Jane Austen was born December 16, 1775, to Rev.

George Austen and the former Cassandra Leigh in Steventon, Hampshire, the seventh of eight children. Like the central characters in most of her novels, the Austens were a large family of respectable lineage but no fortune; her father supplemented his "living" his clergyman's income by farming. This lively and cheerful family frequently passed their evenings in novelreading, charades and amateur theatrics. Among her siblings, her sister Cassandra, three years older, was her lifelong friend and confidant. Her large family supplied material for the kind of novels popular when she wrote, but she chose not to draw upon any of it: her mother, for example, was related to a Duke who was master of Balliol College, Oxford; one aunt married an admiral; another, Mrs. Leigh Perrot, was falsely imprisoned for petty theft in 1799; a cousin, the Comtesse de Feuillide, fled the Reign of Terror after the execution of her husband, came to live with the Austens at Steventon, later fell in love with and married Jane's handsome and cheerful brother Henry (a particular favorite of Jane's), who later went bankrupt and then went into the (Anglican) priesthood; her eldest brother James married a duke's granddaughter; her brothers Frank (a friend of Nelson) and Charles (who married the daughter of the Attorney-General of Bermuda) became naval officers, saw action in the Napoleonic wars, and eventually wound up admirals; and her charming and amiable brother Edward was adopted by the first family of Steventon, the Thomas Knights, a wealthy and childless couple. They educated him, sent him on the grand tour, married him to the daughter of a baronet, and made him their heir. Why do you suppose she chose not to use such potentially sensational subject matter or draw upon her family's relatively close connection to important contemporary events?
Jane Austen, one of Englands foremost novelists, was never publicly acknowledged as a writer during her lifetime. She was born on December 16, 1775, at Steventon Rectory in Hampshire, the seventh child of a country clergyman and his wife, George and Cassandra Austen. She was primarily educated at home, benefiting from her fathers extensive library and the schoolroom atmosphere created by Mr. Austens live-in pupils. Her closest friend was her only sister, Cassandra, almost three years her senior. Though Austen lived a quiet life, she had unusual access to the greater world, primarily through her brothers. Francis (Frank) and Charles, officers in the Royal Navy, served on ships around the world and saw action in the Napoleonic Wars. Henry, who eventually became a clergyman like his father and his brother James, was an officer in the militia and later a banker. Austen visited Henry in London, where she attended the theater, art exhibitions, and social events and also corrected proofs of her novels. Her brother Edward was adopted by wealthy cousins, the Knights, becoming their heir and later taking their name. On extended visits to Godmersham, Edwards estate in Kent, Austen and her sister took part in the privileged life of the landed gentry, which is reflected in all her fiction.

St. Nicholas Church, Steventon (Click photos for larger image.)

As a child Austen began writing comic stories, now referred to as the Juvenilia. Her first mature work, composed when she was about 19, was a novella, Lady Susan, written in epistolary form (as a series of letters). This early fiction was preserved by her family but was not published until long after her death. In her early twenties Austen wrote the novels that later became Sense and Sensibility (first called Elinor and Marianne) and Pride and Prejudice (originally First Impressions). Her father sent a letter offering the manuscript of First Impressions to a publisher soon after it was finished in 1797, but his offer was rejected by return post. Austen continued writing, revising Elinor and Marianne and completing a novel called Susan (later to become Northanger Abbey). In 1803 Austen sold Susan for 10 to a publisher, who promised early publication, but the manuscript languished in his archives until it was repurchased a year before Austens death for the price the publisher had paid her.

4 Sydney Place, Bath

When Austen was 25 years old, her father retired, and she and Cassandra moved with their parents to Bath, residing first at 4 Sydney Place. During the five years she lived in Bath (18011806), Austen began one novel, The Watsons, which she never completed. After Mr. Austens death, Austens brothers contributed funds to assist their sisters and widowed mother. Mrs. Austen and her daughters set up housekeeping with their close friend Martha Lloyd. Together they moved to Southampton in 1806 and economized by sharing a house with Frank and his family.

Chawton Cottage

In 1809 Edward provided the women a comfortable cottage in the village of Chawton, near his Hampshire manor house. This was the beginning of Austens most productive period. In 1811, at the age of 35, Austen published Sense and Sensibility, which identified the author as a Lady. Pride and Prejudice followed in 1813, Mansfield Park in 1814, and Emma in 1815. The title page of each book referred to one or two of Austens earlier novelscapitalizing on her growing reputationbut did not provide her name.

Austen began writing the novel that would be called Persuasion in 1815 and finished it the following year, by which time, however, her health was beginning to fail. The probable cause of her illness was Addisons Disease. In 1816 Henry Austen repurchased the rights to Susan, which Austen revised and renamed Catherine.

8 College Street, Winchester All photos Copyright Allan Soedring

During a brief period of strength early in 1817, Austen began the fragment later called Sanditon, but by March she was too ill to work. On April 27 she wrote her will, naming Cassandra as her heir. In May she and Cassandra moved to 8 College Street in Winchester to be near her doctor. Austen died in the early hours of July 18, 1817, and a few days later was buried in Winchester Cathedral. She was 41 years old. Interestingly, Austens gravestone, which is visited by hundreds of admirers each year, does not even mention that she was an author. Persuasion and Northanger Abbey were published together in December 1817 with a Biographical Notice written by Henry, in which Jane Austen was, for the first time in one of her novels, identified as the author of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Emma.