The English — Where from?

Graph -
see data table below for detail

Regional origins of English migrants (%)
	London	South-east	South-west	Lancashire
UK Census 1871	15.5	10.6	8.3	12.4
�
1840–52	14.9	21.1	23	5.3
New Zealand Company 1839–50	25.9	20.8	26.4	3.4
Auckland 1840–52	20.1	17.2	21.8	�
1853–70	17.3	12.7	16.2	8.6
Miners – Otago 1853–70	7.8	8.5	36.8	9.4
1871–80	15.8	15.1	18.7	4.7
1881–1914	18.8	12.9	12.2	11.6

The table and graph suggest:

London was an important birth-place for immigrants to New Zealand, but no more than its representation in England as a whole.
The 'home counties' of the South-east sent a large number of people to New Zealand, especially in the 1840s. Kent appears to have been a strongly 'New Zealand-prone' county.
The counties of the South-west, especially Cornwall, were strongly over-represented among the immigrants. There was a spectacular inflow of people from this area among the miners reflecting the strong tradition of tin-mining in Cornwall and the decline of that industry from the 1840s. But the numbers from the South-west were consistently high until 1880 with over twice as many likely to migrate to New Zealand as their proportion of the population in England.
The more industrial areas of the North-west, including Lancashire, were not well represented among immigrants to New Zealand until the end of the 19th century.
If we add the Cornish immigrants to those from Ireland and Scotland, it is evident that the Celtic fringe of Great Britain in fact comprised a majority of New Zealand's founding British immigrants.

Painting of travellers waiting to board ship

Families seated on their luggage awaiting embarkation (either to Australia or New Zealand) at the wharfside. 'Embarking for the land of gold in hope. Taking leave of old England'. By E. Noyce c1855.

Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand
Reference: E-079-002

Further information and copies of this image may be obtained from the Library through its 'Timeframes' website, http://timeframes.natlib.govt.nz

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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