You've heard of Filles du Roi. Did you know of the much later somewhat parallel immigration to the West Coast?
Voyages of Hope: The Saga of the Bride-Ships by Peter Johnson tells the story of the ships Marcella, Tynemouth, Robert Lowe and Alpha which in total from 1861 to 1870 brought 116 "eligible" women to the colonies now part of British Columbia.
Read a summary in Haphazard History: The bride ships of Europe by Barry Sale
That's a fascinating read, John. Interesting that Oz was getting rid of its prostitutes and used the shipping of potential wives to BC to rid themselves of them. "Any bureaucracy created by man can be manipulated for any individual's pleasure or profit."
ReplyDeleteThat's one of the things one always had to remember when working in HR for the governement. And the infinite capacity of humans to mess up whatever you were trying to accomplish with them made it never boring. Cheers, BT