Spinster World War prevented many within a generation of women from experiencing romance and marriage, or having children. The image of the old spinster with a fading photo of her dead World War I soldier boyfriend on her fireplace mantel was common in films of the 1950s and 1960s. Likewise, in the American classic novel "Gone with the Wind" (1936) about the Civil War, numerous references are made to grieving fiancées, women who were "wanted, if not wed", and to the shortage of single, able-bodied (and thus "marriageable") men at war's end. In modern peacetime societies with wide opportunities for romance,
Certificates of Claim Certificates of Claim Certificates of Claim were a form of legal instrument by which the colonial administration of the British Central Africa Protectorate granted title to individuals, companies and others who claimed to have acquired land within the protectorate by grant or purchase. The proclamation of the British Central Africa Protectorate was endorsed by the Foreign Office in May 1891, and Harry Johnston as Commissioner and Consul-General examined and adjudicated on all claims that land had been acquired before or immediately after that date. Between late 1892 and Match 1894, Johnston issued 59 Certificates of Claim for land, each of