Regency Reader Questions: Teenage Girls in the Regency Era

Regency Reader Question
Hi Ms. Glover, I’m 16 years old. I just found out my history class is about to do a historical re-enactment of this era, to end 10th grade with before we go on summer break. So I need to know how a Regency teenage girl would’ve behaved and talked, and where or how she would go to school, what she would’ve eaten, and what she would wear; etc,.. With gratitude, Samantha.

Thanks for your question, Samantha.  That sounds like a fun project and a great way to learn something about the era.

One thing that would have made a significant difference in a young woman’s life would be her class/family wealth.  It would be the determinant for a lot of the things you have listed, including education, clothes, food, and behavior.

There would also have been some significant differences depending on which country the young lady was in.  Most of my blog is UK centric, because the “Regency” implies the era when the Prince Regent was the proxy in charge.  For the interest of time, I am going to assume your project focuses on the UK, but just know if that is not the assignment you will want to do a bit more research to verify.

The working class teenager was likely already at work by the time she turned 16.  From factory work, to domestic service, to an agricultural gang or trade (like millinery or barmaid), most teenagers in early 19th century would be working at least by the time they were twelve.  Rates of literacy in England in 1820 were 53% (Education in Victorian England | British Literature Wiki (udel.edu)) so roughly half the population would have minimal reading ability, which often shaped what career paths were accessible to them.  If the working class child received any education, it was likely from a parent or through their local church (see this post).  Massive education reform did not begin until later in the 19th century, however, so it would have been likely the young, working class woman would have had minimal instruction.

Our sense of the 40 hour work week was, by in large, designed around factory work and significant reforms that would happen later in the 19th century and early 20th century.  Factory workers in this era worked incredibly long hours.  Similarly, a young domestic servant would have had little experience, therefore in one of the lowest positions of maid (kitchen, house) and likely also working very long, hard hours.  Agricultural workers worked long hours during harvest, but may need to find other work during other times of the year.

Clothes would have varied, according to their employment, and similarly with food.  I feature recipes from the era on the site (look under Regency Dish) and in many of those posts I am using the actual text/recipes from early 19th century cookbooks, so if you click on the recipes it will take you to the cookbook so you can flip through to see the types of foods people ate.

Upper class young women would have had a very different experience.  Their education would have been guided by mothers, governess and/or home based tutors.  The focus of their education was largely in the domestic arts, but would have also included religious subjects and sometimes a foreign language.  Domestic arts would be a range of things a genteel lady would be expected to know, like running a household, genteel pastimes (playing an instrument, embroidery, dancing, painting, etc), and a smattering of other subjects with mostly religion as a foundation (see this primary resource as an example).  Here is a bit more of an in depth look at Regency education of upper class women: Education of Upper-Class Women in Regency Era | BYU presents PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (wordpress.com)

Clothing for upper class girls and women in the Regency era favored the high waisted “neo classical” style that you may be familiar with from movies.  Think simple lines, light colors (usually white for unmarried young women) made of muslin with light patterns and an empire waist.  There are a whole bunch of other aspects of a young ladies toilette or wardrobe, including footwear and underwear, that Kristen Koster provides an excellent primer for here.

There was not a hard and fast rule as to when a young woman was officially “out” in Society, but generally it seemed to be around the age of 18.  Depending on the household, younger teens might have few opportunities to socialize other than with family or close neighborhood friends; dances, dinners, and parties were often limited to young women “out” in Society, who had had a debut with Queen.  Even when a young woman was out, if she was still unmarried, she would have been closely chaperoned by a mother, grandmother, or another close relative.  She would have rarely been alone and almost never with a male, other than her father or brothers. Women would have to have parental permission to marry until age 21.

Her behavior was expected to be above reproach, with excellent manners, because her main purpose was seen as marrying well.  This isn’t to say it always worked like this, and some young women bucked tradition and followed their own path towards career and adventure.

We have a lot of posts about different etiquette from the era, to give you a sense of the types of rules, that you can find here: Search Results for “etiquette” – Regency Reader (regrom.com).

We also featured etiquette tips from “a lady” you might find helpful here: Regency Culture and Society: 9 Maxims for Life by a Lady – Regency Reader (regrom.com)

If you are interested in learning a bit about courtship rules, check out this post: Regency Reader Questions: Courtship, Weddings and Babies – Regency Reader (regrom.com)

I hope that helps, Samantha!  Thanks for writing in and I wish you every success with your school project!

To read about Teenage Boys in the Regency see this post.