The fishing fleet : husband-hunting in the Raj

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The adventurous young women who sailed to India during the Raj in search of husbands.

From the late 19th century, when the Raj was at its height, many of Britain's best and brightest young men went out to India to work as administrators, soldiers and businessmen. With the advent of steam travel and the opening of the Suez Canal, countless young women, suffering at the lack of eligible men in Britain, followed in their wake. This amorphous band was composed of daughters returning after their English education, girls invited to stay with married sisters or friends, and yet others whose declared or undeclared goal was simply to find a husband. They were known as the Fishing Fleet, and this book is their story, hitherto untold.

For these young women, often away from home for the first time, one thing they could be sure of was a rollicking good time. By the early 20th century, a hectic social scene was in place, with dances, parties, amateur theatricals, picnics, tennis tournaments, cinemas and gymkhanas, with perhaps a tiger shoot and a glittering dinner at a raja's palace thrown in. And, with men outnumbering women by roughly four to one, romances were conducted at alarming speed and marriages were frequent. But after the honeymoon, life often changed dramatically: whisked off to a remote outpost with few other Europeans for company, and where constant vigilance was required to guard against disease, they found it a far cry from the social whirlwind of their first arrival.

Anne de Courcy's sparkling narrative is enriched by a wealth of first-hand sources - unpublished memoirs, letters and diaries rescued from attics - which bring this forgotten era vividly to life.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

What's a marriage-minded young Englishwoman to do when so many eligible young men have gone off to India to uphold the British Empire? Follow them, of course. Journalist De Courcy (Snowden: The Biography) provides a fascinating account-not quite gossipy but loaded with juicy anecdotes-of adventurous women sailing for the subcontinent in the 19th and early 20th centuries to fulfill their destinies as wives. Their matrimonial objectives were Englishmen of the Indian Civil Service and officers in the British army, the cream of the Raj crop, whose position and salary made them fine catches. First for the single women came the voyage, with its promise of shipboard romance that could quickly seal the marriage deal. The majority didn't secure husbands that fast, so once the new arrivals settled in with relatives, they paid social calls and attended dinners, parties, and sporting events-all opportunities to meet eligible young men under the watchful eyes of chaperones. Typical of colonial outposts, interracial romance and marriage were banned. Successful fleet members became like Cinderella after the Prince fitted the slipper: married with a home and children to care for; unsuccessful ones, De Courcy notes with subtle irony, went back to England where they were known as "returned empties." Three eight-page b&w photo inserts. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

Romance, adventure and malaria. For the women who traveled to British-ruled India during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, often seeking husbands, the trip could bring more than they bargained for. Commonly referred to as the Fishing Fleet, these women travelers and their era are brought to life with vivid firsthand accounts of their journeys. Every aspect of their experiences is examined, from the conditions on the boats out and the particulars of courtship to the challenges of housekeeping and isolation that faced a Raj bride. De Courcy can paint a detailed picture and provide context seamlessly, but she wisely takes a backseat to the first-person recollections of the members of the Fishing Fleet, which are both charming and sharply drawn. Using extensive quotations, de Courcy weaves together the highlights of their stories from letters, diaries, and more. The result captures the dichotomy of a culture both adventurous and restrictive, with its glittering social whirl and exhausting battles with heat, humidity, and insect infestations. The only way to get closer would be to join the Fishing Fleet.--Thoreson, Bridget Copyright 2010 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

A British biographer finds lively fodder from the accounts of Victorian women venturing to India to find a spouse--and the men who scooped them up. De Courcy (Snowdon, 2010, etc.) fleshes out the stereotypical portrait of the wilting English gentlewoman who functioned chiefly as a means of perpetuating the imperial status quo across the British empire. The women she chronicles in this vigorous study, sent to India to find a husband mostly during the Raj period (roughly 1850 to 1950), faced hardships with equanimity and purpose. Fortunes were to be had for the intrepid young men who flocked to India to work in the East India Company, Indian Civil Service, and other trading, government and army ventures, although diseases and an unfamiliar climate rendered their work perilous. The depletion of the marriage pool back in England left many English girls, those without fortunes, beauty or good connections, facing spinster futures during a time when marriage largely defined women, who had few other prospects. However, in India, men outnumbered women four to one, de Courcy estimates, increasing a woman's chances of finding a mate. Yet these were not passive women, and as the author delves deeper into their diaries and letters, she finds that voyaging to India allowed many women an exciting outlet they did not have in England. However, the arduous voyage took many months and required hardiness, as did weathering illness and oppressive heat. After hasty marriages to eager, lonely men, the wives were often obliged to pull up stakes and move constantly as their husbands' jobs required or live out in the jungles where their plantations were located. Moreover, they often faced long separations from their children, sent back home to boarding schools. De Courcy offers numerous, richly detailed accounts. An expert researcher brings the romantic Raj era to colorful life.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.