HONNER, Robert

National Archives, Kew CO48/43, 760

Lee Mount

30 August 1819

Sir,

I have had the honor to receive your letter of the 17^th inst and take the liberty to enclose a request for permission to proceed which I will be obliged to you to lay before their Lordships. If I have not addressed the proper authority you will confer an obligation on me by letting me know it.

I have the honor to be Sir

Your most obed't serv't

R. HONNER

758

Lee Mount

Cork

30 August 1819

My Lord,

I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of the printed conditions under which emigration to the Cape of Good Hope is proposed to be encouraged and I beg leave to request your Lordship's permission to proceed thither by the first opportunity subject to the regulations contained therein or to be in force hereafter.

It is my intention should I obtain your Lordship's leave to proceed to take with me at present twelve or thirteen, then, only in order to provide for thirty or forty such persons to follow me with my family under the charge of my son.

Being an old soldier and having served Govt. some years in a Civil as well as Military capacity and having repeatedly rec'd the thanks of those under whom I acted will be sufficient recommendation I trust to ensure your Lordship's [?]ition on the present occasion, however if references are required I feel convinced of being able to procure such as will be satisfactory, except as to riches & it is needless to say that if I could support my [Rank?] in this country I never would leave it – nevertheless I shall have enough for the present undertaking.

The men I intend with your Lordship's leave to take are young, healthy, sober and industrious. Their names, ages &c shall be stated when your Lordships signify a wish to that effect and the deposit required shall be paid when & where ordered.

I have the honor to be my Lord

Your Lordship's obed't servant

R. HONNER

800

Lee Mount

Sept 20 1819

Sir,

In response to your letter of the 5^th inst requiring a detailed statement of the names, ages &c of all the persons I propose taking to the Cape of Good Hope under my direction as also my personal assurance that I am ready to conform to the conditions upon which His Majesty's Government have offered to grant lands in that colony. I have the honor to send accompanying this the statement so required and I beg leave to inform the Earl BATHURST that I am perfectly ready to conform to all the conditions upon which His Majesty's Government have offered to grant lands at the Cape of Good Hope. I also assure his Lordship that I will not take any person under my directions who I am not qite satisfied will conduct themselves with strict propriety on every occasion. When I had the honor to address Earl BATHURST on the 22^nd July last it was my intention to have left my wife and family in this country to follow me next season but they have expressed such an earnest desire not to be separate from me that I am compelled to deviate from that determination, trusting that we might go on board a ship which will touch at the cape, when I shall have them till I can have a habitation prepared for them, my eldest son in this country remaining in charge of a large rolling mill in this neighbourhood but who will follow next year with the permission of Government with at least 30 able hands. I beg leave to add that those in the return are as healthy, sober and well disposed people as ever such.

I have the honor to be Sir

Your most obed't serv't

R. HONNER

Return of Men Women and Children proceeding to the Cape of Good Hope under the directions of Robert HONNER Esq of Lee Mount in the North Liberties of the City of Cork

852

Lee Mount

Oct 9^th 1819

My Lord,

I had the honor to receive your Lordship's intimation that you did not deem it adviseable to accept my proposal to emigrate with my family and settlers to the Cape of Good Hope.

My disappointment as also that of those who were to accompany me has been very great and has been attended with loss and inconvenience. I have ordered agricultural implements from London & others to be made here which otherwise I should not require. I have also closed for the sale of the property I now reside in, and disposed of more to a disadvantage, assuming without much vanity that if Mr. John INGRAM, a retail grocer of this City, could be considered an eligible person, no objection could be raised to me, and he was approved of by the Prince Regent's confidential staff Gen't BLOOMFIELD – however my Lord it is presumption in me to make these remarks as you are the best judge of the kind of person you wish to encourage. It has been suggested by Mr. INGRAM that some informality must have been the cause probably in the return I sent in, it was so near the form I thought you required as I could make it, it was not accompanied by a certificate from the Mayor that the settlers went with their free will and consent, however I considered that to apply to those who were sent out by a Parish & I did not imagine your Lordship would entertain an idea that it were possible to put the natives of Great Britain on board a ship by force to be transported to another country. However, if anything informal has been the cause of your Lordship's decision against me I trust you will allow it to be rectified, if not I hope you will allow me to stand first in the list for next year or for the next fleet.

I beg the liberty to ask your Lordship whether if I take out settlers on my own account any allowance will be made to me for it or whether I shall receive a grant of land on arriving out, or whether the Governor of the Cape has the power to grant lands to a person applying on the spot.

I have the honor to be my Lord

Your Lordship's most obedt hble svt

R.HONNER