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30 EMIGRANT-SHIP MATRONS.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
This Is Not To Be A Paper On Emigration....
general Facts church , of y state ou any belong of , medical kind to , , in and certificate your how favor lon if g poss you ; . state ible have . them been * Have a member you Mention ever . been also Health at what sea , , wish to ?
and to what colony do you go Qualifications possessed , ( menhistory co tion lony wha ? , t habit you s Enclose can , etc " under . any take testimonials ' How to do do , ) - and you you g hop ive may e any to possess support informa , stat tion yourself ing fr as om to in whom your the whose
have they are given , an are d the supposed number to . be dead Mention or abroad if . any persons names you qualifications I desire that , ( Si full gned inquiries . ) should Date . — be - made relative to my character and
It will require little reflection to perceive that women who can satisfactorily and honorably fill in such a papermust be able readily
, to obtain remunerative employment either in England or the coloniesand that the office is nowas it was with , the surgeons
formerl , y , in a great measure filled , by persons who are anxious to procure a free passage to the colonies . That all the
disadvantages necessarily arising from untrained and inexperienced officersall the difficulties and novelties springing from new [ work
and , new that all the evils found so intolerable in the case of the occasional ways , surgeonsmust attend the working of such a
, system is self-evident , and nothing but the most pitiful parsimony could have tolerated such practices .
matrons Of the ' committee matrons sent of out Briti respectivel sh ladies , y b and y the by commission the ships ers 7 surgeons , by the ,
the government commissioners report the latter , both in 1 8 5 6 and also in 1859 as being as a whole most efficient ; but as these
estimates are made , from reports from the colonies , and as these reports ag'ain chiefly depend on those of the ships' surgeons , it is
natural they should prefer matrons whom they themselves had appointedand who were merely their servants .
The idea , of providing a matron who should have charge of the moral and intellectual well-being of single emigrants , arose from a
private and providential visit of a lady to an emigrant ship anchored in Plymouth Sound in October 1848 . She had been invited by the
, owner to accompany him to the vessel , when a scene presented itself which was not easily to be forgotten .
. " This , ship , with upwards of two hundred and fifty emigrants , had sailed from Deptford a fortnight previously , and from entire
ignorance of the necessary arrangements on board ship , and from the trials of even that short sea-voyage , most of the poor creatures were
discontented , ill , and unhappy . Groups were collected together on the crowded deck , bewailing the step they had taken , and many were
shedding * bitter tears . The visitor did what she could to cheer , consoleand advise ; explained to them how necessary the government
regulations , were for their comfort and well-being at sea ; urged upon them the necessity of calmness and contentsince so irrevocable a step
, had been taken , and exhorted them to make the period of their long
voyage a time of mental , moral , and religious improvement . Ere
30 Emigrant-Ship Matrons.
30 EMIGRANT-SHIP MATRONS .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), March 1, 1860, page 30, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01031860/page/30/
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