How two DC Thomson journalists redefined women’s work in 1894

In 1894, DC Thomson journalists Marie Imandt and Bessie Maxwell embarked on a pioneering adventure. From an opium den in Shanghai and the slums of Calcutta to a Florentine cigar factory and the ancient ruins of Rome, they travelled around the world for over a year reporting on the lives of women, breaking the mould and defying society’s standards.

The trip captured the imagination globally. Newspapers elsewhere were following their story, and, even 130 years on, Reuters news agency has recognised their huge achievement.

The Courier’s senior features writer Graeme Strachan has written a piece celebrating their journey with original transcripts, sketches and testimonies.

We spoke to Graeme to hear how it all came together.

“The key was the timeline. We knew the announcement was on 1st February 1894 – and they headed out that month. The buildup and departure were heavily covered by The Courier, which we found in the British Newspaper Archive.

There were 147 articles published by the pair. They’re not all in the British Newspaper Archive but most of them are. This allowed us to trace their journey around the globe.

Once we tracked down the articles and the sketches, I?asked the design team’s Roddie Reid?to help with the artwork. He also produced a terrific featured image for our piece.”

Graeme shares why this story is so special.

“When you consider this was over a decade before the suffragettes burst onto the scene, it shows how pioneering and ahead of the time this was.?In 1894, women’s journalism was consigned?to the ‘women’s page’. This assignment, however, put them on the front pages.

The public loved reading about the adventures. Stories of this trip were still being heard in 1933 – almost 40 years later.”

Graeme tells us his personal highlight.

“As someone who has charted the history of the Old Overgate – the street of streets – I did like when Marie said that she had seen "greater and more degradable" misery, vice and sin in the rowdy streets of the Overgate than she had witnessed in the slums of Calcutta.”

Graeme sees a parallel between Marie and Bessie’s story and the journalistic work that DC Thomson does today.

“We should, and do, look today, like we did then, to inform our readership. Long before TV and even things like social media, Marie and Bessie had to go and get these stories. It’s the shoe-leather journalism that we should still strive to achieve today.

One thing also struck me. Managing proprietor David Couper Thomson said the Ladies Tour was to redress the gender imbalance of a working men's tour around America the previous year. He had listened to the feedback from his audience and given them what they wanted. In this new age of “digital first” and online, audience-led content, this still rings true and is our mandate in 2024.”

You can read about the Ladies Tour in The Courier online here and in print on Saturday 24th August.