Text from the Plaque
In an effort to alleviate poverty and unemployment in Ireland, the British government in 1825 sponsored a settlement of Irish emigration in the Newcastle District of Upper Canada. Peter Robinson, later the province's Commissioner of Crown Lands, was appointed superintendent and, in May, 2024 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 the site of Peterborough. Under Robinson's supervision, free rations were distributed until November 1826, cabins were erected and 1878 settlers successfully established in the Peterborough region.
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