Biography & Memoir
Anne de Courcy
The Fishing Fleet: Husband-Hunting in the Raj
5:00pm | Wednesday 12 September 2012Tickets: | Duration: | Venue: |
£N/A | 1 Hour | Methodist Church |
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This was an Oxford Literary Festival 2012 Event.
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The Fishing Fleet was the name given to the band of young ladies that travelled to India in the late 19th century/early 20th century in search of a husband. They followed a stream of Britain’s brightest young men who went out to India to work as administrators, soldiers and businessmen. Writer and journalist Anne de Courcy tells the story of these women for the first time. She tells of a hectic social scene, featuring dances, parties, amateur theatricals, picnics, tennis tournaments, cinemas, tiger shoots and glittering dinners. Men outnumbered women four to one, and there were whirlwind romances and frequent marriages. The reality for those who did find a husband was often a far cry from the excitement of the social scene. They were often whisked away to a remote outpost where there were few Europeans and disease was a constant presence.
De Courcy was women’s editor on the London Evening News in the 1970s and has written regularly for the Evening Standard and Daily Mail. Her previous works include The English in Love, Diana Mosley and Snowdon.