Shared noteArr on "Lady Nugent" 17 Mar 1841 at Port Nicholson

Smith James 40 Agricultural Labourer
Amy 32
James Jnr 14 Agricultural Labourer
Son 12
Daughter 10
Daughter 8
Son 6
Daughter 1


and his son James were both Agricultural labourers Amy and James with 6 children ‎(aged between 1 & 14)‎ departed Gravesend, Kent on 10/10/1840 on board the Lady Nugent bound for Port Nicholson, Wellington NZ. Although not the biggest ship that came out to New Zealand, the Lady Nugent, 600 tons, Captain Santry, brought out the largest number of passengers sent out at one time by the Company. Evidently the company did not believe in overcrowding its emigrants, for one hears none of the complaints that became only too common when the tendency seemed to be for some of the shipping companies to crowd as many people as they could on board, and feed them as cheaply as possible. On the Lady Nugent there were 263 people, the largest number to that being the 232 brought out in the London three months before. The Lady Nugent sailed from Gravesend on October 21st, 1840. Running short of water, she put into Hobart on February 27th, and while she lay there great inducements were held out to the people to disembark and make their homes in Tasmania instead of going on to the wilds of New Zealand. But they wisely decided to stick to the ship, which left on March 17th. Among the cabin passengers was Mr Edmund Storr Halswell, FRS, who had been appointed by the British Government to the post of Commissioner of Native Reserves in New Zealand. Halswell, like so many of the names of ships and pioneers of those stirring times, has been preserved by its use as a place name, Point Halswell, where Mr Massey's grave stands being called after this early official. It was stated that a finer body of British people then the Lady Nugent party had rarely lefty Great Britain. They came from various parts of England and Scotland and the North of Ireland; the majority from Hawkchurch, Dorestshire, and the near villages. The greater number were married pairs. The central dormatory of the Lady Nugent was fitted up for the married and their children; beyond these, towards the bow, swung a couple of dozen hammocks for the young men; and sternward the unmarried females were stowed, two and two, in some of the best berths on the ship. White Wings - Sir Henry Brett "Amy and James divorced in 1859 after Amy left James and moved to Greytown, Wairarapa. It is possible that Amy returned to England and lived at Hingham, Kent in 1871 however she returned to NZ where she died.