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To Miss Kekewich
Elderfield, Otterbourne, Winchester.
Feb 26th 1877

MS Princeton University, Parrish Collection C0171: Box 29

My dear Miss Kekewich

I am afraid I do not know of any such governess myself at present. The only one I do know of as free, is too young to be sent to the sea with young girls, and she has not passed the examinations though I hope she will try

I think that you will see in the March Monthly Packet the address of a Miss Kennedy at Cambridge who might be good to write to, and I have asked Miss Keary (the author of the York and Lancaster Rose) to write to you if she knows of anything likely to be of use to you.

I am afraid that at present the graduates are girl-graduates!2

Yours sincerely
C M Yonge

1Trehawke Kekewich (1823-1909) of Peamore, Devon, was married, first, to Charlotte Peard (d. 1879), sister of CMY's friend the novelist Frances Mary Peard. This letter was perhaps addressed to Alice Agatha Kekewich, later Carr (d. 1919), the eldest of his four daughters, or to another member of the family. The request was evidently for a recommendation of a governess who could coach girls for the Cambridge Local Examinations, which is the subject of the note in MP (March 1877), 288, referred to.
2Alfred Tennyson, The Princess (1847) 141. ‘Sweet girl graduates in their golden hair’.

Cite this letter


The Letters of Charlotte Mary Yonge(1823-1901) edited by Charlotte Mitchell, Ellen Jordan and Helen Schinske.

URL to this Letter is: https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/yonge/2575/to-miss-kekewich

2 Comments
  1. Ellen Jordan says:
    September 13, 2014 at 5:02 am

    I don’t think the requirement here was that the governess should coach the girls for the Cambridge Locals, only that she should be competent to take charge of them at the seaside.

    CMY’s statement in Womankind:”No professional teacher now, (in 1876), under five-and-twenty ought to be engaged for girls over fourteen who cannot produce a certificate from a university” probably explains her phrase about the only available graduates being girl-graduates.

    I can’t find anything relevant on the MP page reference you give, but I am not very skilled at using this website.
  2. admin says:
    September 13, 2014 at 8:20 am
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