Agnes Porter (c.1752 – 1814) was a British

governess A governess is a largely obsolete term for a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching. In contrast to a nanny, th ...

known for her diaries.

Life

Porter was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

; her year of birth is uncertain but her birthday was 18 June. Her father was a member of the clergy. She was fluent in French and she had an interest in other languages. She became a governess and she is remembered because of her diaries and correspondence which survive for the period 1788 to 1814. Her correspondents included Elizabeth Moser and

Valentine Green Valentine Green (3 October 173929 July 1813) was a British mezzotinter and print publisher. Green trained under Robert Hancock, a Worcester engraver, after which he moved to London and began working as a mezzotint engraver. He began to exhibit ...

, author of ''Triumphs of Reason Examplified in Seven Tales'' (1791). Penrice castle, Glamorganshire, a seat of T

In 1788 Porter moved from

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

to be a governess to the daughters of

Ambrose Goddard Ambrose Goddard (c. 1727–1815) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1772 to 1806. Goddard was the third son of Ambrose Goddard and his wife Elizabeth Awdry, daughter of Ambrose Awdry of Seend, Wiltshire. He was educat ...

M.P. The

Goddard family The Goddard family were a prominent landed family chiefly living in the northern region of the English counties of Wiltshire and Hampshire and the western part of Berkshire, between the Tudor period and the early 20th century. The Goddard fa ...

lived at Swindon House in Wiltshire. She was later governess to the children of

Henry Fox-Strangways, 2nd Earl of Ilchester Henry Thomas Fox-Strangways, 2nd Earl of Ilchester (29 July 1747 – 5 September 1802), known as Lord Stavordale from 1756 to 1776, was a British peer and Member of Parliament. Life Ilchester was the eldest son of Stephen Fox-Strangways, 1st E ...

.''A Governess in the Age of Jane Austen. The Journals and Letters of Agnes Porter'', ed. Joanna Martin (London: Hambledon Press, 1998). She continued her care down the generations, educating the cousins

Henry Fox Talbot William Henry Fox Talbot FRS FRSE FRAS (; 11 February 180017 September 1877) was an English scientist, inventor, and photography pioneer who invented the salted paper and calotype processes, precursors to photographic processes of the later ...

, the pioneer of photography, and

Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot FRS (10 May 1803 – 17 January 1890) was a Welsh landowner, industrialist and Liberal politician. He developed his estate at Margam near Swansea as an extensive ironworks, served by railways and a port, which was ...

, politician and industrialist. Porter went to live with her former pupil Mary Talbot in 1799 at Penrice Castle, where she cared for her children. She retired in 1806 and went to live with her married sister. Porter died in Bruton, Somerset and was buried there. Porter's diaries and letters were discovered in Penrice Castle in the 1970s and this resulted in the 1998 publication of ''A Governess in the Age of Jane Austen. The Journals and Letters of Agnes Porter''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Agnes 1750s births 1814 deaths Writers from Edinburgh Scottish governesses 18th-century British non-fiction writers 19th-century British non-fiction writers British memoirists 19th-century British women writers 18th-century British women writers British women memoirists 18th-century diarists 19th-century diarists 18th-century English women 18th-century English people 19th-century English women 19th-century English people