Hi,
I just wanted to say thanks again. I've now been really motivated and thought someone might be interested in my extra findings.
I went to trove, now that I've learned that they had to have a ships kit. That got me at least this one: (mentioning clothes and ship-kits in 1866)
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1276739?searchTerm=%22ships%20kit%22&searchLimits=l-decade=186Trove Australia: The Brisbane Courier (Qld.: 1864 - 1933) Fri 6 Nov 1866 p. 3 IMMIGRATION
e.g.
I observe, by your remarks on the subject
of the condition of some of the navvies, that
you have not exactly understood what is called
ship-kit. This has been provided by my order
through an outfitting house, Mr. Percival's, of
New Quay, Liverpool, to the whole of the free
and assisted passengers, including the navvies.
It does not consist of clothing, but of bedding,
and other necessary articles, for which the
people pay into this office either 10s. 6d. or £1,
according to which of the two following lists
they desire to be provided with :
"10s. 6d. Ship-kit: 1 bed, 1 pair sheets,
1 water bottle, 1 wash basin, 1 plate, 1 pint
drinking mug, 1 knife and fork, 2 spoons, 3 lbs.
marine soap.
" £1 Ship-kit : 1 bed and pillow, 1 pair of
blankets, 1 pair of sheets, 1 counterpane, 1
water bottle, 1 wash basin, 1 plate, 1 pint drink-
ing mug, 1 quart, 1 knife and fork, 2 spoons,
3 lbs. marine soap, 1 slop-pail.
" The clothing, which it is considered necessary
that persons should possess before they em-
bark, they have, of course, to obtain for them-
selves. As provided in the ' Instructions,' they
must have clothing about equal to the following
list of articles (see, also, Government pamphlet,
page 16, and here appended) : -
For Males.-6 shirts, 6 pairs of stockings, 2
warm flannel or Guernsey shirts, 2 pairs of new
shoes, 2 complete suits of strong exterior cloth-
ing.
" For Females.-6 shifts, 2 warm and strong
flannel petticoats, 6 pairs of stockings, 2 pairs
of strong shoes, 2 strong gowns, one of which
must be warm.
" I may here appropriately speak of arrange-
ments I am now making for securing the supply
of those necessaries called ship-kit to all remit-
tance emigrants, by requiring them all to pay
the usual amount into this office, like the other
free and assisted passengers. I should have
deferred this until I had communicated
with the Government on the subject,
but, in reply to a letter I have written
the Emigration Commissioners, soliciting their
advice and assistance in taking precaution-
ary measures against cholera in our ships, they
have expressed very decidedly the opinion that
no one should be allowed to take any but new
bedding on board ; and experience shows me
that the only way of securing this, and the most
economical to the passengers, is to furnish them
in the usual way, through an outfitter, who
supplies them at the lowest possible price, of
one uniform size, filling the berths, and made of
materials which are not objectionable. As you
are probably aware, the Commissioners strictly
prohibit the use of feather beds in their ships,
and I have thought it important to adopt the
same rule.
More investigating of Shadwell Basin, where the City of Brisbane left from in 1862, got me these:
https://alondoninheritance.com/londonpubs/the-prospect-of-whitby-and-shadwell-basin/not som much about what they wore and did, but where they could have left from
&
http://spitalfieldslife.com/ e.g. Watermen’s Stairs March 14, 2019
&
http://spitalfieldslife.com/2012/04/01/in-the-footsteps-of-charles-dickens-in-shadwell-limehouse/It has little Dickens excerpts with pics
e.g. Shadwell Church, where they talk about what emigrants took on board, from The Uncommercial Traveller, Bound for the Great Salt Lake
& marine store dealers, which talks about the clothing and more that sailors pawned or sold, from ”Sketches by “Boz”, Illustrative of Every-Day Life and Every-Day People, 1836.
Thanks again