John Marshall: shipowner, Lloyd's reformer and emigration agent

by Elizabeth Rushen

Immigration was as controversial in the nineteenth century as it is today. Australia has a long history of migration and is considered one of the world's great immigration success stories, but this process has not been without cost. This book tells the story of the most active emigration agent of the nineteenth-century: John Marshall. His influence can be read in the naming of the town Marshall, outside Geelong, Victoria, and in the lives of the descendants of the thousands of people, he assisted to migrate to the British colonies of New Zealand, Canada and North America, Cape Town and most importantly, Australia. Marshall's work also impacts the world today through Lloyd's Register of Shipping. A brilliant strategist, Marshall instigated a review of the classification of ships and the merger of the red and green registers used by Lloyd's shipowners and underwriters and later established Britain's first emigration depot at Plymouth. Enterprise was much-admired in the early to the mid-nineteenth century and Marshall was one of the most active entrepreneurs of the period. He was a merchant-adventurer and superb logistician who read the marketplace and was prepared to move to a new start-up each time his finances dictated a fresh start: brokerage, trade, shipping, emigration, coal. Marshall had both the vision and analytical skills to achieve great things, but he lacked business acumen or the personality to successfully carry through any of his undertakings. This book links the various facets of Marshall's life from his humble beginnings to his impoverished end. It explains how an unknown insurance broker from the provinces could rise to be a key player in London's ship owning and merchant world of the early nineteenth century..

Published January 1, 2020

About the author

Dr Liz (Elizabeth) Rushen is an historian, lecturer, researcher, author and publisher with a PhD in history from Monash University.

Liz has published widely, mainly in the field of migration history and women in colonial Australia, including Single and Free: female migration to Australia, 1833-1837 and a social history, Bishopscourt Melbourne: official residence and family home.

In 2018-2019 Liz was awarded a Creative Fellowship by the State Library Victoria, to research the life and writings of Edmund Finn (‘Garryowen’), a project which is ongoing. Recently she has been employed as consulting historian to the archaeologists at the Melbourne Metro Tunnel site on Swanston Street, and has been appointed a Director of the Melbourne Maritime Heritage Network.

Liz regularly speaks at conferences, to community groups and local historical societies. Liz co-hosted a weekly history hour on ABC 774 in 2004 and since then, has appeared on TV, in newspaper articles and has been interviewed for broadcast media.

Liz is co-founder and a director of Anchor Books Australia, an independent publishing company, focussing on Australian history.

Liz has been working with songwriter and musician Helen Begley to portray the experiences of women who migrated to colonial Australia. In conjunction with actor and singer Penny Larkins, Helen’s work has developed into original song cycles with theatrical elements and accompanying workshops that explore Australian women’s history.