00:10 - The Governess 02:10 - What kind of women became governesses? 02:55 - What kind of people employed governesses? 03:25 - Betwixt and between 05:05 - Depictions of the governess in 19th century literature
Great! I was looking to learn a little more about governesses in a short amount of time, and now I know a little more about governesses. I had assumed that they were lumped in with servants, and I hadn't considered that their necessary "respectability" would alienate them from the other servants. Loved the last section about why governesses were popular subjects for stories of the time.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
What's wrong with people just invite her to dinner? And while we're at it pay her enough to be able to get clothes repaired and allow her to go out and make some friends. 😝
Often those who were not rich enough to hire a professional tailor or seamstress would repair or create their own clothing. Corsets were a very different issue and were usually not homemade. Cloth was very costly new before the industrialization of weaving, and repurposing the fabric of old cast off clothing was more common.
I read that a lot of governesses were bitterly resentful of their role, because many of them were women from formerly well-off families who had lost their money, and to go from living a luxurious lifestyle in a grand home with servants waiting on them to drifting from home to home, living under someone's roof and being in a limbo where they were not servants but not equals to their employers was incredibly galling for them.
