SS Kaiserin Maria Theresia’s promenade deck between 1890 and 1905. Source: Wikimedia Commons
During the nineteenth century representatives of British firms became used to travelling and establishing outlets abroad, although travel was still arduous and time consuming. Each journey across the Atlantic would have taken at least two weeks, and in bad weather as many as 14 weeks. People migrated to the UK from Europe and beyond, while others left the UK for positions in North America and the colonies. Young men are commemorated in the Cemetery who died in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, India, Africa and at various stopping points on the outward or return journeys. Some were missionaries, seeking to provide education and welfare to local people, while women who accompanied their husbands were expected to cope with travel arrangements, children, lack of medical care, and a completely different way of life.
