The Robinson Settlement
1825
In an effort to alleviate poverty and unemployment in Ireland, the British Government in 1825 sponsored a settlement in the Newcastle District of Upper Canada. Peter Robinson, later that province's Commissioner of Crown Lands, was appointed Superintendent and, in May 1825, 2,204 persons sailed from Cork. A few settled elsewhere and disease thinned their numbers but, by September, the remainder were gathered in temporary shelters on the site of Peterborough. Under Robinson's supervision, free rations were distributed until November, 1,826 cabins were erected and 1,878 settlers were successfully established on land in the Peterborough region.