Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines Duncan Crows stark alternatives for impoverished gentlewomen of casual sewing, governessing or prostitution may suit a sensationalised and impressionistic account, but they bring us no closer to the real lives of such women. Jeanne Petersons more serious analysis has enhanced our understanding of the status incongruence suffered by the resident governess and the relationship of her position to the fundamental ideals of womanhood upheld by Victorians. A logical extension of the historical analysis of personal sources and memoirs is the case-study method and biography itself. Unfortunately, though, research has yielded few riches of the Flora Thompson variety among sources left by distressed gentlewomen emigrants. One purpose of this book is to illustrate the limitations of the distressed gentlewoman stereotype, primarily through a study of the experience of emigration among single middle-class women.