Hi JohnG, Sorry about the link that didn't work, .. .. .. Quite a big Snip, Snip .. .. .. ..Catherine: I was intrigued with the words (now) in red ink and have spent some time trying to find the original quotation so as to read the rest of the item, with the intention of tracking down and searching through the arrivals lists looking for any lists relating to arrivals in Durban for the early weeks of 1884, to see if I can find mention of Benjamin David & Flora POPE.
However, in having a look around the internet for you, I have found the answer to my own question. The following is an extract from "Mol's Genealogy Blog"
"Railway workers of varying levels of skill were imported from Britain specifically for the development of the Natal rail network. The selected lists below show contingents of platelayers* ‘engaged by the Crown Agents for service on Natal Government Railways’ and brought out, most with their families, in 1885 on these and other vessels. The date shown is that of arrival at Natal and where not otherwise stated all were accompanied by wives and in some cases, children.
Another bigish Snip, Snip .. .. ..
Regards
Catherine
SPARTAN, Union Steamship Company, Official number 82421, Captain A M Watt. Sailed from Southampton 24/Jan/1884, arrived/sailed Plymouth for mails 25/Jan. Sailed Madeira 31/Jan Arrived Cape Town 10pm 16/Feb/1884.Thank you seaweed for your contribution, you have clearly found a path to the passenger list for the journey of SS Spartan commencing in Southampton on 24th January 1884. Are you able to provide that path so that I can include the document as a source to this 'event' in the Pope 'family tree'?
SPARTAN was built in 1881 by J & G Thompson & Co. at Glasgow with a tonnage of 3487grt, a length of 364ft 6in, a beam of 42ft 7in and a service speed of 12 knots.
Sister of the TROJAN she was completed for the mail run in 1881 but transferred to the Intermediate service in 1889.
In November 1899 she was used as a troopship during the Boer War. Surplus to requirements when Union-Castle was formed in 1900 she was sold to A. Fragala of Catania, Sicily and renamed Fume. After a further two years service she was broken up in Italy in April 1902.
Her 1884 logbooks and Crew Agreements should be at Southampton Archives. If it has survived, the ships Logbook for the time in question, may give details on the conduct of the voyage, plus accurate times of arrival and sailing.
I thank you for this explanation, there is nothing in the bundle of papers that has been passed down to successive descendants of the Pope family of any surety. However the explanation is clear and completely credible.
This extract from Shelagh Spencer's book on the European Settler Population of Natal may shed some light on the "surety"
Government-sponsored immigration
The last addition to Natal’s white population before the advent of the 1860s was the result of a Govenment scheme instituted in 1857, whereby the Government would pay the passages of intending immigrants as long as someone in the Colony would stand surety for the repayment of fares, in instalments, by the immigrants so introduced.
It is possible that this could have applied to Benjamin and his family. Sam Wolff may have been his prospective employer and had stood surety for his passage.
Sue
The information I furnished was taken from various newspaper reports, primarily "Lloyd's List"I have found UK Incoming Passenger lists on Ancestry, when I typed each of the four names of my target family, I was offered a number of similar names with a random selection of Port of Embarkation from around the world. I then realised that by using the various options on the screen I had access to bundles of lists sorted by year 1891, 1892, and so on, each bundle contained a series of randomly sorted pages for single journeys, so having selected my year of interest (1891) I worked through the bundle, ignoring the lists where the journey commenced in the Americas and paying particular interest to journeys commencing in Africa, India or China.
As far as I am aware, UK Outward Passenger Lists before 1890 have not survived. I am unsure of the position regarding Incoming Passenger Lists from South African Sources. I am sure that someone can give you that information.There may be mention of the Pope family contained in the vessels logbook especially if one of them suffered death or serious illness.
Hello Seaweed & other readers
Edit: I have just realised that the four page Passenger List is signed at the foot of the last page by the Ship's Master on 5th October 91, so all that remains now is to hopefully establish when the journey commenced at Durban.
JohnG_Swansea.
Hi,Apologies for the delay in replying, I have been distracted by work on a more local project, albeit involving the history of a local railway line here in Swansea.
Here is the link to the baptism of Edward Benjamin on Family Search, unfortunately amongst as yet unindexed records, scroll down to the second page of the image it's the first entry.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GTWB-XXX?i=53&wc=SFVZ-82C%3A44975801%2C51425101%2C51677701%2C51677702&cc=1468076
Sorry it's so long.
Can't seem to find Emily's but will have a look elsewhere.
Sue