Sex and sensibility in cultural history: the English governess and the lunatic asylum, 1845-1914.
This chapter is concerned with the experience of the Victorian governess and other female teachers in the lunatic asylum during the Victorian period. There is now a formidable and complex literature on the governess but little discussion of her experience behind the walls of the asylum. The chapter offers two kinds of comparison: the distinctive pattern of care of governesses in three different institutions in Victorian Devon; and secondly, the progress of those identified as 'governess' with other groups of female teachers in the same period. A number of interesting contrasts emerge. The evidence also indicates the importance of cultural and social influences in the construction of the persona of the female teacher.
Melling
Joseph
J
Centre for Medical History at the University of Exeter.
D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders / Q000266:history; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006663:Historiography; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000266:history*; D006801:Humans; D008513:Medicine in Literature; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000266:history / Q000628:therapy; D012737:Sex Factors; D012945:Social Values; D016387:Women's Health / Q000266:history*; D014931:Women, Working / Q000266:history*