tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post2349336775114277063..comments2023-10-12T02:21:40.102-07:00Comments on English Historical Fiction Authors: The Life of the Governess: Selina Trimmer Debra Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03256313302199653185noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-58444664352972136602017-01-23T06:30:03.764-08:002017-01-23T06:30:03.764-08:00Lady Spencer was indeed acquainted with Sarah Trim...Lady Spencer was indeed acquainted with Sarah Trimmer, Selina’s mother, having been an early visitor to Sarah’s Sunday School at Brentford in 1786. So inspired was she, apparently, that she wished to open a similar school in St. Albans. The long series of letters between Lady Spencer and her friend Caroline Howe, now in the British Library (Add MS. 75610-67), show that within 18 months Selina was being taken into the Cavendish household at Lady Spencer’s behest. “She is modest & well bred & the only objection I see is that I fear her health is not good” she wrote on 1st July 1788, “the Duke of Devonshire was struck as we were with her manner … she is to be with me while they are abroad by way of tryal. She is a great acquisition to me as she reads aloud well & would read for ever if I would let her.” It was not just a question of character; Lady Spencer would surely have seen Selina at work in the Brentford Sunday School, and was aware that Selina had been largely responsible for bringing up and teaching her youngest siblings as soon as her mother started writing. Sarah Trimmer’s background was not entirely genteel. Though her talented father Joshua Kirby was clerk of the works at Kew Palace, author of a book on architectural perspective and a tutor to the future George III when he was the Prince of Wales, he was from a fairly humble background in Suffolk, seemingly starting out in life as a house painter. And Sarah’s husband was a brickmaker, albeit a successful and prosperous one, with a yard next to Brentford Bridge. It’s a measure of both the social fluidity of Georgian London, and of Sarah’s evident self-confidence, that she could be at home next to the dust and noise of the brickyard and then have an audience with the Queen at Windsor. In Lady Spencer’s opinion, given in a note found in a copy of Mrs Trimmer’s memoirs, Sarah “deserves a statue for her endeavours to mend the World much more than all the Conquerors who have helped to destroy it.” Sarah’s School of Industry in Brentford is still there, just along the High St west of the bridge, though it is now in a highly precarious state with an uncertain future. There is a short biography of Selina by Virginia Woolf, included in her ‘The Captain’s Death Bed And Other Essays’ published in 1950. Selina’s lasting influence on her Cavendish charges can perhaps be seen in the later presentation by ‘Hart’, when he became the Duke of Devonshire, of a number of her nephews to church livings in his gift. One was the son of Selina’s dearly loved youngest brother, Henry, my 3x great grandfather.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18266775223655918749noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-55145325696163114982016-12-09T22:29:16.241-08:002016-12-09T22:29:16.241-08:00Selina Trimmer sounds like a tragic figure. If eve...Selina Trimmer sounds like a tragic figure. If ever there was a quintessential example of a governess--she personifies it. I have read a lot about the Devonshire's, the Bessboroughs, and the lambs--yet I never once read a letter written by Selina. I don't know her voice, her writing style--nor even her sense of personhood. I am left with authors inferences, opinions, and my own speculations. The over whelming evidence can be seen as she was countryish----not very clever otherwise her letters would have surfaced one way or the other. Another thing is-I suspect she was extremely shy, but people like Fanny, and Elizabeth Foster might construe it as arrogance or haughty affectations.<br /> In my humble opinion--the unsung heroine here is Georgiana Margarent poyntz. aka Lady Spencer. Quite the quintessential patriarch iron heart queen of a typical English 18th century arch-type.Lady BlackLipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01794206827456473360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-58816235252680428702016-12-09T22:20:42.883-08:002016-12-09T22:20:42.883-08:00Miss Trimmer sounds like a tragic figure. If ever ...Miss Trimmer sounds like a tragic figure. If ever there was a quintessential formula for a governess, it is her. I have read so much of the Devonshire's, the Bess boroughs, the lambs and the fosters--that I know almost everything about them. Yet, with all the readings-- I never read a single letter of Selina. I don't know her voice or her style of writing. Fanny's catty comments about her should be taken with a grain of a sault. It was jealous of Selina's successes into the social stratosphere. At least an a twisted interpretation of the success. Lady BlackLipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01794206827456473360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-32289998852135304272016-05-18T03:16:59.836-07:002016-05-18T03:16:59.836-07:00Caroline was a rather sad character, I think. I a...Caroline was a rather sad character, I think. I appreciate your comments!<br />Lauren Gilberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02938146663557663891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2456802468539868519.post-33409094801525378572016-05-17T05:39:35.121-07:002016-05-17T05:39:35.121-07:00Quite interesting. I had neither read nor heard m...Quite interesting. I had neither read nor heard much about Miss Trimmer except for her name and her mother's works. That the duke's two legitimate daughters turned out well and that one never heard a breath of scandal about either testifies to the influence of Miss Trimmer- at least partially. It is difficult to discover the truth about Lady Caroline because she lied about so many things. According to her she wasn't to be taught yet she was able to read at the same level as her cousins when she first picked up a book.She was adept at making up stories. I wonder how much money the mother made from her writing. Of course, with 12 children and all the charities , it didn't go far. I can see how a girl who was one of the oldest of 12 wouldn't be anxious to marry.Regencyresearcherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10828749339318882968noreply@blogger.com