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Transportation from Ireland to America, 1653 – 60

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

John W. Blake
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Extract

Irish transportation to the English colonies during the interregnum has often been represented as an indictment of English policy. John Lynch, the Irish historian, who was driven into exile during the protectorate, writing shortly after the restoration, deplored that Irishmen had been torn from the arms of their wives and children by ‘civic vultures’, transported, and sold as slaves in the West Indies. Among more recent writers, though Bagwell and Gardiner point out that the transported Irish became, not slaves, but indentured servants, Prendergast criticizes the ‘English slave-dealers’ and asserts that ‘Ireland must have exhibited scenes in every part like the slave hunts in Africa’.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 3 , Issue 11 , March 1943 , pp. 267 - 281
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1943

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References

page 267 note 1 page 267 note 1 John, Lynch, Cambrensis eversus (ed. Kelly, M.), i. 63.Google Scholar

page 267 note 2 Bagwell, , Stuarts, ii. 344–Google Scholar. Gardiner, , Commonwealth and protectorate (1903), iv. 111 – 12.Google Scholar Prendergast, , Cromwellian settlement of Ireland (1870), pp. 90 – 2.Google Scholar

page 267 note 3 Thurloe, State papers, iv, passim. Dunlop, Commonwealth, ii, passim. ‘ Commonwealth records', in Archiv. Hib., vi. 175 – 202, vii. 20 – 66. Fr. Aubrey Gwynn, ’ Cromwell's policy of transportation ’ , in Studies, xx. 291 – 305.

page 267 note 4 – ‘ Minutes of the Council of Barbados, 1654–8 ‘ ; these minutes have not been printed in full, but in 1934 Mr. F. G. Spurdle presented to the London Public Record Office two typescript volumes, containing transcripts from originals preserved in Barbados. Fr. Aubrey Gwynn, acting independently, printed relevant passages in his – ‘ Irish in the West Indies', in Anal. Hib., no. 4, pp. 203 – 43.

page 268 note 1 See Guiseppi, , Guide, ii. 10.Google Scholar

page 268 note 2 See Cal. S.P Col., America and West Indies, 1374–1660, pp. 401, 407, 409, 419, 425–6, 428, 430, 431, 441, 458.

page 269 note 2 Dunlop, , Commonwealth, ii. 340.Google Scholar

page 269 note 3 Order of 23 May 1653. Ibid., ii. 341, 343.

page 269 note 4 Ibid., ii. 341.

page 269 note 5 Ibid., ii. 354–5.

page 269 note 6 Ibid., ii. 399–400, 401, 421–2, 432, 467 Hore, P. H., History of Wexford (1900), p. 336.Google Scholar Archiv. Hid., vi. 194.

page 270 note 2 D.N.B.

page 270 note 1 P.R.O., Interregnum Entry Book, vol. 99, p. 79.Google Scholar

page 270 note 3 Bagwell, , Stuarts, ii. 298.Google Scholar

page 270 note 4 Prendergast, op. cit., pp. xxiii, 90.

page 270 note 5 Three daughters of Daniel Connery, a gentleman of Clare, who were transported to Barbados in 1657 (ibid., p. 90) Prendergast drew his information from Fr. Maurice Morison, Threnodia Hiberno-Catholica (1659), pp. 28–9. (Prendergast gives the reference incorrectly as p. 287). I consulted a copy of Morison's work in T.C.D., but I found nothing more. With the kind help of Fr. Donal Cregan, I also consulted the Prendergast papers in the King's Inns Library, Dublin. These, bound in 15 volumes, are transcripts, mostly by Prendergast, from records formerly in the Bermingham Tower, Dublin Castle, and elsewhere. Prendergast does not give the location of the original of each transcript. Robert Dunlop, who examined many of the originals after their transfer to the Dublin Public Record Office, has printed most of the relevant material in his Commonwealth.

page 271 note 1 Thurloe, , State papers, iv. 23-4, 40, 54, 55, 74, 75, 87, 100, 107, 343.Google Scholar P.R.O., Interregnum Entry Books, vol. 104, pp. 318-9, vol. 145, p. 1.Google Scholar

page 271 note 2 Gardiner, op. cit., iv. 218–9.

page 271 note 3 Thurloe, , State papers, iv. 23-4, 40.Google Scholar

page 272 note 1 P.R.O., Interregnum Entry Book, vol. 98, p. 338.Google Scholar P.R.O., High Court of Admiralty, Libels, file 112, no. 131. Prendergast (op. cit., p. 90) states incorrectly that Selleck was a Bristol merchant.

page 272 note 2 Dunlop, , Commonwealth, ii. 374-5.Google Scholar

page 272 note 3 Ibid., ii. 384.

page 272 note 4 George Swanley was master, as well as part-owner, of the Providence. A reference to a Thomas Swanley in P.R.O., Interregnum Entry Book, vol. 98, p. 338, is evidently an error for George Swanley.

page 272 note 5 P.R.O., High Court of Admiralty, Libels, file 112, no. 107.

page 273 note 1 Ibid., no. 107.

page 273 note 2 Ibid., nos. 107, 131. Deposition of John Lee, 16 July 1655 (P.R.O., High Court of Admiralty, Examinations, vol. 70). Depositions of George Swanley, 23 May 1656, and of Susanna Tillman, 12 Sept. 1656 (ibid., vol. 71).

page 273 note 3 For a typical use of the term ‘ passenger ’ , see P.R.O., High Court of Admiralty, Examinations, vol. 72, where Robert Oldfield deposed on 19 Nov. 1657 that ‘ he was not one of the mariners of the ship, but was a passenger in her, as being then a servant of the said Lewellin, [a London merchant], who was by him sent to reside and continue with one, Mr. Cornwallis, a factor of the said Lewellin's in Maryland at Virginia, there to keep the said Cornwallis his books of account, and learn the trade of merchandising ‘ Oldfield was more fortunate than the Irish ‘ passengers'. He is described in the records as a ‘ gentleman ‘ of Spalding in Lincolnshire, aged about 22. He was to serve a real apprenticeship in Maryland, and the arrangements had been made for him before he left England. The fate of the transported Irish was not always determined before they left Ireland. They were often sold when they arrived in the new world to any planter who would take them. Some of them, however, were earmarked for named planters before they left Ireland (See Dunlop, , Commonwealth, ii. 686-7, 691Google Scholar). For the indentured labour system in the colonies, see Bruce, P. A., Economic history of Virginia (1896), i. 572 – 634, ii 1–56Google Scholar; Ligon, R., History of Barbados (1657), pp. 43-6Google Scholar; Hist. MSS. Comm., 7th Report, app. (Londes MSS.), p. 572; Thurloe, State papers, iv. 39–40.

page 274 note 1 P.R.O., High Court of Admiralty, Libels, file 112, no. 195.

page 274 note 2 Deposition of Samuel Church, 20 Nov. 1657 (P.R.O., High Court of Admiralty, Examinations, vol. 72).

page 274 note 3 Deposition of Abraham Clarke, 23 Nov. 1657 (ibid.).

page 274 note 4 Rutt, J. T (ed.), Diary of Thomas Burton, iv. 256.Google Scholar

page 275 note 1 P.R.O., High Court of Admiralty, Libels, file 112, no. 195.

page 275 note 2 But see Bancroft, G., History of the United States (1847), i. 175 Google Scholar.

page 275 note 3 Bruce, op. cit., i. 629–31 P.R.O., Interregnum Entry Book, vol. 105, pp. 140–1. In 1654 the cost of transporting six ‘ servants – ‘ from Bristol to Barbados in the Trial was £34 ros. od. (P.R.O., High Court of Admiralty, Libels, file in, no. 324).

page 275 note 4 Ligon, op. cit., p. 46.

page 275 note 5 P.R.O., Interregnum Entry Book, vol. 98, pp. 405–6. Dunlop, , Commonwealth, ii. 400-1Google Scholar

page 276 note 1 Deposition of John Prynn, 2 Dec. 1656 (P.R.O., High Court of Admiralty, Examinations, vol. 71).

page 276 note 2 Depositions of George Swanley, 23 May 1656, and George Faulkner, 24 Oct. 1656 (ibid.), Matthew Clements, 4 Feb. 1658, William Wood, 23 June 1658, George Faulkner and Richard Atkinson, 12 Nov. 1658 (ibid., vol. 72).

page 276 note 3 Dunlop, , Commonwealth, ii. 477, 549–50, 553, 613.Google Scholar ‘ Commonwealth records ’ , in Archiv. Hib., vi. 175–202 ; vii. 20–66 ; Thurloe, , State papers, v. 250 Google Scholar.

page 277 note 1 Bagwell, , Stuarts, ii. 315-42Google Scholar; Dunlop, , Commonwealth, ii. 437, 488–91, 613, 686–7Google Scholar.

page 277 note 2 Ibid., ii. 467, 475.

page 277 note 3 Ibid., ii. 400–1.

page 277 note 4 Ibid., ii. 354–5, 553, 555–6.

page 277 note 5 Ibid., ii. 341.

page 277 note 6 Ibid., ii. 562.

page 277 note 7 Ibid., ii. 613. Thurloe, , State papers, v. 250 Google Scholar. Archiv. Hib., vi. 189–90, vii. 20.

page 278 note 2 Deposition of Samuel Church, 20 Nov. 1657 (P.R.O., High Court of Admiralty, Examinations, vol. 72).

page 278 note 1 Dunlop, , Commonwealth, ii. 399 – 400.Google Scholar

page 278 note 3 Deposition of Abraham Clarke, 23 Nov. 1657 (ibid.). Jefferies was also a party to the voyage of the Alexander in 1653–4.

page 279 note 1 Dunlop, , Commonwealth, ii. 467, 555–6.Google Scholar

page 279 note 2 Archiv. Hib., vii. 24.

page 279 note 3 See above, p. 277.

page 279 note 4 Dunlop, , Commonwealth, ii. 528.Google Scholar

page 279 note 5 Ibid., ii. 686–7, 691.

page 279 note 6 Deposition of Robert Oldiield, 19 Nov. 1657 (P.R.O., High Court of Admiralty, Examinations, vol. 72).

page 280 note 1 Deposition of Samuel Church, 20 Nov. 1657 (ibid.). Abstract.

page 280 note 2 Ibid.

page 280 note 3 Dunlop, , Commonwealth, ii. 655-6.Google Scholar

page 280 note 4 It is erroneous to suppose that only Bristol merchants were interested in Irish transportation.

page 280 note 5 P.R.O., High Court of Admiralty, Libels, file 112, nos. 107, 262; ibid., Examinations, vol. 67, 6, 22 Sept. 1653 ; vol. 70, 3, 30 Apr. 1655 ; vol. 71, 12 Dec. 1656 ; vol. 72, 19 Nov. 1657 Stock, L. F, Proceedings and debates of British parliaments, i. 195.Google Scholar

page 280 note 6 Deposition of Thomas Morgan, 28 Feb. 1657 (P.R.O., High Court of Admiralty, Examinations, vol. 71).

page 281 note 1 Deposition of Robert Oldfield, 19 Nov. 1657 (ibid., vol. 72).

page 281 note 2 Depositions of various witnesses, 10, 11, 12 Mar. 1657 (ibid., vol. 71); depositions of five witnesses, 23 Mar. 1657 (ibid., vol. 72).

page 281 note 3 For other examples of rotten transportation ships, see Thurloe, , State papers, v. 558, 586–7,612,730Google Scholar.

page 281 note 4 A minor rebellion of the Irish ‘ servants – ‘ in Barbados during the year 1655 is recorded in ‘ Minutes of the Council of Barbados – ‘ (transcripts in P.R.O.), p. 108 (cf. Anal. Hib., no. 4, pp. 231–9).