Why would I move from London or all of England?
Vanessa here,
Migrations have happened through the ages. So peoples in even during the Regency had wanderlust, a strong desire to see the world. And dare I say it, they even moved beyond the ballrooms of Almack’s. They traveled, they went on holiday, and upon occasion they conquered.
After the Seven-Year War, George Macartney in 1773, talked of the vastness of England’s reach, “the British Empire on which the sun never sets.”
The common attitude of having at least 184 colonies (accumulated from the 1700’s to 1950’s) around the globe supports the concept, making adaptations of the phase very popular:
“The sun never set on the British Flag” (Rev. R. P. Buddicom, 1827)
“The sun never set on British Empire” (Christopher North 1839)
When I study the list of colonies, I believe they are quite right:
Antigua and Barbuda
Dog Island, Gambia
Mombasa
Sabah
Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina
East Jersey
Colony of Natal
Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla
Province of Avalon
Essequibo (colony)
New Brunswick
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Bangladesh
Falkland Islands Dependencies
New England Colonies
Sarawak
Barbados
Fiji
New Hampshire
Crown Colony of Sarawak
Basutoland
Florida
Province of New Hampshire
Sheikhdom of Kuwait
Belize
British Gambia
New Hebrides
Singapore
History of Belize
Gambia Colony and Protectorate
New Jersey
Singapore in the Straits Settlements
Bengkulu
The Gambia
Province of New Jersey
Post-war Singapore
Berbice
Georgia (U.S. state)
New South Wales
South Africa
Bermuda
Province of Georgia
New York
South Australia
Black River (settlement)
Gibraltar
New Zealand
South Carolina
British Honduras
Gilbert and Ellice Islands
Colony of New Zealand
Province of South Carolina
British Bencoolen
Gold Coast (British colony)
Newfoundland and Labrador
South Sudan
Colony of British Columbia (1858–66)
Grenada
Newfoundland Colony
Southern Colonies
Colony of British Columbia (1866–71)
Guadeloupe
Nicobar Islands
Stoddart Island
British Kaffraria
British Guiana
Nigeria
Straits Settlements
British West Indies
Heligoland
Nikumaroro
Sudan
British Western Pacific Territories
Hilton Young Commission
North Australia
Swan River Colony
Brunei
History of West Africa
Crown Colony of North Borneo
Tasmania
Burma
Hong Kong
North Carolina
Colony of Tasmania
British rule in Burma
British Hong Kong
Nova Scotia
Thirteen Colonies
Canada
India
Nyasaland
Tobago
Province of Quebec (1763–91)
Jamaica
Ohio
Tokelau
Province of Canada
Colony of Jamaica
History of Ohio
Transvaal Colony
The Canadas
Jordan
Ohio Country
Trinidad
Cape Breton Island
Kunta Kinteh Island
Operation Sunrise (Nyasaland)
Trinidad and Tobago
Cape Colony
Crown Colony of Labuan
Orange River Colony
United States
Province of Carolina
Lagos
Orange River Sovereignty
Historic regions of the United States
Carriacou and Petite Martinique
Lagos Colony
Pakistan
Upper Canada
British Ceylon
Lakshadweep
Territory of Papua
Van Diemen’s Land
Chesapeake Colonies
British Leeward Islands
Pennsylvania
Colony of Vancouver Island
Chopawamsic
Lower Canada
Province of Pennsylvania
Victoria (Australia)
Colonial Nigeria
Maine
Plymouth Company
Colony of Virginia
Colonial Fiji
Malabo
Prince Edward Island
Walvis Bay
Côn Đảo
British Malaya
History of Pulicat
Weihai (British Colony)
Connecticut
Malayan Union
Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands
Wessagusset Colony
Connecticut Colony
Malaysia
Queensland
British West Africa
Cook Islands
Malta
Restoration (Colonies)
West Indies Federation
Cook Islands Federation
Crown Colony of Malta
Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
West Jersey
Cyprus
Massachusetts
Northern Rhodesia
Western Australia
British Cyprus (1914–1960)
Province of Massachusetts Bay
Colonial history of Southern Rhodesia
Western Samoa Trust Territory
Delaware
Mauritius
Southern Rhodesia
British Windward Islands
Delaware Colony
Middle Colonies
Rivers State
Wituland
Demerara
Minorca
Rodrigues
Zimbabwe
Demerara-Essequibo
Mississippi
Rupert’s Land
Zulu Kingdom
Lately, I have been thinking about the hopes and dreams that sent people on a journey to an unknown world. Was it religious freedom like the Quakers? Could it be the quest of gold or the hope for eternal gold by proselytize a different people? What attitudes did they bring? Did social station withstand the hard work of building a colony timber by timber?
For my birthday (March 13 – shameless plug), my lovely husband bought me two copper engraved maps, one of England (1810) and one of South African (1835). I see stories brewing. Stay tuned.
References:
Bartlett, John (1865). Familiar quotations (4th ed.). Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 388.
Bacon, Francis (1841). “An Advertisement Touching a Holy War”.
Maritime Enterprise and the Genesis of the British Empire, 1480-1630.
Wikipedia: English Possessions Overseas.
Wikipedia: British Colonization of the Americas.
Wikipedia: British Empire.
