Henry Capper

Henry Capper was the emigration clerk to the Colonization Commissioners, South Australian Colonization Office at Adelphi, London, and in 1837 founded the South Australian Record, a periodical published in London devoted to news from South Australia for the benefit of intending migrants and investors. A regular feature was publication of letters received by people in Britain from friends and relations who had settled in South Australia. The Record ran from 1837 to 1841 under several title changes.

Capper published two books addressed to prospective migrants to South Australia, both of which went through several editions.

The South Australian Record

The Record was at first published monthly[1] (price 5d.) by Capper and John Gliddon from an office at 37 Great Marlborough street, Westminster, from 8 November 1837.[2]

A paragraph in the Record of (perhaps) 8 May 1839 contained a candid appraisal of one of the South Australian Company's representatives in the colony, which drew the ire of Robert Torrens, who recommended to the Governor that he publicly disown the statement as an "error" on Capper's part.[3] Rather than submit to this insult, Capper resigned from his position with the Colonization Office,[3] but continued publishing the Record.

The South Australian Record became briefly South Australian Record and Australasian Chronicle in 1840, became the South Australian Record and Australasian and South African Chronicle then in March 1841 the Australasian Record which ran to either late 1843 or early 1844.

South Australia books

Capper assembled two compendia of advice and useful information for intending emigrants, aimed at two distinct classes of prospective emigrants.

  • South Australia First edition November 1837[4] but greatly expanded in second edition May 1838, entitled South Australia: Containing Hints to Emigrants, Proceedings of the South Australian Company, a Variety of Useful and Authentic Information, a Map of the Eastern Coast of Gulf St. Vincent and a Plan of Adelaide[5] This book, which went to at least four editions, is available as a recent (2018) imprint of Sagwan Press.
  • How to Get to South Australia, being information for Labouring Emigrants respecting the above Colony. First published in October 1839,[6] this publication went through at least four editions, the third being freely available to read here.

In 1840 Simpkin and Marshall produced a booklet in which large sections were copied from How to Get to South Australia[7]

Other activities

Capper was also a partner in the shipping firm of Capper and (Abraham) Gole, who in October 1840 were appointed agents by the Colonization Commissioners for the sale of land in South Australia.[8]

In 1845 the firm of Capper and Gole was declared bankrupt. There is no reason to believe Capper ever visited Australasia.

Not to be confused with . . .

Despite the obvious similarity in titles of their respective books, there appears to be no family or other connection between Henry Capper and Orientalist John Capper F.R.A.S. (c. 1814 – 1898), author of The Emigrant's Guide to Australia, which is mostly concerned the goldfields of New South Wales and Victoria.[9] Its chapter on South Australia is particularly trenchant.

gollark: Also, mobile networks are very high speed now (and have surprisingly good coverage here).
gollark: I mean, if we're listing computer stuff too now, then I can fit Wikipedia onto a £20 fingernail-sized storage chip and read it on a convenient handheld device.
gollark: Computers existing has also resulted in *tons* of stuff becoming more efficient and automated. Also frequently stupid things like IoT.
gollark: Another important area which seems to have improved a lot "recently" is genetic modification and sequencing.
gollark: Yes, there is seemingly slowdown in the actual hardware, but progress on software stuff and lots of interesting new approaches to hardware.

References
  1. "Majority of the Colony of South Australia". South Australian Register. XXII (3509). South Australia. 5 January 1858. p. 3. Retrieved 7 August 2019 – via National Library of Australia. A nice potted history of the early colony.
  2. "Pages from Yesterday". The Register (Adelaide). LXXXIX (25, 927). South Australia. 1 February 1924. p. 11. Retrieved 6 August 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. "To the Editor of the Adelaide Guardian". South Australian Record And Australasian Chronicle (38). South Australia. 14 March 1840. p. 8. Retrieved 7 August 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. "Advertising". South Australian Record (3). South Australia. 27 November 1837. p. 2. Retrieved 7 August 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. "Advertising". South Australian Record (8). South Australia. 9 May 1838. p. 1. Retrieved 7 August 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "Advertising". South Australian Record (25). South Australia. 9 October 1839. p. 6. Retrieved 7 August 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "Literary Piracy Exposed". South Australian Record And Australasian Chronicle (42). South Australia. 11 April 1840. p. 11. Retrieved 6 August 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. "Advertising". South Australian Record And Australasian And South African Chronicle. 3 (76). South Australia. 5 December 1840. p. 1. Retrieved 8 August 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. Capper, John (1853), The emigrant's guide to Australia (2nd ed.), George Philip & Son, Liverpool, retrieved 7 August 2019
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.