THE ENGLISH TO CANADA WEB-SITE
www.englishtocanada.com
The website for people whose ancestors came from England and settled in Canada.
Prince Edward Island
THE ENGLISH IN PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
A view of Charlottetown, Prince
Edward Island, painted in 1843.
The first English colonists arrived from London in 1774, establishing New London (Lot 21) at Malpeque Bay, but besetting problems meant that they failed to attract many followers.
The timber trade, established by 1817, attracted a large group from Yorkshire who founded Little York (Lot 34) near Charlottetown – a name that proclaimed their English origins.
Another large group followed during the early 1830s – this time from Norfolk and Suffolk. Some 540 emigrants sailed from Great Yarmouth, East Anglia's principal port, between 1829 and 1834, some being assisted financially by their parishes to emigrate.
However, the largest group by far originated from Devon and Cornwall. They began arriving from 1825, founding their many communities, first on the west side of the island in Prince County and later in the middle part of the island in Queens County. A factor in their choice of the island was its lucrative shipbuilding and timber trade which was being financed and developed by Devon and Cornwall businessmen.
Portrait of James Yeo Sr. (1788-1868). He originated from North Cornwall, becoming the Island's principal shipbuilder.
When Sydney Smith visited Prince Edward Island in 1850 he found it to be a place of “pure English society,” reflecting the relatively large English concentrations in and near Charlottetown.
For further details see chapter six in Planters, Paupers and Pioneers, Lucille's book about Atlantic Canada.