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[Do not bother with this unless assigned unless you just are interested. It definitely will make certain things in the novel clearer. I may or may not do it.]
EDUCATION
Education in nineteenth-century England was not equal - not between the sexes, and not between the classes. Gentlemen would be educated at home by a governess or tutor until they were old enough to attend Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester, Westminster, Charterhouse, or a small handful of lesser schools. The curriculum was heavily weighted towards the classics - the languages and literature of Ancient Greece and Rome. After that, they would attend Oxford or Cambridge. Here they might also study mathematics, law, philosophy, and modern history. Oxford tended to produce more Members of Parliament and government officials, while Cambridge leaned more towards the sciences and produced more acclaimed scholars. However, it was not compulsory, either legally or socially, for a gentleman to attend school at all. He could, just as easily, be taught entirely at home. However, public school and University were the great staging grounds for public life, where you made your friends and developed the connections that would aid you later in life. Beau Brummel met the Prince of Wales at Eton and that friendship helped him conquer all of London Society despite his lack of family background.
A lady's education was taken, almost entirely, at home. There were boarding schools, but no University, and the studies were very different. She learned French, drawing, dancing, music, and the use of globes. If the school, or the governess, was interested in teaching any practical skills, she learned plain sewing as well as embroidery, and accounts. [from Victorian English: An Introduction. http://www.english.uwosh.edu/roth/VictorianEngland.htm.]
SENIOR SERVANTS
Governess--A governess taught the children of middle and upper class households until they were old enough to go away to school, college, or to a private tutor. She was generally a well-educated middle-class girl who needed to earn her own living. But although she was expected to have the bearing and education of a 'lady' she was treated as a servant. This often left her in limbo--neither an insider or an outsider, as the other servants resented her as too educated and too good for their ranks.
Nurse--The nurse is in charge of caring for the household's children from the time they are born, until they are turned over to the care of the governess. She washes and dresses the children, feeds them, takes them on outings, and puts them to bed. She makes the children's ordinary under-clothing, and repairs their general clothing. Most nurses have dinner brought to them in the nursery, but some dined with the other servants.[from Literary Links, November-December 2003. http://www.literary-liaisons.com/news1103.html.]
Group I: Childrean
Children in the Victorian Age
Children at Work: Look at Child Labor in the Victorian Age
Children in Victorian England - Schooling [a tape like thing, about 5 or 10 minutes.]
Victorian School
Group II: Mental Health in the Victorian Era [anyone in this group should see this picture]
Women's Mental Illness: A Response to Opression. [From Women's Issues Then and Now: A Feminist Overview of the Past Two Centuries. - Obviously this site is written from a feminist lens.]
History to Her Story: Life in a Victorian Lunatic Asylum This site is a little time consuming, but has some good things.
Health and Medicine: Victoria and Albert Museum - You have to go down a ways to find mental health.
Victorian Lunatics
Group III:Marriage Law In Victorian England
Marriage and Divorce
Feminism, Marriage, and Law in Victorian England - Look at the table of contents. Page 22 chapter I know is interesting. Which others relate?
Marriage Law and the Characters of the Woman in White
Group IV:Orphans in Victorian England
Orphans in Victorian England
Living Conditions of Orphans in Victorian England
Victorian Orphan Asylums: The Real Story
Inside the Victorian Home
GroupV:Women In the Victorian Era
Victorian Women - hit some of the interesting links
The Life of a Victorian Woman
Ideals of Womanhood in Victorian Britain
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