Random facts about The British occupation of India Part 1

Long book so I’m already forgetting random stuff. About 1/5th the way through.

Every year, England would ship women to India for eligible European bachelors. This group of women was known as “The Fishing Fleet.” Going and not being selected was a big shame for these women, especially because this trip could be a year of their lives . Still, Europeans often would rather marry Indian women.

Women were actually able to have a career way earlier in India than they could in Europe. Many roles that were men only in Europe were eligible to women.

There’s a story that in I believe Calcutta, the chief of police received a letter from a distressed father in England who said he had reason to believe that his daughter was at a house of ill repute. The chief of police began a manhunt for this women and finally tracked her down and announced he was rescuing her and paying himself to send her back to England. To which she responded she was perfectly happy where she was and would not be going back to her father.

Scottish were way more likely to go to India than any other British demographic.

The most common people to go over there were upper middle class, educated men. What that education was could vary depending on the time period. Oxford university was a main recruitment center as was Cambridge and then they would go to Haileybury as language school of sorts. Till Cramming schools arose that focused on … well, cramming for civil servant exams.

One of the governors said the main allure of going to India was to “ride hunt and fish”. This didn’t stop one guy who was so bad at riding s horse that he made servants run next to him at all times to catch him if he should fall. This embarrassed everybody and the British government mandated stricter riding regimens for all officials.

Often, people who would become civil servants of India would go to Haileybury college and once graduated, men as young as 20 could be sent to administer provinces of millions of people.
Nowadays, Haileyburly is a boarding school for 11-18 year olds where they separate pupils into various different houses (sounds familiar doesn’t it)

White children born in India tended to see India and not Great Britain as there home. Many who traveled back to Britain for schooling came back.

Groups of men of a similar age who went to India to party were known as griffins.
Families that made their way over time to India were known as dolphin families. This is supposedly because dolphins give each other space to swim and swim in straighlined (so they claim).I.E. a father may go, and then a decade later, the son may go, and then 5 years later, some nephews would go.

The Indian military paid more than the British military (for officers of course)

Calvary was for the rejects who flunked out of everything else.

That’s all I can think of right now. It’s my bedtime.