Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park: Midshipmen in Fact and Fiction

In Mansfield Park, Jane Austen created the fictional midshipman William Price, who was ambitious to succeed in the naval world. In the years before she began the novel, her naval brother, Charles, had guided the education of an actual midshipman, Thomas (Tom) Fowle of Kintbury, Berkshire. Intriguingly, the lives of the real and imagined midshipmen seem to intersect in Austen’s narrative.

Fig. 1: The Kintbury Vicarage where Tom Fowle grew up prior to entering the Royal Navy.[1]

Jane Austen had reason to be very interested in Tom Fowle’s career as a midshipman. She was intimately acquainted with his family, including his mother, the former Eliza Lloyd, his father, Rev. William Fulwar-Fowle, who had been her father’s pupil at the Steventon Rectory, and his siblings, particularly his older sister and near contemporary, Mary Jane.[2] Moreover, Tom’s uncle and namesake, the cleric Thomas Fowle, had been engaged to Jane Austen’s sister Cassandra before his untimely death in 1797. By way of letters among family and friends, Jane would have learned about Tom Fowle’s experiences at sea and his progress in his naval training.[3]     

 Midshipman Tom Fowle on HMS Indian:

Tom Fowle was a keen and likable boy,[4] who entered the navy at about age 12 under Charles Austen’s care and instruction. Charles, captain of the sloop of war, HMS Indian (18 guns) was a natural choice for Tom’s naval apprenticeship in light of the Austen family connections with the Fowles. In addition, Charles had a reputation for competency and concern for his men and his ship, the Indian, was in a desirable location. She was based on the North American Station[5] where the climate was more wholesome than the navy’s more southern Stations. The Austens and Fowles had not forgotten their sorrow when Tom’s uncle and Cassandra Austen’s fiancé had died of yellow fever while serving as a naval chaplain in the West Indies. It was comforting that Tom’s training would take place in a healthier geographic area.

Fig.2: HMS Atalante, of the identical design to HMS Indian (18 guns) on which Tom Fowle was a midshipman.[6]

In joining the Indian as a midshipman in about 1805, Tom Fowle could expect a life that was, by times, tough, hazardous and exacting, Midshipmen lived in crowded, damp, quarters in the depths of the vessel, mixed in together with older, rougher and uncouth seamen. Tom must have found his living quarters and associates very different from the comforts and companions in the rural English vicarage he had left. Very soon he would be exposed to the vicissitudes of the changeable, often violent weather of the North Atlantic, a frightening encounter for a someone with no previous seafaring experience. Over the next years he would need stamina and dedication for training in seamanship, naval tactics, the running of a ship and the organization of its men. He would learn the necessity of teamwork in the face of crisis, especially should the Indian come under attack. All the while, Tom had to study diligently in preparation for the lieutenant’s exam.[7]

Tom had much to report to his parents and older siblings. He endured situations when the Indian faced danger and potential disaster and he experienced moments of celebration. What he had seen and done must have been raw material for exciting narratives, as the following examples show.

A violent hurricane all but caused the Indian to founder in October 1807.[8] As Charles described the horrific event, “the wind became so furious as to perfectly overpower the Ship, which lay down on her beam end with such a weight of Water on Deck as to make me fear she would never right again. To save the ship and our lives, I ordered the main mast to be cut away.”[9] This ordeal was a truly chilling experience for a young midshipman. 

Equally terrifying was the occasion when the Indian barely escaped capture by four fast French warships that collectively carried 120 guns compared to the Indian’s 18. For almost fifty hours Indian used every possible tactic to elude her determined pursuers. The gunroom, sail cabin and bulkhead were dismantled and flung overboard to augment the ship’s speed. At one point, the wind died down and all the vessels became becalmed. Then all hands on the Indian manned the sweeps [oars] and rowed furiously. Luckily, the crew’s feat of perseverance paid off as they were able to put their smaller, lighter vessel a safe distance from the enemy.

Tom Fowle also shared occasions of heartfelt celebration. That the ship and her men had survived a tremendous hurricane as well as a close pursuit by four enemy ships, was just cause for thanksgiving. Additionally, from 1806-1808, the Indian was involved in the capture of a French privateer and 5 merchant vessels carrying contraband or enemy cargo, all of which were successfully adjudicated in the captor’s favour. According to a prescribed formula for the distribution of prize money, the crew and marines received a two-eights share. On a ship with a crew of about 121 men, Tom’s prize money would have been modest,[10] probably not enough to consider purchasing something special for his sister, Mary Jane, as Charles Austen had used his prize money when a midshipman to buy “Gold chains and Topaze crosses” for his sisters, Jane and Cassandra, in 1801.[11]

Fig. 3: Captain Charles Austen, painted by Robert Field.[13]

The pleasing expectation of even more prize money was quickly set aside when, in late November 1808, a prize crew from the Indian that Charles placed aboard a captured French merchant vessel was unable to bring her safely to port in Bermuda. Charles shared this news with Cassandra, expressing his personal grief in the loss of “12 of my people, two of them mids.”[12] The mids in question must have been Tom’s close associates. In the face of this tragedy, the precarious nature of naval life was made vividly clear to him. The event also suggests that Charles, who might have assigned Tom to the prize crew but chose not to expose him to further danger, took his responsibilities for the care of his protegee seriously.

Charles also arranged for Tom to profit from visits on shore. He introduced him to Esther and James Esten, his brother and sister-in-law, who lived in St George’s, Bermuda.[14] Entry into the Esten’s elevated social circle would have helped Tom acquire the social ease and polish that the Navy thought desirable in its officers.  

Meanwhile, Tom’s nautical studies progressed favourably.[15] Family interest and support for his career continued. We know from one of Jane Austen’s letters that his father arranged for charts to be sent to him by way of Fanny Palmer Austen’s father, John Grove Palmer, in London.[16]  On 23 September 1810, an enthusiastic Fanny Palmer Austen shared with Esther the news that “Mr Fowle has passed his examination for a Lieut. with great credit.”[17]

Midshipman William Price in Mansfield Park

Jane Austen started planning Mansfield Park in 1811 and finished writing it in 1813.[18]  However, she set the action of her novel in 1808-09,[19] which happens to cover years when Tom Fowle was training aboard the Indian. As Austen was sketching the character of William Price, information about the developing career and nautical experiences of an actual midshipman would seem relevant and revelatory. Although other sources of information were available to Austen, they could not provide the immediacy of details about a likable young man, whose naval experiences had been recounted by his captain, her brother, Charles. Austen had followed the midshipman years of her sailor brothers, Francis and Charles, but they had been some time ago - for Francis, 1789-1792, and for Charles, 1794-97. Tom’s Fowle’s story was vivid, authentic, and contemporary.

Austen introduces William Price efficiently and effectively into the novel. He has come to his uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram’s estate, Mansfield Park, to visit his sister, Fanny, after a separation of 7 years while he has been a midshipman aboard the naval sloop, the Antwerp. The succinct narrative he provides of his career to date is delivered with “clear, simple, spirited details” that impart “good principles, professional knowledge, energy, courage and cheerfulness.” Austen wrote: “Young as he was, William had already seen a great deal. He had been in the Mediterranean - in the West Indies - in the Mediterranean again - had been often taken on shore by the favour of his Captain, and in the course of seven years had known every variety of danger, which sea and war together could offer.”[20]

In William’s brief profile there are actions, attitudes and features of his personality that find resonance with Tom Fowle. Both Tom and William were ambitious young men who have served their sea apprenticeship aboard small sloops during the Napoleonic Wars; both had “seen a great deal”- Tom, on the waters and in the port towns of the extensive North American Station and William, by service in the Mediterranean (twice) and the West Indies. William regaled those at Mansfield Park with descriptions of “imminent hazards, or terrific scenes, which a period at sea must supply.”[21] Tom had similar stories to convey to his family and friends. Both young men were personable, and the beneficiaries of extra attention from their captains. Tom was considered Charles Austen’s protegee and was made welcome by Fanny Palmer Austen’s family and their circle in Bermuda. William was “often taken on shore by the favour of his Captain.” Both Tom Fowle and William Price were attracted to the acquisition of prize money. Tom earned a modest sum between 1806 and 1808; William speaks speculatively of his hope to receive prize money “which was to be generously distributed at home.”[22] In addition, both midshipmen have sisters close to their own ages who were very attentive to their budding careers. Tom’s sister, Mary Jane, who was a year older, must have exchanged letters with him regularly during his midshipman years; she even planned to visit him aboard one of his subsequent ships in October 1813.[23] Fanny Price has been William’s unerring correspondent and supporter in his career aspirations. She encourages him when he bemoans that he will never become a lieutenant.

Fig. 4: Fanny Price with her brother William at the ball given in her honour.[24]

Just as William, training on the Antwerp, “had known every variety of danger, which sea and war together could offer,” a similar comment could be made about Tom Fowle’s apprenticeship on the Indian. He had escaped very near capture by marauding French warships, he had survived some horrific storms at sea. These details expose the dangers that both factual and fictional midshipmen had to face with courage and bravery. In sum, Jane apparently drew some intriguing parallels from the real Tom Fowle as she worked to bring her imaginary midshipman, William Price, to life.[25]

 Yet being a midshipman was not a desirable end, rather it was the path to becoming an officer. As Austen knew, passing the lieutenant’s exam was only the first step in advancement. A successful candidate needed to be commissioned as a lieutenant on a ship in the active sea service. This step was not automatic. In fact, Tom Fowle had to wait several years, as Austen knew. Jane clearly considered the dramatic possibilities of this major hurdle for William since she worked it into her novel.

She captures William’s frustration that, without a patron or influence with the Admiralty, he fears he will never be employed as an officer. He confides in his sister Fanny that he feels ostracized at assemblies as “girls turn up their noses at any who does not have a commission. [He bemoans] One might as well be nothing as a midshipman. One is nothing indeed.”[26] William disparagingly refers to himself as the “poor scrubby mid as I am.”[27] But Austen goes a step further than a description of how William feels. She uses the circumstances of his stalled naval career to move the plot along.

Briefly put, Henry Crawford, who is in pursuit of the affections of an unwilling Fanny Price, sees an opportunity to ingratiate himself with her. He asks his uncle, Admiral Crawford, to use his connections and influence to secure a lieutenant’s commission for William. He succeeds in this scheme to benefit William and in consequence puts Fanny under the obligation to think well of him. Although Fanny is delighted to have William “made” a lieutenant, she is disquieted by the obligation which accompanies it. Fanny’s struggles to understand and assess the calibre of Henry’s character adds to the drama of the story, as the reader tracks Fanny’s emotional stresses throughout volume 3 to the happy ending, when she marries, not Henry, but the man she has always loved. 

In conclusion: Discovering the resonances between Tom Fowle’s early naval career and that of Austen’s engaging midshipman William Price speaks to Jane Austen’s sources of inspiration when creating this fictional character.[28] Moreover, exploring Tom Fowle’s naval experiences aids in understanding what it was like to be a midshipman, and sheds light on Charles Austen’s strengths as a caring and supportive naval captain.

Afterward: To his great pleasure, Tom Fowle was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1812 on Charles Austen’s ship, HMS Namur. Charles had the satisfaction of bringing along the career of a competent young officer and Tom, the pleasure of advancing his naval training under a captain he admired and respected. As the captain’s family lived on board, Tom was in close association with Fanny Austen and their young daughters, Cassy, Harriet and Fan. According to Fanny, baby Fan (almost one) was “quite the favourite with …Tom Fowle.”[29] Sadly, his naval career was cut short. He died in Paris in about 1822.[30]  

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[1]The image is from the cover of The Jane Austen Society Report for 2015.

[2] Evidence of Jane Austen’s long-standing relationship with the Fowle family comes from Mary Jane Fowle’s observation about Jane Austen’s last visit to the Kintbury Vicarage in the spring of 1816. Referring to her as “Aunt Jane” as a courtesy title, she wrote “Aunt Jane, went over all the old places, and recalled old recollections associated with them in a very particular manner.” See Deirdre LeFaye, Jane Austen: A Family Record (2004), hereafter Family Record, 236. In earlier years Jane Austen corresponded with Mary Jane. See Jane’s letter to Martha Lloyd, Jane Austen’s Letters (1995), hereafter Letters, ed. Le Faye, 3rd edition, 29 November 1812, 197.

[3] Charles Austen kept his sisters informed about Tom’s health and progress. In a letter to Cassandra, 25 December 1808, he wrote: “Tom Fowle is very well and is growing quite manly.” See JATS, 216.

[4] He was the second son of his family for whom the navy presented a possible career option for a young man of the lesser gentry. Many boys were attracted to the navy with the prospects of action in battle, riches in prize money and world-wide travel.  

[5] The North American Station extended from the Gulf of St Lawrence to Cape Canaveral, Florida and included the waters north, south and east of Bermuda.

[6] The image is from the Naval Chronicle, vol. 31, 1814, plate CCCCXV.

[7] Tom’s curriculum would include: the specifics of navigation and mathematics, practical skills involving knots and ropes, how to climb aloft, how to take his station in action. “A good deal was learned by doing and observing: … [for example] by assisting in casting the log and lead lines when the speed and location of the ship were regularly checked.” See Rory Muir, Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune: How Younger Sons Made Their Way in Jane Austen’s England (2019), hereafter Gentlemen, 204. Weir’s book has been a very valuable source about the training and lifestyle of midshipmen.

[8]Another vicious storm which severely threatened the Indian’s seaworthiness occurred on her passage from Halifax NS to Bermuda in November 1809. It is described in my book, Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister (2017), hereafter JATS, 43.

[9] See Charles Austen to his Commander-in-Chief, Admiral George Berkeley, 23 October 1807, ADM 1/497, TNA.

[10] In the case of co-captures the prize money was divided equally among the vessels involved. 

[11] See Jane to Casandra, 27 May 1801, in Letters, 91. This was a particularly thoughtful gesture on Charles’s part as his sisters, especially Jane, were adjusting to the emotional wrench of permanently leaving the family home in Steventon. 

[12] See Charles to Cassandra, 25 December 1808, see JATS, 216. Jane had been told earlier of the prize taking and that the French schooner had not yet been heard from. See Jane to Cassandra, 24 Jan 1808, 169.

[13] In a private collection.

[14] Esther Esten liked Tom. Writing to Charles on 26 July 1808, she asked him to “present my best regards to Tom Fowle.” See JATS, 215.

[15] Austen scholar, Deirdre Le Faye, aptly describes Tom as a “promising midshipman.” See Le Faye, Family Record, 165.

[16] See Jane to Cassandra, Letters, 25 October 1808, 149 and note 4, 394.

[17] Ordinarily a midshipman had to complete 6 years of training before he took the exam for lieutenant. For the skills he would be examined on see Gentlemen, 214, 215.

[18] See Jane Austen: The Chawton Letters (2018) ed. Katheryn Sutherland, 11.

[19] Mansfield Park (hereafter MP), ed. R.W. Chapman (1923), Chronology of Mansfield Park, 554. 

[20] MP, vol. 2, chap. 6, 236.

[21] MP, vol.2, chap. 6, 235.

[22] MP, vol. 3, chap. 7, 375. 

[23] See Jane to Cassandra, 21 October 1813: “Mary Jane Fowle was very near returning with her Bros [Tom] and paying them a visit on board,” Letters, 241.

[24] An illustration by Hugh Thompson.

[25] For how Jane Austen may have used source material taken from real life, see JATS. 206, 207.

[26] MP, vol. 2, chap. 7, 249.

[27] Ibid, 245.

[28] Making the case for the parallels between Tom Fowle and William Price does not preclude noting that Jane Austen had other sources of inspiration for William Price, some of which that came from within her immediate family. For example, Brian Southam has observed that “the portrait of William Price - eager, enthusiastic and open – owes much to Charles’s own boyishness and charm.” See “Jane Austen and North America: Fact and Fiction,” in Jane Austen and the North Atlantic (2006), ed. Sarah Emsley, 27. Moreover, Charles’s gift to his sisters of Topaze crosses in 1801 made its way into the novel as William gives his sister, Fanny, an amber cross. See note 11.

[29] See Fanny to Esther, 13 November 1813. See JATS, 139.

[30] See Le Faye, Letters, Biographical index, 525.