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A portrait of the ‘Sir George Seymour’, built in Sunderland in 1844, owned by Somes Brothers and registered in London. She is shown sailing down the Channel with other shipping with the coast in the background. The ship may have been named for the admiral Sir George Francis Seymour (1787–1870). She was involved in taking emigrants to Australia and New Zealand in the middle of the nineteenth century. The ‘Sir George Seymour’ was one of four chartered ships leaving England in September 1850 for Canterbury, with the ‘Randolph’, the ‘Cressy’, and the ‘Charlotte Jane’. They were under the auspices of the Canterbury Association which envisioned the founding of a church settlement in New Zealand. It was hoped that a cross-section of English society including bishops and gentry, artisans and labourers, would journey to this new colony together.
Before they left, a public banquet and dance took place on board the ‘Randolph’ for the families who were buying land in the new settlement and a church service was held on 1 September in St Paul's Cathedral for all the 'Pilgrims'. The two main groups of ‘Pilgrims’ were the ‘colonists’ and ‘emigrants’. Colonists were men who were able to afford to buy land in the new settlement. These men and their families travelled as cabin passengers. They would be the leaders of Canterbury for the first years. The emigrants were farm workers, labourers and tradesmen, travelling in steerage. Their passage was either paid for by the Canterbury Association, or by their future employers, travelling in the same ship. Life on board ship was a dramatic change in lifestyle for these intending settlers and accommodation below decks, for the steerage passengers, was particularly cramped. The ‘Sir George Seymour’ carried 227 on this trip.
Title
The Ship 'Sir George Seymour'
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 76 x W 112 cm
Accession number
BHC3640
Work type
Painting
