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GSSA
The 1820 Settler Correspondence
 as preserved in the National Archives, Kew
 and edited by Sue Mackay

pre 1820 Settler Correspondence before emigration

ALL the 1819 correspondence from CO48/41 through CO48/46 has been transcribed whether or not the writers emigrated to the Cape. Those written by people who did become settlers, as listed in "The Settler Handbook" by M.D. Nash (Chameleon Press 1987), are labelled 1820 Settler and the names of actual settlers in the text appear in red.

MUNRO, Charles

Written by Sue Mackay on .

National Archives, Kew CO48/44, 551

30 Lisson Grove

Paddington

2nd August 1819

My Lord,

I have presumed to address your Lordship in consequence of the encouragement afforded by Government to British subjects emigrating to the Cape of Good Hope, and it has induced me to solicit that your Lordship will be pleased to cause me to be informed in that manner it will be requisite for me to proceed in order, should it be permitted me, that I may avail myself of this wise measure.

I shall not enter into a detail of the innumerable advantages which the Cape of Good Hope, and its adjacent shores, offers for the purposes of Colonization, as they must be well known to your Lordship: suffice it to state that its fine climate, which is remarkably congenial to European constitutions; its luxuriant soil, which yields to the cultivator the most abundant returns with, comparatively speaking, little labour; and its contiguity to our military establishment at the Cape, holds out the colonist the most flattering hopes of future prosperity and protection.

I beg leave to state your Lordship that I would propose to collect 30 labourers, 10 mechanics and 10 disbanded soldiers (with the regulated number of women and children) and to bring them out as colonists to Algoa Bay according to the terms of the circular issued by His Majesty's Ministers.

I further beg leave to state to your Lordship that I have served his Majesty seven years, the greatest part of which was under the Duke of Wellington, in the capacities of Ensign and Lieutenant; that I am now upon half pay and depending upon it for my subsistence; that I possess a knowledge of agriculture, having been accustomed to it previous to entering the Army, and that I am desirous of availing myself of the proffered assistance of Government to send colonists to the Cape of Good Hope.

Should the sanction of Government be granted me for the purpose which I have mentioned above I beg leave to state, in conclusion, that I can give, through the medium of my friends, the necessary deposit; and that my character will bear the strictest investigation.

I have the honor to be my Lord

Your Lordship's most obedient humble servant

Charles MUNRO

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