Guide to the Papers of Thomas Spring Rice, 1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon (as filmed by the AJCP), 1831-1857

Summary

Collection number:

M976

Creator:

Spring Rice, Thomas, 1st Baron Monteagle

Extent:

17 items

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February-23 September 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-987654321)

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference.

Background

Content Summary:

Papers of Thomas Spring Rice, later Lord Monteagle, relating to Irish emigration, and emigration generally, 1831-57. The papers are not in strict chronological order and memoranda, printed documents and miscellaneous papers are scattered among the correspondence. Correspondence filmed relates to emigration and assistance to migrants from Limerick to Australia. Also included is a substantial report by Richard Muggende on emigration considered as a source of relief to Ireland (1837).

Biographical / Historical:

Thomas Spring Rice (1790-1866), 1st Baron Monteagle (created 1839), was born in Limerick, Ireland, the son of Stephen Rice of Mount Trenchard and his wife Catherine Spring. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and later studied law at Lincoln's Inn. In 1820 he was elected to the House of Commons, where he was closely associated with the Whigs who were led by Lord Lansdowne. In 1827-28 he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Home Office in the ministry led by George Canning. When the Whigs returned to power in 1830, Spring Rice was appointed Secretary to the Treasury. In 1834-35 he was briefly Secretary of State for the Colonies. He then became Chancellor of the Exchequer in Lord Melbourne's second ministry. In this position he was widely regarded as a failure. He resigned in 1839, was raised to the peerage, but did not hold public office again.

In 1811 Spring Rice married Lady Theodosia Pery, the daughter of the 1st Earl of Limerick, and they had eight children. She died in 1839 and in 1841 he married Mary Anne Marshall, the daughter of a Yorkshire industrialist. Her fortune enabled him to survive the considerable loss of income he incurred during the great Irish famine of the 1840s.

Monteagle devoted a great deal of time and energy to seeking to reduce the suffering of the Irish people in this period. Although no longer in office, he corresponded frequently with Cabinet ministers, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Treasury officials about the condition of the rural population and the need to abandon laissez-faire policies in order to hold together the fabric of society.

Monteagle had taken a strong interest in emigration to the colonies from his time at the Colonial Office. Government support for emigration was growing: T.F. Elliot was created Agent-General for Emigration in 1837 and the Colonial Land and Emigration Commission was created in 1840. In 1838 13 families from Limerick migrated to Australia on the Aliquis, some of whom had worked for the Spring Rice family or their tenants. When assisted emigration was resumed in 1847, Monteagle actively encouraged people from his estates and the surrounding districts to emigrate. 30 left in 1847, 42 in 1848 and 31 in 1849, most of whom eventually settled in the Port Phillip district. The numbers increased after 1850, as emigrants left to join family or friends already in Australia. Lady Monteagle mostly lived in London, but she assiduously collected forms from the Colonial Land and Emigration Commission and corresponded with the steward and housekeeper at Mount Trenchard about loans and other assistance to intending emigrants. Between 1838 and 1858 about 800 'Monteagle emigrants' came to Australia. They were mostly from Mount Trenchard, Shanagolden, Robertstown, Kilcoman and Loghill in north-west County Limerick.

Reference: Christopher O'Mahony and Valerie Thompson. Poverty to Promise: the Monteagle emigrants 1838-58, Sydney, Crossing Press, 1994.

Related

Existence and Location of Copies:

The original AJCP microfilm of the records filmed from this collection is available at the National Library of Australia. [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn716649] as well as other institutions holding AJCP microfilm.

Existence and Location of Originals:

National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin.

Collection Reference: MS13,400.

For further information see Thomas Spring-Rice at the National Library of Ireland (http://catalogue.nli.ie/Collection/vtls000254569/HierarchyTree)

Conditions Governing Access:

Available for access.

Conditions Governing Use:

Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February-23 September 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-987654321)

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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