I am here at last - apologies for lateness! And can you believe that just as I got to the last post and started to type, cat woke up and is now trying to stand on the keyboard
I had trouble tracking down a copy - mine being in that black hole otherwise known as Storage - but I now have one waiting for me at the local library, will collect later today or tomorrow (both daughters on half term holidays at the moment, so I have insisted we do some culture today - it's brilliantly sunny here and we can walk along the Waters of Leith to the Dean Gallery and the Museum of Modern Art). I have read the book, and some of Gardam's others, before, but I certainly need to refresh my memory.
Sending children away was endemic amongst the upper/upper middle classes in the first part of the 20th century - it was not just parents abroad who did it. It was considered "what one did" to ensure ones children not only had a good education but also remained part of the ruling classes, learned their ways, developed their attitudes, etc. People like this would never even have considered the local state schools - they would not even have considered the private day schools.
Nowadays the practice is still common amongst the rich and the aspiring. They see it as buying a place for their children in the country's elite - and unfortunately they are probably right, as one newspaper recently did a survey that showed that vast numbers of our Members of Parliament (esp the men) came from a small number of top boarding schools - Cameron himself was at Eton (the poshest of them all), and Tony Blair was at Fettes (Eton's equivalent in Edinburgh). You would find the same backgrounds in top businessmen, bankers, etc - the Old School Tie is still immensely important, and can open many doors for its members. I heard recently that one of the Edinburgh merchant banks only recruits from certain Edinburgh public (ie top private) schools - although of course they would never be able to admit that.
I know several people who were sent to boarding school at a young age. One of them says she enjoyed it - she is very hearty and was brought up not to complain - the other two absolutely loathed it and were deeply unhappy. As a result, the male of these two has insisted on sending his own children to the local state schools - the woman has married into the local aristocracy and all of her children have been sent away to school against her wishes, because "that is what the family does".
The Raj parents sent their children Home for the reasons already stated - health and education - but the real question in my mind is, why did the mothers stay? And it all boils down to Duty. The British really thought that it was their duty to rule India, and the wives thought it was theirs to stay with their husbands. These days - esp in Aberdeen - many men work overseas because of the oil industry. Sometimes the whole family goes, esp if there is a British or International school available, sometimes the children are sent back to UK boarding schools (particularly as the fees are paid by the oil companies, so some parents see this as a way of getting a much "better" education for their children than they could otherwise have afforded). One of my friend's daughters lasted three weeks before she asked to be taken back to the Middle East, as she was so unhappy - her mother came and got her, but not everyone would do that - there is still a culture, especially amongst the upper classes, of stiff upper lip and "making a man" of ones child, etc.
Re Hong Kong, I don't know much about it either - in my lifetime it has always been much more westernised than China, with many, many Hong Kong students coming to the UK (and the US I think) to study. There are also many Hong Kong children in some UK boarding schools. The UK did, of course, have to give it back to China some years ago - I do remember seeing Chris Patten (the last governor and a good man) and his family sailing out of the harbour for the last time, in the darkness, surrounded by fireworks and celebrations. It was a very emotional scene and his daughters were crying.
Re lawyers - yes I am a solicitor. In England, the legal profession is split into two branches - barristers appear in court and cannot contact clients directly, everything been done through the solicitor, who is more of the front man/woman. Solicitors see clients in their offices and offer a broad range of services, from litigation (court matters, civil and criminal) to wills, probate, employment advice, licensing, commercial work, conveyancing (house buying/selling), etc. Nowadays solicitors do have "rights of audience" in some of the lower courts, but only barristers can appear in the higher courts, and they would also still be instructed to appear in the lower courts sometimes. The barristers are the ones who wear the wigs and gowns. Barristers work in what are called chambers, - in London they are mostly situated around the Inns of Court, off the Strand. Each Chambers will be serviced by several clerks - these are often "East End boys" (or girls), who have a sharp eye for cutting the deals and agreeing the fees with the instructing solicitors. The barristers are still largely upper class people who went to the right schools (see above!), especially as the training for the job is very long and expensive, and you then need to know people to get into one of the Inns of Court. (There are, however, a few high profile "left wing" chambers who would be more likely to sponsor applicants from less exalted backgrounds). There is, however, a great interdependence between the barristers and the clerks, as without the clerks (who get a cut of the barrister's fee for each job) the barristers wouldn't have any work. Incidentally, only barristers can apply to become judges - hence the further perpetuation of the class system, and the reason we have so many judges who are completely out of touch with the real world.
If you want to get a general idea of how it all works, you could try the novels of
Caro Fraser, which are a bit soapy but are set in a barristers' chambers in London and are easy reads.
I will stop now! Sorry I promise to try not to go on so long in future!
The boarding school system, and the way it perpetuates the class system in the UK, is something that really gets me going
Rosemary
