Return of the governess as agency brings Jane Eyre into 21st century

The Victorian governess who lived with and taught the sons and daughters of wealthy 19th-century families is returning to educate a new generation of children.

Famously portrayed by Charlotte Bronte in the character of the long-suffering Jane Eyre, the governess largely disappeared in the 20th century.

But now the new English Governess agency aims to provide British families around the world with "residential teachers and educated nannies".

Catherine Suckling, the agency's founder, told The Times Educational Supplement there was "a niche in the market".

"It's a teaching job, but there's also child care involved."

She set up the agency after employing a student teacher to look after her two children during the summer holidays. The children combined formal learning with structured play and the experiment worked well.

The agency is aiming its governesses at expatriate and foreign families who want to make sure that their children carry on speaking and writing English.

Ms Suckling said she hoped to recruit students and newly qualified graduate teachers to work during the summer holidays. She also aims to win business from British families living oversees who do not want to send their children to boarding school.

Ms Suckling said: "A governess has to be resourceful - someone who can cope with her own company. But also someone who has something extra to offer, such as sport or singing."

Victoria Smolen, 25, was the governess to Ms Suckling's children. "I worried that I'd be treated like a servant," she said. "But the children were well behaved and I spent two months in Tuscany. It's actually quite glamorous.

"I kept a journal. I'd be lying if I said I couldn't see it being turned into Jane Eyre for the modern age."