed wagons with ropes and the workmen themselves hauling them through the streets. Large numbers of frames were brought into the town from the country areas too, and left at the doors of the hosiers. The Hosiers had no option but to attempt to find an answer to the problem, and they called a meeting at the Nottingham Exchange Hall, which was attended by hosiers from Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire. The hosiers agreed to set up a standard rate for work, but made some conditions.   That no parish officer should turn to the trade of hosier that excess labour should be put to other work outside the trade, and that no irregular practices should be made to reduce the wages. The hosiers had made a good decision, which was acceptable to the framework knitters. However, it still did not alleviate the immediate problems of starvation, and it could not have any effect on the lack of demand for the produce. Many hosiers went out of business, and some emigrated to the United States of America. Amongst those that the framework knitters had appealed, was the Duke of Newcastle (Nottingham was the seat of the Duke of Newcastle). He came up with another, more practical idea to overcome the problem of the people. He proposed that those people who were out of work should emigrate to the Cape Colony in South Africa, and that a fund should be set up to help to transport the emigrants there. The principal contributors to the fund, which amounted in total to about three thousand pounds, were: The Duke of Newcastle £500 The Duke of Portland £500 Earl Manvers £500 The Dowager Duchess of Newcastle £150 The Earl of Surrey £100 Viscount Galway £100 Hon. Rev. J. Lumley Saville £100 Hon. J. Simpson £100 Admiral Sotheron £100 H.G.Knight Esq. £100 In addition, there were large public funds raised, and devoted to providing outdoor employment and from November 1819 until the following spring, many people were put to work locally on civil projects including clearing out the River Leen, clearing and levelling land on the Forest (a mile north of the town centre) for the planting of potatoes, road building projects, and work levelling Mapperley Plains and inclosing them with a dry stone wall. Next: Planning the emigration to the Cape Colony Copyright ©1997 Rod Neep