"Ne'er-do-well" is a derogatory term for a good-for-nothing person; or a rogue,

vagrant Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...

or vagabond without means of support.

Colonial context

The term ne'er-do-well was used in the nineteenth-century

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...

n colonies to denote young British and Irish men seen as undesirable. These men were typically thought to be the younger sons of wealthy families who had somehow failed to fulfil their potential, so they were sent to the colonies to 'improve' themselves. Sometimes called '

remittance men A remittance is a non-commercial transfer of money by a foreign worker, a member of a diaspora community, or a citizen with familial ties abroad, for household income in their home country or homeland. Money sent home by migrants competes with ...

' because they relied on payments from their families, other colonists held that these men typically spent this money on drinking and gambling, and feared they would be a threat to the natural order of society. From the mid-nineteenth century the term started to appear in migrant accounts, travel journals and reformist tracts. In 1851 George Hepburn wrote a diary throughout his voyage to

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

. He described the 'would be gentlemen' on board who drank constantly as 'scamps who acted the tomfoolery'. Some writers advised against these types of men from emigrating such as Charles Flinders Hursthouse who warned that the 'idle ne'er-do-well' should stay at home, because they were 'far above work, and far beneath it'. When, in 1873, the New Zealand Government introduced the Imbecile Passengers Act, Colonial Secretary

Daniel Pollen Daniel Pollen (2 June 181318 May 1896) was a New Zealand politician who became the ninth premier of New Zealand, serving from 6 July 1875 to 15 February 1876. Early life The son of Hugh Pollen, a dock master, Pollen was born in Ringsend, Dublin ...

described this legislation as necessary due to the increasing numbers of 'half-scamps, half-lunatics' sent to the colony by friends and family. Pollen warned that this practice has led to the 'large proportion of lunatics' who needed costly maintenance in institutions. This appears to be a direct political response to the anxiety about the numbers of ne'er-do-wells arriving in New Zealand in this period.

References

{{Reflist Phrases

Colonial context

See also

References