On the Frontier

Abstract

For the more adventurous, the atmosphere of the late Victorian period and the Edwardian twilight was so much suffocating conformism, individuals hobbled by rules of social etiquette, social division and racial superiority which seemed not merely the artificial cant of a dead legacy but also the mask covering ignorance, brutality and dogma. It was in this atmosphere that the children of the 1870s and 1880s felt they had grown up and it was from this atmosphere that they had to escape, both psychologically and physically. This break with the past required the escapee to reinvent himself or herself as he or she thought he or she should be rather than as he or she was expected to act. For some, this meant nothing less than a rebirth into something altogether more exotic and intoxicating than an English lady or gentleman. It was, in essence, an adventure undertaken as an escape from self and country, an adventure undertaken without God or guidance and directed under the willpower of the participant alone.