Governess

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A governess is a female employee from outside of the family who teaches children within the family circle. In contrast to nanny or babysitter, she is concentrated on teaching and training children, usually the "accomplishments" expected of middle class woman at the time. This may include the French language or another language, the piano or another musical instrument and often painting or poetry. When a boy is old enough, he leaves his governess for a tutor.

A governess was in an awkward position in the Victorian household, neither quite a servant nor a member of the family. She had a middle class background and education, like the family who employed her, but she was paid and not really part of the family.

Being a governess was one of the few legitimate ways an unmarried middle class woman could support herself in Victorian England.

In the past some have also used the term "governess" to refer to a female politician who serves as governor, but the term is now exclusively used to refer to solely female family teacher, with the term "governor" being used in politics for both male and females.

Madame de Maintenon, the last mistress of Louis XIV of France gained entry to the king's inner circle as governess to his illegitimate children who were from another mistress of his, Madame de Montespan.

Several well-known novels have focused on governesses, including Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre and her sister Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey. Henry James's most famous governess is the over-sensitive, perhaps hysterical one in The Turn of the Screw. Maria, the main character in The Sound of Music, is originally a governess.

Governess

See also