The Petworth Emigration Scheme was an initiative sponsored by the Earl of Egremont—and promoted by Thomas Sockett, Anglican Rector of Petworth—that sent around 1800 working-class people from the south of England to Upper Canada between 1832 and 1837. The Scheme was part of a larger initiative in Britain during the 1830s, in which churches, charitable organisations and private individuals were active in promoting emigration as a solution to overcrowded urban slums, unemployment and rural poverty in Britain.