Fanny Palmer Austen’s Accounts: Her Pocket Diary for 1814

Fig. 1: Fanny Palmer Austen

Sometimes a small, everyday object proves to be revelatory of the owner’s activities, attitudes and values. Such is the case with a pocket diary of Fanny Palmer Austen,[1] wife of Jane Austen’s brother Charles. Although Fanny’s letters provide a profile of many aspects of her unusual life as the wife of a naval officer,[2] the notations in her pocket diary reveal interesting details about her domestic activities, including her attention to her children’s needs, her commitment to economies and her generous nature. As such, it is a valuable primary source for coming to know Fanny and telling her story.

In late December 1813 or early in the New Year, Fanny acquired a small pocket diary, bound in red leather. Bearing the impressive title, The Pocket Magnet, or Elegant Picturesque Diary for 1814,[3] Fanny was to use it as a memo book to record in pencil her household accounts and additional information in the memoranda section at the back. Unfortunately, it has suffered from extensive erasing on pages from March to the end of July, but even so, it remains an intriguing source of information about Fanny’s undertakings.

Fig. 2 and Fig 3: Fanny’s Pocket Diary.

Her pocket diary is most informative for the months of January and February, a time when Fanny happened to be largely away from the 74 gun Namur, and where since 1812 she had been making a home for Charles and their young daughters. There were several reasons for being on shore. During January 1814 the weather was brutally frigid. The Thames froze over, and a great Frost Fair was held for days on the ice. These conditions forced Fanny and her daughters Cassandra (Cassy), Harriet and Fanny, ages 5, 3 and 2, to stay on in London after a Christmas visit to her parents at 22 Keppel Street. Then in February, Fanny and Charles paid a courtesy visit to the Sheerness home of his superior, Admiral Sir Thomas Williams and his wife, Lady Willliams, followed by another courtesy call on Commissioner and Mrs Lobb of the Sheerness Naval Yard. Given these circumstances, Fanny’s January and February purchases reflect her perception of what she would need when back on the Namur, but she was also purchasing items and services for her family’s immediate well being.

Fanny carefully recorded each item and its cost. At the time British currency was denoted in pounds (£), shillings (s), and pence (d). There were 12 pence in a shilling and 20 shillings in a pound. Some items would be useful for living on board: brushes (2s 6d), bed ticking (11s 3d) and furniture cotton (£1 13s 6d). Laundry was a regular necessity. There are eight separate entries for laundry: washing in general, also specifically for her children’s clothes, items belonging to Betsy, her nursemaid, and her own silk stockings. We know that Fanny favoured white clothing as was the custom of genteel ladies of the Regency Period.[4] Such preferences of dress entailed frequent laundry. Fanny’s expenditures for washing over these two months was £2 15s 3d.[5]

Fanny also purchased items to wear. There are entries for footwear: boots, three purchases of shoes (15s 3d), and socks (1s 6d).  Fanny also brought gloves (3s 6d), a gown for Betsy (12s), a waistcoat (12s 9d), possibly for Charles, and ribbons (1s 5d), probably for one of Fanny’s many sewing projects.[6] She included in her accounts the cost of binding books (17s) as well as postage (1s 7d), and packet letters (2s 1d),  presumably for her letters to Bermuda.[7] These are not surprising items as this was a reading family and one who valued close communication by letters with absent members.

Fanny’s notebook has few entries concerning food other than a can of bulk tea (5s 6d), sugar (2s.10d) and butter (3s 4d).  Omissions may be due to the number of weeks she stayed in other people’s houses – with her own parents in January and the Williams and the Lobbs in February. In addition, while on board she most likely shared in Charles’s standard naval rations, so confined her own purchases to better quality fresh foodstuffs, and items which were not part of naval issue.[8] She did budget for some healthy treats, namely fresh fruit (5s 2d), as well as less nutritious but tasty ones, such as cakes (1s 9d). She also bought toothbrushes (5s) in order to ensure good dental hygiene.

The catch all category of “Sundries” accounts for expenditures of 15s in January and February. What she included in this classification is anyone’s guess!  Fanny’s total expenditures for January and February amounted to £20 12s 10d.

Fig. 4: List of Books for Cassandra

Fanny’s caring attitude towards her daughters is reflected in several entries. By June, it was necessary to purchase shoes for little Fan (2s 8d), her youngest daughter. Her eldest, Cassy, was funded for a trip to Kintbury, Berkshire at the cost of £2. As Cassy was very prone to seasickness, she was often onshore under the care of her Aunt Harriet in London or Cassandra and Jane Austen at Chawton Cottage in Hampshire. Presumably, Cassy had been staying in Chawton during January and had accompanied one of her aunts to Kintbury. They would most likely be visiting Rev and Mrs. Fulwar Fowle, who had close ties with the Austens.[9]

Mothers of Fanny’s class were expected to begin their children’s education at home. At an early age, a little girl was taught to read, to spell, to write grammatically, to learn plain sewing, to understand the principles of the Christian religion, and to display good manners and good sense. Fanny intended to take her role as educator seriously, even though Cassy had earlier shown the signs of a reluctant scholar.[10]  Her “List of Books for Cassandra” included Mrs Trimmers Little Histories: Ancient History, Roman History and the History of England, as well as A Geographical Companion to Mrs Trimmer’s Histories, together with printed maps, keys and explanations.  Fanny also had French books in mind and thus listed St Quintin’s first Grammar and Brossert’s first Grammar. Perhaps Jane Austen recommended the St Quintin volume as he had been a master at the Ladies Boarding School, Reading, which she had attended at the age of nine. Mrs Barbauld’s Hymns in Prose and Dr Watt’s Hymns in Verse could be used for religious teachings. Fanny also chose Original Poems for Children in 2 vols and Simple Stories in Verse in order to introduce literature into the curriculum. Fanny’s choices were investments as her other daughters, Harriet and Fan, would become students in due course. Another child was expected in September.

Fanny was once more in London at her parent’s home in May, some of June and July 1814 as measles had got among the children of the Namur and she did not want her three girls infected. Unfortunately, there are 19 erasures in the first section for May, although entries for shoes for a child (10s 3d), cakes (11s 6d) and washing (2s) are still detectable. Only two items are identifiable for early June: toy (6d) and cakes (6d). Late June entries are more informative: coach hire (5s 6d), washing for Captn. Austen (13s), shoes for Fanny (2s 8d), washing (4s 11d), ribbons (8d) and cakes (6d). Fanny was making the same sort of purchases as she had done earlier in the year. Based on entries which can be deciphered, her expenditures for May came to £3 0s 6d and for June, £4 18s 7d.

From the totals for January, February, May and June, we know that Fanny spent £29 5s 11 d.[11] This is a partial picture of her domestic accounts for the first half of 1814, but her choices suggest Fanny’s commitment to economies. Her expenditure for gloves is close to that spent by her sister-in-law, Jane Austen, who was a canny and careful shopper. Jane paid 4 shillings for gloves in 1811; [12] Fanny paid 3s 6d in 1814. Jane Austen purchased black ribbon (1s 1d) to trim her lilac sarsenet dress in March 1814.[13] The same year Fanny bought ribbons twice (2s 1d).

Fanny’s letter of 5 February 1814 makes explicit reference to her financial prudence. She told her sister Harriet in London that she will not be ordering “very handsome velvets [from Holland] at about 4 Guineas[14] a dress,” as she and Charles are currently cash poor.[15] Although Charles’s salary on the Namur was £500 per annum, given the Admiralty’s pay practices a portion of his current salary would likely be withheld until as late as March of the next year.[16] Moreover, his posting to the Namur would be ending in October 1814. It would be prudent to have something put aside for the future in case he did not get another ship and found himself on shore on half-pay.[17]  

Irrespective of Fanny’s attention to careful spending, several entries suggest gift-giving and generosity. According to her accounts, Fanny spent £20 12s 10d in January and February. Nonetheless, during those months she bought a gift for her sister, Esther, in Bermuda, described as “Cap for Mrs. Esten” (£1 4s.), and provided a gown for Betsy, her nursemaid (12s), and she also paid for Betsy’s washing (2s). She “gave away” 17s 6d, presumably to those in need. Fanny was also diligent in her search for bargain prices for fresh foods for the London Palmer family. For example, her letters mention purchases of fish and eggs[18] and her pocket diary notes that “Miss Palmer [her sister Harriet] has settled for the ham and butter,” items that Fanny had acquired on her behalf. 

A mysterious entry, which is not dated, occurs on a memorandum page. Fanny recorded that she “lent Mr. RP £4.” A possible candidate for this largesse was Fanny’s only brother, law student Robert John Palmer.[19] As far as she knew, he was still incarcerated in a prisoner of war camp in Verdun, France, where a prisoner’s level of comfort depended on his financial resources.[20] If Fanny could get money to him, even as a loan, this would be beneficial. It would also be evidence of her generosity.   

Practical, caring, economical and generous: Fanny’s pocket diary records choices which suggest she had these traits. She also appears to have been a resourceful housewife. It is a great pity that so much of her diary was defaced by erasures. However, more than enough of it remains to give us an intriguing look into Fanny’s domestic and family-oriented world.[21]  

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[1] I am grateful for access to study Fanny’s pocket diary provided by the late David Gilson, its then owner, and Chris Viveash.

[2] The letters are transcribed and contextualized in Sheila Johnson Kindred, Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister: The Life and Letters of Fanny Palmer Austen, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2017, 2018 [hereafter JATS].

[3] It measures about 10 cm wide and 7cm long.

[4] Jane Austen described Fanny as looking “as neat and white as possible this morning” See Jane Austen’s Letters, 4th ed., ed. by Deirdre Le Faye, 15 October 1813, 249 [hereafter Letters].

[5] Subsequently Fanny paid 17s 11d for laundry services in June.

[6] Alternatively, perhaps the ribbons were intended for her daughters’ hair.

[7] In 1814 two of Fanny’s chief correspondents, her sister, Esther, and her husband, James Esten, were living in Bermuda.

[8] He regularly received rations of beef, pork, biscuit, oatmeal, pease, sugar, cheese, butter and beer.

[9] Cassandra had been engaged to Rev. Fulwar Fowle’s nephew, Tom, who died of yellow fever in 1797. Fulwar’s son, Thomas (1793-1822), was already known to Cassy from his time as a midshipman aboard Charles Austen’s sloop, the Indian, and later as a Lieutenant on board Charles’s vessel, HMS Namur.

[10] In early October 1813, Fanny wrote her brother-in-law, James Esten: “Cassy begins now to read very prettily, but I have had an amazing deal of trouble with her not owing to a dullness of comprehension but a dislike to learning.” See Fanny to James Esten, 4 October 1813, JATS, 127. 

[11] She spent £8 13s 1½ d in May and June, making a total for four months of £29 5s 11½ d.

[12] See Robert Hume, “Money in Jane Austen,” Review of English Studies 64, (2012), 291.

[13] See Austen, Letters, 6 March 1814, 269.

[14] A guinea was worth one pound and one shilling.

[15] See Fanny to her sister Harriet Palmer, 5 February 1814, JATS, 148.

[16] For Admiralty pay practices, see JATS, 94.

[17] Half pay was not literally half but a fixed stipend, according to rank and at a minimal amount.

[18] See Fanny to Harriet, 6 February 1814, JATS, 149.

[19] If this is so, it seems odd she would refer to her brother in such a formal way, yet such terminology was expected, even within families. Elsewhere in the diary she writes: “Miss Palmer had settled for the ham and butter.” This is a reference to her sister Harriet.

[20] See blog post, 31 December 2021, War Time Worries of Fanny Palmer Austen and Jane Austen.

[21] A version of this essay appeared in The Jane Austen Society Report for 2018, 34-39.

Tagged: Fanny Palmer Austen, Fanny Austen’s  Pocket Diary, Fanny Austen’s Domestic Arrangements, Educating British Children in 1814

Fanny Palmer Austen: Her Silhouette and Its Significance

Fig 1: Fanny Palmer Austen’s Silhouette by John Meirs.

In the early nineteenth century, families treasured images of their loved ones, images created by way of drawings or portraits in oils. A popular, cheaper, alternative source of portraiture was the silhouette. Among known silhouettes of members of the Austen family[1] is one of Fanny Palmer Austen.[2] We don’t know at whose behest a sitting was arranged, but sometime after she  arrived in England in 1811, Fanny’s silhouette[3] was taken  in London at the fashionable shop of Meirs and Field at 111 The Strand. What does Fanny’s  silhouette reveal about her appearance, even her character?

What is a Silhouette?

In the eighteenth century blackened cut-paper images became a highly favoured form of miniature portraiture. According to the Victoria and Albert Museum, this fashion for profiles arose in part from a resurgence of interest in neoclassical design that grew in the 1770s at the time of the archaeological discoveries of ancient Roman sites at Herculaneum and Pompeii. Apart from cultural and historical interests, silhouettes came to be valued as reminders of one’s family and friends. Portrait artists set up business in large centres, including London. Images were quickly executed, readily copied in multiples and offered at very affordable prices, ranging from about two shillings to one guinea. From 1788 to 1821, John Meirs was highly acclaimed for his skills in this art form. He is said to have amassed 100,000 profiles in his shop by 1821. At his death, his estate was worth £20,000 pounds.

 Making Fanny’s Profile

 The procedure was straightforward and efficient. Fanny would have been positioned on a chair, in front of a glass screen behind which was affixed a sheet of plain paper. By remaining absolutely still for a few minutes, light from a candle beside her would cast her shadow on the sheet of paper, allowing John Meirs to rapidly trace her life-size profile on it. He then used a pantograph to reduce the size to 6½ cm. by 8 cm.

Fig 2: “Method of Taking Profiles,” Ladies Monthly Magazine, October 1799.

Fig. 3: How a Pantograph Works.[4]

Fanny's silhouette shows her head and shoulders.[5] Here is a young woman with a short neck, rounded features and a fashionable hairstyle. Her long locks are twisted and caught up at the back of her head, with the suggestion of curls on her forehead.

The image still required finishing touches. First, the profile was painted black and affixed on an oval of plaster. Then, Meir’s young partner, John Field, would have enhanced aspects of her head, her hair and shoulders by a process known as “bronzing.”  To this end, he used gold paint to highlight contrasts of texture and detail. The finished product was put under glass, secured in an oval frame and mounted on a rectangular black background board.[6]

Revealing Character - Conveying Likeness?

The popular views of Swiss poet and theologian Johann Kaspar Lavater, author of  Essays on Physiognomy,[7] fueled nineteenth-century speculations about what a silhouette revealed. According to Lavater, who illustrated his book with many black profiles, it was possible to discover a person’s character by concentrating on an individual’s main features. Such examinations would reveal both virtues and vices. Profilists, such as Meirs, were also attracted to the idea that one’s appearance was revelatory of character. His trade label, affixed to the back of Fanny’s profile, claims that he “executed likenesses in profiles with unequalled accuracy which convey the most forcible expressions of character.”[8]   Meirs most likely hoped that such a claim would advance his business, in light of its consistency with Lavater’s popular views, but he wisely refrained from inferring specific, “expressions of character” from his profiles, leaving that conjectural task to his clients and their friends.

Twentieth-century silhouette collector Peggy Hickman, in an article titled “Silhouettes from Jane Austen’s Family”[9] treats Fanny’s silhouette as a source of information. She alludes to Fanny’s physical features. According to Hickman,  Fanny was “no beauty,” rather a young woman with “blunt features and a short, thick neck.”[10] This seems unfair. True, Fanny’s neck is short but she was of petite stature, so the size of her neck can be viewed as proportionate to the rest of her body. In addition, blunt features, as they appear one-dimensionally in profile, may not form so unattractive a face when viewed from a frontal perspective. Hickman’s assessment of Fanny’s lack of beauty seems unnecessarily harsh on slight evidence.

Hickman also appears sympathetic to Meirs’s sentiments about what a profile can convey. In particular, she ascribes a “determined expression” to Fanny. She does not explain what she considers to be indicators of determination- might they be the shape and positioning of the mouth? However, simply observing the area around Fanny’s mouth could just as easily trigger other assessments of what her expression conveys. Moreover, without a fuller description and accompanying qualifiers, it is unclear whether Fanny’s so-called “determined expression” is meant to indicate a desirable character trait or not. In some situations,  it could be good to be resolute, in others, being adamant or single-minded would indicate a deficit of character. Hickman adduces no other sources of information about Fanny’s attitudes, behaviour and opinions which would independently confirm Fanny was a “determined” individual. Even if she does look determined, perhaps this was just a fleeting expression which Meirs happened to catch and not an indicator of an established character trait.

Conclusion:  

Fanny’s profile has definite merit from an aesthetic point of view. It is a beautifully executed example of Meirs and Field’s mastery of their art. From an informational point of view, the silhouette does convey some limited details about Fanny’s physical features, in particular her interest in the style of the day, as witnessed by the fashionable arrangement of her hair. Yet, taken as a putative indicator of her character, Fanny’s profile is a disappointment.

Other materials are needed for a fuller appreciation of Fanny in all her complexity. Significantly, there is one other visual representation of Fanny, a portrait painted in oils in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1810 by the talented British artist, Robert Field.

Fig. 4: Robert Field’s portrait of Fanny

In it, he captures his subject’s face in full, frontal detail, including her wonderful red-gold hair, her pleasing figure, serious and candid expression, clear blue eyes and direct gaze. By dint of its artistry, this representation of Fanny is a richer, more evocative image than the inherently limited, one-dimensional silhouette. A full appreciation of an individual’s character depends in addition on her opinions, thoughts and actions. Notably, Fanny’s surviving letters, written in 1810 and then continuing from 1812 to 1814, give evidence of a brave, loyal, caring and affectionate woman, wife and mother.[11] A study of these documents yields a treasure trove of information about Fanny’s character that is far more revealing than whatever clues may be adduced from her profile.

 All things considered, Fanny’s silhouette deserves appreciation as the intricate and handsome object that it is, as well as the associations it may trigger for further consideration.[12]  

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[1] There are existing silhouettes of Rev and Mrs. George Austen, Cassandra Austen, Edward Austen and his adopted parents Thomas and Catherine Knight and also one said to be of Jane Austen.

[2] Fanny’s profile on plaster was retained by her husband, Charles Austen, and his succeeding family for 110 years after her death until his grandchildren, spinster sisters Emma Florence and Jane, sold it to Mr. Frederick Lovering in 1924. When his collection was auctioned in 1948, the silhouette was bought by Peggy Hickman.

[3] What we would today call a silhouette was then known in  England as a “shade” or “profile,” if it was a portrait.

[4] Deirdre Le Faye outlines this procedure in her article “Silhouettes of the Revd William Knight and his family,” The Jane Austen Society Report V, 138-39.

[5] Thanks to Darren Bevin of the Chawton House Library for providing the dimensions of Fanny’s profile.

[6] This copy of Fanny’s silhouette can be seen in the Oak Room at Chawton House, Chawton, Kent.

[7] It was published in translation from the original German in 1793 and became a best seller in England. See Le Faye, “Silhouettes of the Revd William Knight and his family,” 137.

[8] Alternative wording on a Meirs profile of 1813 speaks of it conveying “the most forcible expression and animated character”

[9] Peggy Hickman, “Silhouettes of Jane Austen’s Family” in Shades from Jane Austen, written and illustrated by Honoria D. Marsh and Peggy Hickman, Perry Jackson Ltd, 1975. Hickman was an early owner of Fanny’s silhouette, acquiring it in 1948. After her death, it was sold in 1993 at auction for £2,020.  Later it was acquired by Sandra Lerner, who gave it to the Chawton House.

[10] Peggy Hickman, “Silhouettes of the Austen Family,” plate XV.

[11] Fanny’s letters are held by the Morgan Library and Museum, New York City, MA 4500. They are contextualized and explored in my book, Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister: The Life and Letters of Fanny Palmer Austen, MQUP, 2017. 2018.

[12] A version of this essay appeared in The Jane Austen Society Report for 2016, 23-27.

Narratives of Naval Wives during the Napoleonic Wars: Fanny in Fact and Jane in Fiction.

Fanny Palmer Austen was married to Captain Charles Austen, Jane's brother. Her friendship with Jane allowed Fanny to share stories about her experience of the naval world. Later, Jane created naval wives in her novel, Persuasion. How might Fanny's life story have impacted Jane's writing?

I will be giving a talk on this topic on Zoom to the Eastern Washington Northern Idaho (EWANID) Region of the Jane Austen Society of North America on Saturday, November 6, 2021, at 11:00 am Pacific Time (3:00 pm AST). All are welcome.

This is a free event but registration is necessary. To sign up, you may go to the EWANID webpage: jasnaewanid.org/events/

Tags: Fanny Palmer Austen, Jane Austen, Naval Wives, Napoleonic Wars, Persuasion

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

Sophia Sawyer, Admiral’s daughter at Halifax, Nova Scotia

I have written about Fanny Palmer Austen’s role as a naval wife at Halifax, Nova Scotia, summer headquarters of the British Navy’s North American Station.  Recently, I was intrigued to learn more about another young woman, Sophia Elizabeth Sawyer, who, as the daughter of a naval officer, also spent time in Halifax, twenty-one years earlier than Fanny. Here is her story, another thread in the intricate fabric of naval family life.  

On 10 March 1770, Sophia Elizabeth Sawyer was born into a naval family of great wealth and comfort. She had both British and Portuguese ancestry, a situation explained by some unexpected events occurring eight years earlier. As a young British frigate captain on patrol off the coast of Portugal, her father, Herbert Sawyer, visited Lisbon, where he fell deeply in love with Anne Majendie, the daughter of a prosperous local wine merchant. The girl’s father objected to a marriage, not on grounds of personal merit, but due to Sawyer’s want of fortune. However, he quickly changed his mind when Sawyer co-captured a Spanish treasure ship, the Hermione, en route from Lima to Cadiz on 31 May 1762, carrying a cargo of over £500,000.00 in cash and gold bullion. Captain Herbert Sawyer received the enormous sum of £65,053 in prize money;[1] unsurprisingly, the marriage went ahead without delay.

By the time Sophia was eighteen, her father was Commodore[2] on the Navy’s North American Station. Her brother Herbert, three years older, had followed his father into the navy and was at times also on the Station, in command of a sloop. In October 1787, Sophia and her family were aboard her father’s flag ship, HMS Leander (50 guns), en route from Quebec to Halifax, when a catastrophe occurred. The ship struck a rock in the Gulf of St Lawrence and came very close to being lost. In this dire situation, the Sawyers had to quit the Leander and took refuge on board a smaller accompanying vessel, HMS Pegasus (28 guns). The Pegasus was commanded by no ordinary captain, but by the handsome, twenty-two-year-old Prince William Henry, later King William IV of Great Britain. Once Sophia recovered from the trauma of near disaster, she may have reflected how romantic it was to be rescued by a real prince! Moreover, he was a handsome prince, about 5 foot 8 inches high with a good complexion and fair hair.  

The fleet from Quebec reached Halifax on 26 October.[3] In welcoming a prince of the blood, Halifax was transformed and transfixed. The societal elite rose to the occasion with a patriotic fervour. In the course of 10 days there were three balls and suppers given in the prince’s honour, as well as a ceremonial welcome, including military manoeuvres and an official address from Governor Parr. Prince William also attended private suppers at the homes of the Governor, Commissioner Duncan of the Halifax Dockyard and the Commodore, Sophia’s father.

Fig. 1: The Commissioner’s House,[4] where one of the balls was held.

Sophia was lively, beautiful and vibrant, and described in local military circles as “a very handsome, fine woman.”[5] The excitement for her and other genteel young women must have been palpable as they anticipated the elegant events they would be attending. Sophia had certain advantages due to her father’s status as Commodore. Her family had living quarters reserved for them in a wing of the Naval Hospital at the north end of the Dockyard, and here Prince William dined with the Commodore, en famille, on the day of his arrival. He dined again with Commodore Sawyer on 2 November, though whether Sophia was present or not is uncertain.

Fig. 2: General William Dyott, formerly Lt. Dyott.[7]

We have Lt William Dyott, recently posted to Halifax with a detachment of the 4th Regiment, to thank for the chatty and enthusiastic entries in his diary which describe the festivities during Prince William’s visit. The Governor was the first to host an evening ball at his official residence close to the Grand Parade and St Paul’s Church.  According to Dyott, “His Royal Highness came about half seven and almost immediately began country dances with Miss Parr, the Governor’s daughter. We changed partners every dance; he danced with all the pretty women in the room and was just as affable as any other man. … Supper [was served] about twelve. A most elegant thing, near sixty people sat down.”[6]  

The Prince would have opened the country dancing with Miss Parr, as a matter of courtesy, given her father’s rank. Sophia was no doubt one of the “pretty women in the room” who had occasion to dance with the Prince, when she was not engaged by one of her father’s naval officers or one of the red-coated army officers from the 4th, 6th, or 57th regiments currently serving in Halifax.

November 5th was the day set aside for the official civic welcome. Sophia would have been well-positioned to observe the sights and sounds of the ceremony from her father’s vessel. At 2:15 pm Prince William left the Commodore’s ship in his own barge, manned by a crew wearing “handsome caps of black velvet with a silver ornament [at the] front, [incorporating] the King’s arms most elegantly cast.”[8] Every ship in the fleet manned its yards.[9] Their captains, positioned in their own barges, hoisted the Standard of England, ready to salute the Prince as he passed by. Members of the garrison could be seen lining the streets all the way from Government House down to the wharf, where Prince William would be landing. Soon, over the water echoed the sound of three field pieces firing a royal salute to mark his arrival, and as he moved through the lines of troops towards Government House the regimental bands struck up “God Save the King.” A noisy salute by the twenty-four pounders from the fort on the Citadel Hill above the town signaled Prince William’s entry to Government House to receive the civic address. That evening the town gave a ball, a large affair for 300 people.

Two days later the Commissioner of the Dockyard, Henry Duncan, hosted a ball at his handsome official residence. Built in 1785-6 in the classical style, it was well-positioned at the south end of the Yard, from where it looked down into the harbour towards the town. Lt. Dyottt was asked to “manage the dancing” and arrived to find “the Commissioner’s house and dockyard most beautifully illuminated.”

The dancing began soon after 9:00 pm and once again the Prince danced with great energy and enthusiasm.  Dyott reports that: “the last dance before supper at the Governor’s and [that night] at the Commissioners, his Royal Highness, Major Vesey, myself and six very pretty young woman danced “Country Bumpkin” for near an hour.”[10] Sophia was very likely one of the ladies dancing this reel with Dyott, Vesey and the Prince.  She was very attractive, enjoyed dancing and was of such a rank in local society that it would be appropriate to include her.

It was Admiral Sawyer’s turn to entertain the Prince on 9 November. The ever-social Lt Dyott was in attendance and described the proceedings thus: “The company was not so numerous as at the Governor’s, the house not being large. We had a very pleasant ball; Country Bumpkin, the same set, and a devilish good supper. We danced after supper and til four o’clock. ... I never saw people so completely tired as they all were.”[11]

It is intriguing that “the same set” danced the Country Bumpkin for the third time. What a pleasure for Sophia to be one of a select group, at a ball planned and hosted by her own family. This was to be Prince William’s last entertainment in Halifax as the Pegasus sailed early on the morning of 12 November.  Thus ended 17 heady days of elegant balls, suppers and civic ceremonies. The social elite of the town returned to its more modest lifestyle.

Tragically, Sophia’s moment in the sun was followed swiftly by illness and death.  According to Lt. Dyott, she had a swelling in her arm, on which a local doctor operated. The wound did not heal, instead Sophia developed a fever, and died on 31 January 1788. Lt Dyott mourned her loss, describing Sophia as “a most amiable, good, deserving young woman.” Asked to be a [pall]bearer at her funeral, he wrote in his diary: “I cannot say I ever felt more in my life than on the occasion, when I reflected that about three months before I was dancing with her, and that now I was attending her to her grave.”[12]    

Fig. 4: St Paul’s Church, Halifax, where Sophia Sawyer’s funeral was held.[13]

Fig. 5: Sophia Sawyer’s Memorial, St Paul’s Church, Halifax.

Lt. Dyott described the funeral. “The procession was led by the Bishop and the rector, then the body with eight honorary pall bearers, consisting of two navy officers and two army officers. “The under bearers were the Admiral’s barge crew, with white trousers, white shirts with a piece of love ribbon tied round the left arm, black velvet caps and white tied round them. … After the body, Mr. d’Acres, secretary to the Admiral, as chief mourner; next the nurse and Miss Sawyer’s maid in deep mourning and white hoods. After the two women, [the most senior naval and army officers], General Ogilvie and the Commissioner and the Governor by himself. All with white hat-bands and scarfs.”

Next came those who had known and loved Sophia best. “Three or four of the family, [were followed by] some officers belonging to the Admiral’s ship, with hat bands and scarves. After them [came] almost all the officers belonging to the fleet; many of the garrison; all the people of the town who were acquainted with the Admiral, and to close the whole, a long string of empty carriages.” When the funeral party entered the church, the organist played a solemn dirge. The service was then performed. Lt Dyott reflected that he “never saw so much grief as throughout the whole congregation.”[14] Sophia was interred in the crypt of St Paul’s Church.[15] Her father, Admiral Sawyer, returned to England without orders in August 1778 and never went to sea again. 

Fig: 6: Admiral Herbert Sawyer, c. 1811, Charles Austen’s Commander–in-Chief on the North American Station and brother of Sophia.[18]  

In the years to come, there was a link in friendship between Fanny Palmer Austen and Sophia’s elder brother, Rear Admiral Herbert Sawyer, who was Charles Austen’s commander-in-chief on the Station during 1810-11. Fanny liked him. She referred to him in her letters as “dear Admiral Sawyer,”[16] and empathized when his wife was too sick to join him on a subsequent posting to Cork, the headquarters of the Irish Station.  Perhaps Fanny reminded the Admiral of his sister, Sophia. Like Sophia, Fanny was “an amiable, deserving young woman.” Moreover, Fanny was a valued participant in the social life of the North American Station, like Sophia had been. In Fanny’s letters, she spoke enthusiastically of a “splendid ball” she had attended in Halifax at Government House.[17] Sophia had danced and dined with pleasure at a Government House event, twenty-two years earlier. This is a poignant parallel in the lives of two elegant and admirable young women, both who charmed the North American naval community.

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[1] The prize money amounted to over £9 million pounds at today’s prices.  

[2] He was the senior captain on the Station in charge of a group of 3-4 ships.

[3] The fleet also included the Resource (28 guns) and the Weasel sloop. The much-battered Leander was towed to the Halifax Dockyard and hove down, where her bottom was discovered to be in a most shattered condition.

[4] “The Commissioner’s House in the Naval Yard, Halifax” The Naval Chronicle, February 1804.

[5] William Dyott, Dyott’s Diary 1781-1845 [here after Diary], ed. Reginald W. Jeffery, London, 1907, 47.

[6] Diary, 36-7. I have made small corrections in Lt Dyott’s punctuation.

[7] Engraving of General Dyott, frontispiece, Dyott’s Diary.

[8] The coxswain, who steered the boat, wore a gold ornament on his velvet cap. 

[9] The men would be positioned aloft, evenly spaced across all the yards, which were the cross spars on the masts of a square-rigged ship from which its sails were set.

[10] Diary, 43.

[11] Diary, 45

[12] Diary, 47.

[13] Attributed to Amelia Almon Ritchie, thought to be a copy of the same scene by William Eager, her teacher.

[14] Diary, 47-48.

[15] Her memorial can be seen inside the door into the sanctuary, on the wall to the right.

[16] See Sheila Johnson Kindred, Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister, [hereafter JATS], MQUP, 2017,2018, 127.

[17] JATS, 53.

[18] Admiral Sawyer was painted by Robert Field in Halifax.