Ancestors on the Move E-Book

Karen Foy

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 355

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Ever wanted to understand more about your ancestor's sea travels? What was life like aboard ship for both passengers and crew, how long did the journey take, what kind of conditions could be expected and what exotic locations might they have visited along the way? Following the tried and tested routes established by cargo ships, Karen Foy describes the development of passenger travel, the changing face of the vessels used and the demand for both comfort and speed. From transportation to trade, adventure to emigration, through persecution or for pleasure, she explains the reasons behind our ancestor's desire for overseas travel and reveals the records and archives we can search to complete our own genealogical journey.

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

Title

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 Life on the Ocean Wave

2 United Kingdom

3 Australia and New Zealand

4 America

5 Canada

6 France

7 South Africa

8 India

9 West Indies

10 Germany/Hungary

11 Jewish Migrants

12 Poland

13 Spain

14 Italy

Famous Immigrants

Conclusion

Essential Resources

Copyright

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Ancestors on the Move: A History of Overseas Travel is a huge topic to tackle in just one volume and I have deliberated long and hard over what subjects to include and what to leave out. Everyone’s story will take them down a different path, so naturally it is impossible to cover every eventuality. That said, I have thoroughly enjoyed writing and researching the various aspects of this book and hope I have provided a starting point and inspiration to encourage you to follow the trail of your forebears that threw caution to the wind and travelled, or emigrated, abroad.

I would like to thank The History Press for commissioning me to write this (my third title for them) and fellow family historian, Kath Jones, for providing information and images relating to her genealogical experiences. Most of all, I would like to thank my husband, Jeff, for encouraging me through the fun times and frustrations of book writing!

Happy history hunting to all!

INTRODUCTION

From the early reed vessels of the Ancient Egyptians and the oar-powered longboats of the Vikings, to the tall-masted nineteenth-century clipper ships and iron-clad ocean liners, ships and boats are our oldest form of transportation. Even today, three-quarters of the world’s goods must travel from country to country across the oceans and seas.

Early foreign trade brought the need for increased passenger travel and gradually ships were built to meet the demand of accommodating their precious ‘human cargo’ on crossings to all four corners of the globe. Conditions varied depending upon the historical period (era) in which the journey was undertaken and the social status of the passenger; the traveller’s personal circumstances and reason for the voyage could greatly affect their experiences onboard.

Throughout the centuries, the seas around Britain have become a bustling highway and a means of entering, or escaping, our island nation. It is these migrational patterns that have had a huge impact on our genealogical roots. Perhaps you’ve been researching your family history only to discover that individuals, or even whole family groups, have disappeared from certain decades of the census? Maybe you’ve found anomalies in surname spellings, or that stated birthplaces are far beyond British shores? Is there talk of a budding explorer within the branches of your tree, of a great aunt with exotic features, or of a criminal cousin who fled his homeland to escape punishment?

As family historians, migration from one’s country of origin is likely to have affected the majority of us in one form or another. Just like today, money was at the forefront of everyone’s minds when planning any trip, move or venture, but prior to the First World War there were far fewer ‘legal’ restrictions upon our ancestor’s movements. No thought had to be given to getting a photo ID prepared, visas did not have to be requested, and passports were not compulsory. We rarely think of our British ancestors as nomads, but in many cases, and depending upon the circumstances, this is exactly what they were.

Some left permanently to set up home in another country, while others travelled to distant lands temporarily in search of work, fame, fortune, or simply for the good of their health. The hand of fate was not always kind, with some never really recovering from the enforced trauma and upheaval. Others, especially the younger generations, made a success of the opportunities – however small – that came their way, and the branches of our trees took a new direction as they flourished overseas. By comparison, those of foreign origin may have arrived from far-flung destinations to start a new life in Britain, giving us a whole new nationality to add to our ‘genealogical mix’.

There are a myriad of reasons that may have prompted individuals to seek a life beyond their place of birth. In this book I have chosen to focus on those which have had the greatest effect on the largest number of people, and to examine why their actions have become deeply etched in our personal histories. Questions may have arisen which have prompted you to want to investigate further. If so, the following chapters could help you to increase your knowledge of your ancestor’s travels. Starting points to consider include:

• Did your forebear commit a crime and were they transported for their punishment? Can you build a back story as to what their voyage was like and the conditions experienced onboard ship? Did they return home once they had served their sentence?

• Did they take advantage of one of the many government incentive schemes? Maybe they were given free passage to an expanding British colony and the opportunity to acquire cheap land once they arrived? Did they make a success of their new venture?

• What level of society did they originate from? Did they come from an already wealthy family and were taking up a business opportunity abroad? Were they plantation owners with interests in the West Indies, or were they high-ranking officials with the East India Company overseeing business interests in Asia? Or perhaps they were merchants seeking out products to transport to the British Isles?

• You may come from a military background. Was your forebear stationed at some far-flung outpost, or did he join a colonial unit? Perhaps he fought for a cause and enlisted as a soldier in a foreign campaign?

• Or was your ancestor simply an avid traveller, eager to see the world either under his own steam or by working his passage to pay for his fare?

All journeys before the invention of air travel would have been made by sea and then over land. By discovering more about why and how our ancestors travelled we can begin to dig deeper. I have tried to provide details of the essential sources, websites, libraries and societies that can point you to the records most likely to reveal more about your forebears’ activities. In order to expand upon what you can learn about their lives from ‘official resources’ I also discuss some of the collectables and memorabilia you may have been lucky enough to inherit, or can acquire, to illustrate your family story.

Understandably, for the majority affected by forced migration – prompted by war, conflict, religious persecution, poverty and famine – items later handed down as evidence of their previous lives and experiences are going to be scarce. Any possessions that may have survived are likely to be small – something that could have been carried upon their person or taken within their belongings at a moment’s notice. It is also worth considering that anything of value may have been sold to enable them to pay for their passage. But not everyone travelled or emigrated under such dire circumstances and any memorabilia that you discover relating to past adventures will be priceless to you and future generations. Whatever the circumstances, it is essential to think ‘outside of the box’ if you wish visually to portray your family tale. There is a whole array of paper-based ephemera that can really add interest – and new information – to your research.

Each chapter of this book provides suggestions of what to look out for, or case studies explaining the information you can glean from each example. Many of you will discover intriguing items that are unique and personal to your own ancestry, so simply use these ideas as a starting point to track down and expand upon the physical objects within your genealogical archive.

With a little thought and creativity you can preserve and chronicle your forebear’s lives in a very appealing way. For example, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that once you have one newspaper report of an event that you shouldn’t try to seek out another. Each will vary, perhaps written from a different perspective, and may include contrasting versions of facts and information. One may focus on an eyewitness account, whereas another could be written from a political point of view.

Postcards may show scenes from different angles or include a variety of shots of a similar landscape, giving you greater detail of an area where an ancestor lived, travelled to, or settled in.

Prints, engravings, journals, personal letters and diaries can all provide new clues to follow, raising questions you had, perhaps, previously not thought of. Published books written about specific events in history, in which your ancestor may have been involved, are fantastic for enabling us to understand the bigger picture, but primary sources often shed new light on how individuals were affected.

Ticket stubs and printed passenger lists give us an exact date of travel; advertisements tell us the route along which a voyage was taken, while logbooks describe the weather conditions faced on the journey.

From my own experiences I have found that handwritten notes can show us what was important to, or what fascinated our forebears; these are often concerns and issues that today we would simply take for granted. A letter to relatives back home in Britain from a family member who had settled in the United States during the early 1900s, describes how there are oranges and lemons growing on the trees – sights they had never seen before. Another note mentions a train journey across America, the distance covered, and how long the trip would take during that era, while a selection of postcards – again sent to loved ones back home – provides views of the nearest US city to where the family made their new life, each one with a simple message on the back describing the shops and department stores they now frequented. It is often the minutia that adds ‘flesh to the bones’ of a good story and these morsels of information – experienced by the ‘ordinary man or woman’ – can easily be related to your own ancestor’s encounters in similar situations.

By combining these details with what we know was actually happening in the world at a particular time, we can begin to understand the decisions our ancestors made and why they chose to uproot. This then becomes a captivating journey – not only experienced by your forebears – but also by you as a family historian as you piece together the important incidents and adventures in their lives.

1

LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE

‘The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.’

Augustine of Hippo

Events in history have dictated why many of our ancestors have been prompted to ‘up sticks and move’, completely changing the path our family stories have taken. Before we focus on how they were drawn to, and away from, specific countries, we take a look at those ancestors who chose to travel for pleasure, discovering that for some, the saying ‘it’s not about the destination, it’s the journey that counts’ really was true!

We are all familiar with the term ‘holiday’ – a chance to take a break from our busy lives and enjoy a well earned rest or a period of change. This often involves travel and the chance to experience a new destination. For our ancestors, travelling abroad was an exciting – and ultimately rewarding – prospect. Yet, with no television to visually relay what countries looked like, they relied on books, atlases, personal memoirs and recollections to form a picture of what to expect when visiting a foreign land.

Although these trips could be for extended periods, travellers always intended to return home once they had completed their itinerary. This form of ‘pleasure seeking’ was seen as a ‘rite of passage’ for the wealthy; a pastime unaffordable to the lower classes that could only dream about the prospect of short-term travel taken purely for recreation and enjoyment.

Today, in our twenty-first-century world, we take foreign travel for granted. We have a choice of transport to get us off our island, and once we set foot in another country we have the option of planes, trains and automobiles to take us further on our journeys.

By comparison, our ancestors had much fewer options and travel abroad would mean a completely life-changing experience. To enable us to follow their trail around the globe we must investigate their methods of transport and the conditions encountered by the varying classes. We will begin with those who were eager to see the world from a different perspective, soak up the atmosphere and culture of their new destination, and enjoy life on the ocean wave in comfort.

TAKING THE TOUR

From the late 1600s, it was customary for upper-class men, and later, women, to undertake what became known as a Grand Tour of Europe, enabling them to advance their cultural education and mix with those of a similar social status on the Continent. By the nineteenth century, their contemporaries in the United States had also joined in on these European jaunts, along with the wealthy middle classes who were seeking to mingle with the fashionable elite, making beneficial contacts for when they returned to home.

Eventually, the development of the railways made overland travel much more enjoyable compared to the stagecoach journeys of the past, while maritime advancements ensured greater comfort and speed as vessels changed from sail-driven barques and clipper ships to steam-powered liners. Naturally, conditions onboard varied depending upon the class of cabin a passenger could afford. Those travelling for pleasure and education would enjoy the luxury of comfortable accommodation, while adventurers hoping to seek their fortune were prepared to endure the basics of third class or even steerage, with its limited facilities and privacy.

Adverts, ship plans and personal sketches of cabin layouts help us learn more about the vessels on which our ancestors travelled.

For many, the Grand Tour could take anything from a few weeks to several months to complete as the ‘tourists’ soaked up the arts, antiquities and customs of the countries they visited. Along the way they would purchase items unlike those found in Britain: sculptures, books, furniture and other works of art became a permanent reminder of their trip to Europe, displayed on walls and in cabinets, and passed down within a family as an early form of memorabilia.

Each tour naturally had a ‘tour guide’ to explain the intricacies of etiquette and tradition within each country visited, as well as providing a commentary on the sights, offering advice on local behaviour, and providing a translation of foreign language should it be required.

But it was not only the wealthy who wished to have a ‘window on the world’, and when Thomas Cook saw the opportunity to extend his popular British excursions overseas, the scheme was met with enthusiasm. After a series of ‘grand circular tours’ of Europe, he extended his routes to include Italy, Switzerland, Egypt, and later, the United States. By charging for travel arrangements, food and accommodation over a fixed period along a specified route, Thomas Cook’s company established ‘inclusive independent travel’ and the pre-booked holiday. His series of guide books (known as ‘Cook’s Travellers Handbooks’) were aimed at educating a wide, middle-class audience and preparing them for the sights, sounds and experiences that lay ahead.

CASE STUDY: MEMORIES IN THE MAKING

Seasoned travellers often chose to share their own encounters with others through publication, either relaying their adventures to newspapers back home or writing books on their experiences upon their return. During the 1890s, W. Lawrence Liston wrote a fascinating personal account – later published in The Girl’s Own Paper to educate young ladies – of a voyage that he undertook for health reasons, enabling us to visualise what a traveller could expect to see and experience on the journey between Port Said and Suez. Initially, he comments that:

Port Said is not a beautiful town and this is rarely worthwhile for any lady passengers to land, a motley crowd of men on shore, in long robes and turbans, come to row passengers ashore in boats. Many land here for the purpose of telegraphing home the news of their safe arrival and one is frequently pestered by self constituted guides, who offer, for the sum of two pence, to show the way to the post office or Telegraph Depot.

Comically, he explains about an Egyptian juggler who comes on board to provide entertainment for the passengers and ‘performs marvellous tricks … his ample robes enable him to secrete endless chickens and rabbits, which he utilises for his tricks: the marvel is that he does not sit on them’. Liston also gives us an insight into how the ships were refuelled at this time:

At night […] it is a striking sight to see the coal barges come up to the side of the ship. At the end of each barge is hung out a kind of large beacon fire, and all the barges swarm with dark bodied Arabs and Egyptians, who, as they come alongside, sing a kind of wild dirge-like melody, which they keep up during the whole coaling. To watch these men coaling the ships and walking up to the bunkers is like seeing the links of a great revolving human chain. They leave the ship in a shocking state of dirt and dust, and it is a great relief when the engine room bell sounds and we are once more moving.

When the steamer enters the Suez Canal, Liston explains that it can only travel at a rate of 4 or 5 miles an hour due to the shallowness of the water. Any ship that navigated this channel at night was required to have a searchlight that illuminated 1,000yd in front, lighting up the sandbanks and making them look like ridges of snow. He adds, ‘On the return voyage one will hear our Australian cousins, who have never seen snow, asking if this is what it is really like.’ It turns out the author had a good knowledge of how the Suez Canal operated, after travelling this route on several occasions in the past:

By far the greatest numbers of trading vessels passing through are bound for, or have come from, England. At each station – known as a ‘gare’ – there is a set of signals which indicate to an approaching ship whether she is to enter the canal or put into a siding […] Other ships take second place to the mail packet steamers. On the entrance of the ship into the canal this fact is noted at the chief office at Tewfik, where there is a model of the canal and a set of model ships. The clerk receiving notice of the entrance of the ship places a model with corresponding flag in the little trough, and telegraphs directions concerning it to the next ‘gare’, so that at any particular time the position of any ship in any part of the canal is accurately known.

Today, in our computerised world, this operation seems quaint and antiquated, but it obviously worked sufficiently well to get the majority of ships through the passage with little or no trouble. It is fascinating for the family historian to come across personal accounts or published articles that explain these mammoth projects from the viewpoint of the passenger and how it affected their journey. Your own ancestor may well have travelled along this route and these snippets of information can really ‘add weight’ to your own family story.

Liston mentions a whole host of sightings passed by on this particular voyage, including the town of Suez, Moses Wells marked by a group of palm trees, the famous Mount Sinai, and one particular port of call – Aden. This was the first addition to British territory in the reign of Queen Victoria and was secured in 1839 by the East India Company and Royal Marines to help prevent attacks by pirates on British shipping to India. It was an extremely valuable acquisition as a centre for Asiatic and European trade, as well as being an important military and coaling station. But it is not only the places that Liston describes but also the people, and to many passengers, everything they witnessed would be new and exciting:

A wonderful collection of human beings assembles to greet each ship, most noticeable of who are the divers. Their heads are all clean shaven and they generally come out to the ships in threes in little boats, one rowing and the others diving about. For the most part, they disdain all copper coins, affecting to be unable to see them, and crying out, ‘Throw silvah, sah!’ The impunity with which they swim about among the sharks is miraculous: they will, for a shilling, dive under the ship and, come up on the other side: or, having clambered up the rigging, will dive from it into the sea. Having secured the coin for which they have dived, they cram it, along with all the others that they may have gained, into their mouths, being apparently, like monkeys, endowed with pouches there.

This last comical observation shows just what people believed when they came into contact with new nationalities and cultures. He continues:

Another interesting set of people are the natives who come on board with all sorts of fabrics, embroidery, jewellery, boxes, bottles of Attar Roses, and ostrich feathers also form a large part of their stock in trade. They invariably ask more than double the sum that they expect to receive. These gentlemen bring a certain quantity of material on board, and hope to take a certain amount of money back, so that towards the end, when they have made that sum, they will sell what remains of their stock at very much reduced prices, and then is the time to buy. All these natives are controlled and kept in order by the native police, who, with their little round caps bordered with yellow, look quite imposing. Their methods of dealing with their brethren generally take the form of fearful blows delivered anywhere and anyhow with a thick stick.

WHERE TO WINTER?

In the late nineteenth century there was nothing that affluent Brits hated more than to spend a cold wet winter in Britain. Turn to the back pages of any Illustrated London News and there would be adverts to entice prospective globetrotters, often under the heading of ‘Where to Winter’.

The Grand Hotel at Biarritz was just one of the fashionable places to be seen and ‘frequented by the elite and a rendezvous of the English colony’. In 1895, it boasted ‘views to satisfy all the comforts which travellers may desire […] charmingly situated facing the ocean with a climate as mild and delightful as that of Nice and Italy’. During the winter season the rates were from 10 francs per day, depending upon the floors occupied, and visitors could expect the luxury that all private rooms were carpeted!

But perhaps Europe did not fit the bill and there were those Victorians who preferred a destination a little further afield. Thirty Guinea Tours to Palestine, Egypt and Constantinople could be enjoyed by those prepared to travel by steamship on a thirty-day cruise. The Peninsular and Oriental Company advertised the ‘excellent opportunity of reaching Egypt or Bombay’ on their steam-navigation vessels, while the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company offered sixty-five days for £65 on their ‘magnificent vessels’ touring the West Indies. The promise of ‘a string band, electric lights, electric bells, hot and cold baths, and high-class cuisine’ tempted many travellers from their draughty mansions or London flats. Newspaper coverage of the P&O liner SS Cathay reported that:

The magnificent oil burning steamship described by Lord Inchcape, two or three years ago when she was launched as the last word in comfort in ocean travel, left Tilbury Docks on a severely cold winter’s day, bound for Australia. The atmosphere was Arctic, and all the passengers long for the warmer air and genial sunshine anticipated during the next day or two.

On this particular vessel it seems most of the travellers were bound for Australia (Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane), some for New Zealand, some for Colombo or Rangoon, and others for Khartoum and further destinations in the desert. A passenger on board confirmed the luxurious conditions they were experiencing on the voyage:

Truly, she is all we could desire. Cabins for one and two passengers, each with something like a real bedstead, large and airy, electric lights, wardrobes, chests of drawers, paper racks above your bed, and a small folding table attached to the wall on which your early cup of tea is placed at 6.30 in the morning. There are hot and cold saltwater bathrooms in plenty; a charming music room with easy chairs, smoking room, and a library of books free to passengers.

Along with all these ‘mod cons’ was the regular dining: ‘You are amply fed, and the cuisine is excellent. Breakfast is at 8.30, lunch at one, afternoon tea at four, and dinner at 6.30. Then later in the evening are dainty sandwiches and during the forenoon a Steward takes round biscuits.’

Although security upon entering a foreign country was not what it is today, for some, the encounter was still memorable and worth noting in their diaries: ‘The experience with customs officers at Marseilles is really most curious,’ explained one traveller writing in 1925:

After your bags are opened and examined in the usual way, and you innocently try to march out of the Customs House following your porter, you are stopped by other officials asking further questions; then a third attack is made upon you by a man who might be anybody or nobody, but who is in reality a plainclothes detective, who insisted on feeling my pockets for tobacco, but apparently was satisfied, and then allowed us all to pass on. (I had heard about these plainclothes men before.)

Period photographs, like this example taken on the SS Spartan Prince in 1899, help us visualise what life was like on-board ship for late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century passengers.

Even the requirements surrounding travel with a passport had still not reached the strict regulations enforced during the latter part of the twentieth century. On a journey from Algiers to Marseilles on board a steamer of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, one traveller recalled:

Whilst on the ship having dinner, the gentleman sitting opposite overheard us talking about passports (which we had never yet shown since leaving home) and afterwards told me our conversation had reminded him that he had forgotten his own passport in Algiers (where he lived) and that he had immediately wirelessed home for this to be posted to Paris, as he was proceeding to England, and would be held up in Paris until it came.

When the same diarist proceeded to Cannes, it is interesting to note his amazement about the developments in travel times and transport: ‘Cannes is a resort most charming, refined and sweet. It is difficult to imagine that in this May-like weather we are only about twenty-seven hours’ journey from wintry England. In six weeks time this journey will be done in eight hours by seaplane!’

Diaries and journals capture the thoughts, feelings and observations of emigrants and adventurers during their voyage, and in the foreign lands they visited.

PASSENGER TRAVEL – A GROWING INDUSTRY

As Britain strove to find a faster way to reach the furthest outposts of its colonial empire, ship building and sea travel was enjoying a continued period of success. P&O vessels took passengers and cargo to Sydney, Singapore and Hong Kong, the Royal Mail Steam Packets went to the exotic ports of Rio, Buenos Aires and the West Indies, while the Union Castle lines headed for the Cape Colonies.

Founded in 1837, P&O was originally known as the ‘Peninsular Steam Navigation Company’ and built its reputation carrying mail from the UK to Spain and Portugal. When the contract was altered to include the carrying of Egyptian mail, the term ‘Oriental’ was added to the company moniker. Gradually the routes expanded, encompassing East Ceylon, Singapore and Hong Kong. The steam vessels were developed and improved to meet the requirements of a mail service to Australia, and by 1859, P&O became the first steamer to carry a cargo of tea from China to the UK. Although the company had always carried cargo, the focus was on mail transportation; this changed in 1896 when its first purpose-built cargo ship was launched.

But sea travel was a constantly evolving business and with the turn of the new century, P&O entered the market of passenger travel, offering a programme of pleasure cruises, later purchasing a string of shipping liners to fulfil the demand for this area of their business.

In 1866 P&O employed 12,000 people across ten different companies and this number only increased as the years went by. Your ancestor may well have travelled on one of their vessels but also consider that they could have chosen a ‘working life’ on the ocean wave. Visit www.poheritage.com to search their online database of ships and their family history research guides to tracking down passengers and crew. Their gallery of vintage posters, photo and art highlights bring their vessels and services offered to life.

WORKING YOUR WAY AROUND THE WORLD

Not everyone had the finances to be able to afford a holiday overseas, and for those with a passion to experience the countries they had previously only read about, there was always the option of working their passage. There were plenty of situations for men who were prepared to take on any role on both cargo and passenger ships, but for the women it was not quite so easy. From the 1870s, competition grew between steamship companies to provide the finest accommodation and facilities with their passengers in mind. Vacancies for stewardesses and other female roles gave women an opportunity to experience onboard travel to a foreign destination without the need to find their fare. But competition for these positions was tough.

Newspapers, journals and printed ephemera provide numerous examples of those who were prepared to meet the challenge head on, yet required a little guidance to get their adventure underway. In 1890, a young adventurer named Fanny wrote to a magazine column for advice as she hoped to work her passage to Australia as a stewardess. Sadly, she received quite a curt reply from the journal correspondent and one wonders if she ever had the nerve to follow her dream after such a negative – and public – response: ‘You must apply to some of the great firms for passenger steamships. We fancy that a situation as a stewardess is somewhat difficult to obtain by one who has had no practical experience.’

Three years later another young woman was about to set sail for America to take up a position as a housekeeper. Before her trip she had decided to write in to the miscellaneous column of the popular Girl’s Own Paper to seek their opinion on what clothing she should take for the journey. The detailed answer was published and no doubt proved extremely helpful. It is examples of paper-ephemera such as these periodicals (which can be picked up at garage and car boot sales, collectable fairs or online) that provide us with a personal view of the lives of individuals at a particular time:

It will be a great mistake to make such a voyage without such warm clothing as is necessary for our own country and European travel. You should start in serge (tailor-made), having a good deep pocket on each side of the skirt in the front seams, and a warm Ulster with a roomy hood to match. Until you arrive at Port Said you will not find it too warm. A lighter material might then be worn both in gown and jacket. A wide brimmed hat, at least enough so to shade the eyes, and a couple of dark washing dresses would be suitable for ship use and travelling on arrival. Of course, on ship-board, it will be well to have a black silk, or silk and cashmere dress for dinner wear. As a young housekeeper in prospect you had better take out a good supply of house and table linen.

An Illustrated London News image from October 1857 depicting the method a ship would use to hoist a pilot on-board in order for him to sail the vessel safely into harbour.

From the published response you can visualise the poor girl getting anxious that she hasn’t yet bought every item of apparel on the list, and that taking a ‘good supply of house and table linen’ with her on the journey, hadn’t even crossed her mind!

With the invention of the Internet nearly 100 years in the future, it would be commonplace for people to seek advice on all manner of subjects by writing in to correspondence columns in weekly magazines and monthly publications. The editor of the column would then produce a published response, answering the question and offering guidance. During the latter part of the nineteenth century, a large proportion of these queries were immigration and travel based, giving us an insight into what were the most popular destinations for the migrant – or tourist – at this time, and revealing ‘top tips’ and recommendations for the novice traveller planning a trip overseas.

Another enquiry was in response to which countries were offering free or subsidised passages at a particular time. One published reply to a young woman named Susan informs us that in 1893:

There are only two colonies that are now giving free passages, Queensland and Western Australia, and we are informed that this privilege is limited to selected female servants. Persons who have a small amount of capital are eligible for reduced passages to New Zealand. The passage to Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland, takes about forty-five days. The price of a ticket, for men or women, by second class is from £36 15s to £42. And a steerage ticket, for either sex, from £16 16s to £21.

It is hard to contemplate a journey of forty-five days when we can now travel to the other side of the world within twenty-four hours (albeit by aeroplane and not ship). Did your ancestor travel to Australia or New Zealand at the end of the nineteenth century? Might they have paid these prices and spent over a month and a half at sea?

A SHARED EXPERIENCE

A cruise, expedition or unusual encounter in a different country often prompted travellers to record the experience in a letter sent back home, in a diary or journal, or on some occasions, in a talk to interested parties upon their return. A newspaper clipping from the early 1900s reports that:

In the Fisher Street Wesleyan Schoolroom, Warrington […] A most enjoyable and instructive lecture, descriptive of a tour on the banks of the Nile was delivered last Wednesday night. Mrs Garnett is a fluent and very entertaining speaker and her remarks were listened to with rapt attention. The peculiarities of several towns were graphically sketched; and other places such as the Pyramids and the great Sphinx were vividly brought before the audience, while half a dozen ‘English Egyptians’ were requisitioned to illustrate the manners and customs of the people. Messes Ladle, Hearsay and Gibson, together with two or three ladies, donned Egyptian costumes of various kinds and impersonated the dusky Arabs to perfection.

This tiny piece of ephemera is a gem of a find. Revealing the names of the people involved, the confirmation of foreign travel, and an ‘address’ of an area where the speaker may have lived.

Before the accessibility of television, people made their own entertainment and were eager to share their experiences with others. Church halls and meeting rooms provided the perfect place to stage these events and helped people to get a wider perspective on what was going on in the rest of the world. Lectures and talks were announced in local newspapers and parish newsletters. Look out for examples in the areas where your ancestors lived.

TAKING IT FURTHER

Unearthing christening notices, baptismal cards and even wedding invites in the belongings of an ancestor far from their native homeland can give us avenues of research to follow and reveal more about their childhood before their new life overseas. Equally, there were many travellers who eventually returned to their country of origin and it is not until we read an obituary that we discover more about their adventures. Track down published obituaries of your forebears (or re-read those you may already have) to look for fresh clues about destinations they may have visited; they may have had a life abroad that you had previously known nothing about!

When Mr Philip C. Garnett passed away in the early twentieth century his obituary revealed compulsory travel during the First World War, and a later voyage in an attempt to improve his health:

He was one of the first to join the Sportsman’s Battalion when it was formed in October 1914, and for many months underwent the rigorous training of a Private, which at his age was undoubtedly a great physical strain. In 1916 he received a commission in the Royal Field Artillery, and it was while serving in this force that he met with a serious accident. His leg was broken by a kick from his horse, and for more than a year he was under the treatment of various hospitals. On his recovery he transferred to the R.A.S.C. and in 1917 went out to France, where he acted as Captain in the Motor Transport. While on service there he contracted internal poisoning and has had indifferent health ever since his demobilisation in 1919. Last spring a sea voyage was advised and Mr Garnett went for a trip to the West Indies.

Just from this one paragraph the family historian has a number of leads to follow:

• What was the Sportsman’s Battalion and to which areas of Europe were they sent?

• Can Mr Garnett’s military records be traced?

• Do documents still exist which refer to his accident?

• Can his service in the R.A.S.C. be traced and where was he posted in France?

• How did he contract internal poisoning?

• Does he appear on the outbound passenger lists for his trip to the West Indies on the Ancestry or Findmypast websites?

Use this method of breaking down the information you have found to extend the avenues of research pertaining to your own ancestor’s travels.

CASE STUDY: PRIMARY SOURCES AND POINTS OF VIEW

You don’t always have to own a particular piece of ephemera to benefit from its existence. As you try to understand your ancestor’s decision for moving overseas, or why they chose to travel to a particular destination, primary sources such as letters, diaries and memorabilia held in museums and private collections can shed light on those who have lived through similar circumstances.

To get an idea of what examples exist that are relevant to your ancestral story, type keywords into an Internet search engine and see what comes up. Use phrases such as French Revolution letters, famine diary, emigration diary, gold rush letters and ephemera to whittle down your search; the results may reside in public archives, or even be for sale on auction sites.

Once you embark on this quest you will soon discover that there are literally hundreds of questions you want to ask about your forebear’s travels, not only about the destinations and the sights they witnessed, but perhaps starting with the conditions faced on board ship, or what food was likely to have been available during the journey.

Reading the diary of George Russell Rogers, a passenger onboard the SS Rodney, a clipper-ship bound for Australia in 1891, he vividly describes the system used for keeping ‘fresh meat’ available for the passengers’ meals:

The vessel carries a quantity of live beasts and birds for food. We have on-board 32 sheep, six pigs, 22 dozen fowls, eight dozen ducks and a dozen geese. These unfortunate creatures are stowed away in hutches or coops on the main deck and their lot indeed is a hard one. The sheep are packed very closely in hutches in which they can only just stand up whilst the birds are so crammed up in their coops that I doubt if some of them ever get at their food or water. Indeed it is no uncommon occurrence for the butcher to find on going about his rounds, two or more dead ducks or chickens. It seems absurd to bring these poor things to sea because in heavy weather they get very wet (although canvas is hanging in front of their coops) and they frequently go blind from the action of the salt water. The sheep bare their lot very well but look so hopeless, but the pigs have a very good time provided the hutch is not cleaned too often.

Personal ephemera can really give us a new outlook on the personalities of our ancestors, especially those observations written in their own hand. These statements, opinions and points of view are the thoughts and feelings of individuals who were actually there at the time, experiencing similar circumstances to those enjoyed or endured by your own forebears.

George obviously had a good sense of humour when he wrote the following description of how one of the pigs was prepared for dinner. Today, we might think these conditions and procedures barbaric, but back then, without the aid of pre-packed food and the prospect of weeks at sea, this was how our forebears survived:

After lunch, ‘Dennis’ the second pig was killed and all hands nearly, and several male passengers turned up at the execution to pay their last respects. The butcher killed him off very well, although he (Dennis) made a great farce about having his throat cut. He was then popped into a tub filled with hot water and his bristles scrubbed off. He was then hung up to the rigging but as the vessel was rolling very much and the sea breaking over, he was shaken off his hook and was found rolling about the deck in the most ludicrous manner. He was captured and hung up again.

By contrast, Dr Abraham Pease, a journalist travelling on board the steamer SS E.M.S. in 1899, was one of many ‘tourists’ who chose to include keepsakes from their trips, pasted within their journals or scrapbooks. The menu from one of the evening meals shows that the choice of dishes was extensive for first-class passengers at this time.

It is not only the passengers of the ship that help us realise what was involved in eighteenth/nineteenth-century travel, but also the crew. If your ancestor worked their passage then any letters or diaries they may have left behind (or by others who were in a similar situation) can help you begin to understand what they were experiencing. The website ‘The Diary Junction’ at www.pikle.co.uk/diaryjunction.html