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2004, British ships in China seas: 1700 to the present day eds Richard Harding, Adrian Jarvis, Alston Kennerley, published by National Museums & Galleries on Merseyside, ISBN 1902700252
Among UK seafaring women in the interwar years, stewardesses on passenger liners going far to the Far East were rare: New York and Australia were usual destination. This paper uses the British India Steam Navigation Company records to trace the careers of 44 of these exceptional mobile subjects who went to destination such as Singapore, China and Japan. In doing so the BI stewardesses and matrons gained a gendered and colonial understanding of 'the East' in that period. The raw data allows quantitative understanding of their patterns, such as numbers of voyages, marital status, age, the frequency with which they went to the Far East. Secondary sources are used to explain what these (mainly Plaistow-based, middle-aged) women encountered and how they encountered it.
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