With the passage of the
Transportation Act 1717, the British government initiated the
penal transportation of
indentured servants to
Britain's colonies in the Americas. British merchants would be in charge of transporting the convicts across the Atlantic, where in the colonies their indentures would be auctioned off to planters. Many of the indentured servants were sentenced to seven year terms, which gave rise to the colloquial term "His Majesty's Seven-Year Passengers".
[1][2][3][4] It is estimated that some 50,000 British convicts were sent to the Americas this way, and the majority landed in the
Chesapeake Colonies of
Maryland and
Virginia. Transported convicts represented perhaps one-quarter of Britons that left the country during the 18th century.
[5 Wiki, I know, but something about glass houses and stones.