A Study Of The Emigration Of The Victorian Single Middle-class Women

There were a large number of single women who had little chance to get married and to make a living independently in the Victorian Britain. Most of them were middle class, and were considered surplus and useless by the Victorian people. Then, it became a great social problem to be solved.This paper tries to analyze the problem of the spinsters comprehensively, including its symptoms, causes and solutions. The Victorian people took two main views on the issue:first one, sending the surplus single women to the colonies, next one, let them stay in Britain and accept more vocational training so as to find a job. This paper focuses on the ideas and practices of emigration activities.The full text comprises the preface, the main part and the conclusion.The preface briefly introduces the significance of choosing this topic as well as research situations and achievements. It also gives an explanation about the concepts related to "spinster".The main part can be divided into four chapters:Chapter one discusses the outbreak and causes of the single women problem in a historical perspective. There was a long tradition of living unmarried lifelong in Britain. Due to the expansion of the British Empire, more and more men go overseas to do business or to serve in the navy. As a result, young women from middle-class couldn’t find a right man to marry.Chapter two introduces the different ideas which were proposed by different social forces on the issue of female emigration. The Australian government-sponsored migration project was the beginning of the emigration. Then, the charitable organizations participated in the project. They organized kinds of charitable societies to help the distressed gentlewomen to travel to colonies. The feminists also involved in the work, they focused on the emigration of the governesses. The Imperialists made a significant contribution to promote emigration process. In a word, different forces had different purpose, their methods were different, of course, effects varied.Chapter three examines the whole process of the emigration, including application and selection, the uneasy life of the journey, and the reception in the colonies. Along the way, the single women were under the powerful control.Chapter four is a case study. Two different middle class immigrant women, Mary Taylor and Mary Anne Bishop, came from different families. What was similar was that they emigrated to a new world. Their experiences demonstrated that female emigrants can change the desperate condition and live an ideal life. By investigating the fate of the individuals, this paper reveals the image of the group.The conclusion gives a brief account of single women emigration movement. The effect of the movement was limited, it failed to resolve the problem of the spinsters.