DR CIARÁN REILLY
HISTORIAN LOOKS AT THE CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH SAW A TOTAL OF 61 WOMEN MAKE THE JOURNEY FROM THE WORKHOUSES OF WEXFORD TO A NEW LIFE IN CAPE TOWN
IN the midst of the Great Famine, a total of 61 young women were sent from Wexford to Cape Town in South Africa. Their arduous journey was made as part of an assisted emigration programme aimed at relieving overcrowding in the workhouses, something which was increasing daily as the extent of the famine began to set in.
Historian in 19th and 20th Century History at NUI Maynooth Dr Ciarán Reilly has been looking at the type of life that would have faced these Wexford women as he aims uncover each of their stories and learn what became of them as they swapped the South East of Ireland for South Africa as well as looking at the evidence of a Wexford connection in Cape Town that lasts to this day.
‘Although the Cape no Hope may bring, our tone we will not lower, For still in Table Bay we’ll sing, we’re Paddies evermore’ (Wexford Independent, 29 Sept. 1849)
In May 1849, twenty young women from Wexford workhouse set off to Cape Town, South Africa, as part of the assisted emigration programme, known as the ‘Earl Grey Orphan Scheme’. In total, more than 4,000 were shipped to Australia during the final years of the Irish Famine in this scheme, named after its principal architect, Henry, third Earl Grey, the secretary of state for the colonies in Lord John Russell’s Whig government. The scheme was meant to relieve the overcrowding of the workhouses of Ireland which was daily increasing due to the Famine and also included the emigration of 61 young women from Wexford workhouse. What the Wexford girls did not realise was that they were sailing to the Cape of Good Hope in the middle of the Anti-Convict protests that dominated Cape society throughout 1849 and 1850.
In 1848 members of the British government proposed that convicts (mainly Irish) should be sent to the Cape of Good Hope, initially to help build the city’s breakwater and other maritime projects and eventually to reside there. The plan met with widespread opposition and would engulf the Cape for more than eighteen months. In May 1849, as the emigrants assembled at Wexford workhouse for departure to the Cape, an Anti-Convict Association was formed and almost 5,000 people signed a petition against the establishment of a penal colony. On July 4, a further demonstration of public unity against the convicts took place in Cape Town. Despite the opposition, the plan to send 300 prisoners (mainly Irish and including the infamous John Mitchel) went ahead and the ship Neptune departed for Cape Town. Throughout 1849, Cape Town was described as being ‘in a state of open rebellion’ as the inhabitants awaited news from London about their petition. The Neptune and its prisoners waited in anchor for five months hoping to land in Cape Town but eventually departed in disappointment in February 1850. The episode deeply divided opinion at the Cape and pitted Irishmen on opposite sides including two influential players – Hamilton Ross of Galway and Robert Stanford of Mayo.
In March 1848, the issue of sending workhouse orphans to Van Diemen’s Land or the Cape of Good Hope was first mooted by the Wexford and Enniscorthy Board of Guardians. Despite having a number of girls willing to undertake the voyage, the scheme was shelved as the particulars of the voyage were not yet clear. However, the plan was resurrected the following year with the destination chosen as the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa). The first batch, numbering twenty girls between the ages of fifteen and nineteen were selected to leave Wexford Workhouse in early May. Many of them were from the Killurin area including Jane Kehoe, Mary Wall, Mary Carty and Jane Hawkins. Before their departure the girls were presented before the weekly meeting of the Wexford guardians where one of them, Catherine Brien, offered an address of thanks to the board for their benevolence in sending them to the Cape. She noted that: ‘We shall look back and remember that to you we are indebted for the blessings and comforts we enjoy’. It is not known whether Brien actually read the address, or indeed if she could read. It is unlikely that she drafted it. Instead it looks as if the guardians prepared a speech which would reflect well on their benevolence.
To prepare for their safe arrival in Cape Town and to ensure that they were well attired in their search to find employment once they landed, the guardians provided £25 towards the cost of conveying the women to Plymouth. Accompanied by Catherine Furlong, the matron of the workhouse and Thomas Codd, the porter, each carried a specially made trunk. Clothes were commissioned for the emigrants by a number of local women including Catherine Rea and Mary Redmond who made day dresses, and Anne Butler who made them shoes. Their departure created a mini-industry around Wexford and certainly many benefited from the opportunity to supply the workhouse with these wares.
On May 8, 1849, the first group left Wexford for Plymouth via Dublin, where they travelled on the ship Royal Alice. Upon reaching Cape Town, Commander J.