Petworth Emigration Set

Assisting Emigration to Upper CanadaThe Petworth Project, 1832-1837The 1830s were years of social and political change in Britain. Rural unrest in 1830-31 spurred politicians and landlords to reexamine the roles government and individuals should play in fighting poverty. Assisting Emigration to Upper Canada demonstrates the impact of new attitudes and new rules of relief for the English poor on poor immigrants arriving in Upper Canada.English Immigrant VoicesLabourers' Letters From Upper Canada in the 1830sEmigrants sent by the Petworth Emigration Committee were part of a wave of rural workers in the 1830s whose immigration to Upper Canada was sponsored by English parishes and landlords. Their letters, written or dictated to family and friends, give us a rare first-hand view of the immigrant experience from a working-class perspective.