Anne De Courcy - The Fishing Fleet, husband hunting in the British Raj

review live on show 9th August 2012 by Maggie Perkovic
If you were unmarried in the early 19 century it waas not much fun. You could be a governess or a companion to an elderly and usually bad tempered recluse, or simply stay at home with Mum. So when the East India company paid for 20 women to sail to Bombay as prospective brides for its employees it was a mutually advantageous arrangement. When the British Govt. took over running India and the British Raj was born thousands of well bred men joined the Indian Civil Service. These men were seldom allowed to marry before the age of thirty, but they made prize catches for any women able to adapt to the climate, the insects,the difficult living conditions the travelling arrangements for moving accommodation and the worse thing of all hsving to send your children back to England for education at the tender age of five or therabouts.Often the brides were daughters of the officers or civil servants and longed to return to the India they had been forced to leave.This book is all historical fact aand has been well researched by the author, the photos are incredible and a real slice of life lived very perilously at times, when that British Stiff Upper lip came into play. They were all Empire Builders and I truly salute them and reccomend this book.Maggie P.