The schoolroom at Rodbourne House

A pencilled inscription in the lower margin identifies the location as the schoolroom at Rodbourne House and gives the date, 1870. Built in the late 17th century and extended in 1859, Rodbourne House at Malmesbury in Wiltshire was the home of the Pollen family.

The young lady looking wistfully towards an unseen window on the left is identified as Miss Emmel. According to the 1861 census she was the governess Helene A. Emmell and she came from Kreutznach in Prussia. She was 21 in 1861 so she would have been 30 when this photograph was taken. Her employer was Richard J. Pollen, a widower with two sons and six daughters. The house was run by 12 servants, including two lady's maids, a groom and two pages

Photographer unidentified.