The Role of the Governess

Part of the Articles series.

Written by Betsy.

The role of “governess” dates back many centuries, but really saw its rise as a central figure of wealthy homes in the 19th century. While the “golden age of governesses” is truly from the 1840s to the early 20th century, many of the girls we play on London Life would have had a governess who served a specific role in their education and upbringing.

The rise of the governess

First, let’s discuss the reason why governesses became so popular in 19th century England. A combination of developments necessitated the rise of the governess. The first was the Industrial revolution. Well, we’re not quite there yet in 1811, but England was already becoming globalized. Mercantilism and trade allowed many in England to become wealthy, and the middle class begins to rise, made up of wealthy merchants, bankers, and eventually, factory owners and investors.

Along with the rise of the middle class and the industrial revolution comes the rise of domestic life and the “cult of domesticity”. Some women lucky enough to land in the upwardly-mobile sector were no longer needed to help in workshops or storefronts. Their place was as the keepers of society’s morals. It became increasingly important for women to be able to read and write – yet many mothers were poorly equipped to teach their daughters, nor did they have the time, so busy were they with charitable works and keeping the home.

Women’s education naturally became an important institution. It would not take off until the 1830s and 1840s, but even in the early part of the century there are writings about the importance of teaching girls not only how to be ladies, but also intellectual subjects like literature and history, even the natural sciences, in order to appear learned and well-rounded. But again, few women were able to teach their daughters such things. One can see how the governess rose out of society’s necessity.

That is a little bit of history. Perhaps more importantly is the question of who a governess was, what she was like, and what her life would have been like.

Who was a governess?

A governess was always a woman, and always unmarried. She could be anywhere between the ages of 20 and 100 – it seems that a governess could work as long as she could perform her job. She always came from the upper or upwardly-mobile-middle classes. She was never from the lower classes. She was considered a “lady” by virtue of her birth, but the fact that she had to work made her less than a true lady – “lady” being a woman of the upper classes, as opposed to a “woman” of the lower classes.

One could become a governess in one of several ways. The first was by being an orphan. With no one to rely on, a young lady of good upbringing could turn to using her skills in teaching other young ladies. She could also come from a family that has become destitute. Her father could have died or become bankrupt, and thus she would need to support herself. Such a situation, however, would mean that she would be highly unsuitable for marriage. The only thing that kept her as a lady and in the upper class was the fact that she was working in an upper-class home. It should be noted that governessing seems to be an act of necessity. No girls became governesses for the fun of it, and very few parents would force their daughter into governessing without a financial reason or a necessity, since that would push them into the working world and out of the roll of “lady”. I would go so far as to say that nobody in the nobility would have allowed their daughter to become a governess if they could help it at all.

The stereotype of the Victorian governess is Jane Eyre – a pathetic orphan dressed in black, working to overcome the obstacles of the world. Many imagine that a governess would be a spinster. Recall that in Emma, Miss Taylor was a very good friend to Emma and her father, who married a very wealthy neighbor of the Woodhouses. The governess was not always a pathetic figure, and certainly did not become so in popular fiction until the Victorian era. In reality, governesses did sometimes go on to marry, but most of them would not make very advantageous matches and they would always be an outsider to good society for the fact that they had to work in their earlier years.

Life could, indeed, be very hard for a governess – many had to take jobs in less-than-desirable homes, were treated as outsiders by the family, suffered from loneliness and homesickness, and were often the subject of sexual harassment by male members of the household and the servants. To keep their jobs, they were often reduced to enduring torment at the hands of their charges, who knew they could behave pretty badly, because to truly discipline a pupil meant that a governess may lose her position. There were good positions to be had, but because there was such a huge supply of governesses, and there was so little job security, many chose to endure tough assignments rather than risk being homeless and penniless.

The governess' role

A governess was expected to be and know many things. There were two types of governesses: nursery governess and finishing governess. A nursery governess worked with children (girls and young boys) in the nursery – that is, until somewhere around age 12. She was expected to teach reading, writing and arithmetic at the very least. She should also have a good working knowledge of several languages (French, Italian and German are mentioned often as the three most desirable), and the rudimentaries of a variety of subjects, such as literature, geography, and history. Recall, of course, that such education involved mostly memorization of dates and facts, being able to find countries on a globe, and recitation of poetry – hardly rigorous and involving very little critical thinking.

As well as these subjects, the nursery governess would prepare girls for their future roles as ladies, wives, mothers and mistresses of the house. She needed to be able to teach plain work, fancy needlework, penmanship, art (including painting and drawing), elocution and etiquette, musicianship, and dancing. If she could not teach all of these, tutors or masters could be hired; this was particularly common for music and dance. However, a governess’ salary was determined by how much she could teach, and so the more a governess could teach, the better off she would be.

Finishing governesses were employed from age 12 to about 17, when a girl came out in society. They were in charge of “finishing” a girl’s education. Much of their focus would be on those accomplishments required of a young lady in society: elocution, etiquette, dancing, art, music, and the like. Finishing governesses also taught academic courses, depending on the desires of a girl’s parents. It was common for her to teach languages, literature, history, and bookkeeping (which would prepare a girl to be mistress of a house). Again, the rigor of these lessons would probably be limited to recitation and rote memorization of the key facts needed to make a girl appear accomplished in public. A good finishing governess could expect to make quite a bit of money, as their lessons could.

The good governess

Of utmost importance for a governess was good moral character and an ability to teach morality and religion. Manuals of the time suggested that mothers leave the education of their children entirely up to governesses, and to treat them as “deputy mother”. To hire a morally-degraded governess would have been a waste of money – they pop up so often in Dickens and Thackeray for satirical effect: the idea of a parent hiring an immoral governess was laughable. Governesses were viewed as the frontline of teaching children good habits, and so a governess must be clean, neat, orderly, prompt when called, honest, quiet, and thrifty. Of course, the ability to impart these lessons to children was questionable; recall that governesses often had very little true authority over their charges.

Governesses were truly a dime a dozen – there was no shortage of young ladies in the upper class who had fallen on hard times and wanted a position which would save them from the fall to the working class, from which there was no turning back. Our characters in The London Life, being of the wealthiest and most influential sector of society, would have been able to secure very accomplished and well-qualified governesses. Some governesses may even have come from France – it was highly desirable to have ones children learn the language from a native speaker, though such governesses often spoke little English and were of dubious qualification.

I hope this gives some background into the situation of governesses in the 19th century. I have many, many sources on the subject, which I am willing to pass along for anyone who wants to peruse them.