“Dead English Ladies” – Lecture Series on British Women in India Coming to Manchester

If you live in Manchester you don’t have a lot of opportunity for learning a new subject. The WCC and JCC are both a long way to go for evening classes so many of us end up missing out on what we can’t learn through books and documentaries. Retired professor and life-long Manchester resident Joan Gaughan recognizes that this is a need that is not being met and has been working with Chelsea’s Adult Learners Institute to bring classes to Manchester. As a sort of pilot program, she will holding a 4-part lecture series this spring on her area of expertise and the subject of her doctoral research, British women in India.

Dead English Ladies aka Memsahibs aka British Ladies in India will be held in the Village Room located at 912 City Road. It is FREE to attend with no registration. It will meet from 1 to 3pm on four Saturdays: Feb. 20th, Feb. 27th, March 5th and March 12th.

Topics to be covered at the Feb. 20th lecture include “debauchery in Bombay”, “how to acquire three husbands before you are 20” and “a little petty thievery, Mrs. Nicks”. Topics to be covered at the Feb. 27th lecture include “fishing fleets”, “wanted! 300 – dead or alive”, and “The Bachelor never got this good”. Topics to be covered at the March 5th lecture include “no more smoking, Ladies!”, “and watch the dancing!”, and “do NOT mess with Florentia!” Topics to be covered at the March 12th lecture include “mutiny, missionaries and memsahibs” and “the jewel in the crown or a crown of thorns?”

If the lecture series goes well, Gaughan states, the Chelsea Adult Learners Institute will be interested in bringing down more classes to Manchester this fall. If you have questions about this lecture series or about classes in Manchester, email Joan Gaughan at allgaughan@yahoo.com.

Joan Gaughan has been working with Chelsea’s Adult Learners Institute to bring adult classes to Manchester. She will be putting on a FREE four-part lecture series on British Women in India as a pilot program. Photo courtesy of Joan Gaughan.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.