ABSTRACT
It was only in the early 18th century that the term "governess" came to refer specifically to a woman who taught. It is suggestive that this new usage appeared just as the charity school movement was transforming the teaching of the poor into a distinct, full-time occupation. Contemporary usage of the terms "governess" and "schoolmistress" reflected, if imperfectly, the confusing structure of this occupational group in the early Victorian period. "Governesses" were supposed to be ladies. Private governesses and teachers in girls' schools attended by the daughters of the upper classes were supposed to be "poor ladies". When contemporaries wished to characterize unreformed private schools and schoolmistresses, they turned to homely analogies. The content of the education offered by lady-teachers reflected the leisured, ornamental role deemed appropriate to a lady. Young ladies in the 19th century were not apt to acquire a philosophic bent as a result of their musical studies.
