Emigration concerns those who leave a country. Immigration is about those who arrive in a country. The biggest disappointment that researchers find in working on English emigration problems is the lack of passenger lists. Usually patrons seek a passenger list because they assume it shows a place of origin for their ancestor.

The British government began to record lists of passengers leaving British ports in the 1800's, but these lists have not survived. The lists held by the Public Record Office in London only date from 1890. The Family History Library British collection contains no emigration lists of passengers. However, the British collection does contain immigration lists for Australia and New Zealand, and the U.S./Canada collection housed lists of passengers arriving in Canada and the United States. Years covered and the content of the records vary widely. Having no passenger lists does not mean there is nothing in the library to help a British researcher.

The reason an ancestor emigrated is as diverse as the reason people move around today. A hope for a better life, a new profession, desire to be near family members, avoiding the law, caught and transported by the law -- all are reasons for leaving town. One way to reduce the number of poor people was to help them emigrate.

Limited and informal forced transportation of convicts, vagrants, destitute orphans, and political rebels to the colonies started soon after the colony of Virginia was found in 1607. After America gain its independence in 1776, another country had to be found to sent prisoners. Transportation to Australia began in the late 1700's and continued until the 1850's.

When you are asked about passenger lists, the first thing you tell the patron is "We don't have any for those leaving the British Isles. " Then you can refer them to the U.S./Canada floor to locate a person settling in those countries, or to the catalog if they seek someone going to Australia or New Zealand. The second piece of information you tell them is to search through printed emigration/immigration sources to locate an ancestor or passenger lists.

Printed Sources

For those interested in the early 1600's England-Virginia connection, write and ask Noel Currer-Briggs to search his extensive index, which includes other sources besides emigration or immigration. Two articles about his index (including his address) can be found in the Family Tree Magazine June 1992 issue, page 33 and British Isles Family History Society of Los Angeles newsletter December 1993 issue, page 142.

The following people have compiled lists of passengers and lists of ships leaving and arriving in various countries. To see the extent of the library holdings, see the Author/Title section of the catalog under the person.

Peter Wilson Coldham	Charles E. Banks	David Dobson
John C. Hotten	Donald Whyte	Michael Tepper
William P. Filby

Several of these are now available on CD-ROM and should be consulted when applicable.

Immigration can be supplemented with Naturalization and denization records (see Kew, below)

Other Sources

Suggest other indexed sources when patrons inquire about passenger lists. The International Genealogical Index" (IGI), civil registration, census, and probates are a few. Others include Boyd's marriage index, tax assessments, voting registers and oath rolls can be helpful.

Emigration and immigration material can be found in the Locality section of the Family History Library Catalog under the heading:

[COUNTRY] - Emigration and immigration

For a list of immigration and emigration related publications at the Public Record Office, see PRO publications. 

Summary of records at the PRO described in KEW Lists (or see www.pro.gov.uk catalog, class list for more info)

BT 26	Passengers arriving at British ports (includes Ireland, incomplete before 1890) Inwards passenger lists (exclude Mediteranean) 1878-1960.
BT 27	Passengers leaving British ports (includes Ireland, outwards), starting 1890
FO 83/21-2	list of aliens arriving at English ports 1810-1811.
HO1	Index to all naturalizations in the United Kingdom 1500's to 1939
HO 2	Certificates of aliens by port, 1836-1869 (those before 1836 were destroyed). Arranged by port alphabetically (the ports, not the names), then by certificate number. They may be indexed in HO 5 (q.v.).
HO 3	Lists of immigrants by date 1836-1869 (apparently drawn on HO 2)
HO 4	Denization of aliens, supplemental
HO 5	Entry books/ correspondence 1794-1898 (later records private). HO 5/25-32 is said to be an index to HO 2.
MH 12	Ministry of Health correspondence from poor law unions, 1834-1900 (talk mostly of sending the poor abroad to get them out of the workhouses). By union & year.

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