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THE SETTLER HANDBOOK by MD Nash
THE SETTLER PARTIES

MOUNCEY'S PARTY

No. 32 on the Colonial Department list, led by Charles Mouncey, a wholesale merchant of Wain Gate, Sheffield, Yorkshire. This was a mixed party; Mouncey paid the deposits for his own family and five servants, and the other six men were 'free settlers' and not bound by any service agreement. The deposits for Samuel Shillito, his son Thomas and son-in-law George Carlisle were paid by the Earl of Fitzwilliam, whose family seat, Wentworth Woodhouse, was at Rotherham near Sheffield. The party was recruited in Sheffield and embarked at Liverpool in the transport John. Mouncey had difficulty in making up the numbers of his party at the last minute; George Carr, Thomas Shillito, Ogle and Fox were all late replacements for men who had dropped out. The special consent of the Colonial Department had to be obtained before the Agent of Transports would permit Fox to go on board, as he was considered to be less than able-bodied. Mouncey gave his assurance, however, that Fox was healthy and active in spite of being 'a little deformed'.

Deposits were paid for 12 men, and the John sailed from Liverpool on 13 January 1820, reaching Table Bay on 19 April and Algoa Bay some time in May. The party's location, between the Lynedoch and Kap Rivers, was named Wentworth Park.

In 1824 Mouncey informed Special Commissioner William Hayward that five men of the party, including the older and younger Shillito and George Carlisle, had returned to England, and that four others intended to do so.

LIST OF MOUNCEY'S PARTY

CARLISLE, George 22. Cutler. w Hannah 22. c Mary 1.
CARR, George 28. Caddy maker.
CARR, Thomas 35. Joiner. w Mary 34. c Henrietta 8, Mary 2.
FOX, William 34. Tailor and habit-maker.
GUEST, William 26. Farmer. c William 8.
HEWSON, Joseph 21. Labourer. w Elizabeth 20. c Charles 2.
MOUNCEY, Charles 40. Farmer. w Sarah 39. c William 13, James 10.
OGLE, Henry 20. Mason.
SHILLITO, Samuel 39. Sawyer. w Isabella 40. c Samuel 13, Tabitha 10.
SHILLITO, Thomas 18. Sawyer.
SOUTH, William 39. Farmer. w Lydia 40. c Mary 8.
TAYLOR, William 39. Button-turner. c Ann 6.

Main sources for party list
Return of settlers under the direction of Charles Mouncey (Cape Archives CO 6138/1,92). This is the list as compiled by the Agent of Transports at Liverpool, 27 December 1819. No Agent of Transports' Return has been traced for the John showing the state of the parties as they arrived at the Cape, but colonial records confirm the presence in Albany of all the men of the party except William Guest.