The Governesses: Letters From the Colonies 1862–1882 by Patricia Clarke

Book Description

Secondhand. Good condition. Wear to book corners and edges. Previous owner has stamped inside page. Dust jacket has creasing at edges and at spine. Small tear at spine top now protected with book tape. Interior and binding are still very good.

In the second half ot the nineteenth century, a number of women sponsored by the Female Middle Class Emigration Society left Britain to seek a better life in the colonies. Unmarried and unemployed, they were among the many educated, genteel women who in an overcrowded market in Victorian England, were endeavouring to find work as governesses, then one of the few occupations open to them.

The governesses borrowed money from the Society for their fares, and when repaying their loans, the women reported on life as they saw it during the years 1862-1882. The governesses found that the demand for their services was grossly overrated. The women tell of the desolation of being without work in a strange country and the satisfaction of finding employment.