Jane Austen and The Festive Season at Chawton Cottage

I like to imagine how the Christmas season was celebrated at Chawton cottage in December 1809, the year which found Jane, Cassandra, their mother and their friend Martha Lloyd settled in their new Hampshire home. Jane’s letters give no hint of the scope of festivities.[1] However, we can be confident that certain activities were enjoyed and perhaps new forms of conviviality adopted.

Fig.1: Chawton Cottage[2]

The women had moved to Chawton during July, and although the timing was not ideal for planting and harvesting the range of fruits and vegetables they would cultivate in future years,    they surely took the prospect of festive eating seriously and made sure to acquire the materials they needed. Consulting Julienne Gehrer’s books about Regency meals and their preparation reveals a range of tempting recipes. Their first festive season in Chawton may have included feasting on roast turkey,[3] and delicacies such as ragout of veal, fricassee of turnips, white soup and orange flavoured sponge cake.[4]

Fig. 2: Dining with Jane Austen by Julienne Gehrer

This was also the season for special hymns and carol singing. Jane, Cassandra and Martha had grown up as a rector’s daughters and Mrs Austen had supportively participated in her late husband’s parishes of Steventon and Deane. Now resident in Chawton all four women would have worshiped at the nearby church of St Nicholas. It is likely that traditional hymns, such as “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night,” “Joy to the World,” and “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” were incorporated into Advent and Christmas services and were well known to the Austens and Martha Lloyd.

Fig.3: Martha Lloyd’s Household Book, introduction by Julienne Gehrer

Continuing the singing of favourite hymns at home was another pleasure of the season. Jane was an accomplished pianist and a willing accompanist. Moreover, she had access to a variety of musical material. Her sister-in-law, Elizabeth, wife of her brother, Edward, had transcribed the music for “Adeste Fideles,” also including verses in the original Latin.[5] Such manuscripts were regularly shared amongst the family, so Jane may have had her own copy of Elizabeth’s work. Jane developed a large repertoire of piano pieces making it likely that she could play a variety of religious Christmas and Advent music. Presumably those in the Cottage also appreciated a spirited tune such as the one in Jane Austen’s music albums[6] titled “Nos Galan,” which is Welsh for New Year’s Eve.

In the years following 1809 other family members gathered at Chawton Cottage during the twelve days of Christmas. In a letter written 3 November 1813, Jane reports that they are “likely to have a peep of Charles and Fanny at Christmas.” This could mean even more voices united in song!

May your holiday be a musical one, if that is your wish. In 2022, as in many Decembers past, my family has joined neighbours and friends to sing carols together in the chill Nova Scotian air while gathered round an illuminated fir tree under the tower of our small village church. It is magical!

Fig.4: The Scene of Carol Singing

Season’s Greetings,

Sheila

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[1] There is a gap in her correspondence extending from 26 July 1809 until 18 April 1811.

[2] In a letter from 29 November 1812, Jane refers to “eating Turkies” as a “very pleasant [Christmas Duty].”

[3] These foods are mentioned in either Martha Lloyd’s Household Book or the Knight Family Cookbook.

[4] “Adeste Fideles” translates into English as “ O Come All Ye Faithful.” See “Austen’s Festive Music” in Jane Austen’s Regency World, Nov/Dec 2019, Issue 102, 50.

[5] The Austen Family Music Books, including Jane’s seventeen music albums have been digitalized by the University of Southampton. The tune of Nos Galan is now used for the carol “Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly.”

Fanny, Jane and Seaside Watering Places

Dear Readers,

Due to writing deadlines, my next posts will be on 29 October and 30 December 2021. Keep safe.

Sheila

Introduction

In the early nineteenth century seaside resorts became a popular destination for relaxation and sociability among the gentry class. The vogue for sea air and sea bathing were motivating factors as were opportunities for refined entertainments and diversions. Jane Austen enjoyed sea bathing during family holidays at Sidmouth, Dawlish, Teignmouth and Lyme Regis between 1801 and 1804. Fanny Palmer Austen enjoyed similar pleasures of the seaside after she reached England in 1811. As the two sisters-in-law came to know each other better, they found they shared a mutual interest in all manner of activities relating to the sea, including the relaxing life at seaside resorts. Fanny had much to tell Jane about her experiences at sea and on shore, and Jane found cause to use her acquired knowledge of the seaside in writing her later novels. In particular, the phenomenon of the seaside resort became the setting for her last, unfinished novel, Sanditon.

Fanny at Southend

After the remoteness and often foul weather conditions suffered during the winter and spring aboard HMS Namur, Fanny Palmer Austen keenly anticipated summer holidays at a seaside resort. During 1812 and 1813, Fanny’s father, John Grove Palmer, arranged a holiday for his whole family at Southend, Essex.[1] The party included Fanny’s parents, her naval husband Captain Charles Austen, their young daughters, sister Harriet, and by times her sister Esther and her sons.[2] Southend turned out to be an excellent choice for the scheme. It was conveniently located 42 miles from London where the Palmers lived and a short distance by sea from the Namur at the Nore anchorage for Fanny and her children.[3] In addition, Charles could readily join them when he had shore leave.

 Southend was one of the up-and-coming watering places of the period. The resort’s early developers foresaw the virtue of creating a “new town” to the west of the original fishing village, on the cliff tops, at a sufficient elevation to ensure a pleasing and panoramic perspective. Its centrepiece was a row of smart houses available for rent, known as the Royal Terrace, so named after the visit of Princess Caroline of Brunswick, wife of the Prince Regent, in 1801. Adjoining the terrace was the Royal Hotel which contained a handsomely furnished assembly room suitable for balls and a coffee room. Adjacent to it stood a new building housing a Circulating Library. The layout included a north-south leading High Street and an adjoining road leading to the original lower town, where the Southend Theatre was situated. By the time the Palmer-Austen party frequented Southend, the buildings and amenities of the fashionable core of the resort were complete, so Fanny and her family were able to enjoy the variety of facilities it offered.

Fig 1: The Terrace Southend, 1808. Note the bathing machines waiting for clients on the shore.[4]

On fine days visitors greeted each other as they walked on the broad gravelled promenade along the Royal Terrace or descended through the attractive shrubbery on the cliff side, where criss-crossing paths invited access to the sand beach. The Royal Hotel offered multiple amenities for public gatherings and the proprietor, D Miller, advertised that “dinners [could be] dressed and sent out to private homes at the shortest notice.”[5] The hotel also provided “Bathing Machines with proper Guides,” a service that made good the promise that Southend offered “particular advantages … for the comforts and conveniences of sea bathing.”[6] Warm saltwater baths could also be had at a site below the Royal Hotel.  

Fig. 2: Sketch of the Royal Hotel[7]

After the isolation of life aboard the Namur, Fanny enjoyed the sociability of her immediate family as well as the varied company provided by the comings and goings of many other visitors. She likely met others, like herself, who were part of the wider naval world. Southend was a popular destination for shore-based naval families, including naval officers reuniting with wives and children while their vessels were being repaired at the close by Sheerness Dockyard. Fanny mentions socializing with a Lt MacNamara, a marine from the Namur, who was staying in Southend during the summer of 1813.[8] Other officers from the Namur may have also headed for Southend for relaxation and entertainment. In general, Southend “tended to attract the … quiet and cultured sort of visitor.”[9] This description, with its implied promise of congenial camaraderie, suggests that Southend would have suited the social interests of the Palmer-Austen party.

Georgian society of the period enthusiastically endorsed the health-giving properties of sea air and bathing. Fanny had already praised the virtues of sea air in letters to her family. Writing from aboard the Namur, she said of her sister, Esther, who was visiting in London, that a “change of air [would] be of great service”[10] and that the bracing sea air would “restore [your] appetite sooner than anything.”[11]  She does not mention who in their party enjoyed sea bathing at Southend. As for herself, Fanny was four months pregnant in 1812 so may have demurred, although one of her sisters, Esther or Harriet, possibly accompanied Fanny’s intrepid elder daughter, Cassy, into the sea. The child was a prime candidate for saltwater therapy after a difficult spring aboard the Namur where she was very prone to sea sickness. In later years sea bathing became an established practice for the Austen children, their grandmother, Mrs. George Austen, noting in 1815 that they were “better for the sea air and bathing"[12] after a seaside holiday at Broadstairs, Kent.

A particular bonus for Fanny was the presence of the Circulating Library situated next to the Royal Hotel. The wide development of such libraries afforded new freedoms to a woman of the gentry, - a freedom to go to the library unescorted, a freedom to choose a book for herself from a selection of titles with women in mind. Once Fanny joined, she was entitled to borrow books on a wide range of subjects, including the latest novels, biography, poetry and history. After periods of seclusion on the Namur, going to the library to choose a book with the prospect of returning for another was surely a pleasure. Circulating libraries also catered for other female tastes by stocking trinkets and decorative items such as fans, ribbons, jewelry, parasols and toys for children, as well as gloves and sealing wax. Here was an opportunity for a little frivolous holiday shopping should Fanny be tempted.

Fig. 3: The purpose-built Library is the building on the far right.[13]

The Southend Theatre, opened in 1804, was another attractive destination. By 1810, actor-manager Samuel Jerrold was presenting a summer season of fully mounted productions, They included Adelgatha: or the Fruits of a Single Error, which promised patrons the sight of “Rocks, and a Waterfall, Grand Gothic Palace, Subterranean Cavern, and Grand Banquet.”[14] Fanny’s letters indicate that she enjoyed music and theatrical presentations, so whatever the playbill during Fanny’s time at Southend, a family outing to the theatre would be particularly enjoyable for her.

Southend and Sanditon Compared

Fanny was at Southend from July to September 1813. The following month, she and Charles with two of their children, paid a week’s visit to Godmersham Park, the estate of his brother, Edward Knight, where Jane Austen was also staying. The coincidence of their mutually happy visits afforded Fanny and Jane the opportunity to spend time together and to share family news, including anecdotes about Fanny’s Southend holiday. Although such information might be considered merely family chit chat, Fanny’s descriptions of the setting, as well as her opinions about the social and cultural dynamics at Southend, may have been of use to Jane when she began to create her own fictional watering place in her novel, Sanditon.

Sanditon is a satirical story about the alterations occurring in a little fishing village during its transformation into a profitable seaside resort. It touches on the themes of business speculation, hypochondria, health exploitation, escalating tourism and its effect upon rural communities and traditional values. The reader meets a cast of memorable and amusingly portrayed characters: Mr Tom Parker, landed gentleman and lately an enthusiast turned property speculator, Lady Denham, a rich widow, the grand lady of the village and the co-investor in Parker’s scheme, the hypochondriacal Parker siblings, Diana, Susan and Arthur, and their dashing brother, Sidney. Austen’s developing plot hinges on the activities and aspirations of other Sanditon inhabitants as well: the enigmatic, beautiful Clara Brereton, poor cousin of Lady Denham, the lecherous Sir Edward Denham who hopes to inherit from Lady Denham and marry wealth, a highly anticipated visitor, the half mulatto heiress Miss Lambe, and the heroine, Charlotte Heywood, who observes and judges the inhabitants and visitors to Sanditon as she contemplates the different illusions of reality about the resort which they entertain. Begun in January 1817, and left unfinished on 18 March, only 20% of the novel was completed before Jane’s death in July. Sadly, the reader can only guess at how the love interest would have developed among the young people and speculate about who will gain and who will lose, as the scheme to develop Sanditon proceeds.

Fig. 4: Jane Austen’s Sanditon with an Essay by Janet Todd (2019)

The village of Sanditon and its social life bears some interesting resemblances to Fanny’s knowledge of Southend. Austen conveys a strong sense of Sandition’s physical features, both existing and planned by Parker, in order to engender a sense of the resort it will become. Such a place required a number of specific amenities all of which Fanny and her family found at Southend. Indeed, Fanny could convey her personal perceptions to Jane about the look and feel of Southend, along with a description of the layout of the purposely built Southend “new town.” [15] Intriguingly, a similar grouping of interrelated buildings appears in Sanditon. The scene is described thus: “about a hundred yards from the brow of a steep, but not very lofty cliff, [there was] … one short row of smart looking houses, called the Terrace, with a broad walk in front…. In this row [was] the library, a little detached from it, the hotel and billiard room - here began the descent to the beach, and to the bathing machines – and this was therefore the favorite spot for beauty and fashion” (chapter 4, 173).[16] In effect, there is a persuasive parallel between the physical layout of Southend as Fanny knew it and of Sanditon as Jane described it.

Fanny knew how important the fashionable core of Southend was for meeting, socializing and the sharing of news. She would be able to describe the dynamics of this social hub in some detail. She could recount how friendships were made and relationships advanced as individuals interacted in the environs of the Terrace, the Hotel and the Library. There is a similar busyness in Sanditon. Much of the interaction among the characters takes place on the promenade in front of the Terrace, in one of the Terrace Houses or at the Hotel.[17]

In addition, the Library in Sanditon is both a cultural and social centre. Sanditon’s heroine, Charlotte, is taken on an early visit there and invited to appreciate its merits, both in the line of books to borrow and trinkets available for purchase. In the novel, the library functions as an essential component of the resort experience, as it did for Fanny in Southend. It was another pleasurable feature of her holiday she could share with Jane, perhaps even telling her what books she had borrowed.

A further benefit of a visit to a seaside resort was thought to be the healthful effects of exposure to sea air, and even sea bathing. Fanny had praised the restorative virtues of bracing sea air in letters to her family.[18] In Jane Austen’s Emma (1815), it is the apothecary, Mr Wingfield, who advises John Knightley to take his family to a seaside resort, prescribing “for all the children, but particularly for the weakness in little Bella’s throat, - both sea air and bathing” (Emma, chapter 12). Austen specifically named their destination, “South End.” Later in Sanditon, Austen mentions “a family of children who came from London for sea air after whooping cough” (chapter 4, 172). This behaviour is resonant with the views and practices of Fanny’s family.

As Jane’s letters between May 1801 to September 1803 do not exist, there is no primary source about the Austen family experiences during their seaside visits to Sidmouth, Dawlish, and Teignmouth. Consequently, we don’t know how Jane’s response to seaside resorts might have influenced her imaginative construction of Sanditon as a watering place.[19] In contrast, it is possible to reconstruct Fanny’s opinions about Southend and appreciate their descriptive content.  It would not be surprising if Jane found them useful in creating Sanditon’s evolving fashionable centre.

Appendix:  Modern Southend today:

Fig 5: The Royal Terrace and Royal Hotel[20]

Fig. 6: The Royal Terrace

Fig 7: Decorative iron railing along the Royal Terrace

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[1] Fanny notes in a letter to her sister Esther: “We are going to Southend tomorrow or the next day to look at a house which Papa thinks will answer for you all, and if we approve of it, I believe he will take it” (5 March 1812). See Sheila Johnson Kindred, Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister (hereafter JATS), (2017, 2018), 102-03.

[2] In 1813 the party included Palmer Esten but lacked Esther Esten and her son Hamilton who had returned to Bermuda.

[3] Since January 1812, Fanny had been making a home for Charles and their daughters aboard HMS Namur, the guard and receiving ship at the Nore anchorage offshore from Sheerness, Kent.

[4] Published by Kershaw & Son, no. 619.

[5] Advertisement for the Royal Hotel, 1813.

[6] Chelmsford Chronicle, 21 July 1813.

[7] Inserted in Europe Magazine, April 1813.

[8] Fanny to Esther Esten, 11 March 1814. See JATS, 156-157.

[9] See William Pollitt, Southend 1760-1860 (1939), 26.

[10] Fanny to James Esten, 21 January 1812. See JATS, 101.

[11] Fanny to Esther Esten, 5 March 1812. See JATS, 103.

[12] “A Letter from Mrs George Austen to Anna Lefroy,” The Jane Austen Society Report for 2003, 228.

[13] Print, 1808.

[14] See Michael Slater, Douglas Jerrold 1803-1857 (2000), 22.

[15] See paragraphs 3 and 4 above and Figs 1- 3.

[16] All page references are from Jane Austen: Lady Susan, The Watsons, Sanditon, ed. Margaret Drabble, Penguin Books (1974).

[17] The plot depends on there being occasions and places when characters can meet each other frequently, either by design or by chance. The close spatial relations among the Terrace, the Hotel and the Library facilitate such interactions and make them appear plausible. In chapter 7, we learn that “the Terrace was the attraction to all; every body who walked, must begin with the Terrace” (183). Charlotte has a tete-a-tete with Lady Denham on one of the green benches on the Terrace (186-189), an encounter which gives her an insight into Lady Denham’s character. Arthur Parker intends to “take several turns on the Terrace” (chapter 10, 201) every morning for exercise but one suspects his real motivation is to see who is out walking with whom and where are they are heading. Once the Parker siblings have secured lodgings for themselves on the Terrace, it is essential to their interests that they be able to monitor the comings and goings to the hotel and the movements of Mrs Griffith and her party, who are lodging in “the corner house of the Terrace” (chapter 11, 207).

[18] See notes 10 and 11.

[19] Anthony Edmonds and Janet Clark have focused attention on another seaside resort associated with Jane Austen. See Anthony Edmonds, “Edward Ogle of Worthing and Jane Austen’s Sanditon,” The Jane Austen Society Report for 1810, 114-128 and Janet Clark, “Jane Austen and Worthing,” The Jane Austen Society Report for 2008, 86-105.  

[20] Photo credits 5-7, Hugh Kindred

Fanny Palmer Austen and Sense and Sensibility: Artifact and Appreciation

Fig. 1: A first edition of Sense and Sensibility in original boards.[1]

The publication of Sense and Sensibility was an event of huge significance for Jane Austen because it was her first novel to be printed. This occasion was greeted with pride and enthusiasm by her immediate family. Over the winter of 1810 the manuscript had been accepted by the publisher, Thomas Egerton, upon commission at the author’s expense. By November 1811, an initial print run of 750-1000 copies became available. One of these sets of three volumes was received by Fanny Palmer Austen. What were Fanny Austen’s responses to her copy and its contents?

Fig.2: Title page of a first edition. [2]

Authenticating Fanny’s Copy

Fanny Austen’s copy of Sense and Sensibility has been identified as a first edition held in the Houghton Library at Harvard University.[3]  Volume 1 is autographed on the title page with the inscription “Mrs. Charles Austen,” followed (in what looks like a different hand) by the words “given by her Sister in law Miss Jane Austen.” This reference to Jane could well be a later addition, perhaps written by a subsequent member of the Austen family who wanted to identify this copy as an Austen family artefact, once belonging the wife of Jane Austen’s sailor brother, Captain Charles John Austen. The wording “sister in law” has a modern ring. In the 18th-19th centuries the designation “sister,” was commonly used to refer to a brother’s wife. Volume 2 is inscribed “Frances F. Austen.” The “F” stands for “Fitzwilliams,” Fanny’s second forename.     

 Acquiring her Copy

Fanny’s arrival with Charles and their two young daughters in England in mid 1811 allowed her and Jane Austen to meet and get to know each other in person. Fanny was already aware that Sense and Sensibility was being brought to publication. She was also privy to the family secret that Jane was the author, although the title page would state that it was by “A Lady.”  Although Austen might be expected to share copies with her six siblings, she appears to have bypassed her brother, Charles, in favour of his wife, Fanny. Perhaps she knew he would be delighted by this mark of recognition of his beloved wife. Maybe this was an overture of friendship to a sister she was getting to know better. In any case, they would likely enjoy the novel together, perhaps reading it aloud to each other. As the couple would soon establish a home for their family on board HMS Namur (74 guns), maybe they shared Fanny’s copy at sea, in flickering candlelight to the accompanying sound of the wind and the waves. Such a scenario would have particularly pleased the novel’s romantically minded heroine, Marianne Dashwood.

Fanny as an Appreciative Reader

Fig. 3: Marianne and Elinor [5]

There are no records of Fanny’s reaction to Sense and Sensibility, but it is intriguing to speculate about her responses to the novel set against the circumstances of her life. Sometimes themes in a novel resonate with the situation and interests of the reader. Sense and Sensibility is about two very different, but intimately connected sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. The dynamics of sisterly relations were also an important feature of Fanny’s own family life. She had a very strong bond with her eldest sister, Esther, who was her correspondent, confident, supporter and adviser, as well as an empathetic listener when Fanny needed to speak her mind.[4] It would not be surprising if Fanny found the practical and sensible older sister, Elinor, in Sense and Sensibility, reminiscent of her own sister, Esther, who like Elinor, was vitally interested in a younger sister’s happiness, well being and security. Fanny would surely be fascinated by Austen’s sensitive exploration of sisterly relations, and how Austen conveys the range and subtlety of the communications between Elinor and Marianne.  

Fanny came to Sense and Sensibility as a young woman of twenty-one years. Six years earlier, she had met by chance and had fallen deeply in love with a tall, very handsome, and charming naval officer, Charles Austen. He was in command of his first ship, HMS Indian (18 guns) and fortuitously, his assignment to the British Navy’s North American station lasted long enough to allow their courtship and marriage to occur in the idyllic setting of Bermuda. Given this recent romantic history, the theme of courtship and marriage in Sense and Sensibility may also have had a special resonance for Fanny. It would be scarcely surprising if she were drawn to the plight of the novels’ heroines, as they navigated the barriers to finding lasting love and happy marriages.

Fig. 4: St Peter’s Church, St George’s, Bermuda, where Fanny and Charles Austen were married, 18 May 1807.

As a reader, Fanny entered an immensely entertaining fictional world. Sense and Sensibility offered her the delight of reading finely crafted prose and the pleasure of getting to know a cast of cleverly drawn characters. Fanny had a keen eye for human behaviour and foibles. In letters written from Halifax in 1810, she paints a vivid picture of the forceful Lady Warren who delighted in organizing others irrespective of their wishes; she conveys a precise impression of the charming, socially adept, British army officer, Col. Orde. Given that Fanny had an eye for individuality in character, she could be expected to relish the scheming and simpering Lucy Steele as she rivals Elinor Dashwood for Edward Ferrar’s love, and the cruel and selfish, Fanny Dashwood.[6] Fanny Austen could laugh about the activities of the bumbling but well-meaning party planner, Sir John Middleton. She might be temporarily attracted to, but later alarmed, by the smooth talking, handsome cad, John Willoughby.

Fanny received her copy at a propitious moment. She was soon to enter upon a life aboard HMS Namur, bereft of female company and support. Her letters from this period provide articulate and revealing accounts of her predicament. A book of the calibre of Sense and Sensibility must have been a boon indeed. Yet its possession surely had additional importance for Fanny. Owning her own copy, which was also a gift from the author, made her feel particularly welcomed by this talented new sister. The collegial spirit accompanying the gift augured well for the mutually supportive relationship which was to develop between Fanny and Jane.[7] In a sense Fanny’s receipt of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility in 1811 was a gift which kept on giving.  

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[1] Courtesy of the Houghton Library, Harvard University. Fanny’s copy was later bound in “modern full calf gilt by Bartlett & Co., Boston.” See David Gilson, A Bibliography of Jane Austen (1982),11.

[2] Lilly Library, Indiana University.

[3] It is catalogued as EC8. Au747.811s (B).

[4] Fanny’s letters to Esther are transcribed in Sheila Johnson Kindred, Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister, hereafter JATS, MQUP, 2017, 2018. See 52-53; 55-56; 60-61; 62; 64-66; 68-69;102-104; 154-157 as well as Esther’s letter about Fanny, written to Charles in July 1808, 214-15.

[5] Illustration by Hugh Thompson. Marianne has just sighted Willoughby at a London party. Sense and Sensibility, vol.2, chapter 6, 1896 edition. 

[6] Tom Keymer aptly describes Fanny Dashwood as a “one-woman Goneril and Regan show.” See Keymer, Jane Austen, writing, society and politics (2020), 66.

[7] See JATS, 119-121, 134-137, 192-207.

Sheila's Australian Book Tour

Jane among the koalas

Ready for the book tour

Who could refuse an invitation to speak to Jane Austen Societies in Australia at a time of year when Nova Scotia is buffeted by icy gales and often buried in snow? Yet it was not a matter of weather that was the deciding factor. The Jane Austen Societies in Australia are known for their keen interest in all things Austen, their impressive scholarship and their welcoming spirit. Between the 8th and 23rd February, I was delighted to spend time with them. I spoke about my book, Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister, in Brisbane, the Southern Highlands (Bowral), Sydney, Newcastle and Melbourne. My husband, Hugh, accompanied me. 

Speaking in Sydney

Sydney was a focal point of the book tour, both as a transportation point and the largest gathering - 150 members of JASA. There I shared the stage with Susannah Fullerton, author of Happily Ever After: Celebrating Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, A Dance with Jane Austen and Jane and I: A Tale of Austen Addiction, who conducted the AGM of JASA prior to my talk. It was Susannah who initially invited me to speak in Australia and she proved to be a wonderful host and helpful advisor on all aspects during the book tour. A delicious tea followed the talk, a pattern repeated with much panache in Brisbane and elsewhere. 

Mixing with the marsupials

Brisbane provided a warm welcome (in 36 degree’s heat), dinner with the local Jane Austen committee and most hospitable accommodation with Barbara O’Rourke. A strong turnout of 90 members came to hear about Fanny Palmer Austen. While in Queensland Hugh and I made the acquaintance of koalas, kangaroos, wombats, echidnas, and cassowaries at the justly famous Australia Zoo and enjoyed exploring Brisbane on the Water Cat, a convenient form of transport on the river. 

The Bowral meeting took place in the beautiful and delightfully cooler area of the Southern Highlands, located between Sydney and Canberra. A small, but enthusiastic group showed a marked interest in Fanny Palmer Austen and the narrative of her transatlantic life at sea and on shore. We enjoyed several meals with the local committee members and two scenic drives to nearby villages. I saw my first poisonous snake, which fortunately showed no interest in me. 

Lunch with Janeites in the Southern Highlands

Historic Morpeth, NSW

In Newcastle the Hunter Region were great hosts and an attentive audience. Pamela Whalan made us very welcome in her home. I happily traded books with Pamela, who has adapted all six of Jane Austen’s novels for the stage. Pamela also took us on a very interesting day’s drive, exploring the Hunter River valley as far as Maitland and historic Morpeth 

The last stop was Melbourne. Here I was impressed by the range of ages and interests of JAS Melbourne. That college age students met to discuss Jane Austen with members as old as 93 proves Austen’s appeal to the young, the old and all in between. The Melbourne committee arranged a happy dinner after my talk at which there was lots of additional chat. Before leaving Melbourne, Hugh and I had a wonderful day out with Margaret Baulch (a direct descendent of Charles Austen) who took us to the Healsville Animal Sanctuary and the fascinating William Ricketts Sculpture Garden at Mount Dandenong. 

As we departed for home, I learned that JASA is planning a study day on “Jane Austen & Art,” on 29 June, and news that JASA hopes to host Adrian Lukis, the actor who played George Wickham in the 1995 film version of Pride and Prejudice, for a programme in Sydney titled “Being Mr Wickham.” These are only two events of what looks like a vibrant year for the Jane Austen Societies of Australia. Would that they were not over 16,000 km away from my home base in Halifax, Nova Scotia! I close in gratitude for the new friendships and many enjoyments which enriched my book tour. My heartfelt thanks go to all those who hosted and assisted me and my husband along the way. 

Louisa, Fanny, and Sophy: Lives of Naval Wives

Lady Louisa Hardy

Naval officers’ wives during the Napoleonic Wars have long fascinated me—both the real-life ones and those found in fiction, such as in Jane Austen’s Persuasion. While researching the life of Fanny Palmer Austen, I came upon the story of Louisa Berkeley, who married a naval officer in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the same year Fanny Palmer married Charles, Jane’s younger naval brother, in Bermuda. Comparing Louisa’s actions as a naval wife with Fanny’s gave me insights into the significance of Fanny’s relationship with Charles within the naval world they shared. In the process, I discovered how aspects of Fanny’s married life found echos in Austen’s imagining of Sophy, wife of Admiral Croft, in Persuasion. Here are profiles of the diverging and diverting sea going lives of Louisa and Fanny that afforded me a greater understanding of the character of Sophy Croft in Persuasion.

Louisa Berkeley was the eldest daughter of Admiral Sir George Cranfield Berkeley, Charles Austen’s commander-in-chief on the North American Station of the navy, 1806-08. Fanny may even have met the vivacious Louisa, and her sisters, for Sir George brought his family out with him to the North American Station. After a whirlwind courtship in Halifax, Louisa married Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy in St. Paul’s Church on 16 November 1807. Hardy had been Admiral Nelson’s close friend, and captain of his flag ship, HMS Victory, at the Battle of Trafalgar, and had recently been made a baronet, accomplishments which presumably contributed to his attractiveness as a suitor. One wonders if Louisa had any clear idea of what life as a naval wife might entail. She was soon to find out.

After the wedding, Sir Thomas was immediately sent to the Chesapeake Bay area, off the coast of Virginia, where the British navy was determined to contain French war ships already shut up in the Bay. According to a disgruntled Louisa, writing from aboard Hardy’s warship, the 74 gun Triumph, “we spent from December 1807 to April 1808 in the gloomy, desolate [Chesapeake] Bay not allowed to land as the Americans were in such an exasperated state that they might have been disagreeable” (quoted in Nelson’s Hardy and his Wife 1769-1877, by John Gore [1935]). During the whole winter the ship was kept perpetually ready for action and no fires were allowed. In these frigid and far from romantic circumstances, Louisa became pregnant with her first of three daughters. She had no regrets when “at last we were released and I returned to Bermuda where my family were, and soon after . . . [on the Triumph], we returned to England.”

It must have become very soon apparent to Louisa that sharing a naval life with Hardy would have limited attractions for her. They were mismatched in matters of personality and interests. He was a serious, unromantic and uncharismatic 38-year-old, wedded to his career in the navy, whereas she was nineteen, socially ambitious, and fun loving. She scarcely knew Hardy when she married him and their first months together on the Triumph, as she describes them, must have reduced any feelings of “fine naval fervour” that she might have originally felt. She found that she hated to be at sea and very early decided she was uninterested in her husband’s career. In subsequent years she often lived abroad with their three daughters, cultivated the friendship of foreign aristocrats and pursued a life of amusement and entertainment, unconcerned that Hardy was regularly posted on assignments at sea taking him far from England. Louisa was essentially a naval wife in name only.

Fanny held very different views and attitudes about her role as a naval wife. She had the advantage of getting well acquainted with Charles during the two years before they married. She knew him to be kind, caring, charming, entertaining, and very handsome. Beginning with their earliest days together, Fanny saw herself as Charles’s helpmate and supporter. As she lived in Bermuda, the southern base of the North American Station, she understood what the career of a serving naval officer entailed, and she willingly became a participant in naval life. She travelled with Charles on board his vessel the eighteen gun Indian between Bermuda and Halifax on a number of occasions. She experienced at least one horrific storm at sea, but this did not discourage her from sailing with him, including undertaking a North Atlantic crossing to England in 1811. She was attuned to the social role which she was expected to fulfill as flag captain’s wife in Halifax in the summer of 1810 and again during 1812-14 in England, when Charles was flag captain on the 74 gun HMS Namur, which was stationed at the Nore. During this later period, Fanny courageously accepted the challenge of making a home for their family of three daughters on board the Namur.

Some of Fanny’s naval experiences would have been known within the Austen family, and especially by Jane and Cassandra. Fanny had originally been introduced through correspondence within the Austen family and once she was in England, she and Charles paid regular visits to Chawton Cottage, where Jane and Cassandra periodically cared for their children. On one occasion when Fanny and Jane were both guests at Godmersham Park, the estate of Charles’s brother, Edward, Jane wrote to Cassandra, speaking of Fanny in familiar terms. She refers to her as “Mrs Fanny, “Fanny Senior,” “[Cassy’s] Mama”, and part of “the Charleses” (15 and 26 October 1813). She notes that Fanny appears “just like [her] own nice self,” words which suggest Jane had a warm and affectionate attitude towards Fanny. Contacts such as these allowed Jane Austen to learn about Fanny’s unique and diverse involvement as an officer’s wife in a naval world. Crucially, Fanny was able to articulate the complexities of naval life from a female point of view.

Jane’s evident sensitivities to Fanny’s life as a naval wife likely influenced her creation of Sophy Croft in Persuasion. Certainly, there are some key differences between Fanny and Sophy in terms of age and appearance, perceptions of what counts as “comfortable” living on a war ship, and the absence of children to care for and nurture. However, there are striking similarities between the two women in terms of behaviour, attitudes and practical common sense.

Both woman made voyages with their husbands. Fanny sailed with Charles between the bases on the North American station and she travelled to England with him on his frigate Cleopatra in 1811. Sophy crossed the Atlantic four times and accompanied Admiral Croft on many other voyages as well. Additionally, Sophy was familiar with Bermuda, a clue that she has been with Admiral Croft on the North American Station, just as Fanny had been with Charles. Fanny periodically lived on four of Charles’s vessels; Sophy made her home on five of her husband’s ships. Both women staved off periods of sea sickness when under sail.

Both Fanny Austen and Sophy Croft were most content when sharing their husband’s lives. Fanny’s letters speak of her very great pleasure in being in Charles’s company. She frankly admits that she is “never happy but when she is with her husband” (4 October 1813). According to Sophy, “the happiest part of my life has been spent on board a ship. While we were together . . . there was nothing to be feared. Thank God!” Likewise, Jane Austen depicts the Crofts as a “particularly attached and happy” couple. Jane Austen’s appreciation of Fanny’s strong desire to support Charles, to find a community of friends, and to be his constant and affectionate companion, may have influenced her ascription of those traits to Sophy Croft.

In his biography of Jane Austen, Park Honan suggests that she drew on some aspects of Fanny for Mrs Croft and that she admired Fanny’s “unfussiness and gallant good sense” (Jane Austen: Her Life [1997]). My research into Fanny’s articulate and candid letters written from the Namur, together with records and accounts in her pocket diary, supports this observation. They show her organizing domestic arrangements, acquiring food and necessities for her family at bargain prices and identifying books for the education of her five-year-old daughter, Cassy. In a similar vein, within her domestic sphere, Mrs. Croft proves to be practical and business-like in the matter of arranging for the tenancy of Kellynch Hall and effecting practical alterations once they are resident there.

The three naval wives in question, Louisa, Fanny, and Sophy, make up a diverse trio. Louisa proved to be largely absent from Thomas Hardy’s naval life, but Fanny supported Charles in his naval career with courage, spirit, and dedication. It is fortunate that Jane had a “sister” of Fanny’s ilk, whose richness of experience as a naval wife could contribute to Austen’s creativity when she came to draw the very likable and competent Sophy Croft in Persuasion.

Quotations are from the Penguin Classics edition of Persuasion, edited by D.W. Harding (1965), and the Oxford edition of Jane Austen’s Letters, edited by Deirdre Le Faye (4th edition, 2011).

It is likely that Jane’s sensitivities to Fanny’s naval experiences also influenced some aspects of Anne Elliot and Mrs. Harville. For a full discussion of the other naval wives and more about the resonances between Fanny and Sophy Croft, see Chapter 9 in Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister: The Life and Letters of Fanny Palmer Austen, by Sheila Johnson Kindred (2017).

First posted on http://sarahemsley.com