Editing Governess

{{short description|Woman employed as a teacher in a private household}}
{{About||the obsolete term for an executive governing official|Governess (government)|the film|The Governess{{!}}''The Governess''}}
{{More footnotes|date=April 2009}}
[[Image:TheGovernessRebeccaSolomon.jpg|right|thumb|300px|In [[Rebecca Solomon]]'s 1851 painting ''The Governess'', the title figure (seated right, with her charge) exhibits the modest dress and deportment appropriate to her quasi-invisible role in the Victorian household.]]
{{Childcare}}

A '''governess''' is a woman employed as a [[private tutor]], who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching; depending on terms of their employment, they may or may not fulfill the limited role of an [[au pair]], [[Cook (domestic worker)|cook]], and/or [[maid]] as a secondary function. In contrast to a [[nanny]], the primary role of a governess is teaching, rather than meeting the physical needs of children; hence a governess is usually in charge of school-aged children, rather than babies.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/tv/outbackhouse/txt/s1378699.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080321011452/http://www.abc.net.au/tv/outbackhouse/txt/s1378699.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 21, 2008 |title=A Governess's Duties |work=[[Outback House]] ([[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]])}}</ref>

The position of governess used to be common in affluent European families before the [[First World War]], especially in the countryside where no suitable school existed nearby and when parents preferred to educate their children at home rather than send them away to [[boarding school]] for months at a time, and varied across time and countries. Governesses were usually in charge of girls and younger boys. When a boy was old enough, he left his governess for a male [[tutor]] or a school.

Governesses are rarer now, except within [[great house|large and wealthy households]] or royal families such as the [[House of Saud|Saudi royal family]]<ref>{{cite book |title=Desert Governess: An Inside View on the Saudi Arabian Royal Family |last=Ellis |first=Phyllis |year=2000 |publisher=Eye Books |location=London |isbn=1-903070-01-5 }}</ref> and in remote regions such as [[outback]] Australia.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Harris, Julia |url=http://www.abc.net.au/westqld/stories/s1220741.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050308222122/http://www.abc.net.au/westqld/stories/s1220741.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2005-03-08 |title=A career as a Governess? What skills do you need? |work=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |date=15 October 2004}}</ref> There has been a recent resurgence amongst wealthy families worldwide to employ governesses or full-time tutors. The reasons for this include personal security, the benefits of a tailored education, and the flexibility to travel or live in multiple locations.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/4995583/Return-of-the-governess-as-parents-look-to-give-children-exam-advantage.html |title=Return of the governess as parents look to give children exam advantage |work=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]], Telegraph.co.uk |date=15 March 2009}}</ref>

==Role==
Traditionally, governesses taught "[[the three Rs]]" (reading, writing, and arithmetic)<ref>{{cite book |title=Life in Old Virginia; A Description of Virginia More Particularly the Tidewater Section, Narrating Many Incidents Relating to the Manners and Customs of Old Virginia so Fast Disappearing As a Result of the War between the States, Together with Many Humorous Stories |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeinoldvir00mcdo |last1=McDonald |first1=James Joseph |first2=J. A. C. |last2=Chandler |year=1907 |publisher=Old Virginia Pub. Co. |location=Norfolk, Va |page=[https://archive.org/details/lifeinoldvir00mcdo/page/241 241]}}</ref> to young children. They also taught the "accomplishments" expected of [[upper-class]] and [[middle-class]] women to the young girls under their care, such as French or another language, the piano or another musical instrument, and often [[painting]] (usually the more ladylike watercolours, rather than oils) or poetry. It was also possible for other (usually male) teachers with specialist knowledge and skills to be brought in, such as a drawing master or dancing master.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

===In the United Kingdom===
In the [[Victorian era|Victorian]] household, the governess was neither a [[servant (domestic)|servant]] nor a member of the host family. She worked in the [[Social structure of the United Kingdom#Upper class|upper-class home]] of the [[landed gentry]] or aristocracy. She herself had a middle-class background and education, yet was paid for her services. As a sign of this social limbo, she frequently ate on her own, away from both the family and the servants. By definition, a governess was an unmarried woman who lived in someone else's home, which meant that she was subject to their rules. In any case, she had to maintain an impeccable reputation by avoiding anything which could embarrass or offend her employers. If a particular governess was young and beautiful, the lady of the house might well perceive a potential threat to her marriage and enforce the governess's [[social exclusion]] more rigorously. As a result of these various restrictions, the lifestyle of the typical Victorian governess was often one of social isolation and solitude, without the opportunity to make friends. The fact that her presence in the household was underpinned by an employment contract emphasized that she could never truly be part of the host family.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

However, being a governess was one of the few legitimate ways by which an unmarried, middle-class woman could support herself in Victorian society.<ref name=refgov>{{Cite ODNB |last=McDermid |first=Jane |title=Bennett, Sarah (1797–1861), governess |date=2004-09-23 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-49144 |access-date=2023-04-20 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/49144 |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The majority of governesses were women whose fortunes had drastically declined (e.g. [[Sarah Bennett]]<ref name=refgov/>), due to perhaps the death of their father or both of their parents, or the failure of the family business, and had no relatives willing to take them in. Her position was often depicted as one to be pitied, and the only way out of it was to get married. It was difficult for a governess to find a suitable husband because most of the eligible men she encountered were her social superiors, who preferred a bride from within their own social class, particularly since such women generally had better financial resources.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

Once a governess's charges grew up, she had to seek a new position, or, exceptionally, might be retained by a grown daughter as a [[Lady's companion|paid companion]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

===British governesses outside the United Kingdom===
An option for the more adventurous was to find an appointment abroad. There is also some allusion to the phenomenon of governesses being engaged abroad in ''A galaxy of governesses'' by Bea Howe.<ref>{{cite book |author=Howe, Bea |year=1954 |title=A galaxy of governesses |location=London |publisher=D. Verschoyle}}</ref>

The [[Russian Empire]] proved to be a relatively well-paid option for many. According to [[Harvey Pitcher]] in ''When Miss Emmie was in Russia: English Governesses before, during and after the October Revolution'',<ref name=Pitcher>{{cite book |author=Pitcher, Harvey |year=1977 |title=When Miss Emmie was in Russia: English Governesses before, during and after the October Revolution |ISBN=1906011494}}</ref> as many as thousands of English-speaking governesses went there. The estimate of numbers ('thousands'), although necessarily vague, is justified by some knowledge of the main [[lodging house]] used by those not accommodated with their host families, [[St. Andrew's Anglican Church, Moscow#Early history|St. Andrew's House, Moscow]], and by the places of worship they preferentially frequented, for example [[St. Andrew's Anglican Church, Moscow|the church associated with the House]]. Pitcher drew extensively on the archives of the [[Queen's College, London#History|Governesses' Benevolent Institution]] in London.<ref name=Pitcher/>

==Notable governesses==
[[File:Marian Hubbard Daisy Bell and Elsie May Bell with governess.jpg|thumb|upright|The daughters of [[Alexander Graham Bell]] with their governess, c. 1885.]]

*[[Katherine Swynford]] ({{circa|1350}} – 1403), governess to the children of [[John of Gaunt]], became his mistress and the mother of his Beaufort children; after some time, the couple married, and eventually the children were legitimised. She was a great-great grandmother of [[Henry VII of England]] through his mother [[Lady Margaret Beaufort]].
*[[Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury]] (1473–1541), governess to the future Queen [[Mary I of England]]. They were also third cousins.
*[[Kat Ashley]] (circa 1502 – 1565), governess to Queen [[Elizabeth I of England]].
*[[Madame de Maintenon]] (1635–1719), who became the last mistress of [[Louis XIV of France]], gained entry to his [[Social network|inner circle]] as governess to his illegitimate offspring, the children of [[Madame de Montespan]].
*[[Jane Gardiner]] (1758–1840), from her mid-teens governess to the daughters of [[Sir Mordaunt Martin, 4th Baronet|Lady Martin]], and from 1780 to the children of [[Henry Fox-Strangways, 2nd Earl of Ilchester|Lord Ilchester]]. She was succeeded in this second post by [[Agnes Porter]], whose memoirs were reprinted in 1998 as ''A Governess in the Age of [[Jane Austen]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Porter|first1=Anne |title=A Governess in the Age of Jane Austen: The Journals and Letters of Agnes Porter |date=1998 |publisher=A&C Black}}</ref>
*[[Mary Wollstonecraft]] (1759–1797), author of the early feminist classic ''[[A Vindication of the Rights of Woman]]'', worked as a governess in the household of the Anglo-Irish Kingsborough family, where she greatly influenced [[Margaret King]].
*[[Maria Flaxman]] (1768–1833), artist, governess to the children of [[Georgiana Hare-Naylor]] and [[Francis Hare-Naylor]] while the family lived on the Continent
*Baroness [[Louise Lehzen]] (1784–1870) and [[Charlotte Percy, Duchess of Northumberland]] (1787–1866), governesses to the future [[Queen Victoria]].
*[[Anna Brownell Jameson]] (1794–1860), who became a well-known British writer on a range of subjects including early [[feminism]]
*[[Anna Leonowens]] (1831–1915), governess to the harem of [[Mongkut]] (King of what is now Thailand). Her memoirs were later novelised as ''[[Anna and the King of Siam (book)|Anna and the King of Siam]]'', which in turn inspired the musical drama ''[[The King and I]]''.
*[[Edith Cavell]] (1865–1915) worked first as a governess before she trained as a nurse
*[[Anne Sullivan]] (1866–1936), the so-called ''[[The Miracle Worker|Miracle Worker]]'', who educated the remarkable [[deaf and blind]] girl [[Helen Keller]].
*[[Maria Sklodowska - Curie]] (1867–1934), who worked as a governess in multiple households to fund her education, later became one of the most influential women in the history of science.<ref name="psb112">{{cite book |title=Polski słownik biograficzny, vol. 4|pages=112|first=Tadeusz|last=Estreicher|author-link=Tadeusz Estreicher|language=pl|chapter=Curie, Maria ze Skłodowskich|year=1938|title-link=Polski słownik biograficzny}}</ref>
*[[Maria von Trapp]] (1905–1987), the real-life inspiration for ''[[The Sound of Music]]''.
*[[Marion Crawford]] ("Crawfie") (1909–1988), governess of [[Queen Elizabeth II]] and [[Princess Margaret]].

==Fictional==
===Novels===
Several well-known works of fiction, particularly in the nineteenth century, have focused on governesses.<ref>{{cite web |author=Lecaros, Cecilia Wadsö |url=http://www.victorianweb.org/gender/wadso2.html |title=The Victorian Governess Novel |website=www.victorianweb.org}}</ref>

*''[[The Governess, or The Little Female Academy]]'' (1749) is a collection of short stories for children, by [[Sarah Fielding]]
*[[Jane Austen]]'s novel ''[[Emma (novel)|Emma]]'' (1815) opens with the eponymous heroine losing Miss Taylor, the governess who had become a family companion, to marriage with Mr. Weston. Later, Jane Fairfax feels the threat of being forced to become a governess if her covert attachment to Frank Churchill all comes to nothing.
*[[Mary Martha Sherwood]] wrote a revised version of ''The Governess, or The Little Female Academy'' in 1820.
*[[Jane Eyre (character)|Jane Eyre]], the protagonist in [[Charlotte Brontë]]'s [[Jane Eyre|novel of that name]] (1847), serves as a governess to the ward of her future husband, Edward Fairfax Rochester.
*''[[Agnes Grey]]'' by [[Anne Brontë]] the same year, portrays a more realistic view of what life for a governess was like. 
*Becky Sharp, the main character in [[William Makepeace Thackeray]]'s novel ''[[Vanity Fair (novel)|Vanity Fair]]'' (1847–48), is employed as a governess.
*Madame de la Rougierre is the wicked and mentally unbalanced French governess to heiress orphan Maud Ruthyn in [[Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu]]'s gothic novel ''[[Uncle Silas]]'' (1864).
*Stiva, the brother of the eponymous heroine in ''[[Anna Karenina]]'' (1878), had an affair with his children's governess.
*[[Henry James]]'s most famous governess is the over-sensitive and perhaps hysterical protagonist in ''[[The Turn of the Screw]] (1898).''
*Two of the [[Sherlock Holmes]] stories tell the tales of governesses: Violet Hunter, in "[[The Adventure of the Copper Beeches]]", and Violet Smith, in "[[The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist]]". In addition, [[Mary Morstan]], the wife of [[Dr. John Watson]], used to be a governess.
*Dante serves as governess to [[Stephen Dedalus]] and his siblings in [[James Joyce]]'s ''[[A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man]]'' (1916).
*In [[Winifred Watson]]'s novel ''[[Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (novel)|Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day]]'' (1938), the title character is a life-long governess who unexpectedly finds other employment.
*[[Patricia Wentworth]]'s [[Miss Silver]] series of novels, features Maud Silver as a governess turned private enquiry agent.
*[[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' series features a governess named [[Susan Sto Helit]].
*[[Eva Ibbotson]]'s [[children's literature|children's novel]] ''[[Journey to the River Sea]]'' (2001) features Arabella Minton as governess to the main character.
*[[Michel Faber]]'s [[historical fiction]] ''[[The Crimson Petal and the White]]'' (2002) features a clever woman, Sugar, who climbs improbably from prostitution to governess
*In [[Libba Bray]]'s ''[[Gemma Doyle Trilogy]]'' (2003–2007), the title character's orphaned friend is brought up to be a governess.
*[[Diane Setterfield]]'s [[Gothic fiction|gothic]] suspense novel ''[[The Thirteenth Tale]]'' (2006) develops parallels with ''Jane Eyre'', including the role of the governess.
*In the [[Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont]]'s writing ''Containing Dialogues between a Governess and Several Young Ladies of Quality Her Scholars'', which was published in ''The Young Misses Magazine'', she writes about the polite talks between Ms. Bonne and her class.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DmwEAAAAYAAJ |website=The Young Misses Magazine at books.google.com |access-date=8 December 2020 |title = The Young Misses Magazine:|quote=Containing Dialogues Between a Governess and Several Young Ladies of Quality, Her Scholars. : In which Each Lady is Made to Speak According to Her Particular Genius, Temper, and Inclination: Their Several Faults are Pointed Out, and the Easy Way to Mend Them, as Well as to Think, and Speak, and Act Properly; No Less Care Being Taken to Form Their Hearts to Goodness, Than to Enlighten Their Understandings with Useful Knowledge. : A Short and Clear Abridgement is Also Given of Sacred and Profane History, and Some Lessons in Geography. : The Useful is Blended Throughout with the Agreeable, the Whole Being Interspersed with Proper Reflections and Moral Tales. Vol. I&#91;-II&#93;|year = 1800}}</ref>

===In film===
* ''[[The Governess]]'' is a 1998 British [[period piece|period]] [[Drama (film and television)|drama film]] written and directed by [[Sandra Goldbacher]].
* Maggie Evans/Victoria Winters is hired to be governess to David Collins in the 2012 film [[Dark Shadows (film)|''Dark Shadows'']].
*''[[Miss Mary (1986 film)|Miss Mary]]'' (1986) stars [[Julie Christie]] as the eponymous English governess in pre-Peron Argentina.
*[[The Sound of Music (film)|''The Sound of Music'']] (1965) stars [[Julie Andrews]] as [[Maria von Trapp]]. Set in Austria in 1938, a young woman studying to become a nun, is sent to become the governess to the seven Trapp children.

===In television===
*Soap opera ''[[Dark Shadows]]'' featured the character Victoria Winters as the governess to David Collins.
*  In ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'', Captain [[Kathryn Janeway]] spends recreation time playing the role of a governess, Lucille Davenport, on the [[holodeck]]
* The Victorian version of [[Clara Oswald]] in the 2012 ''[[Doctor Who]]'' Christmas special ''[[The Snowmen]]'' was a governess to Captain Latimer's children.

==Other uses==
The term "governess" is an archaic [[Gender marking in job titles|gendered job title]] for a politician; now the word "[[governor]]" is used for men or women. For example, [[Keʻelikōlani]] was known as the [[Governors of Hawaii (island)|governess of Hawaii]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Staley|first1=Thomas Nettleship |title=Five Years' Church Work in the Kingdom of Hawaii |date=1868 |page=108 |url=http://anglicanhistory.org/hawaii/staley1868/07.html |access-date=31 October 2016}}</ref>

[[Anne Hegerty]], one of the Chasers on [[The Chase (UK game show)|the British]] and [[The Chase Australia|Australian version]]s of ''The Chase'', is nicknamed "The Governess".<ref name="bradleywalsh.co.uk">{{cite web |url=http://www.bradleywalsh.co.uk/tv-the-chase-meet-the-chasers.php |title=The Chase – Meet the Chasers |publisher=Bradley Walsh |access-date=28 July 2014}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Education}}
*[[English Nanny & Governess School]]
*[[Home schooling]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Brandon |first=Ruth |title=Other People's Daughters: The Lives And Times Of The Governess |year=2008 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Broughton |first1=Trev |first2=Ruth |last2=Symes |title=The Governess: An Anthology |location=Stroud |publisher=Sutton |year=1997 |isbn=0-7509-1503-X }}
* Budde, Gunilla (2018), [http://ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/europe-on-the-road/economic-migration/gunilla-budde-traveling-teachers-in-europe-gouvernanten-governesses-and-gouvernantes?set_language=en&-C= Traveling teachers in Europe: Gouvernanten, governesses, and gouvernantes], [http://www.ieg-ego.eu/ EGO – European History Online], Mainz: [http://www.ieg-mainz.de/likecms/index.php Institute of European History], retrieved: March 25, 2021 ([https://d-nb.info/1175561932/34 pdf]).
*{{cite book |last=Hughes |first=Kathryn |title=The Victorian Governess |location=London |publisher=Hambledon |year=1993 |isbn=1-85285-002-7 }}
*{{cite book |last=Peterson |first=M. Jeanne |chapter=The Victorian Governess: Status Incongruence in Family and Society |title=Suffer and Be Still: Women In the Victorian Age |editor-link=Martha Vicinus |editor-first=Martha |editor-last=Vicinus |location=Bloomington |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=1972 |isbn=0-253-35572-9 }}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Governesses}}
*[http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/govness.html The Victorian Governess, a bibliography, at Victorian Web]
*[http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/a-teachers-resource-victorian-social-life-from-paintings/ VAM.ac.uk], Richard Redgrave's 'The Governess' discussed at the [[V&A Museum]].

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Domestic work]]
[[Category:Education and training occupations]]
[[Category:Gendered occupations]]
[[Category:Governesses| ]]