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THE SETTLER HANDBOOK by MD Nash
THE SETTLER PARTIES

DUNCAN CAMPBELL'S PARTY

No. 27 on the Colonial Department list, led by Captain Duncan Campbell of Portsmouth, a half-pay officer of the Royal Marines. This was a proprietary party; Campbell paid deposits for 13 men (including himself) over the age of 18 and four 'parish boys'.

Captain Campbell's proposal to emigrate was submitted at the end of September 1819, and its prompt acceptance was perhaps due to his brother's friendship with an influential member of the Colonial Department staff. Campbell was eager to accompany his friends Thomas Philipps and the Griffith brothers, who had already been notified of the success of their applications. The labourers he planned to take with him were recruited in Wales, but all withdrew from their engagement almost immediately. Campbell blamed this change of heart on 'prejudices', which could signify either Radical propaganda against emigration or rumours of the dangers awaiting the settlers at the Cape. More labourers were recruited in the Portsmouth area, but there were further desertions and replacements before Campbell could submit a final list, and in the event only 10 of the 12 men he engaged appear to have left England with him. The party sailed from Portsmouth in HM Store Ship Weymouth on 7 January 1820 and arrived in Table Bay on 26 April. Elizabeth, the year-old daughter of Robert Horton, died at sea. On 29 April Captain Campbell was married in Cape Town to Mary Anna Maria Tucker, who may have been a fellow-passenger in the Weymouth.

Land had been purchased by the colonial government at the Zonder End River in the Caledon district of the western Cape for the location of some of the settler parties, and Campbell's people disembarked at Simon's Bay on 9 May and travelled overland to join the parties of Griffith, White and Neave. The location proved unsuitable, however, and in August Campbell and what was left of his party - Stroud and Horton and their families, Lovelock, Penny and two of the 'parish boys' - were moved at government expense to Albany, where Campbell had been granted a large farm near Grahamstown. His farm Brakfontein, on Bothas's River, was renamed Thorn Park.

LIST OF CAMPBELL'S PARTY

CAMPBELL, Duncan 39. Capt, Royal Marines (half-pay).
CHANCE, Richard 13.
EDGECOMBE, John 16.
HAWKINS, John 13.
HORTON, Robert 40. Butcher. w Elizabeth 26. c Elizabeth 1 (died at sea).
JORDAN, Charles 26. w Martha 25. c Charles 3.
KIMMISH, John 19. Labourer.
LITTLEFIELD, Charles 13.
LITTLEFIELD, John 18. Labourer.
LITTLEFIELD, John 40. Labourer. w Mary 38.
LOVELOCK, William 40. Labourer.
PENNY, George 22. Labourer, w Nancy 20.
SHEPARD, George 23. Servant. w Elizabeth 20.
STROUD, John 30. Carpenter. w Elizabeth 30.
WILLS, John Hilson 29. Tinman. w Mary 30. c Margaret 7.

Main sources for party list
Return of settlers under the direction of Captain Duncan Campbell (Cape Archives CO 6138/1,81); Muster-roll and Log of HM Store Ship Weymouth (Public Record Office, London).