The British Settlement of Natal: A Study in Imperial Migration

Celebrations held in the main towns of Natal on the centenary of the first organised emigration from Great Britain inspired the writing of this book, first published in 1950. The author, Alan F. Hattersley was Professor of History at Pietermariitzberg for many years and made himself an authority on this particular part of British Imperial consequences of the wave of emigration to Natal, which was strongest between 1848 and 1851. It treats not only of Natal, but of rural and urban conditions in England, as a background to the lives of the many named families of emigrants. It deals with many of these families by name and with personal experiences of the early settlers, often in detail, the author's researches having been conducted in England as well in Natal. He has discovered and described how settlers were procured, how they were transported and the occupations that they took up on arrival. Such a book, intimate in its historical detail and most readably written, will be of interest to general readers and of service to all students of imperial history and of migration problems.