Commonplace 190 George & His Manifest Destiny PART TWO.
In his decision to emigrate, George will also have factored in the making of relatively easy money as another positive in favour of a career in writing. Because he had won money prizes at Owens, quite large amounts (for example, £40 for a year in an age when a loaf of bread cost a halfpenny) which was way beyond the annual salary of, say, a housekeeper or a seamstress, and won these with relatively small effort, he had realised he could dash off a few thousand well-received words without breaking a sweat. Money for jam, as they say. I suppose the prison experience of hard labour probably put him off real work because he managed to steer clear of that his whole life - with the possible exception of gardening in Epsom. Luckily for George, his tendency to intellectualise himself into being whatever he chose to be will have spurred him on. If he just clicked the heels of his ruby slippers and wished himself there, then there he would be.
Making George look like he suffered is something of an industry
amongst some Gissing biographers. They provide him with 'Get Out Of Jail Free' cards at times of his life when he behaved in particularly nasty ways - to his wives and children, for example. It's as if his unhappiness is a morally acceptable reason for his unpleasantness. The worst of the voyage for him on the way out (his return trip the following year is rarely picked apart) was that he
was forced to share a small, restricted living space with other people, some of whom were from the working class of Europe, including the UK. Those middle
class biographers who share George's abhorrence for all things proletarian
probably shudder at such a thought, but, they can draw comfort from the fact
that George had become somewhat desensitised to the intimate company of the poorer
classes when he did his gaol time in Belle Vue. (His experience as a thief paid dividends haha.) As for sharing a dormitory if he had been forced to - isn't that what a private education had provided for him at Lindow Grove, the private school he attended?
So, what of his time in the States? JOIN ME IN PART 3 TO FIND OUT HOW THAT WENT DOWN.
George travelled to the US in late summer 1876 several weeks after being released from prison, either because he was forced, or because he saw a world of opportunity open up
before him 'in the extreme West', as he termed it in 'Workers in the Dawn'. Why did he 'Go West!'? Well, America was experiencing an economic slump and needed fresh victims to colonise the extremes of the country - like the legendary 'West' we see in cowboy films. Across the Atlantic in Liverpool, where George was working as a clerk, advertisements on hoardings offered tempting tastes of the 'land of opportunity' where a man (or woman) could carve out a niche for himself (or herself) - even a man (or woman) with a criminal record. And as 1876 was the centenary of American Independence, maybe he went there to soak up some of the celebrations - good copy for a writer.
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| The Good Old Days? |
Horace Greeley click is credited with the phrase 'Go West!' when he said: Washington is not a place to live in.
The rents are high, the food is bad, the dust is disgusting and the morals are
deplorable. Go West, young man, go West and grow up with the country. It must have seemed like a chance to escape the control of the Wakefield Gissings, and to claw back some of the approval he had won from them by being a good scholar. The shame he brought on his family had been incalculable, and George never liked having his nose rubbed in his own mess, and we can imagine the state of mind he endured post Belle Vue gaol as one from the middle class who had been caught red-handed doing a working class crime, and having to pay the price for it. Seeing his mother's suffering would have been a constant nose-rubbing experience - and her a widow! And who knows how it impacted on his siblings left behind to endure the shame of having an ex-con for a brother. It had all the makings of a novel haha.
With no wiggle room available to bullshit his way out of his culpability and with a criminal record to his cv, a change of career path (from that of prospective Classics don) was inevitable. Writing for a living is the sort of job that doesn't require references; in fact, a little bit of a bad reputation may help book sales. That's probably the way Hitler saw it with Mein Kampf. This self-imposed exile in America offered a good way to make it look like he was punishing himself and that would ensure others would go easy on him. And so it came to pass, because biographers always blame Marianne aka Nell for his crime spree (multiple thefts, not a stand alone felony), thereby letting him off the hook of personal responsibility. As we know from time immemorial, it's always easier to blame it on a woman. But it paved the way for one of George's more spineless character flaws to become embedded. Lifelong, he would seek to attract pity/sympathy for similar actions - withholding himself from social occasions, living in dumps or out of the way places, and moving to France, to name a few.
With no wiggle room available to bullshit his way out of his culpability and with a criminal record to his cv, a change of career path (from that of prospective Classics don) was inevitable. Writing for a living is the sort of job that doesn't require references; in fact, a little bit of a bad reputation may help book sales. That's probably the way Hitler saw it with Mein Kampf. This self-imposed exile in America offered a good way to make it look like he was punishing himself and that would ensure others would go easy on him. And so it came to pass, because biographers always blame Marianne aka Nell for his crime spree (multiple thefts, not a stand alone felony), thereby letting him off the hook of personal responsibility. As we know from time immemorial, it's always easier to blame it on a woman. But it paved the way for one of George's more spineless character flaws to become embedded. Lifelong, he would seek to attract pity/sympathy for similar actions - withholding himself from social occasions, living in dumps or out of the way places, and moving to France, to name a few.
In his decision to emigrate, George will also have factored in the making of relatively easy money as another positive in favour of a career in writing. Because he had won money prizes at Owens, quite large amounts (for example, £40 for a year in an age when a loaf of bread cost a halfpenny) which was way beyond the annual salary of, say, a housekeeper or a seamstress, and won these with relatively small effort, he had realised he could dash off a few thousand well-received words without breaking a sweat. Money for jam, as they say. I suppose the prison experience of hard labour probably put him off real work because he managed to steer clear of that his whole life - with the possible exception of gardening in Epsom. Luckily for George, his tendency to intellectualise himself into being whatever he chose to be will have spurred him on. If he just clicked the heels of his ruby slippers and wished himself there, then there he would be.
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| American Progress by John Gast 1872 Look at this interactive resource for more click and wait for it to load. |
George set sail on Tuesday, August 29th 1876, aboard the Cunard ocean liner SS Parthia. According to the often fanciful Pierre Coustillas biography,
George was one of 149 'steerage' passengers listed on the manifest. He claims
George's living conditions must have been horrendous; he writes:
The crossing must have been a trying
experience. Travelling steerage, the lowest class of passenger accommodations,
which derived its name from the large space, rather like a dormitory, in the
stern of the ship, near the steering gear, signified travelling in extremely
poor conditions. Invariably, the atmosphere was bad, the food poor, the air
rank with heavy odour of spoiled food, seasickness, and unclean bodies. Lack of
adequate toilet facilities made life degrading. The metal-framed berths, three
bunks high, looked like rabbit hutches. Meals served in dining rooms with long
tables set with dishes and utensils. On the older ships passengers still ate
from a tin mess kit while sitting on deck. Even testimonies written down two or
three decades after Gissing's American adventure make markedly repellent reading.
Where to start with this Hollywood 'A Touch of the Titanics' version? First, let's look at the plans of the SS Parthia.
Here is a website that gives the facts click
1. SS Parthia was 6 years old when George sailed in her, and though small for an ocean liner, gained more internal space by having a new type of engine requiring less coal to take up storage space. This allowed more room for cargo. Parthia carried freight and mail (not 'English' mail as the French biographer claims, but Royal Mail from all the UK and from other countries sending mail through the UK), as well as a potential 1,181 passengers. By maximising the use of the vessel, Cunard could offer competitive prices on fares. 6 years is nothing over the life of a ship - Parthia was in commission, in one form or another, from 1870-1956. George sailed in a very modern vessel. She was still, in 1876, a jewel in the Cunard crown.
1. SS Parthia was 6 years old when George sailed in her, and though small for an ocean liner, gained more internal space by having a new type of engine requiring less coal to take up storage space. This allowed more room for cargo. Parthia carried freight and mail (not 'English' mail as the French biographer claims, but Royal Mail from all the UK and from other countries sending mail through the UK), as well as a potential 1,181 passengers. By maximising the use of the vessel, Cunard could offer competitive prices on fares. 6 years is nothing over the life of a ship - Parthia was in commission, in one form or another, from 1870-1956. George sailed in a very modern vessel. She was still, in 1876, a jewel in the Cunard crown.
2. There were only two classes of passenger on Parthia - Saloon or First Class and Cabin or Third Class. George did not travel 'steerage' in a 'large space, in the stern of the ship'. The plan of the Parthia above shows 328 cabins, which allowed for a family of up to 3 per sleeping berth. The plan shows there was no large single dormitory full of 'rabbit hutches'.
3. Bunks were not 'three high'. See the plan's legend.
4. Cunard had very high standards and a reputation to maintain, so the chances of this being a floating doss house are nigh on impossible to countenance. Just because people travel Cabin/Third Class doesn't make them common as muck, M. Coustillas. In fact, have a look at this list click of a similar voyage that shows many passengers were Europeans qualified in various trades, and most were young people under 50 yrs of age.
5. By 1876 the economic slump in the US brought the transatlantic emigrant trade to almost a trickle, which is reflected in the small number of fellow passengers George had on his trip. Parthia had 150 berths in Saloon/First and 1,031 in Cabin/Third Class. If George was 1 of 149, that means there were 882 empty berths. He will have had plenty of room to 'swing a cat' and enjoy relative comfort.
4. Cunard had very high standards and a reputation to maintain, so the chances of this being a floating doss house are nigh on impossible to countenance. Just because people travel Cabin/Third Class doesn't make them common as muck, M. Coustillas. In fact, have a look at this list click of a similar voyage that shows many passengers were Europeans qualified in various trades, and most were young people under 50 yrs of age.
5. By 1876 the economic slump in the US brought the transatlantic emigrant trade to almost a trickle, which is reflected in the small number of fellow passengers George had on his trip. Parthia had 150 berths in Saloon/First and 1,031 in Cabin/Third Class. If George was 1 of 149, that means there were 882 empty berths. He will have had plenty of room to 'swing a cat' and enjoy relative comfort.
6. How does M. Coustillas know there weren't enough toilets/heads? British ships like Parthia and her sisters Abyssinia and Algeria were specifically designed for passengers - that is, not converted for passengers - so there would have been plenty of
opportunities to put in adequate toilets. And with such a large number of Cabin/Third Class tickets unsold, George would not have had to queue long for the loo should his customary travel-induced man flu gyppy tummy turned up.
7. Cunard would not design a ship with inadequate hygiene facilities for fear of a scandal if there were an outbreak of infectious disease onboard which might affect offloading the passengers at their destination. Ships' captains had to sign documents guaranteeing the health of the human cargo click. Imagine the scandal and its impact on Cunard if what docked in New York or Boston was a ship displaying a flag announcing sickness on board.
7. Cunard would not design a ship with inadequate hygiene facilities for fear of a scandal if there were an outbreak of infectious disease onboard which might affect offloading the passengers at their destination. Ships' captains had to sign documents guaranteeing the health of the human cargo click. Imagine the scandal and its impact on Cunard if what docked in New York or Boston was a ship displaying a flag announcing sickness on board.
So, far from being herded like human cattle, George's voyage of 12 days' duration was probably a genteel affair not marred by overcrowding, foul stenches and manky passengers. And, as for seasickness... that month was an atypically quiet one for Atlantic weather. How do I know? I looked it up on Wikipedia, of course. Below is the entry click for 1876 and you can see it was a relatively calm and peaceful year for stormy weather, at least up until September 12th, two days after George docked in Boston, when hurricane San Felipe hit land, as in the Wiki page click.
| Year | Number of tropical storms | Number of hurricanes | Number of major hurricanes | Deaths | Strongest storm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1870 | 11 | 10 | 2 | 2,052 | Four |
| 1871 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 30 | Three and Four |
| 1872 | 5 | 4 | 0 | Unknown | Two |
| 1873 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 626 | Five |
| 1874 | 7 | 4 | 0 | Unknown | Seven |
| 1875 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 800 | Three |
| 1876 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 19 | "San Felipe" |
| 1877 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 34 | Four |
| 1878 | 12 | 10 | 1 | 108 | Seven |
| 1879 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 47 | Four |
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| Trade card |
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| Saloon Class |
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