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THE SETTLER HANDBOOK by MD Nash
THE SETTLER PARTIES

MANDY'S PARTY

No. 13 on the Colonial Department list, led by John Mandy, a master carpenter of Lambeth Marsh, Surrey (now part of Greater London), who was originally from Foots Cray near Chislehurst, Kent. Mandy's application to emigrate was warmly supported by Viscount Sydney, who knew the Mandy family and had 'constantly employed them in their different trades' on his estate at Chislehurst. In his Lordship's opinion, John Mandy was a man of excellent character, and 'if the colony were all of such good materials it would probably succeed'.

Mandy attended a public meeting for prospective emigrants at the Crown and Anchor Tavern in the Strand, London on 9 August 1819, and together with another party leader, John Bailie, was elected to a committee appointed to collect and distribute information about the Cape emigration scheme. It is not known whether the joint-stock party that he subsequently formed was recruited in London or in Kent, but the latter seems likely, since Gowar at least was a Kentishman from the Foots Cray area, and most of the men were described as 'farmers'. Deposits were paid for 11 men, and the party left Gravesend in the regular transport Nautilus on 3 December 1819, sailing in company with her consort the Chapman. The Nautilus had the misfortune to run aground on the treacherous Goodwin Sands, off Ramsgate, but was refloated without serious damage. On 17 March 1820 she reached Table Bay, and on 14 April anchored in Algoa Bay. John Mandy's wife gave birth to a son during the voyage.

The party was located in Albany on a tributary of the Kap River.

LIST OF MANDY'S PARTY

FEAGAN, Peter 39. Farmer and pensioner, 68th Regt. w Mary 38. c Richard 13, Thomas 12, Mary 11, Elizabeth 9, Frances 7, Jane 6, Peter 5, William 3, Ann 3.
FITZGERALD, James 35. Farmer. w Margaret 22.
FITZGERALD, Michael 30. Farmer. w Sarah 29.
GOWAR, Richard 30. Plumber. w Mary 28. c Edwin 4, Frederick 2, Mary 1.
HUNT, Richard 26. Farmer. w Ann 24. c George 6, Mary 1.
MANDY, John 32. Carpenter. w Mary Ann 29. c John Wilkinson 6, Stephen Day 5, William (born at sea).
MANDY, Joseph 23. Coachmaker.
MILLER, Thomas 29. Farmer. w Sophia 26. c Emma 2, Mary 1.
SMITH, Portius 29. Farmer. w Mary 27. c Sarah 7, Thomas 4, Sophia 2.
WHITE, William 24. Farmer. w Jane 25. c Edward 4, Richard 1.
WILLIAMSON, Thomas 28. Farmer. w Sarah 30.

Main sources for party list
List of settlers under the direction of John Mandy (Cape Archives CO 6137/1,12). This is the London list; no Agents' Return of the party as it reached the Cape has been traced, but all the heads of families in the party except Portius Smith signed a 'Memorial of free settlers on board Nautilus in Table Bay' (Cape Archives CO 3917), and Portius Smith's presence at the Cape is confirmed by a reference in Cape Archives CO 178.

Further reading
John Mandy's letters to his mother written on board Nautilus, reproduced in CT Campbell, British South Africa (London, Haddon, 1897), and in the Souvenir in Commemoration of the 1820 Settlers of Albany (East London, Daily Dispatch, 1920).