South African Passenger Lists Online – UPDATED July 2023

One of the most common questions I get is from people looking for passenger lists to South Africa. Unfortunately, there is not one big database we can search for that information. Passengers lists for those going to South Africa do exist but they are not complete, most are not indexed, and are scattered across various repositories, with some found only in the archives, not online.

I have been lucky enough to find some of my family in passenger lists going back and forth between England and South Africa. In 1893, John Bellas made his first trip to South Africa from County Durham, England. He was a miner and worked for De Beers Mining Company in Kimberley. Between 1893 and 1912, he frequently traveled back and forth between the two countries, at one stage, taking his family with him.

Locating Passenger Lists

FamilySearch:

• Immigrant records, 1845-1911 (Natal)
  Assisted emigrants to Natal 1883-1888, 1892-1902, Index to applications 1904-1905, Assisted emigrants to Natal 1904-1905, Index to applications 1905-1910. Assisted emigrants to Natal 1905-1911, Shipping books 1845-1876.

Example of a Register of Immigrants (Assisted) for S.S. Arundel Castle, arriving January 1903, Natal

• Passenger lists 1845-1852, List of early colonists 1845, Establishment register 1874-1882. (Kit Bird Collection, Natal Archives)
  An interesting collection titled, “Register of Boys and Girls Sent to SA from UK” begins at image 293 of 1649. These boys and girls were admitted to the The Royal Philanthropic School at Redhill, Surrey, England. The institution was intended for the sons and daughters of convicts, and boys and girls who had themselves been convicted of a crime. The aim was to reform these young criminals by removing them from the surroundings that were contributing to their life of crime. Up until the 1930s, some were sent to Australia, but the passage to South Africa and Canada was cheaper so many of the boys and girls were sent there. It is possible to trace the boys and girls using the Royal Philanthropic Society School Admission Register Indexes which are online (transcriptions) here. The index will give you an age or date of birth. Then you can check the collection on FamilySearch for more information on that boy or girl. An example of what can be found is below:

FamilySearch collection: Register of Boys, unnominated, from Red Hill and other Industrial Schools, entry for 20 May 1884, G.H. Shorter, from Red Hill. His employer in South Africa was Mr. Richmond, of Allandale, PMBurg (Pietermaritzburg). The boy was to be employed for 3 years and the amount of his wages given. In the Remarks column: ‘Has been 3.5 years at Red Hill. Master does not give him a good character. Very passionate – Left.”

By using the Admissions index found at Royal Philanthropic Society School (scroll to the bottom of the page for the link to the index) we can search for and locate G.H. Shorter.

We gain a little more information on the boy. His full name was George Henry Shorter. He was born on 17 September 1865 and was admitted to Red Hill on 28 July 1880 when he was 15 years old. The notes tell us he emigrated to South Africa. From the FamilySearch collection we know his date of arrival in South Africa as 20 May 1884, so he would have been about 19 years old. The Document Reference and Page/Folio No. can be utilized to locate the original documents at the Surrey History Centre Archives.

• Immigrant records, 1859-1866 (Cape)
  Immigrant lists 1859-1862, Applications for immigrants 1862-1866, Applications for immigrants 1858-1860, 1861
  
• South Africa, Natal, Protector of Indian Immigrants, South and North Indian Ship Register Book, 1860-1911 NEW
  Includes name of ship, date of arrival in Natal, name of emigrant, father’s name, age, caste, village, and other notes.
  
• South Africa, Natal, Home Affairs, Documents relating to Indians, 1920-1987 NEW
  Records from the Pietermaritzburg Archives.

Ancestry:

• South Africa, Passenger Index, 1688-1950
  No images, index only. Sources: Passenger Lists from Cape Town Archives, Government Gazette, Newspapers, and other sources.
• South Africa, Immigration Index, 1858-1986
  No images, index only. Includes 1820 settler records, German immigrants, Indian indentured migrants, other migrants.
• South Africa, Shipping Index, 1802-1848 NEW
  Contains an index to shipping records for ships arriving in and departing from ports in South Africa. While you will find details of the ship itself (name, type, nation, cargo, agent, date and place of arrival, date and place of departure, date and place of destination, and the Captain’s name, you will not find individual passenger names.
• UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960
  Original images of passenger lists for people leaving from UK and Irish ports for destinations outside of Europe, including South Africa. None survive before 1890.
• Free Access: Africa, Asia and Europe, Passenger Lists of Displaced Persons, 1946-1971
  Contains passenger lists of immigrants leaving Germany and other European ports. Most are displaced persons – Holocaust survivors, concentration camp inmates, refugees from Central and European countries. Organized by the Resettlement Camp location where the immigrants began their journey. Search using ‘South Africa’ as an arrival point. An example appears below:

FindMyPast:

• Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960
  Original images of passenger lists for people leaving from UK and Irish ports for destinations outside of Europe, including South Africa. None survive before 1890.

Other websites with passenger list collections:

• eGGSA (Genealogical Society of South Africa) Passenger Lists
  Transcriptions only. No images. Records of the Natal Immigration Board 1850 to May 1911; Cape Archives IBC 6 series, passenger lists of emigrant ships 1858 to 1861, PWD 2-401 to 420 from 1873 to 1884, PWD 2-753 from 1872-1876 and PWD 2-756 from 1884-1885; British Mail (a monthly newspaper) January 1879 to September 1881; The Colonies & India (a weekly newspaper) April 1883 to December 1888; The Cape of Good Hope Exchange Gazette 1850 to 1851.
• SA Jewish Rootsbank – The South African Jewish Database
  Passenger arrivals registers dated 1924-1929 and digital copies of shipping manifests dated 1890-1930. This site has many more resources for Jewish migration and genealogy.
• Cape Town, South Africa Passenger Lists 1911-1955
  Transcriptions only. Selected passenger lists for the port of Cape Town, 1911-1955 from Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives (GG Archives).
• Ships Passenger Lists to South Africa 1680-1690 (olivetreegenealogy.com)
  Transcriptions from various sources for passenger lists to South Africa 1680-present.
• South African Passenger Lists
  Transcriptions of various passenger lists to South Africa.
• Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild
  Transcriptions of various passengers lists to South Africa. Search by name or arrival location.
• The Ships List
  Transcriptions only. Contains log and muster roll for the HMS Weymouth in 1820, and the African in 1880.
• Hamburg to Cape Town – Passengers of the Victoria, 1859
  A Geni.com Project with profiles tagged to the list of passengers. Thanks to Charmaine Labuschagne for the incredible work on this.
• Hamburg to South Africa – Ships and Passenger Lists
  Index of the PROJECTS related to a series of passenger lists for ships that left Hamburg during the second half of the 19th Century and early 20th Century to bring immigrants to South Africa and to other parts of Africa.
• Trove
  The Australian site, Trove, mentions voyages between England and South Africa and may mention passengers who choose to remain in South Africa instead of continuing to Australia.
  

Country Specific Passenger Lists

• 1820 British Settler Records
  • 1820 Settler Correspondence at eGGSA
  • British South Africa: a history of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, with notices of some of the British Settlers of 1820. The back of the digitized book has an appendix with lists of settlers on each ship.
  • British 1820 Settlers to South Africa. An incredibly in-depth site with information on the 1820 British Settlers.
  • Geni.com’s 1820 British Settlers in South Africa Project

• Settlers to Natal
  • British Settlers in Natal, 1824-1857, Dr. Shelagh Spencer
  • Mole’s Genealogy Blog: Under Sail to Natal provides excellent information on what it was like for our ancestors sailing to Natal.
  • The book, “The History of Old Durban and Reminiscences of an Old Emigrant of 1850“, by George Russell is a worthwhile read as it describes the history of the settlement of Durban, the experiences of the emigrant and also includes ships and the names of passengers arriving in Durban between 1850 and 1860.

• German Immigrants to Natal
  • German South African Resource Page. A wonderfully rich site containing the history of German settlers to South Africa.
  • Ship’s Passenger Lists, Hamburg to Africa
  • Ancestry collection: Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934
  • FamilySearch collection: Auswandererlisten, 1850-1934
  • Germans in Kaffraria, 1858-1958. Includes British German Legion lists, and immigrant lists.

• Norwegian Immigrants
  • Norwegian Settlers to Marburg, South Africa
    
• French Refugees to the Cape NEW
  • This is a book written by Colin Graham Botha, fully digitized online, containing information on when the French came to the Cape, including names of passengers and the ships they arrived on. Source material came from the Cape Archives.
    
• The South African Jewish Database NEW
  • A database of records and information relating to Jewish immigration to South Africa between 1850 and 1950 from England, Lithuania, Latvia, and Belarus.
    

Passports and Permits to Remain

• Cape Colony 1806-1844 (begins at Item 5 on the film)
  Permits to remain in the Cape Colony were issued as an internal passport and sometimes give occupation and residence of the person issued to. Permits to leave the Cape Colony were issued to those under no civil or legal obligation to remain and sometimes list destination and ship departing on. Also includes an indexed register of permits to leave the Colony and a volume of miscellaneous permits.
• Cape Colony 1795-1801 (Items 4-7)
  Certificates to remain in Cape Colony 1795-1801, Applications to reside in Colony 1795-1801, Applications to leave the Colony 1796-1801.
• Graaff-Reinet, 1787-1840 (Item 10 on the film)
  Certificates granting residence or permission to leave the district.
• Cape Colony. Miscellaneous Records, 1808-1831 (Items 5-6)
  People allow to remain 1812-1831, Licensed wine dealers 1808-1810.

This is by no means a complete list, but it’s a good start in your efforts to locate your immigrant ancestor. I’d love to hear of any other websites and/or repositories that you’ve found with South African passenger lists.