Most governesses lived with their employers and were paid a small salary on top of their board and lodging. When novelists started to put governesses into their fiction, in the 1840s, that was truly when people took notice!

Where does the governess come from?

Born to a family of humble means in the English countryside, the governess lived a sheltered life until she left for London to pursue the employment opportunity she settled on at Bly.

Is a female governor called a governess?

The term "governess" is an archaic gendered job title for a politician; now the word "governor" is used for men or women.