Victorian women are often pictured as docile, delicate creatures who could barely pick up a handkerchief. But several books on women travellers pop this stereotype. My favourite is Wayward Women by Jane Robinson. It pulls together brief biographies on women explorers such as:
Ida Pfeiffer was a dutiful daughter, wife and mother in 19th century Vienna when, at 45 and bored, she set out to see the Holy Land. She came home after being robbed but felt exhilarated by her adventures. After that, she left the tourist trail and headed to South America and Africa, where her story of her time in prison is almost hilarious.
Susie Rijnhart travelled in Tibet in the late 1800s with her husband and baby. On the journey to Lhasa, their servants ran away and their son died. After burying him in a medicine chest, they were caught in a blizzard. Her husband left her in a tent while he set out to find help. He never returned. Susie made the two month journey back to China by following a river and meeting a friendly tribe.
Cornelia Speedy went on safari in Sudan and made a tent on her sewing machine - what is not to admire in that?
Another book that gives more detail of women travellers is Not Just Bonnets and Bustles - Victorian Women Travellers in Africa, which contains edited first-person accounts of three women:
Annie Hore travelled with her husband and baby along the same route Stanley took when looking for Livingstone 11 years before.
Helen Caddick was carried through southern Africa in a hammock by 25 bearers and accompanied by a boy who spoke only biblical English.
Eliza Bradley was shipwrecked off the Barbary Coast. She travelled through the desert until being captured and held as a slave. She was finally freed when the British Consul paid a ransom.
Today, we travel with guidebooks and mobile phones. I bow to these women who set off knowing each trip could be their last.
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