COOPER, Robert Bransby, MP for Gloucester, re Samuel BRADSHAW's Party, 1820 Settlers

National Archives, Kew CO48/42, 221

Matson Hose

Aug 18^th 1819

Sir,

Having received applications from different quarters respecting the assistance to be granted by His Majesty's Government to settlers in the proposed Colony near the Cape of Good Hope, I have to request you would have the goodness at your leisure to furnish me with such information on the subject as your official knowledge will enable you to communicate, both for my own satisfaction & those who have made enquiries of me.

I have seen statements in the papers but do not know how far I may relay upon them. I wish particularly to be informed whether any appointments will be made His Majesty's Ministers of Chaplains, Surgeons, Surveyors &c. The foundation of a new Colony in another quarter of the Globe seems at least to be a favourite theme of speculation at the present day.

I have likewise to state & to request you to lay before my Lord BATHURST, an application I have received from one of my constituents, resident in St.Anne's Jamaica, of the name of Thomas ASHMEAD to use my interest to get him appointed one of the Collectors of the Customs in the island, there being now [obscured] by recent deaths, one in Montego Bay & the other at Falmouth in Trelawney..

I am sorry to have occasion to trouble you at a time when you must be seeking relaxation from the pressure of business but I hope the object I have in view will plead my excuse and I beg leave to subscribe myself

Your faithful obedient servant

R. Bransby COOPER

National Archives, Kew CO48/42, 247

Matson House

Near Gloucester

August 26^th 1819

Dear Sir,

I have to acknowledge with thanks the receipt of your letter of the 23^rd inst & your intended information relative to the Colony at the Cape, but owing to some mistake the printed letter or copies of those letters were not enclosed in your envelope.

I am much obliged to you for transferring my request relative to the appointment in Jamaica to the Treasury & have the honour to remain dear Sir

Your faithful obedient servant

R. Bransby COOPER

National Archives, Kew CO48/42, 444

Matson House

Near Gloucester

Oct 19^th 1819

Dear Sir,

Will you allow me to state the case of some poor Families in my neighbourhood who are desirous of going out as settlers to the Cape of Good Hope, and a permission for whose passage in the ensuing months I am very desirous to obtain.

They belong to the Parish of Cam in this County & are either Weavers or Labourers. They wish to avail themselves under the Regulations prescribed by Government of the assistance of the Parish Officer in addition to the sums which each Head of a family has been able to raise out of his own savings.

They have agreed to go out under the care of one Samuel BRADSHAW of the same Parish & will be ten families including the superintendents and a few supernumerary children. They are ready to comply with all the forms prescribed in the printed paper of directions & have applied for leave by letter to the Secretary of State some time ago.

They had been given to understand that there was no doubt of their success in the application and most of them have sold all their goods and chattels & one man in particular has had his Pension transferred to the Cape on assurance of a speedy voyage.

They were therefore most dismayed & disappointed at receiving a letter from your office lately announcing that no more persons would be allowed to go out this season. They will be thrown truly on the Parish for support, being destitute of everything but the sums which they had scraped together to advance for their intended conveyance to the Cape.

I can give you the names of the Heads of the Families with the respective ages of themselves & their children and I do hope from the hardship of the circumstances in case of refusal that they will be allowed to proceed, if possible in November next.

Will you have the goodness to favour me with a speedy answer which I trust will be consonant to my wishes if at all compatible with the views of Government & believe me to be dear Sir

Your obedient and faithful humble servant

R. Bransby COOPER

National Archives, Kew CO48/42, 463

Matson House

Oct 27^th 1819

Mr. COOPER returns compliments to Mr. GOULBURN and has enclosed the Returns of the Persons proposing to go out to the Cape from Cam & the neighbouring Parishes in the County of Gloucester which he has made out himself from communication with the Person selected by the Parish of Cam to take charge of the Party. He is prepared with the money necessary to be deposited.

National Archives, Kew CO48/42, 499

Matson House

Nov 10^th 1819

Dear Sir,

I have to inform you on the part of the superintendent and families in this neighbourhood for whom I applied to procure a passage for them as settlers to the Cape of Good Hope that upon application to the officers of one of the Parishes which had engaged to send out part of its redundant population with Samuel BRADSHAW they refused to advance the money required to be deposited & therefore those Parties will be precluded from going.

This circumstance & others noticed below will make the following alteration in the Lists which I sent up to you on the 27^th ult.

To be struck out:

Richard BRADSHAW wife & 6 ch'n, 2 above & 2 under 14

Samuel MALPASS wife & 4 ch'n under 14 – Has engaged in the Veteran Battalion

Thomas COOK aged 23 disabled

James WALL wife & 3 ch'n under 14

Samuel WALL aged 20

William WALL aged 18

Joseph WATTS wife & 3 ch'n under 14

Joseph WATTS aged 19

George WATTS wife & 4 ch'n, 1 above 14

Isaac SMITH Dead – wife & 3 ch'n remain at home

If I have calculated right this deficiency will make a deduction of 145£ out of 315£ leaving a Balance of 170£ but BRADSHAW wishes to take out with him in addition

Wm NEWTH Labourer age 40 wife Sarah age 30 Ch'n Wm 13, Benj. 3, Thos. 1

Deposit Money 15£

Richard CARTER Labourer 36 Elizabeth 36 Thomas 13 John 11

Deposit Money 10£

The money required for these families and persons appears to be

which has already been deposited in a Banker's Hands to be transferred to the acc't of Wm HILL Esq.

But as such an alteration & the delay it has occasioned must make a corresponding change in the provision for the voyage. It is my duty to communicate the circumstances to you though with an earnest desire that the [par]ty who have finally fixed to go & have made their deposit accordingly may be furnished with a passage in the first ships.

I remain dear Sir your most obliged and faithful humble servant

R. Bransby COOPER

PS I observe in the calculation sent down from your Department that every single extra child under 14 must be reckoned at 5£ instead of £2:10 as I had imagined they were to be by the printed regulations.