School Mistresses and Governesses' Benevolent Institution
The School Mistresses and Governesses' Benevolent Institution (abbreviated SGBI ) is a British aid organization that supports people who have taught at a non-public school or who have worked as private tutors. The organization was founded in 1841 as Governesses' Benevolent Institution with the aim of supporting governesses in distress and providing them with a home in case of illness or old age. It was founded at a time when so many wealthy middle-class women in Great Britain were forced to resort to this profession that it was called “governess misery”. The charity's prominent supporters included the British writer Charles Dickens and the British Queen Mary .
The organization still maintains an old people's and nursing home to this day.
background
With the rise of the bourgeois class, from the end of the 18th century it became common not only in the aristocratic but increasingly also in the bourgeois classes to entrust the education of daughters to a governess. For women of the educated middle class, this activity was one of the few opportunities to pursue an appropriate profession for two centuries. It was almost entirely seized by women who at some point in their biography did not have a father, husband or brother to support themselves and who therefore had to or wanted to fend for themselves. The economic problems of wealthy women belonging to the upper middle class were particularly pronounced in Great Britain. After 1830, the number of women who wanted or had to work as governess far exceeded the available positions. On the one hand, this oversupply was the result of a series of economic crises in which the wealth of many families dwindled. On the other hand, it was also due to an imbalance between men and women who were capable and willing to marry. So many women were forced to earn their livelihood in this way that one spoke of “governess misery”. This was understood to mean material hardship, an offense of self-esteem due to the low reputation of this profession, disregard of their individual needs and the struggle for a professional job in a job market that offered women only very limited opportunities compared to men.
The oversupply of governesses had a significant impact on the salaries for which women were forced to take jobs. At a time when an annual income of £ 300 was typical for the middle class, a few governesses received £ 80 a year. However, according to an investigation, the earnings of most governesses were well below that. Charlotte Brontë worked for an annual salary of £ 20 in 1841, of which £ 4 was deducted for washing her laundry. Harriet Martineau reported in 1860 about several families she knew who paid her governess between eight and twelve pounds a year.
The low income meant that governesses had limited ability to provide for old age or illness. A governess would have to assume that she would only find employment until the age of forty or fifty. Almost all counselors for governesses therefore advised her to set aside money for her old age in good time. If she was paid appropriately, she was usually able to do so. As a study in 1841 showed, however, numerous governesses supported needy parents with their salaries, paid for the education of siblings or jumped at them in financial distress. Many of them were probably able to rely on the solidarity of their families in old age or in the event of illness, but the number of tragic cases left behind in desperate poverty in old age is still high.
In the British census of 1851, 25,000 women identified themselves as governesses. That corresponds to two percent of all unmarried women between the ages of 20 and 40. This comparatively high number suggests that almost every middle-class woman with no other income had to take up this profession. While the employment situation of lower-class women, 750,000 of whom were servants, was not the subject of public discussion at the time, the problems of this relatively small group aroused the particular interest and compassion of the middle-class public.
History of the aid organization
History of the aid organization during the first 100 years of existence
Due to the public attention that attracted the special situation of governesses, the Governesses' Mutual Assurance Society was founded as early as 1829 with the express aim of assisting governesses in distress, especially when they are sick or cannot find work due to old age. The idea was that women would receive aid payments. Donations should also create a fund from which governesses should be able to purchase shares in order to provide for their old age. However, the aid organization did not succeed in obtaining donations and was terminated again in 1838. In 1841 there was a second attempt to found an aid organization for governesses. In addition to the Governesses 'Benevolent Institution , the new establishment also provided for a Governesses' Provident Fund , the latter being intended to provide retirement benefits. Once again, however, it did not succeed in soliciting sufficient donations, so that in 1843 the board of the two aid organizations suggested that the two organizations be merged. To help directly improve the situation of governesses, the organization also helped provide job seekers with suitable positions. There were professional recruitment agencies for this, but it was not uncommon for them to charge more than five percent of an annual salary without giving a guarantee of success. Based on the surveys that the organization carried out as part of this mediation activity, the social origin of this professional group is also documented: the fathers of governesses were mostly merchants, doctors, officers, civil servants, lawyers and notaries as well as pastors.
From 1843, the aid organization initially concentrated on providing governesses in need with direct financial aid. A little later, governesses were also encouraged to buy pension shares with which they were supposed to provide for their old age. In 1844 there was the first beneficiary of such pension payments. In 1845 the aid organization established a dormitory for temporarily unemployed governesses on London's Harley Street . The Harley Street was known for such charities: One of the first hospitals that opened there, 1853 was the short time of Florence Nightingale led establishment for sick gentlewomen who took care also to fallen into distress women of middle class as a charity. The dormitory, which had been on a different London street for its last three years, wasn't closed until 1930.
From 1847 the aid organization governesses also offered evening lectures. The training organization's committee was headed by Frederick Denison Maurice, who held a chair in English history and literature at King's College, London and who gave the first readings. Their success motivated him to found a secondary school for girls in the spring of 1848. The resulting Queen's College is considered to be the first girls' secondary school in Great Britain whose teaching was of high academic standard. The evening lectures for women who were already working as governesses continued in parallel with the school. The school still exists today and remains unchanged on Harley Street.
A retirement home was established in Kentish Town in 1849 but was sold in 1870. The funds were used to create a twelve-house housing estate in Chislehurst, Kent, which was first moved into in 1872. From 1911 this housing estate was named The Home for Retired Governesses , a second renaming took place in 1946 when it was renamed The Queen Mary Homes for Governesses , as the British Queen Mary had sponsored this institution since the beginning of the 20th century. Since a new building in 1966, it has provided space for 44 residents. A second dormitory for governesses was built in 1924 as The Ada Lewis Governesses Homes , when the charity received an inheritance; it was closed in 1967 as a result of the rebuilding of the Queen Mary Home. In 1905 the Governesses' Benevolent Institution also inherited a large house on the Isle of Wight that could be offered to governesses as a vacation home. This house was sold in 1937. With the funds from the sale, a fund was set up, from which governesses received funds in order to be able to go on vacation.
Duties of the aid organization since the end of the Second World War
The number of women working as governesses has steadily decreased since the beginning of the 20th century. The number of governesses who got into an emergency and needed support from the aid organization also fell accordingly. In 1952 the statutes of the organization were changed accordingly in order to be able to support women who had worked as teachers in private schools. The organization was renamed Schoolmistresses and Governesses Benevolent Institution accordingly . Since 1982 women who have not been teaching during their professional life have also been admitted to the old people's homes. However, as before, financial assistance can only be granted to persons who have been teaching at a non-state school or have worked as private teachers for most of their lives. The aid is primarily aimed at British citizens, but aid is also provided to non-British citizens under certain conditions.
Organization headquarters over time
- 1843-1912: 32 Sackville Street, London W
- 1912–1916: Walter House, 418-422 Strand, London WC
- 1916–1934: Dacre House, 5 Arundel Street, Strand, London WC2
- 1934–1959: 58 Victoria Street, London SW1
- 1959–1981: 39 Buckingham Gate, London SW1
- since 1981: Queen Mary House, Manor Park Road, Chislehurst , Kent BR7 5PY
literature
- Ruth Brandon: Other People's Daughters - The Life and Times of the Governess. Phoenix, London 2008, ISBN 978-0-7538-2576-1 .
- Trev Broughton, Ruth Symes: The Governess - An Anthology . Sutton Publishing, Thrupp 1997, ISBN 0-7509-1503-X .
- Irene Hardach-Pinke: The governess: History of a women's profession , Campus, Frankfurt am Main 1993, ISBN 3-593-34929-9 (= history and gender ).
- Kathryn Hughes: The Victorian Governess . The Hambledon Press, London 1993, ISBN 1-85285-002-7 .
- Jane Robinson: Bluestockings: The Remarkable Story of the First Women to Fight for an Education . Viking, London 2009, ISBN 978-0-14-196109-5 .
Web links
- Official website
- History of the Governesses' Benevolent Institution on the UK National Archives website
Single receipts
- ↑ Jane Robinson: Bluestockings: The Remarkable Story of the First Women to Fight for an Education . P. 30
- ↑ Hardach-Pinke: Die Gouvernante: Geschichte eines Frauenberufs , p. 15.
- ^ A b Ruth Brandon: Other People's Daughters - The Life and Times of the Governess , p. 19.
- ↑ Ruth Brandon: Other People's Daughters - The Life and Times of the Governess , pp. 22-23.
- ^ A b Ruth Brandon: Other People's Daughters - The Life and Times of the Governess , p. 1.
- ↑ Lecaros: The Victorian Governess Novel , 2001, p. 20.
- ↑ Hardach-Pinke: Die Gouvernante: Geschichte einer Frauenberufs , p. 16.
- ↑ History of the Governesses' Benevolent Institution on the UK National Archives website, accessed April 25, 2015
- ↑ Hughes: The Victorian Governess. 1993, p. 46.
- ↑ Hughes: The Victorian Governess . 1993, p. 28.
- ↑ History of the Governesses' Benevolent Institution on the UK National Archives website, accessed April 25, 2015
- ↑ Mark Bostridge: Florence Nightingale . Penguin Books, London 2009, ISBN 978-0-140-26392-3 , p. 191
- ↑ Jane Robinson: Bluestockings: The Remarkable Story of the First Women to Fight for an Education . P. 31.