Page "Elizabeth Garrett Anderson" Paragraph 5

There was no school in Aldeburgh so Elizabeth learned the three Rs from her mother.

Later, when she was 10 years old, a governess, Miss Edgeworth, a poor gentlewoman, was employed to educate Elizabeth and her sister.

Mornings were spent in the schoolroom ; there were regimental afternoon walks ; educating the young ladies continued at mealtimes when Miss Edgeworth ate with the family ; at night, the governess slept in a curtained off area in the girls ’ bedroom.

Elizabeth despised her governess and sought to outwit the teacher in the classroom.

Newson wanted to give his children the best education possible so when Elizabeth was 13 and her sister 15, they were sent to a private school, the Boarding School for Ladies in Blackheath, London, which was run by the step aunts of the poet, Robert Browning.

There, English literature, French, Italian and German, as well as deportment, were taught.

Later in life, Elizabeth recalled the stupidity of her teachers there, though her schooling there did help establish a love of reading.

Her reading matter included Tennyson, Wordsworth, Milton, Coleridge, Trollope, Thackeray and George Eliot.

Elizabeth and Louie were known as “ the bathing Garretts ”, as their father had insisted they be allowed a hot bath once a week.

However, they made what were to be lifelong friends there.

When they finished in 1851, they were sent on a short tour abroad, ending with a memorable visit to the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, London.