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THE SETTLER HANDBOOK by MD Nash
THE SETTLER PARTIES

INGRAM'S PARTY

No. 26 on the Colonial Department list, led by John Ingram, a merchant of 10 Grand Parade, Cork, Ireland. This was a proprietary party, recruited in Cork; the men were articled to Ingram for three years, and each was to receive 10 acres of land or £10 in money at the termination of his service. Ingram undertook to provide food for his men and their families and to pay a cash wage of 6d a day for a labourer and 1 shilling a day for a mechanic or skilled worker. (Pierce, Agnew, Foster, Gerald Begley, Bennett, Coffee, Crowley, Callaghan and Reardon came into the latter category.) In submitting his application, Ingram was supported by Admiral Sir J Colpoy of St. James Place, London, and named as additional references his relation Sir Benjamin Bloomfield (the Prince Regent's private secretary), the Bishop of Ferns and the Member of Parliament for Cork, Sir Nicholas Colthurst. Ingram claimed that he was a man of good education who had inherited considerable capital but ruined himself by working for Sir Nicholas' election in order to keep out the Catholic parliamentary candidate; the inhabitants of Cork had since boycotted his business because of his strong anti-Papist views.

The list of his proposed party was endorsed by an army surgeon who vouched for the men's good health, and the Mayor of Cork who confirmed that they were all volunteers who had not been coerced into emigrating. Ten of the 27 names (including Ingram's own) on the original list were still on the final sailing list; a lower proportion of drop-outs than occurred in most of the settler parties. In spite of Ingram's strong religious prejudices, many of the families under his direction were Roman Catholics.

Deposits were paid for 27 men who sailed from Cork Harbour in the Fanny on 12 February 1820, arriving in Table Bay on 1 May. With the other Irish parties in the Fanny and East Indian, Ingram's party was sent on to Saldanha Bay and disembarked there about the middle of May. The party was located in the Klein Patrys valley in the Clanwilliam district and Ingram named his estate Bloomfield Lodge. Many of the Irish settlers were dissatisfied with conditions at Clanwilliam and appealed successfully to be re-located in Albany; Ingram, however chose to remain, in spite of labour difficulties with his men who rebelled against his treatment of them. In 1823 he returned to Ireland to fetch his family and recruit a further large party of contract labourers, whom he brought to the Cape in the hired ship Barossa.

LIST OF INGRAM'S PARTY

AGNEW, William 25. Mason. w Honora 22.
AHEARN, Thomas 24. Labourer.
BARRY, John 23. Slater and plasterer.
BARRY, Michael 22. Schoolmaster.
BEGLEY, David 22. Farmer. W Mary 17.
BEGLEY, Gerald 42. Farmer. w Margaret 36. c Gerald 12, Terence 10.
BEGLEY, Joseph 44. Farmer. w Mary 40. c Joseph 13, John 8, Ellen 4.
BEGLEY, Timothy 24. Farmer. w Catherine 19.
BENNETT, Thomas 28. Steward. w Margaret 27. c George 9, William 5, Julian 4, Thomas 2.
BOWLER (or ROWLEY), Richard 19. Labourer.
CALLAGHAN, Cady 30. Carpenter. w Johanna 25. c Morgan 4, Daniel 2.
COFFEE, John 22. Mason.
CROWLEY, John 28. Mason. w Mary 22. c Humphrey 3, Fanny (born at sea).
FOSTER, John 40. Chemist. w Mary 34. c Mary Ann 9, James 8, Harriet 3, George 2, John.
GRESNOCK, John 30. Labourer. w Mary 24. c Mary 13, Ann 11.
GRIFFIN, Patrick 34. Labourer. w Mary 28. c Mary 5, Michael 2.
HANLEY, William 32. Gardener.
HANNAN, John 25. Mason.
INGRAM, John 35. Merchant.
KEILY (or REILLEY), Dennis 28. Labourer.
LEHANE, David 22. Labourer.
LEHANE, John 24. Labourer.
MINHIER (or MICHEN), Thomas 22. Labourer.
MURLEY (or WOODLEY), Simon 26. Labourer. w Jane 24.
PIERCE, Patrick 21. Carpenter.
QUINN, Thomas 30. Mason.
REARDON, Dennis 34. Brass founder. w Margaret 28. c Johanna 11, Michael 9, Bridget 7, Ellen 5, John 2.

Main sources for party list
Agent of Transports' Return of settlers under the direction of John Ingram (Cape Archives CO 6138/2,86). This list contains a number of what appear to be transcription errors, and the spelling of names is sometimes very different from that of the London lists and colonial records. In the Cape Register of 'Permissions to remain' (Cape Archives CO 6055), Michen (or Mukin) appears as Minhier (Minhere in the London list), Quinn as O'Quin, Dennis Reilley as Daniel Keily, Daniel Reardon as Dennis Reardon, Rowley as Bowler and Woodley as Murley (Modley in the London list). Where the same or similar spelling has been found more than once, that version of the name has been given preference in the party list above, but is not necessarily correct.

Main sources for party list
GB Dickason, Irish Settlers to the Cape (Cape Town, AA Balkema, 1973);
Reminiscences of John Montgomery, ed A Giffard (Cape Town, AA Balkema, 1981).