Salaries
Posted by SuzanneR on August 13, 1998 at 20:49:13:
In response to Salary of a governess, written by Bob Whitworth on August 13, 1998 at 16:33:44
] It sounds a bit on the low side, but taking into account that she was provided with a roof over her head and meals, plus possibly a few "extras"
] it's not all that bad. It's still a poor wage, though, considering that the average London tradesman's weekly wages during the Regency period were about a pound a week, (possibly a little more). And they worked hard, too.
Actually, I think 40 pounds would have been quite a decent wage. According to What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew, some housemaids only got 11-14 a year at mid-century. And I vaguely recall seeing somewhere that the "lowest" servants might have earned only about 5 pounds per annum.
In the novel, wasn't Jane Eyre herself pleased by the wage?
- wages? We don't need no stinking wages! Bob Whitworth 00:25:49 8/14/98
(1)
- Right, but don't get me started on today's teacher salaries :)NFM SuzanneR 12:21:01 8/14/98
(0)
- Right, but don't get me started on today's teacher salaries :)NFM SuzanneR 12:21:01 8/14/98
(0)
Posting followups to old messages is disabled; instead go to the main index and post a new message which mentions this one.
