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A Victorian pair

June 24th, 2009 Lisa - Central

Before this month, I’d never heard of the Reform Firm.  That was the name of a group of women in the Victorian era who fought to improve women’s education, among other feminist causes.  During this time when all women were supposed to be married and the property of their husbands, those who couldn’t marry had very few choices.  One of those few choices was becoming a governess.  The English Woman’s Journal was founded by two members of the Reform Firm, Barbara Leigh Smith and Bessie Rayner Parkes; they were hoping to influence old legislation that prevented women from owning property after marriage and kept women and girls from attending public schools.  The Journal was published by the Victoria Press, which was run by Emily Faithfull; through the journal and the press, the women were able to employ many women to prove their theories by putting them into action. 

Coincidentally, the last two books I’ve read involved these interesting women.  Governess: The Lives and Times of the Real Jane Eyres, Ruth Brandon includes a chapter on the women of the Reform Firm.  Actually, the book takes up with governesses much earlier.  Brandon, analyzing journals, letters and literature of the time, recreates the sad lives most governesses led.  She begins with Mary Wollstonecraft, author of The Vindication of the Rights of Women, who actually spent a short time as a governess before her writing career took off, and includes Claire Clairmont (Lord Byron’s mistress); Anna Leonowens, the model for The King and I, among others.  Brandon shows how precarious governesses’ lives were; always at the whim of their employers, they could be fired for any reason - getting on the wrong side of the mother, for example.  As the middle class grew in the Industrial Revolution, more families were able to hire governesses to educate their girls, but they didn’t have the large estates that the wealthy did.  As a result, governesses were forced to live intimately with the families, causing much strife.  And wages dropped to unliveable levels.  The final chapter tells how the Reform Firm began to work at challenging the social mores regarding women’s education, though it was still many years before schools allowed girls in.

The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue is a novel based on an illustrious divorce case in 1864.  Helen Smith, British, but raised in Italy and India, captured the heart of a much older man, the Vice-Admiral Henry Codrington.  They have a few good years of marriage and have two daughters.  The Admiral is often away for long periods of time at sea.  During one of those absences, Helen invites a good friend of the family, Emily Faithfull!! (she of the Victoria Press above), to live with her and keep her company.  By the time Henry comes back Helen is tired of her husband and when the arguments ensue, Emily is asked to leave.  Eventually the family is off to Malta on assignment, where Helen begins to “befriend,” if you know what I mean, a few of the officers.  When the family eventually returns to London, one of the officers follows, and Helen is caught.  The divorce was an incredible scandal, the trial sensational with accusations of rape and a lesbian affair.  Though Emily remained a force in the feminist movement until her death, her name was always associated with the scandal.

Both books were incredibly good.  Brandon writes a remarkably interesting and readable social history of a small aspect of the lives of Victorian women.  Donoghue captures Victorian England so well, fitting in period details without interrupting the flow of the story.  All three of her characters have been perfectly rendered; no one is the victim or the victor, each is a unique individual with a complex personality.  For those as interested as I am in the Victorian age, add these to your list.

Entry Filed under: Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Nonfiction