The Fishing Fleet Author: Visit Amazon's Anne De Courcy Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0753828960 | Format: PDF
The Fishing Fleet Description
- Paperback
- Publisher: Phoenix (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd ) (October 24, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0753828960
- ISBN-13: 978-0753828960
- Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 1.3 inches
- Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
I have always loved Anne De Courcy's biographies and books about social history of women, including the excellent The Viceroy's Daughters: The Lives of the Curzon Sisters, 1939 and Debs at War: How Wartime Changed Their Lives, 1939-1945 and I was equally delighted with her latest work, which looks at the rather bizarre subject of 'husband hunting' in the Raj. This book spans all the years of the British in India, although most of the stories are from the twentieth century.
When the British first went to India to trade and work, the men who left the country knew they would probably not return and married Indian wives or took Indian mistresses. As time went on and the East India Company and trade was replaced by government and the ruling classes, men were curtailed from doing this by various means which meant their children were punished by being unable to obtain good jobs and positions. Obviously, as men did not want either their wives or children to suffer through being married to them, gradually their only option was to marry girls from home - easier said than done as travel difficulties meant finding British brides difficult. The Company then began to pay passage to India of a number of willing women who were maintained for a year and expected to marry within that time.
The Fishing Fleet Preview
Link
Please Wait...