Introduction and early life
Coincidentally, at the same time as the height of Margaret Benson and Janet Gourlay’s archaeological success, in 1896, a woman of a previous generation of western female involvement with Egypt was approaching the end of her life.
Her name was Eleanor Mary "Ellen" Chennells, and, as the culmination of a long career she had been appointed as Governess to Princess Zeynab Khanum Effendi, daughter of Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt and his second wife, Princess Jananyar Berinici Khanum Effendimiz. And she had written a book about her experiences, Recollections of an Egyptian Princess by her English governess, that is now one of the classic sources of information about the Khedival court at an important phase in modern Egyptian history.
Curiously, the first 35 or so years of Ellen’s life are something of a mystery. There are no certain references to her in any Census before 1851 (although there is an inconclusive reference to an "Ellen Channells" [sic] in the 1841 Census, who has approximately the right birth-date). This may suggest that she, and her family, went to live abroad sometime after 1814 – there is a reference in Ellen’s book to residence in Malta.
Records are even unclear about exactly when she was born; the 1851 Census states that it was in "about 1819" and even, in the 1871 Scotland Census, that it was in "about 1820". However, the most reliable sources, e.g. her death certificate, as well as other Censuses, give her birthdate as around 1814 or 1815.
She always stated that her birthplace was Bloomsbury, London, in around 1814. However, although the UK Censuses, and Death Certificates usually give the name of a person’s parents, Ellen’s were, for some unknown reason, never listed. (I guess some more research in to any Bloomsbury parish records that survive may produce further details).
But why did Ellen never reveal who here parents were? It could not, surely, have been due to any scandal. After all, she lived during the high Victorian era, and any hint of something improper would have meant that Ellen, in particular, would never have been employed, certainly by the kind of families that she did work for. What’s more, Ellen always seems to have had the kind of social confidence that was so obviously lacking in one of her predecessors as Governess to the Khedival family, the mysterious Emmeline Lott (fl. ca. 1865).
(A blog posting about Emmeline Lott, by the way, would be extremely short – the absence of information about her is almost complete, to the extent that some form of deliberate concealment has to be suspected).
The only definitely known fact about Ellen’s family is that she had an older sister, Anne Lydia (ca. 1812 – 1885). In 1841 Anne Lydia was recorded in the Census as working in a girls’ boarding-school on the Isle of Wight. She may indeed have been co-owner of this school, as she and a certain Ann Purks are the oldest (both aged 25), of a group of girls and young women, none of the rest of whom are listed as being older than 15. Towards the end of her life she lived with Ellen, in lodgings.
(Strangely, although Anne Lydia is mentioned in this Census, Ellen is not. So if the family were indeed living abroad, it might suggest that Ellen had not yet moved back to the UK).
Unfortunately I don’t even know what Ellen looked like, having been unable to trace any photos of her. Modesty, perhaps, prevented her from including a photo of herself in her book – but how lovely it would have been if she had!
This photo is of a woman in the 1860s who appears to be of approximately Ellen’s age during that decade, and may give some impression of what she might have looked like at the time.
Woman in clothing of 1860s
The first definite trace that I can find of Ellen is in the 1851 UK Census. Evidently, therefore, she was living abroad before this (in Malta?) The 1851 Census records her as governess to the two young daughters of the Hughan family, Wilhelmine and Louise. Their mother seems to have died, as the only other female Hughan listed is evidently their grandmother, given her age. The Hughans lived in a rather expensive area of London, Hanover Square, a Regency development that had been built in what was then the suburbs of London.
And this, then, starts to give us a picture of the Chennells sisters. Both had been born in a good-class area of central London, Bloomsbury (an area of London which was to attract writers, universities and museums). Both had enough money – and social contacts – to either set up their own school, or to work for upper-class (even, later on, Royal) families. Both were able to invest consideraby – but unfortunately somewhat unwisely - in bonds. They had to work for a living, but do not appear to have led the somewhat wretched lives of many other governesses of the period, as depicted in the writings of, e.g., Charlotte Brontë.
That both the Chennells sisters earned their livings as teachers, or governesses, is explained by the fact that this was, at the time, just about the only form of employment for women of their social class. Women’s role in society had been continually restricted since the end of the 18th century, narrowing the range of "respectable" work available to them. Technological inventions such as the typewriter and telegraph, which provided so much work for women later in the century were still some way in the future.
Ellen’s next known employment was with a far more important family; in the 1861 Census we find her employed by John Rous, the Second Earl of Stradbroke and sometime Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk, at his seat, Henham Park in Suffolk, England. (His descendants now live in Australia). It would seem her charges were the Earl’s two youngest daughters, Augusta Fanny and Sophia Evelyn Rous.
The Earl’s brother, the Hon. Henry Rous, was an Admiral in the British Royal Navy, and this, just possibly, may have provided Ellen with the introductions for her next post, as Governess to Sir Alexander Milne, First Lord of the Admiralty from 1872 to 1876 and Admiral of the Fleet from 1881.
Sir Alexander came from an already distinguished Naval family - his father had also been an Admiral – and in fact become one of the most notable figures in the Victorian Navy. He was rewarded with his Baronetcy in 1876.
Ellen lived with the Milnes at their home, Walne Lodge, Inveresk, Midlothian, Scotland, where she is recorded in the 1871 Scotland Census, evidently looking after Margaret Milne, then aged 12, and Grace Milne, 10.
Ellen herself was aged 56, and might well have been expected to be thinking about retirement. Certainly working in the different climate and culture of Egypt might have been something of a physical challenge.
And yet, later in 1871, she was to accept the post of Governess to Princess Zeynab. No doubt she felt that it was simply too good an opportunity to pass up. Besides, in only a few years the Milne daughters would reach the age when they no longer required a governess, and then Ellen would have had to seek new employment in any case.
Princess Zeynab, ca. 1870
Certainly she herself must have believed herself – at least at first - equal to the physical demands Egypt. And indeed, it was, indeed, to prove somewhat physically demanding on occasion; Ellen describes how, in 1871, Zeynab "suddenly disappeared down the opening [of the Third Pyramid] with surprising alacrity. Of course we all followed immediately… You were always going up, or down and generally on all-fours…" What made things worse was that Ellen was wearing a "crinoline and fashionable high bonnet".
(I can tell you from personal experience that even now going into the Third Pyramid is pretty strenuous, even in modern hiking boots and clothing!)
But how did she obtain such an important post? Certainly she would have been able to provide the very best references. And the Khedival family had, it seems, long employed British tutors for their children. Emmeline Lott suggests that she had been recruited by "The Viceroy’s [i.e. the Khedive Ismael’s] agent in London", who then, somewhat curiously, passed her onto the Alexandria, Egypt, branch of a bank.
However, Ellen gives no clue as to how her employment with the Khedive was arranged, although I would expect that the Ottoman Embassy in London was involved. (Egypt was then part of the Ottoman Empire; this is why Emmeline Lott states that Ishmael was a "Viceroy", although in fact the position of the Egyptian Khedive was somewhat more powerful than this, at the time). In any case, Ellen’s employer at the time, Sir Alexander Milne, would of course have been in an excellent situation to recommend her.
However, Ellen was in no hurry to accept even such a prestigious post. She wrote in her memoirs, Recollections of an Egyptian Princess by her English Governess (published by William Blackwood and Sons, 1893) that: "it was the beginning of quite a new life, and I was anxious to obtain every possible information before undertaking the duty."
No doubt she had Emmeline Lott’s books in mind. Not only do these – at least on the cover – present a somewhat sensationalist picture of "The English governess in Egypt and Turkey", with an emphasis on harems, but Emmeline Lott also complained – at considerable length – about the conditions she worked under.
Emmeline Lott(?) in Ottoman dress, ca. 1867
However, times had changed since Emmeline Lott had been employed. Furthermore, Ellen was obviously a practical and adaptable individual, who coped with difficulties and inconveniences in a far less uncomplaining way than Emmeline Lott.
Indeed, had not Princess Zeynab unfortunately died in 1875, then Ellen would have remained a part of her household. Certainly Ellen, unlike Emmeline Lott, had experience of life outside Britain, as she states in Recollections of an Egyptian Princess that she ‘had always been in the habit of keeping a journal when travelling or residing in foreign countries.’
The families that she worked for would have travelled, certainly to the watering-places of Europe, and as governess she would have accompanied them. They may even have spent considerable periods abroad, between the annual London "seasons". If only Ellen’s journals had survived! How interesting they would now be! And of course, they would also solve the mystery as to which country or countries she resided in.
To be continued...
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