Correspondence 84/350 - dated 27/5/84
As to Emma Wilcher.
For this particular tale, we return to the Oxford. You may recall that this particular ship
suffered an outbreak of typhoid fever which resulted in the passengers being
quarantined on Somes Island in Wellington harbour. For more on the thypoid fever outbreak, see
my previous post: http://treasuresfromthebox.blogspot.co.nz/2013/11/typhoid-fever-on-oxford.html
One of the passengers on the Oxford was single woman by the
name of Emma Wilcher. Emma came out to
NZ as a Government Immigrant to work as a domestic servant. She was not nominated, but received her
passage by applying at the Agent General’s Office in London.
Emma’s health was not good and while she had not suffered
from typhoid fever as many of her shipmates had, Emma had been ill both during
the voyage and while in quarantine. The
doctor who had examined Emma on Somes Island stated that her ailment was one
which was likely to recur (the exact ailment is not specified). The doctor also noted that her manner was
peculiar but stated that it was severe enough for her to be judged an
“imbecile”.
Emma was discharged from quarantine on late August and
obtained her first job on 1st September 1883. However, Emma did not last long at the job as
her ailment resulted in going back into hospital.
In November 1883 Emma’s sister, Elizabeth Wilcher of
Greenwich, England, wrote a letter to the Immigration Office in Wellington
asking for word of her sister as Emma had not written to any of her friends
since her arrival and they were becoming concerned for her wellbeing.
On January 9th 1884, Rev. Rainsford Bavin, the
Wesleyan Minister in Wellington wrote to the Colonial Secretary at the behest
of the Wellington Benevolent Society imploring that the Government consider
sending Emma back to her family in England.
Emma, aged 31 (though according to Rev. Bavin she looked
much older) was “obviously unfit, both bodily, and mentally to take care of
herself, much less to be of any use to others”. He expressed his surprise that Emma was even
accepted as a Government Immigrant.
The Rev. advises that over the intervening months Emma had
been placed with four families within 3 months but that all had found her incapable
of the simplest duties, and “though they agree she is a respectable and
well-meaning girl as to her character, they all testify as to her incompetency
amounting almost to imbecility.”
The decision was made to return Emma to her family in
England. Emma was put aboard the S.S.
Doric for the voyage and her sister Elizabeth was contacted to advise her that
Emma was on her way back. On
instructions from the Agent General, a Mr Bennett met the Doric, picked up Emma
and her luggage and took her to her family’s address at No. 6 Conduit Vale,
Hyde Vale, Greenwich. Mr Bennett
reported that he gave Emma to her father, a working gardener, but that “neither
the father or brother appeared to care very much to welcome her return.”
Emma appears to have died in early 1898 with her death being
registered in the Maidstone district of Kent.
