Meaning:
The seafaring command that women and children be the first to board the
lifeboats when a ship abandoned.
Background:
HMS Birkenhead sank off the coast of South Africa on 26th February 1852. This
incident is widely believed to be the origin of the phrase women and children
first. The ship was carrying 480 British troops and about 26 women and
children. When the ship foundered the soldiers' commander Colonel Seton told
them to `Stand fast!' and allow the women and children to make use of the few
lifeboats. Most of the soldiers and sailors on board were drowned or eaten by
sharks, but all the women and children survived. The women and children first
ethos was later called the `Birkenhead Drill' and was celebrated in verse by
Rudyard Kipling in his moral boosting work Soldier an' Sailor Too.
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
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Chivalry might still exist yet the thought that it is well-received would be
presumptuous, even a hundred years ago. In Out of Africa, the 1985 film telling
a story of the early 20th century, e.g.,
Lieutenant:
And we're going to have to move you into town.
We can't protect you here.
Blixen:
What do you mean move me into town?
Lieutenant:
With the men gone, we're worried about the native element.
We have orders. Women and children into town.
Blixen:
That is internment, Lieutenant.
Lieutenant:
Women and children, Baroness.
Blixen:
Is that one category or two?
