Husband hunters of the Raj: How a 'fishing fleet' of 1920s society girls...

UK Daily Mail ^ | July 5, 2012 | Annabel Venning

[C19fan]

Cleaving their way through the sapphire waters of the Indian Ocean, the ships bore their cargo into port. Whether at Colombo, on the island of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) or one of the Indian ports such as Madras, Calcutta or Bombay, the cargo was the same: hordes of eager young women, sweltering in the corsets, stockings and flannel underwear they were required to wear beneath their dresses — some still suffering from sea sickness as they staggered down the gangway into the searing heat. These were the girls of the ‘Fishing Fleet’, and they had come to India for the purpose of landing their catch — a husband. If they succeeded in their quest, they might soon find themselves ensconced in a spacious bungalow with a retinue of servants, as the wife of a senior official or officer.

[C19fan]

Promotion of a new book about single women travelling to British India to find husbands.

[ravager]

And ever so once in a while the White memsahibs manage to find a handsome dark-skinned native.

[wyowolf]

Having been to India several times, and being married to one :), I find this story interesting. Life was so different back then...

“In regimental towns, the brothels were even licensed and the prostitutes inspected for sexually-transmitted diseases and compulsorily treated, as they were back home in Britain.

But the Contagious Diseases Act, which required the examination of any woman suspected of being a prostitute near a garrison, was repealed in India in 1888, after which rates of venereal disease soared, incapacitating almost half the British soldiery (only soldiers, not officers, were allowed to use brothels).”

LOL... well that worked well :)

[Tax-chick]

Not in my library yet.

[C19fan]

The Contagious Diseases Act exposed the tensions in Victorian society between the Benthamites/Utilitarians who would push this law as a practical response to a public health issue and the moralists who questioned why the state should help facilitate immoral acts and how the Act was much more severe with the prostitutes, including mandatory three months hospitalizations if a prostitute has a STD, than with the men who used their services.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

“In regimental towns, the brothels were even licensed and the prostitutes inspected for sexually-transmitted diseases and compulsorily treated, as they were back home in Britain.

Before the U.S. entered WW-II and the American Volunteer Group in China, the Flying Tigers, had a brothel that was staffed with disease free women from the India Volunteer Group. Once the U.S. entered the War and the AVG came under command of Vinegar Joe Stillwell, he promptly stopped the practice, and the number of man-days lost to STDs increased dramatically.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

A prostitute is obviously a much greater threat to spread STD than a client. Especially if most clients revisit the same prostitute.