My Governesses

I mentioned my Governess in the chat room last night and have been asked to write more about it, so here goes:

The days before the second world war were very different from those we live in now. We were a middle class family. My father was a retired regular army officer, who had fought all the way through the first war and retired shortly after. My parents were married in 1929 and I was born in 1930.
At first, I had a Nanny who looked after me and took me into the sitting room after tea until 6.0, when I went to bed. At least that happened as I got a little older. I do not know what happened when I was a baby.
When I was 5 I had my first governess. Her name was S'wo. She appeared ancient and had her grey hair in a bun. She can't have been really because she died not so very long ago! I had lessons in the morning and was taken for a walk (always along the road where there was a footpath) in the afternoon. Now that I was older, I sometimes had tea with my parents as well as the play time after. My father was good at that. We played begga-my-neighbour, snap or happy families. Also he read to me and that was the foundation of my love of reading and books. He read the Peter Rabbit Books and the Grey Squirrel ones. Then Winnie the Pooh and When we were Six. Later on we got to Kipling. He read well and I was enthralled. My poor mother had difficulty reading. She had broken her nose, hitting a branch riding in her teens and always suffered from cattharr. Also she was a bit dyslexic. She did not read to herself that much.
For all this time, I did not meet other children. My mother was very shy and had absolutely hated meeting children when she was a child and did not want me to suffer the same way. I find it hard to forgive her for that - it has affected the whole of my life. Other children of our circle also had governesses but had a social life too. When I was 5 I was given a most unsuitable pony, whom I loved deeply all her 22 years of life. The groom was told to teach me to ride and I did very little with the parents, who were both extremely good and fearless riders. (I was a frightened little thing!) The groom, of course was thoroughly bored with the whole idea so I didn't learn much. S'wo was not into horses so there was no way she was going to take me out on Jenny.
Then my life was transformed. My mother became pregnant with my eldest brother. S'wo said she could not possibly work in a house with a baby and a nurse (or Nanny). Shortly after my 7th birthday, Bo arrived. She had not been with us long before she had me greedily learning everything she could teach me (with the aid of the Parents National Educational Union). She made the parents buy a car so she could take me out. They got a Morris Minor and we went all over the place. I began to meet children but it was too late. They had been learning social and communication skills all their lives while I only knew how to talk to grown-ups. Still I must have begun to learn a bit. She took me to dancing class which was terrifying! I only have odd snapshots of events in my memory of that period, but it must have done something for me!! She also took me out a lot on Jenny, though she could not ride herself. (This went on right up to her leaving and during the war, we had to cope with convoys of army lorries, which Jenny hated!)
Then the war came. The house filled with children. 3 cousins came to stay for a while, from Tunbridge Wells. They were a girl of my age, one about 3 years younger and a boy who was about 2. We had evacuees. The first lot were a story on their own, but the second included Doffy who was a year younger than me. She stayed almost all the war. She went to the village school but Bo gave her extra teaching until she (Bo) left in 1942. This gave her a good foundation and she went on to Grammar School in Gateshead in about 1944. Many Governesses were called up early on in the war, so 2 local children came to Bo daily. A girl from the village and a cousin who lived not too far away.
So Bo had a class, with the cousins who were staying for a while too, which she loved. She even taught my little brother who was only 2 when the war started, but 5 when she left.
Sadly, Bo was called up in 1942, so I was sent off to Boarding School, as had always been intended and she went back home and I think worked in a factory for a while. Later, after teachin in the Prep School that Princess Margaret's son attended, she went back to Governessing . She went to a well known family and took the girls through School Certificate.
So you see, having a governess was not strange in those days, though it seldom happens now, except that sometimes a group of children may be taught in their very early years in a similar way. If only my first 7 years had been more normal, I would have benefited even more from Bo's influence. As it was I owe her an enormous debt of gratitude for all she did for me. She remained a friend of my Mother's until she died.