"Don't tell me you have a governess for her."
"Matter of fact, I do."
“Oh! Mama, close your ears."
"What is it, dear?"
"The mere mention of the word governess is enough to send Mama into hysteria.
We had at least a dozen.
Most of them were either horrid or just plain stupid."
From Jane Eyre to Vanity Fair,
Victorian literature featured a new central figure in novels and short stories--
the governess.
By 1851, some 25,000 women in England earned their living
by teaching and caring for children in wealthier families.
What was it like to live as a governess during the 1800s?
Here is a historical overview of life as a governess in the Victorian era.
During the 19th century, a woman who was not financially supported by a husband
or another male relative had limited ways to earn a living.
Unmarried women in middle class families,
for example, daughters of doctors, lawyers, and clergymen,
might have to seek what was considered socially acceptable employment.
An initially well-to-do family might have fallen on hard times
due to economic woes or banking crises.
Serving in a shop or working in a factory would have been humiliating
for educated women at the time.
A respectable option was for them to get a job as a teacher,
either at a girl’s school or in someone’s home.
In the case of the Brontë sisters, their father's lack of a private income
meant that they had to find work as teachers and governesses.
Their writing was influenced by these experiences.
The upper classes had employed governesses for centuries,
but it was from the beginning of the 1800s
that the newly affluent middle class followed suit.
Employing a governess soon became a status symbol.
Most employers only needed the services of a governess for a few years
or they hired different ones based on their children's needs and preferences.
A governess typically lived with her employer, but received such a small salary
that there was little chance of saving for retirement.
Getting married was one way that the governess could leave her job.
Advice books for employers recommended employing a plain governess
to reduce the risk of her marrying a gentleman of the house.
But in reality, poor working conditions and exploitation
were typical of many governess posts.
Unfortunately, many of these women faced poverty in their middle age.
The Governesses’ Benevolent Institution was the first organization
to make significant improvements to their employment conditions.
Expectations for female education evolved throughout the 19th century.
Books and manuals provided guidance
on how a lady could master a comprehensive range of subjects,
from geometry to natural philosophy to zoology,
as well as how to manage the relationship with her employers.
Families placed increasingly high demands on governesses
to acquire more knowledge and accomplishments
in order to properly educate their children.
It was also important that a governess have the right social status.
Her posture, speech, manners, and personal presentation
were considered just as important, if not more so, than her academic knowledge.
Governesses often taught girls ranging from the ages of five to eighteen,
and sometimes young boys,
before they were sent away to school around the age of eight.
Young ladies might be coached in English grammar, history, geography, and conversational French,
as well as key accomplishments such as singing, dancing, drawing, painting,
and playing the piano.
Above all, governesses were expected to set a good example of modest, moral behavior.
In addition to teaching reading, writing and arithmetic to young children,
the governess was to look after their moral education as well.
Outside of lessons, a governess provided companionship and supervision.
Life as a governess was often a lonely and difficult one
because her social status was so ambiguous.
She was neither family nor servant; she didn't quite belong anywhere.
In theory, the governess was treated as an equal by the family,
but she was rarely invited to sit down to dinner with her employers,
even if they were kind.
If the family had only recently stepped up the social scale,
she might even consider herself socially superior.
And yet, she had to go out to work,
as did the servants who were expected to be deferential to the governess.
Some servants resented the governess's education and class standing.
To be sure, the governess challenged the Victorian public's concept of society.
She had to make her own way and for novelists,
she was a character that opened up a world of possibilities.
"Pardon?"
"All governesses have a tale of woe, what's yours?"