Tag: Chawton Cottage

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At Home at Last: Jane Austen in Chawton Cottage—Part 3

by Indu Sundaresan November 7, 2018 1 Comment

(Part 1 here; Part 2 here)

Jane, her sister Cassandra, and their mother moved into Chawton Cottage in 1809, thanks to her brother Edward Knight’s generosity.  One other person came to live with them.  Martha Lloyd was a longtime friend, and a few of Jane’s surviving letters are written to her.  She was the sister of Jane’s oldest brother James’ second wife, Mary.  Got all that?  (James took over the rectory at Steventon when their father retired; his son by his second wife, James Edward Austen Leigh, is the one who wrote Jane Austen’s first official biography.  So both Martha and Jane were aunts to James Edward Austen Leigh). Continue Reading

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At Home at Last: Jane Austen in Chawton Cottage—Part 2

by Indu Sundaresan October 9, 2018 4 Comments

(Part 1 here)

 The front of Chawton Cottage, where Jane Austen spent the last eight years of her life.  Source:  Jane Austen: Her Homes & Her Friends, by Constance Hill.

How Edward Austen became Edward Knight:  Austen’s Emma begins with a marriage between Emma’s governess, Miss Taylor and Mr. Weston, with Emma bemoaning the fact that her companion had now disappeared—moving a whole half mile away to her own house, her own husband, her own occupations.  ‘…Emma was aware that great must be the difference between Mrs. Weston only half-a-mile from them, and a Miss Taylor in the house…’ Continue Reading

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At Home at Last—Jane Austen in Chawton Cottage—Part 1

by Indu Sundaresan October 3, 2018 13 Comments

The Bath years, the writing falters, but the research doesn’t

George Austen had had it by 1801.  He had been rector of two parishes, Steventon and Deane, for thirty-seven years.  He had conducted two, maybe three services a week at the two churches.  He had visited the poor, the sick, administered last rites to the dying, and buried them in the churchyards.  He had home-tutored pupils who had lived in his house year-round to prepare for the university.  His wife had to be their de facto mother, and she had fed them, washed their linens, and tended to their fever and chills.  All this, to make extra money to supplement George Austen’s income.  Now, his children were grown up, some were married (Jane and her sister Cassandra were not, and were still at home), he was old(er) and in poor health, and he wanted to live the rest of his life out in a relative peace. Continue Reading