The heroine, Miss Victoria Whitchurch, of Lost in the Lyon’s Garden, has left her position in a girls’ school in Bath to come to London to assist her sister. There, purely by accident, she meets the hero, Lord Benjamin Thompson, and their paths continue to cross until they are PERFECT together. LOL! This is a mystery series, but that does not mean there cannot also have a bit of romance, and our hero was not raised to be an earl. Rather he was a vicar’s son, and with a bit of irony only an author can inject into a story, Miss Whitchurch is a vicar’s daughter. I said it was PERFECT, but you were skeptical, weren’t you?

Exactly what type of education might a student in an all girls school in the Regency expect to gain and who might be their teachers?

Let us first have a quick look at the kind of education available. Jane Austen in Pride and Prejudice tells us Caroline Bingley was educated at “one of the first private seminaries” in London during the Regency era, a type of institution that focused on “accomplishments” like music, drawing, dancing, and modern languages rather than deep academic learning. While the Bingley family’s new wealth allowed for such schooling, the curriculum was seen as somewhat outdated, emphasizing etiquette and social graces over intellectual pursuits, which contrasted with the more practical and modern approach to education some families of the gentry and aristocracy adopted. 

Austen describes Bingley’s sisters as such: “They were in fact very fine ladies; not deficient in good-humour when they were pleased, nor in the power of being agreeable where they chose it, but proud and conceited. They were rather handsome, had been educated in one of the first private seminaries in town, had a fortune of twenty thousand pounds, were in the habit of spending more than they ought, and of associating with people of rank, and were therefore in every respect entitled to think well of themselves, and meanly of others. “

“Decorum … was the imperative law of a lady’s inner life as well as her outer habits; … nothing that was not decorous was for a moment admitted. Every movement of the body in entering and quitting a room, in taking a seat and rising from it, was duly criticized.” (From a firsthand account, quoted in Wives and Daughters by Joanna Martin) Education of Upper-Class Women in the Regency

Other Sources which may prove helpful:

Caroline Bingley and female education

Education of Upper-Class Women in the Regency

In the Regency era (roughly 1811-1820), female teachers were primarily employed as governesses or schoolmistresses in private academies and seminaries for girls. Governesses lived with families to teach their children, offering security but often little independence or social standing, while schoolmistresses ran independent schools, which could lead to more financial freedom but were less secure. Both roles were among the few professional options for educated women and required a solid education, sometimes gained by boarding at a school itself.
 

A governess was an educated woman who lived in a family’s home and taught the children in the household, who were often of the same social class as the governess, but more affluent than her family. Governesses were in a “no man’s land” in the household, neither fully part of the family nor the servants. They, therefore, often faced social isolation, as well as jealousy, if the men of the household began to show the woman favor. They were, generally, provided with room and board and a steady salary, but the job was very demanding, especially if there was a large number of children, and there was little to no opportunity for saving enough to escape one’s station, nor a retirement plan, nor a chance to marry elsewhere.

A schoolmistress ran a private boarding school for the daughters of the middle or upper class. These schools could be called “Ladies’ Seminaries.” Competition grew during the late Georgian era, for more and more middle class and gentry recognized the advantage of also educating their daughters. For the young women involved, it was an opportunity to see part of the world. The schools offered a degree of independence, often for the girls moving from boarder at the school to teaching within one.

Qualifications and Background 

• Education: Women seeking these positions typically had a good, though sometimes questionable, boarding school education.
• Social Standing: Often were impoverished gentlewomen, poor relatives of the clergy, or intelligent former students who needed an income.
• Family Connections: Some schools were family affairs, with daughters inheriting the position from their mothers or aunts.

Limited Options

• Teaching, either as a governess or schoolmistress, was one of the very few professions deemed respectable for women in the Regency era. 
• The emphasis on “accomplishments” like music, drawing, and languages in girls’ education was a way to display family status and make a woman suitable for marriage, which was the primary goal for most women.