On 27th September 1864, 251 passengers waited at Table Bay, Cape Town, in the Western Cape province of South Africa, to board the Barque Alfred bound for Auckland, New Zealand. Among them were Thomas and Mary Ryan, Mary’s young son Thomas Aylward and Thomas and Mary’s infant son, Michael.
Michael Aylward (c1830-1860) and Mary Spain (c1832-1917) hailed from Woodford, County Galway, in Ireland. On 29th December 1858 their first child, Patrick Aylward, was born. Michael and Mary may, or may not have been married. Patrick was baptised on 2nd January 1859. On 22nd November 1859 Michael and Mary set sail from Southampton, bound for Cape Town, South Africa, on the Maria Somes, leaving nine-month-old Patrick behind. They were listed as a married couple aged 23 and 21 (although based on later documentation, they were probably 29 and 27). Michael was a farm labourer, and he was recorded as going to work for a Mr Moms at Eesterivier, a suburb of Cape Town.
In the late 1850s the Cape Colony in South Africa was prospering, and the local government set up an ambitious programme to construct roads, bridges and railroads. To do this they needed labour. Immigration boards sent men to England to recruit suitable candidates. For a £1 deposit their application would be considered for an assisted passage. Michael and Mary appear to have travelled under this scheme from Southampton. It is unclear whether they were recruited directly from Ireland or whether they had already travelled to England seeking new opportunities.
The Maria Somes was the 19th such emigrant ship to the Cape and was carrying 252 souls, 228 adults and 24 children. Life aboard ship was not easy for the steerage passengers. Michael and Mary would have had a curtained berth in a compartment for married couples. They had limited food and water rations and medical rations included port wine, sherry, gin, stout, brandy and vinegar.
They arrived in Cape Town in February 1860 and life was initially very hard. The Irish settlers were considered difficult. They refused offers of employment in districts where there were no Catholic churches and insisted on remaining in Cape Town. Their overall lack of training caused dissatisfaction and they were known for professing knowledge of trades in which they had no experience. There is no information about Michael and Mary’s specific circumstances, but I believe Michael found employment on the railroad. Their second son Thomas Aylward was born on 12th September 1860, seven months after their arrival. On 19th October Michael was killed in a workplace accident. We can only imagine how difficult life must have been for Mary as a single mother, with no family support. I wondered if she was able to find employment in domestic service.
On 12th January 1862 Mary married Thomas Ryan, another Irish assisted immigrant and on 23rd January 1863 their son Michael was born. Thomas Ryan had been born around 1816 in Kilkenny, Ireland which made him about 45 when they married. Mary was probably 30. While this marriage would have improved Mary’s immediate situation, Cape Town was experiencing an economic depression and many of the immigrants were becoming dissatisfied.
The Waikato immigration scheme was part of an attempt by the New Zealand Government to bring large numbers of immigrants to the North Island. It was felt that the establishment of European settlements would help to consolidate the Government’s position after the New Zealand Wars, and would facilitate the development of the regions involved, to the mutual advantage of the general and provincial governments. The cost of such settlements would be recovered from the sale of neighbouring land. The Government originally intended to bring about 20,000 immigrants to the Waikato, recruiting them from the Cape Colony (South Africa), Britain and Ireland. The immigrants were to be settled on land available under the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863. Four main classes of immigrants were initially sought: labourers, mechanics, small farmers, and capitalists. The labourers (agricultural and railway workers) were to be offered free passage, plus a land grant if they resided on that land for three years. Exact conditions varied slightly between immigrants from the United Kingdom and immigrants from the Cape. There was a surfeit of applications from people eager to leave the depressed Cape Colony, so they needed less enticement and were offered smaller sections on the poorest land.
While the scheme faltered shortly after, during late 1864, the recruiting agents were reporting the successful departure of ships and looking forward to sending more immigrants in the coming months. And so, in September 1864, Thomas and Mary Ryan, with four year-old Thomas Aylward and twenty month-old Michael Ryan, boarded the Alfred with hopes for a fresh start in a new colony.
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