''Charlotte Jane'' was one of the

First Four Ships The First Four Ships refers to the four sailing vessels chartered by the Canterbury Association which left Plymouth, England, in September 1850 to transport the first English settlers to new homes in Canterbury, New Zealand. The colonists or s ...

in 1850 to carry

emigrant Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

s from England to the new

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

in New Zealand.

Maiden voyage

The ''Charlotte Jane'' departed from England in 1848, bound for Sydney. Captain Alexander Lawrence set sail with his wife, Miriam Lawrence, their baby daughter, a teenage nursemaid, a surgeon and 264 emigrants. After Australia, they sailed to Hong Kong, Singapore, Bombay, Whampoa (Canton), before returning via Cape Town to London.

Second voyage: Passage from England to New Zealand

Under the command of Captain Alexander Lawrence, the ''Charlotte Jane'' left Plymouth Sound at midnight, Saturday, 7 September 1850. She sighted Stewart Island on Wednesday, 11 December 1850, and dropped her anchor in Port Victoria (Lyttelton Harbour) on Monday, 16 December 1850, at 10 o'clock in the morning. Her passage was 99 days from port to port or 93 days from land to land. She carried 26 chief cabin, 24 intermediate, and 104 steerage passengers including a chaplain and a surgeon. There were one birth, one marriage and three deaths during the voyage. All the deaths were very young children, with one even dying before the ship departed Plymouth and was buried on shore there.

Arrival in Lyttelton

'' Randolph'', '' Cressy'', and ''Charlotte Jane'' together carried an estimated 790 passengers. In addition, about another 60 worked their passage on the ships or deserted and disembarked. The first of the vessels to arrive was ''Charlotte Jane'' in Lyttelton on 16 December 1850 in the morning. ''Randolph'' followed that afternoon. ''Sir George Seymour'' arrived on 17 December, followed by ''Cressy'' on 27 December. ''Charlotte Jane'' carried the equipment for the production of the region's first newspaper, the ''

Lyttelton Times The ''Lyttelton Times'' was the first newspaper in Canterbury, New Zealand, publishing the first edition in January 1851. It was established by the Canterbury Association as part of its planned settlement of Canterbury and developed into a libera ...

'', which was first published less than one month after the ship's arrival. ''Charlotte Jane'' departed Port Victoria (Lyttelton) on 7 January 1851 bound for Sydney with two passengers. The ship is remembered in the name of a road, Charlotte Jane Quay, in the port town of Lyttelton.

Passengers

''Charlotte Jane'' carried approximately 154 passengers. Exact numbers are not known because the surgeons' lists and the shipping lists do not match, and some young children were not counted. The passengers aboard these four ships were referred to as "the Pilgrims". Their names are inscribed on

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

plaques in Cathedral Square in the

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

, where 157 passengers are listed.

Notable passengers

The first passenger who leapt onto the shore was James FitzGerald, who became an important politician in New Zealand. One of ''Charlotte Janes most notable passengers was the architect

Benjamin Mountfort Benjamin Woolfield Mountfort (13 March 1825 – 15 March 1898) was an English emigrant to New Zealand, where he became one of the country's most prominent 19th-century architects. He was instrumental in shaping the city of Christchurch's unique ...

. Charles Bowen was later Speaker of the

New Zealand Legislative Council The New Zealand Legislative Council was the upper house of the General Assembly of New Zealand between 1853 and 1951. An earlier arrangement of legislative councils for the colony and provinces existed from 1841 when New Zealand became a col ...

. James Stuart-Wortley was a member of the

1st New Zealand Parliament The 1st New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. It opened on 24 May 1854, following New Zealand's first general election (held the previous year). It was dissolved on 15 September 1855 in preparation for that year's ...

before he returned to England in 1855.

James Temple Fisher James Temple Fisher (1828 – 3 January 1905) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament from Canterbury, New Zealand. Fisher arrived in New Zealand on the '' Charlotte Jane'', one of the First Four Ships. He represented the Heathcote electo ...

was elected to Parliament in 1876. Edward Bishop was the 6th Mayor of Christchurch. Harriet Ritchie became the first nurse at Lyttelton Hospital. Alfred Barker was the surgeon on the voyage. He was Canterbury's first doctor and is remembered for his photography. Elizabeth Horrell taught on the ship on the voyage out and was appointed schoolteacher in Lyttelton on her arrival there, becoming Canterbury's first female schoolteacher.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Charlotte Jane 1848 ships Victorian-era passenger ships of the United Kingdom History of Christchurch Canterbury Association 1850s in Christchurch Migrant ships to New Zealand