It is estimated that in the region of 150,000 people left Dorset in the 1800s. It is possible to find out where they went but difficult to work out the reasons why they decided to go. There are letters and diaries of people writing back to their families which describe the difficulties they went through on arrival but what made them make up their minds to move in the first place is harder to determine. As early as 1623 The Reverend John White helped to promote the colonisation of North America by setting up the Dorchester Company which sent out the Mary and John to Massachusetts with many Dorset families on board. They were some of the first settlers in America and they went to escape religious persecution. Later in the same century the English began to settle in Newfoundland having already discovered the fertile fishing grounds of cod that surrounded the island. The fishing fleets originally went out annually and the merchants of Poole built up a prosperous trade. Once settlement was allowed families found it prudent to have members resident at either end of the trading route. By 1675 members of the Taverner family were living at Bay de Verde, Newfoundland as well as in Poole. Bridport merchants also benefited by sending rope and nets out to the Newfoundland fisheries and the Hounsell family, who owned a rope and net manufactory at North Mills in Allington, also brought salted cod back. There are still members of the Hounsell family living in Newfoundland to this day. The Monmouth rebellion was the next known cause of migration from Dorset . Many members of the rebel army that were recruited from the villages around Lyme Regis and routed at Sedgmoor were killed fighting or later sentenced to death;. others were sent out to the West Indies. Azariah Pinney of Bettiscombe, who came from a wealthier family than many of the others, was allowed to go as a free migrant and built up a successful trade between England and the West Indies finally becoming a plantation owner on the island of Nevis. To control the overcrowding in the country’s jails transportation to Australia was introduced in 1787 and eleven ships set sail with more than seven hundred convicts and their guardians. Only a small number of the first fleet were from Dorset . The county’s most famous transportees were the Tolpuddle Martyrs and they were sent to Australia and Tasmania for political reasons which caused such a public outcry that they were eventually pardoned and brought home. Soon after their return five of them emigrated to Canada with their families. It was not only for legal and religious reasons that people migrated; land was also a great incentive. By 1810 there were in the region of four hundred free settlers in Eastern Australia, and some of the best land in the west was given to serving and retiring soldiers. It was becoming harder to obtain land in Great Britain and unless you were the eldest son you were not likely to inherit. | 
