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These pages mark the 150th anniversary of the loss of the emigrant ship Cospatrick.
We bring together a selection of research articles published over the years by the society, as well as other archive material covering the emigration years of the late 19th Century.
We have recently published a commemorative booklet for the anniversary, commissioned and sponsored by Shipton under Wychwood Parish Council.
The Cospatrick Memorial
From the article by Margaret Ware, taken from the WLHS Journal No 14 (1999). See her full article here
On the village green at Shipton under Wychwood, next to the war memorial, stands a stone drinking fountain with a distinctive tall, conical spire. It was erected in 1878 in memory of the seventeen members of the Hedges and Townsend families from Shipton who lost their lives in the South Atlantic in a fire on the emigrant sailing ship, the Cospatrick, bound for New Zealand.
The brass plaque on the north side lists Richard Hedges aged 56, Sarah his wife (53); John Hedges (24) and Sarah his wife (22); Thomas Hedges (27), Charles Hedges (18) both sons of Richard and Sarah. That on the south lists Henry Townsend aged 62, Ann his wife (53); George Charter (31), Jane Townsend his wife (35) and their two children; Henry Hedges (30) and Mary Townsend his wife (30) and their three children. All the men were agricultural labourers.
More Emigration-Related Journal Articles
Margaret Ware was one of several society members who have researched many aspects of the story of emigration from Wychwoods villages. Many of these are collected together here
Selected Audio Recordings
Emigration to New Zealand
Our archive features a number of recordings of speaker evenings. Here are short extracts from one of those talks by Duncan Waugh given on 14th May 1991, on the subject of “Emigration to New Zealand“.
The first extract describes logistical challenges around the start of the emigrants’ journey. The second extract is a moving account of the fate of one individual child at journey’s end.
The full talk by Duncan Waugh is available here.
Pamela Horn: Agricultural Trade Unions & Ascott Martyrs
Another recording of a talk to the WLHS is here, given by Pamela Horn on 13th October 1987 entitled “Agricultural Trade Unions & Ascott Martyrs“.
In her talk Pamela gives an account of the rise and fall of the National Agricultural Labourers Union from its foundation in 1872 to its demise in the late 1880s, focusing particularly on the Wychwoods emigration story. Important references are made to key individuals such as Joseph Arch and Christopher Holloway.
Richard Garne: The Life of a Farm Worker
A recording of a talk given to the society in October 1986 by Richard Garne is here.
Though the material in Dick’s talk is occasionally quite shocking and a depressing reminder of the lot of farmworkers in England over time, it starts and ends on jocular notes with illustrations of a perhaps typical knowing, self-deprecating humour.
The arc of the talk follows the changing status of the farm labourer, who, though always poor in terms of income and assets, was fated by history to become alienated and victimised by the changing economic model in English agriculture over time.
Archive Video Recording
A section of a 1990 Victorian Evening of song and poetry. This extract features Emigration and Cospatrick Themes
From Our Photo Archive
Shipton Church from the Cospatrick memorial. Estimated 1920s
Shipton Green, showing allotments bordered by a wall. Notice water coming out of fountain Date: c. late 1920s. Photo from a postcard
Links to External Cospatrick-Related Resources
An expanding set of online resources featuring the Cospatrick as well as the wider accounts of the emigration story is here.
