Voyages of Hope: The Saga of the Bride-Ships - Softcover

Peter Johnson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0920663796 ISBN 13: 9780920663790

Publisher: TouchWood Editions, 2002

Synopsis

A line of nervous young women got off a ship in Victoria Harbour in 1862 and had to walk the gauntlet between two rows of jostling, eager men. Why did these shiploads of women leave everything behind in England and come to the west coast.The answers lie in the lusty turmoil of a gold-rush frontier, the horrible disruptions of industrial England and the conflicting aims of earnest Christians and early British feminists. Missionaries, worried about miners, souls, or, more precisely, their consorting with prostitutes-pleaded for virtuous young women to tame the frontier, and the surplus of women in England without jobs, both educated gentlewomen and girls of little schooling, seemed to be the perfect solution. But it wasn't that easy.Voyages of Hope details the misunderstanding, neglect and downright nastiness that plagued the bride-ships. It also shows how most of these optimistic women seized their chance to create a better life and contributed their courage to an adventurous new colony.

About this title

About the Author:

Peter Johnson's enthusiastic research and imaginative writing have produced Voyages of Hope, the first book-length account of the English bride-ships from the 1860s and '70s.Peter Johnson was born in England and has lived in Canada for many years. He has travelled across most parts of his adopted country. He now teaches English at a high school in Vancouver, B.C.

About this edition

• Publisher: TouchWood Editions
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0920663796
• ISBN 13: 9780920663790
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240