Skip to main content
  1. The Dictionary of Sydney
  2. Multimedia
  3. 'Wanted a Governess', in England 1850-54

'Wanted a Governess', in England 1850-54

By
Florence Caxton
From the collections of the
State Library of New South Wales
[V* / Cart / 37b]
(Jeames with highbred indifference 'Please yer La'ship were quite full up to the Breakfast room/ and lib'ry and theres more young wimmin in the 'All') (Mitchell Library)

Browse

  • Browse
    • Artefacts
    • Buildings
    • Events
    • Natural Features
    • Organisations
    • People
    • Places
    • Structures
    • Entries
    • Multimedia
    • Subjects
    • Roles
    • Contributors
Connections
Appears in
Governesses
Subjects
Education Women

Footer

  • Home
  • About
  • Copyright
  • Contact

Footer Secondary

  • Contribute
  • Donate

Caxton, Florence

State Library of New South Wales

Governesses

Working as a governess was one of the few respectable occupations for middle-class women in the nineteenth century, but governesses were placed in a difficult social position, living with the families they worked for, but not being regarded as on the same level. The women who came to Sydney as governesses were the main providers of education for girls, and their roles and attainments changed as attitudes to women's education altered over the century.

Education

Women