Meeting Jane Austen

Have you ever read a Jane Austen book, or seen one in a movie? I’ve loved her novels forever, but I never wondered about Jane. Not until I started reading a series of books by Beth Pattillo. That’s when I looked her up on the internet.
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Part 1 – Four Portraits: The first Jane is the only portrait of her in existence. Her sister Cassandra started it sometime around 1810, but she never finished it. She used pencil and watercolor. It’s small in size, only 4-1/2 inches x 3-1/8 inches, but you’ll find it in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

The second Jane is a watercolor done by James Andrews. Can you tell it’s based on Cassandra’s original sketch? It found its way into A Memoir of Jane Austen that was written by their nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh in 1871. Every other portrait of Jane is based on this one, including the one on the Bank of England’s £10 note.

​Look below. There's another set of portraits. The first one is a silhouette of Cassandra, Jane’s sister and her best friend. The artist is unknown.

By Cassandra Austen - Owned by the Austen family; Kirkham, Margaret. "Portraits". Jane Austen in Context. Ed. Janet Todd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-521-82644-6., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5203628

The second is a painting Cassandra did in 1804. This time she painted a back view of her sister using watercolors. Interesting – Jane allowed her sister to capture her image from the back, but not from the front. Remember the one Cassandra didn’t finish?
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Part 2 – Jane’s Childhood Home: This set of pictures came from A Memoir of Jane Austen published by her nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, in 1871.
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​Jane’s father was a minister, and this is the parsonage at Steventon where Jane grew up. It’s long gone, but it once sat in a valley surrounded by meadows.

The second picture is her father’s church, St. Nicholas in Steventon. Jane attended services from the time she was born in 1775 until her father retired in 1800. You can still visit St. Nicholas, but its name is now Steventon Church.
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Photo by Timsaunt - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=85101065

The Move to Bath: When her father retired, he moved the family to Bath. Their new address: 4 Sydney Place. It was 50 miles away from Steventon, but it must have felt a world away for Jane.

She grew up in a quiet country village, but Bath was a busy city. It drew people from all over England. They came for the mineral water, and for the high society.

When her father died unexpectantly in January of 1805, Jane ended her time in Bath. She, Cassandra, and their mother were left without a home or financial resources of their own. They were dependent on the charity of Jane’s brothers.
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Part 3 – Her Final Two Homes: These two pictures are from Kent. The first is Godmersham Park, the home of Jane’s brother Edward. He was adopted by a wealthy family as their son and heir. Jane started visiting there in 1798. The last time was in 1813. Godmersham Park was her model for great houses like Pemberley and Rosings Park.

The second photo is her last real home, perhaps her favorite. Chawton was a cottage on her brother’s land at Godmersham Park. Edward gifted the cottage to his mother and sisters early in 1809. Jane spent the last eight years of her life there. She did her best writing in the country, first at Steventon and later at Chawton. She was a country girl at heart.

Jane wrote of her trips to London in books and letters. If you’d like to visit her in Town, click on this link: Jane Austen Goes To London | Guide London   

Her Final Home and Resting Place:  The next set of pictures are from Winchester. The first is a cottage on 8 College Street. Jane had been sick since early 1816, but she refused to give into it, or to stop writing.
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Her sister Cassandra and brother Henry brought her here for a cure in May of 1817, but it was already too late. Jane died on July 18, 1817. She was only 41 years old. Today her symptoms would have been diagnosed as Addison’s disease or Hodgkins’s lymphoma. 

PHOTO 1 - By Peter Trimming, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=90929345. PHOTO 2 - By Matt Turner from Southampton, uk - Winchester Cathedral., CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2052894

​The second photo is of Winchester Cathedral. That’s where Jane Austen is buried, not because she’s a famous author. She’s there as the daughter of a clergyman, and the sister of another. That’s what Jane wanted, a private life. When she died, her name wasn’t on her book covers. She was listed as an anonymous lady, the way she’d requested.

If you’d like to learn more about Jane Austen, click on this link: Jane Austen - Wikipedia
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Winchester Cathedral reminds me of a song from 1966. It’s a little quirky, but fun. Here’s the search link. Click, then look for the video, and give it a listen: winchester cathedral song - Search (bing.com)