the governess
Group: Members
Posts: 79
Member No.: 229
Joined: 14-June 09
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Your Name: Emily (...ACK. Forgot to put it in the username. Mea culpa.)
Age: 22
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Name: Rebecca Garrison
Nickname (if applicable): Becca, Becky (family only)
Age: 27
Date of Birth: August 20th, 1783
Title: None.
FAMILY
Mother - Louisa, Lady Selkirke, formerly Mrs. Garrison, nee Gordon. b. 1764
Father - Henry Garrison b. 1754 - d. 1784
(m. 1783)
Step-Father - Sir Rowan Selkirke, Bart., b. 1750
(m. 1786)
Paternal Aunt - Rebecca Northcott, nee Garrison, b. 1763
Uncle - Aldous Northcott, b. 1756
Siblings:
John "Jack" Selkirke b. 1787
Laura Selkirke b. 1790
Catherine Selkirke b. 1794
Cousins:
Henry Northcott b. 1782
Elizabeth "Bessie" Northcott b. 1791
BACKGROUND
Rebecca's father, her mother's first husband. was a poor clergyman who died of a fever when Rebecca was only a few months old. Her mother, a genteel, delicate woman, left her child in the care of a respectable widowed friend in Devonshire whose circumstances made her more able to raise the infant, and went to distant relatives in London, dependant upon keeping house for her great-uncle, a widower. Three years later, she met, beguiled, and soon wed Sir Rowan Selkirke, a baronet from the north of England. They had three more children together.
Rebecca's haphazard education at the hands of the kindly Mrs. Butterworth consisted of what she might glean from the books of the house and a circulating library, an old spinnet, and two or three yearly visits from her mother. Mrs. Butterworth was of the opinion that fresh air and exercise were all a hearty girl might need to grow up properly. ("If she be a beauty, who will care for her netting?") At age ten, Rebecca was taken to live with her mother and step-father, to refine her habits and develop more ladylike accomplishments such as drawing and dancing.
In her step-father's house, Rebecca applied herself to her lessons with great zeal, learning all that was proper by way of dancing and singing, playing and fancy work, with no little knowledge of languages and what history and philosophy she could seek out on her own, as no one cared to teach a girl such things on purpose.
As Lady Selkirke had no inclination to be bothered about the upbringing of her children, Rebecca, thrilled with her little brother and sisters after years of a rather lonely childhood, gladly took the part of Little Mother and began to teach them, herself.
At sixteen, however, Rebecca found herself the object of the ardent attachment of the visiting nephew of a friend of Sir Rowan's, evidently hoping to have Sir Rowan's help in setting up a profitable venture of some sort. She agreed to an elopement; however Sir Rowan got wind of the plan and was furious. Her step father, never caring for the child who so little resembled her honey-haired, doll-like mother and their three golden-headed children, immediately had the girl sent to London and found a place as a governess, shortly after she had turned seventeen.
For the past ten years, Rebecca has done her duty without complaint, now knowing how close she brought herself and her family to ruin, closely guarding her feelings and devoting herself to the children in her care, knowing she will never have a family of her own, as penance for her rash behaviour as a girl.
She has an aunt (the woman she was named after) on her father's side who she has never met, and knows little of; however, Mrs. Northcott and her husband reside in London.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Rebecca is 5'3", with thick, dark hair, though she finds it rather coarse and unmanageable, springing into wild curls if left to its own devices. She has blue-ish hazel eyes, a kind of non-descript colour which tends to reflect the overall tones of her gowns. Pale, easily freckled skin, and a softly rounded figure, and a light step. Her everyday gowns are simple and sturdy, and she favours the colour blue, wearing a coffee-coloured pelisse, short brown gloves and a straw bonnet she's made up again more times than she cares to count.
PERSONALITY
Rebecca is as close as she wishes to be to her family, writing often to her sisters and brother, with shorter, more formal missives to her mother, all of whom rarely answers her--her mother has gayer matters to attend to, and two pretty daughters at home to pet and dote upon, along with a handsome young son.
Quiet and reflective, Rebecca has an independant streak from her rather unrestrained upbringing in Mrs. Butterworth's cottage by the sea, though she know sees this rebellious part of her nature as being the fault by which the rest of her life has since fallen apart, though she allows that her heart was too trusting and naive when faced with the pretty wooing of that young scoundrel who never seems to have let her fate have a moment's share in his thoughts, soon going on to wed a young woman from the next county with five thousand pounds to her name.
Though not much good at fancy-work, she is a good sewer by necessity, having to constantly refresh her own gowns as she diligently puts money aside for whatever future might be left for her. Her French has become impeccable thanks to constant study as a girl, though she does not trust herself to speak it well in company, and thankfully she has never met a Frenchman, in any case. She adores the pianoforte, and plays well, and her singing does no one any discredit.
Patient and largely serene, Rebecca has a keen sense of duty and perserveres to perform any task as well as she possibly can, taking pleasure in the approval of others, or at least the lack of their censure. She is happy enough in the life she has chosen, though she struggles at times to conceal her own longing for the life that might have been hers, though she herself foolishly cast it aside by her own behaviour. She worries, often, for those she cares about, be it her sisters who may yet turn out just as giddy as their mother, or young lady left in her charge, Miss Penelope Grove.
As a rule, she is greatly distrustful of men, having no liking for the grasping machinations of young men such as the cad who would have seduced her, nor the heavy-handed manner of the aristocracy, who put her in mind of her cheerless and harsh step-father.
Overall, she has the appearance of a genteel and slightly melancholy woman whose bright eyes never quite meet the gaze of those around her.
When in company with the Groves, however, she has learnt to be open and warm, enjoying the kindness and intimacy she claims with that family, and loving them as if they were her own.
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Miss Rebecca Garrison   these precious things / let them bleed / let them wash away /
these precious things / let them break / their hold over me
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