The nineteenth-century periodical press was a crucial site for the promotion of emigration. In a variety of girls’ magazines, especially the weekly Girl's Own Paper but also monthly periodicals like Atalanta, the Girl's Empire, the Girl's Realm and Aunt Judy's Magazine, girls were informed about and encouraged to consider emigration as the solution to limited employment possibilities, unpalatable terms of service, limited opportunities for advancement and even poor health. This chapter examines the role of the immensely popular Girl's Own Paper to demonstrate how girls were prompted to think of emigrating to a British colony. It will also consider the extent to which the magazine created and reinforced an ethos supportive of the imperialist objectives of the nation, the requirements of the colonies and the demands of its readers for a feminine ideal of morality and purity consistent with late Victorian definitions of femininity.

Periodicals and Female Emigration

In the girls’ and women's periodical press, the subject of emigration was taken up with interest and enthusiasm, with many proponents suggesting that the colonies offered opportunities for marriage and advancement unavailable in England. This idea was most famously proposed by W. R. Greg in his 1864 National Review article, ‘Why are Women redundant?’, in which he diagnosed the problem of the ‘enormous and increasing number of single women’ in England. He proposed redressing the balance by an emigration of women to the colonies, where the number of men greatly outweighs the number of women.