Trading British Brides for American Tobacco

Not Just the Tudors

History Hit

History

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 18 January 2024

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1621 the Virginia Company of London put out a call for young, handsome and honestly educated women to become wives for the planters in its new colony in Jamestown. Hopeful husbands were supposed to pay for their English brides in best leaf tobacco. But who were the women who made the Atlantic crossing? And what became of them when they arrived?

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb meets author Jennifer Potter to find out more about the lives of these extraordinary women.

***Warning: This podcast includes references to slaughter and hostage taking.

This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.

Discover the past with exclusive history documentaries and ad-free podcasts presented by world-renowned historians from History Hit. Watch them on your smart TV or on the go with your mobile device. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code TUDORS. Sign up now for your 14-day free trial here >

You can take part in our listener survey here >`

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	In 1621 the
0:07.0	21 the Virginia Company of London put out a call for young women to become wives for the planters in its new colony in Jamestown.
0:16.0	56 women responded daring to cross the Atlantic in hope of a better life.
0:21.0	For many of these women, the furthest that they would have travelled
0:24.8	was from their homes to London to find work. Few, if any, would ever have set foot on a boat.
0:30.3	None had any idea what to expect in the colony but may well have heard stories about disease, war and starvation.
0:37.0	It took great courage and enormous gumption to go anyway.
0:41.0	We can see why the men of Jamestown wanted them and indeed it's possible to see why the company wanted them as well.
0:47.8	Husbands were supposed to pay for their English brides 150 pounds in weight of best leaf tobacco at the value of
0:54.0	around 25 pounds sterling and since each woman cost 12 pounds or so to import that
0:59.2	represented a profit for investors of 100% or more. But what about the women? Who were they? Why
1:06.1	do they go and what became of them when they arrived? To tell us about the lives
1:11.6	of these extraordinary women I'm pleased to welcome author Jennifer Potter.
1:16.5	Jennifer has written four novels and six works of non-fiction, including James Town Bride's The Bartered Women of the New World, which she
1:25.6	joins us to discuss today.
1:27.0	Jennifer, welcome to not just the tutors.
1:35.0	Cisana, brilliant to be here.
1:37.0	So your story starts in 1621 and we're tracing the lives of 56 English women recruited as brides for
1:44.5	Planters and Jamestown in the colony of Virginia, but could we do a bit of
1:48.7	context setting first? Could you tell us a bit about Jamestown and the Virginia Company?
1:55.0	James Town as a colony started only in 1607 and the Virginia Company of London was given a charter to found a colony there.
2:07.0	The initial aim was profit to make as much money as possible to really take the resources of the country and bring them back.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from History Hit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of History Hit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.