389:
of the way. He was shipped off with just enough money in his pocket—no, in the purser's pocket—for the needs of the voyage—and when he reached his destined port he would find a remittance awaiting him there. Not a large one, but just enough to keep him a month. A similar remittance would come monthly thereafter. It was the remittance-man's custom to pay his month's board and lodging straightway—a duty which his landlord did not allow him to forget—then spree away the rest of his money in a single night, then brood and mope and grieve in idleness till the next remittance came. It is a pathetic life.
118:(2013) how the figure emerged in the 1880s: "Unable to succeed in Britain the remittance man represented the utter failure of elite British masculinity to function in the modern world." Where he was to go was a wide-open question. The British Empire offered wide-open spaces and possibilities of redemption in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and colonial parts of Africa. Some thought that the American West was also an appropriate destination. Rico concludes that "the remittance man, in his weakness, symbolized his culture's fear that British masculinity was imperiled both in Britain and abroad."
128:(1913) to capture their stories. "To the ordinary Western mind, a remittance man was a rich Englishman who had proven a failure in his homeland and had been shipped into the raw land to kill himself in quiet or work out his regeneration if possible." He was "everlasting sources of enjoyment and personal gain" for the tough ranchers and early colonists, "the natural butt of the cowboys' jokes." Remittance men were held in scorn by all, even "solid contempt," and were considered easy targets by conmen and tellers of tall tales. Some, however, won redemption by, for example, joining the
249:
325:
287:(1909), when the young royal had to renounce this marriage, his beloved was given the most royal of exiles; near the City of Vancouver "in the western solitude, lived for several years—the veriest remittance woman—the girl who should now, by the right of love and honor, be the Princess of Wales, and whose infant daughter should have been the heir to the throne."
847:
his antics: howling like a timber wolf from a grove of trees at a gold rush-era (1890s) tent city near town; reciting Robert
Service poems to all who will listen, and writing a very funny column for the weekly paper. Ol' Buckwheat contributes generously to any of Skagway's civic betterment activities, school functions, whatever.
388:
Passengers explained the term to me. They said that dissipated ne'er-do-wells belonging to important families in
England and Canada were not cast off by their people while there was any hope of reforming them, but when that last hope perished at last, the ne'er-do-well was sent abroad to get him out
846:
counts innumerable laughs brought here four years ago when a ruddy eccentric known only as
Buckwheat mistakenly got off the ferry heading down to Haines. Buckwheat, a sort of happy remittance man kept in funds by a successful business in one of the lower 48, regales locals and visitors alike with
350:
Tom Hadden (known to the bulk of Sydney folk as Tommy) was heir to a considerable property, which a prophetic father had placed in the hands of rigorous trustees. The income supported Mr. Hadden in splendour for about three months out of twelve; the rest of the year he passed in retreat among the
197:
professor of journalism drew on his
Alberta childhood to write "Mr Langhorne: A Prairie Sketch," which begins: "The thing about a Remittance Man, of course, is that nobody ever knows for sure whether or not he is a Remittance Man." He characterises them as locked into secrecy, including giving up
221:
from German universities. There were remittance men from old families whose month would follow a rigorously determined cycle: Funds would arrive, followed by new clothes and feasting and carousing; then the money would be gone, the clothes would be pawned, and there would follow a week or two of
171:. Many of these newcomers were remittance men from prominent British families, a state of affairs which caused some to dub the region "The Valley of the Second Sons". For years, activities on many a valley ranch or farm ground to a halt at precisely 4 p.m. so that all could partake of high tea.
384:'s travelogue presented as non-fiction, he describes the first remittance men he met. One was a hopeless alcoholic, "the most interesting and felicitous talker". Another on the same ship was only 19 or 20 but already "a good deal of a ruin".
198:
their real name. The stipend, regular but not lavish, dooms them to eke out an existence: "The remittance naturally saps his energy and wilts his ambition, if any." It is not enough to set up a business, and so their fates are sealed. As the
321:, men whose birth and station would otherwise usually lead to their commission as officers, but who instead enlisted as common soldiers. A remittance man appears as a tragic figure in his New Zealand story "One Lady at Wairakei" (1891).
55:
as "a term once widely used, especially in the West before WWI, for an immigrant living in Canada on funds remitted by his family in
England, usually to ensure that he would not return home and become a source of embarrassment."
547:'s recurring characters (c. 1960) is Andrea Hartshorn, who describes her situation thus: "Robbie is a remittance man. I'm a remittance woman. We're paid a monthly stipend to keep out of the family's hair. Remittance men. The
303:, a traditional escape route for English who have been exiled for one reason or another, she gracefully lived the life of a remittance woman, gambled obsessively at the casino, and established a little salon".
216:
describes the hoboes and flophouses of the first fifteen years of the 20th century: "Among the tramps and bums were enigmatic sorts and instant legends. There were said to be Oxford graduates and men with
237:
There were also "remittance women", but they are rarely discussed in scholarly works. A few examples include Bertha E. Kyte
Reynolds, who lived in a tent outside Banff in the
511:
This is no place for a remittance man. The French don't understand him at all. They think everyone who's not engaged in trade is a spy. It's not as though he lived like a
75:
in which the son of the title figure resists his father's attempts to find him a job: "Some sort of place where everyone would sneer at the fellow from London. The
65:
adds: "spec one considered undesirable at home; also in extended use." "Remittance man" is first attested in 1874 as a colonial term. One of the citations is of
966:
A Diary by Mrs Robert Louis
Stevenson (first published 1914), republished 2004, editor, Roslyn Jolly (U. of Washington Press/U. of New South Wales Press)
241:
in the early 1900s, until an
Anglican clergyman persuaded her relatives to increase her allowance, and Jessie de Prado MacMillan, a Scottish woman who
34:
was an emigrant, often from
Britain to a British colony, who was supported by regular payments from home on the expectation that he would stay away.
939:
280:
204:
headline put it in 1914, with reference to mining camps, "Where 'Remittance Men' Abound; Most
Americans of That Ilk Work, but English Don't."
793:
874:
Varney MacMahon, Sandra (July 1999). "Fine Hands for Sowing: The Homesteading Experiences of Remittance Woman Jessie de Prado MacMillan".
818:
xxiii. 170 The remittancer generally spends his monthly allowance in three days, living very badly on credit till his money next arrives.
107:), and paid to stay away. He was generally of dissolute or drunken character and may have been sent overseas after disgraces at home.
699:
674:
412:
included "The Rhyme of the Remittance Man", which shares its meter and most of its rhyme scheme with Kipling's similarly themed 1892 "
144:
997:
1029:
1008:
108:
186:
He went on to differentiate between this type and others who followed, "individuals who were more used to the saloon than the
275:. The case that went to trial concerned an alleged secret marriage in 1890 between the young naval officer, who was to become
222:
utter destitution, each stage accompanied by a corresponding shift of lodging." The binge-and-starve cycle was remarked on in
471:
752:
593:. Buffett took inspiration from Mark Twain's description of meeting two remittance men during the voyage chronicled in his
334:
129:
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meant that the eldest son inherited the estate, which left the others to find their own fortunes. In his profile of the
573:
311:
The remittance man was a recognisable type in literature of the period, especially in Britain, Canada, and Australia.
71:
61:
51:
507:, Sebastian Flyte is thus referred to by the British Consul to Charles Ryder on the latter's visit to Morocco:
212:(1991) documents the life and politics of lower Manhattan from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century.
111:, is an example; he was sent to South Africa before he inherited the titles and fortune of his third cousin.
1079:
577:, uses the term to refer to a wealthy Englishman's good-for-nothing daughters who spend their days on the
339:
194:
20:
910:
831:
598:
376:
564:. Yakimov is always "waiting for his remittance" as he sponges off the expatriate community in wartime
139:
Not all of those men were considered dissolute disgraces. Some were simply younger sons of the English
1012:
405:. The remittance man in question can reach mature adulthood only when the money from home is stopped.
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means the opposite of today's meaning of money that migrants send to their home countries.
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Nature's Noblemen: Transatlantic Masculinities and the Nineteenth-Century American West
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Nature's noblemen transatlantic masculinities and the nineteenth-century American West
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had its share of remittance men. The journalist Leroy Victor Kelly (1880–1956) wrote
92:
753:"Where 'Remittance Men' Abound; Most Americans of That Ilk Work, but English Don't"
163:, the author Morris Cafky wrote in 1966 that after the initial wave of settlers,
494:. The following year a book of the same title appeared, by American pulp author
483:
96:
66:
611:
449:
Had I clutched like them my chances, learned their wisdom, crushed my fancies,
381:
213:
38:
718:
Cafky, Morris (August 1966). "The Railroad That Couldn't Make Up Its Mind".
621:
565:
548:
554:
Prince Yakimov, an Englishman of noble Russian descent, is a character in
229:
The term can be used to refer to an eccentric person, the town character.
364:
276:
180:
160:
940:"'"The unrest and movement of our century": the universe of The Wrecker"
989:
Treasured Islands: Cruising the South Seas With Robert Louis Stevenson.
843:
317:
writes repeatedly about remittance men and their brothers-in-arms, the
512:
360:
300:
443:
Gilded galley-slaves of Mammon—how my purse-proud brothers taunt me!
367:), the handsome, happy-go-lucky, fellow cabin passenger on the 1890
722:(Print). Vol. 26, no. 10. Milwaukee, USA. pp. 38–39.
346:, is a "South Sea yarn" featuring a "remittance man". In the book,
83:
gives "remittancer" as another form, which stretches back to 1750.
616:
323:
247:
133:
76:
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of an upper- or middle-class family who was sent away (from the
523:(1915–2000) included "Remittance Man" in her first collection,
167:
Other venturesome folk followed—Englishmen this time. They too
431:
Far away, so faint and far, is flaming London, fevered Paris,
458:
William Henry Pope Jarvis (1876–1944), who was described in
964:
The Cruise of the Janet Nichol among the South Sea Islands
832:"Alaska's Gold-Boom Past Gives Flavor to Buckwheat's Town"
401:, a pair of novellas set in California, were published by
919:. Vol. 55, no. 7. 26 November 1979. p. 223
978:
John A. Steuart, (1924). Boston: Little, Brown & Co.
733:
Zeisler, Karl (1959). "Mr Langhorne: A Prairie Sketch".
437:
Far away the din and hurry, far away the sin and worry,
295:
in 1979 referred to Lady Blanche Hozier, the mother of
538:
from the pheasant-shooting and the aunts in the close
226:(1888) by the British traveller Elim Henry D'Avignor.
976:
Robert Louis Stevenson: A Critical Biography, 2 vols.
1013:"R. L. S. and his Friends Some Stevenson Memories"
781:
95:British culture, a remittance man was usually the
788:(1st ed.). New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.
452:Starved my soul and gone to business every day.
386:
348:
713:
711:
587:wrote a song, "Remittance Man", for his album
468:The Letters of a Remittance Man to his Mother
79:remittance man for whom a job was made." The
8:
532:The spendthrift, disinherited and graceless,
271:to the story of royal scandal publicised by
460:The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature
992:Lowell D. Holmes, (2001). Sheridan House.
784:Low life: lures and snares of old New York
692:The range men: pioneer ranchers of Alberta
440:Far away—God knows they cannot be too far.
209:Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York
126:The range men: Pioneer ranchers of Alberta
735:Quarterly Review of the Michigan Alumnus
536:only surprised he could escape so simply
434:That I fancy I have gained another star;
632:
534:accepted his pittance with an easy air,
446:I might have been as well-to-do as they
424:The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses
114:The historian Monica Rico describes in
16:Emigrant from Britain paid to stay away
281:Sir Michael Culme-Seymour, 3rd Baronet
7:
861:Banff: Canada's First National Park
830:Beyer and Rabey (30 August 1987).
14:
859:Luxton, Eleanor Georgina (2008).
947:The Journal of Stevenson Studies
422:. It was published in the US as
307:Popular representations in media
109:Harry Grey, 8th Earl of Stamford
245:in New Mexico from about 1903.
49:"Remittance man" is defined in
1:
1017:New Zealand Railways Magazine
694:. Victoria : Heritage House.
466:, wrote the epistolary novel
130:Royal Canadian Mounted Police
876:New Mexico Historical Review
690:Kelly, Leroy Victor (2009).
279:, and a daughter of Admiral
863:. Summerthought Publishing.
574:The Bonfire of the Vanities
283:. As Higgison tells it, in
1096:
18:
1030:"Remittance Woman (1923)"
938:Watson, Roderick (2007).
896:Alaska: The Great Country
810:Oxford English Dictionary
669:. Yale University Press.
643:The Canadian Encyclopedia
416:", in his 1907 anthology
285:Alaska: The Great Country
183:meant the evening meal.)
62:Oxford English Dictionary
52:The Canadian Encyclopedia
911:"[title needed]"
893:Higginson, Ella (1909).
462:as a journalist born in
179:, as for the Englishmen
143:or aristocracy, because
814:1888 E. H. D'Avigdor
19:For the racehorse, see
1034:British Film Institute
640:Colombo, John Robert.
541:
517:
456:
391:
353:
340:Robert Louis Stevenson
329:
253:
195:University of Michigan
173:
21:Remittance Man (horse)
1061:Manhunt Is My Mission
665:Rico, Monica (2013).
599:Following the Equator
529:
509:
428:
377:Following the Equator
327:
251:
175:(Presumably, that is
165:
87:Analysis and examples
519:The Australian poet
504:Brideshead Revisited
479:The Remittance Woman
464:Prince Edward Island
419:Songs of a Sourdough
299:, by this term: in "
297:Clementine Churchill
780:Sante, Luc (1991).
646:(07/17/15 ed.)
527:(1946). It begins:
153:Wet Mountain Valley
103:to the rest of the
72:The Elder Statesman
1059:Marlowe, Stephen.
758:The New York Times
408:The Canadian poet
399:The Remittance Man
355:Tommy is based on
330:
254:
169:took up homesteads
1040:on 16 August 2016
795:978-0-374-19414-7
761:. 18 January 1914
561:The Great Fortune
414:Gentlemen-Rankers
403:Beatrice Harraden
319:gentleman rankers
1087:
1065:
1064:
1056:
1050:
1049:
1047:
1045:
1036:. Archived from
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816:Antipodean Notes
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551:is expatriate."
525:The Moving Image
490:and directed by
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342:and his stepson
265:Washington State
233:Remittance women
224:Antipodean Notes
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720:Trains Magazine
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581:party circuit.
545:Stephen Marlowe
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496:Achmed Abdullah
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365:Suwarrow Island
332:The 1892 novel
315:Rudyard Kipling
309:
267:, applied some
239:Rocky Mountains
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89:
47:
37:In this sense,
28:British history
24:
17:
12:
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1080:Remittance men
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1019:, 12(2):59–61.
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916:The New Yorker
902:
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866:
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701:978-1894974943
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676:978-0300196252
675:
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619:
614:
607:
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590:Barometer Soup
571:Tom Wolfe, in
556:Olivia Manning
530:
492:Wesley Ruggles
429:
410:Robert Service
395:Hilda Stafford
393:Also in 1897,
344:Lloyd Osbourne
308:
305:
292:The New Yorker
269:poetic licence
257:Ella Higginson
252:Ella Higginson
234:
231:
201:New York Times
122:Western Canada
105:British Empire
101:United Kingdom
88:
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46:
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32:remittance man
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585:Jimmy Buffett
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579:New York City
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521:Judith Wright
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488:Ethel Clayton
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370:
369:Janet Nicholl
366:
363:; died 1897,
362:
358:
357:Jack Buckland
352:
347:
345:
341:
338:, written by
337:
336:
328:Jack Buckland
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273:Edward Mylius
270:
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262:
261:poet laureate
258:
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219:dueling scars
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178:
177:afternoon tea
172:
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149:primogeniture
147:, the law of
146:
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141:landed gentry
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74:
73:
69:'s 1958 play
68:
64:
63:
57:
54:
53:
44:
42:
40:
35:
33:
29:
22:
1060:
1054:
1042:. Retrieved
1038:the original
1033:
1024:
1016:
1004:
988:
983:
975:
971:
963:
959:
950:
946:
933:
921:. Retrieved
914:
905:
895:
888:
879:
875:
869:
860:
854:
842:
835:. Retrieved
825:
815:
813:
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804:
783:
775:
763:. Retrieved
756:
747:
738:
734:
728:
719:
691:
685:
666:
660:
648:. Retrieved
642:
635:
597:
588:
583:
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559:
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542:
531:
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518:
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502:
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486:, featuring
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359:(born 1864,
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236:
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155:surrounding
138:
125:
120:
115:
113:
90:
80:
70:
60:
58:
50:
48:
36:
31:
25:
1009:James Cowan
549:polite word
484:silent film
482:was a 1923
472:John Murray
335:The Wrecker
243:homesteaded
97:black sheep
67:T. S. Eliot
45:Definitions
1011:, (1937).
837:26 October
628:References
612:Emigration
595:travelogue
382:Mark Twain
214:Lucy Sante
157:Westcliffe
145:until 1925
39:remittance
622:Ostracism
566:Bucharest
93:Victorian
1074:Category
606:See also
380:(1897),
371:voyage.
351:islands.
277:George V
181:high tea
161:Colorado
844:Skagway
543:One of
470:(1908,
132:in the
1044:28 May
996:
923:28 May
792:
765:28 May
698:
673:
650:28 May
513:Milord
361:Sydney
301:Dieppe
943:(PDF)
617:Exile
188:salon
134:Yukon
77:limey
1046:2016
994:ISBN
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