Cassandra Austen: Jane Austen's Beloved Older Sister

If Cassandra were going to have her head cut off, Jane would insist on sharing her fate.”

Mrs. Austen

Cassandra Austen (1773–1845) was Jane Austen's only sister and her closest friend. Two years older than Jane, she was engaged to Tom Fowle, who died in 1797, and she never married. Most of Jane's surviving letters were written to her, she painted the only authenticated portraits of the author, and she famously burned many of Jane's letters.

Quick Facts

Early Life and Family

Cassandra Austen, middle name Elizabeth, was born on 9 January 1773, two years before her famed sister Jane.

In a family with six brothers, the two girls became fast and close friends. Education was extremely important to the Austens. The girls' father, Rev. George Austen, ran a boarding school out of their home, the Rectory, in Steventon. In 1783, Jane and her older sister Cassandra went briefly to be taught by a Mrs Cawley (the sister of one of their uncles). They were brought home after an infectious disease broke out in Southampton. In 1785–1786 Jane and Cassandra went to the Abbey boarding school in Reading, which apparently bore some resemblance to Mrs Goddard's casual school in Emma. Jane was considered almost too young to benefit from the school, but, as their mother's famous remark suggests, the sisters could not bear to be parted. This was Jane Austen's only education outside her family. Within their family, the two girls learned drawing, to play the piano, and more. You can read more about the brothers in Jane Austen's Brothers.

Life at Steventon Rectory

Jane and Cassandra Austen returned home and lived at the Rectory, an integral part of their community until their removal to Bath in 1800. With the older brothers marrying and moving on to careers in the Church or military, room was made available for the two of them, who shared a room all their lives, to appropriate a sitting room next door. With its two windows, fireplace and brown patterned carpet, it was here that they kept their books, piano, sewing, drawing and writing materials. It was also in these rooms that Jane first experimented with her writing and penned The History of England (By a Partial, Prejudiced and Ignorant Historian), which Cassandra, ever the artist in the family, illustrated with portraits of the various kings and queens mentioned there (who curiously resembled members of the Austen family).

Did Cassandra Austen Ever Marry?

No. Cassandra Austen never married. She was engaged to Tom Fowle, but he died before they could wed, and she remained single for the rest of her life, just as Jane did.

In about 1794, Cassandra became engaged to a former student of her father's, Thomas Fowle. This engagement carried on for some time as Tom was waiting for a family living in Shropshire to become available. Eventually, he decided to join a military expedition as an army chaplain and was sent to the Caribbean. Unfortunately, he contracted yellow fever and died there in 1797. It was some time before the Austens heard the news, and while Cassandra benefited from a legacy left in his will (she inherited Tom's savings of £1,000, which yielded about £50 per year), she never recovered from this blow and, like Jane, never married. Jane, too, came close to marriage; read about Harris Bigg-Wither's proposal.

Cassandra and Jane: Sisters and Closest Friends

Perhaps because of this loss, the sisters remained each other's closest confidant and friend. Cassandra (like Jane) frequently visited her brothers and their families, and other relatives and friends. It was the separations between herself and Jane, resulting from visits on which they did not both go, that necessitated the letters between them. The sisters wrote to each other very often while apart, and more than 100 of Jane's letters to Cassandra survive today, giving us a better picture of both Jane, the author, and the sister she loved so much.

From Bath to Chawton

In January 1805, during their lengthy stay in Bath, the Reverend Austen died. As would have been the case for the Bennets in Pride and Prejudice if Mr Bennet had died, the income due to the remaining family (Mrs Austen and her two daughters, the only children still at home) was considerably reduced, since most of Mr Austen's income had come from clerical "livings" which lapsed with his death. So they were largely dependent on support from the Austen brothers, amounting to a total of about £450 a year.

Later in 1805, Martha Lloyd (the sister of James Austen's wife, Mary) came to live with Mrs Austen, Cassandra and Jane, after her own mother had died. In 1806 they moved from Bath, first to Clifton, and then, in autumn 1806, to Southampton. Two years later, Jane remembered (in a letter to Cassandra) with "what happy feelings of Escape!" she had left Bath. Southampton was conveniently near to the navy base of Portsmouth and the naval brothers Frank and Charles.

In 1809 Cassandra Austen, her mother, sister Jane and Martha Lloyd moved to Chawton, near Alton and Winchester, where her brother Edward provided a small house on one of his estates. This was in Hampshire, not far from her childhood home of Steventon. Life in Chawton was pleasant and not unlike that which they had led early on in Steventon, with Jane writing furiously and Cassandra overseeing the housekeeping. It was at Chawton that Jane revised Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice for publication and wrote Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion.

How Did Jane Austen Die?

Jane Austen died in Winchester in 1817, aged 41, with Cassandra at her side. The exact cause of her illness is still debated. In 1964 the surgeon Sir Zachary Cope suggested Addison's disease, and this remains the best-known theory, though others have proposed Hodgkin's lymphoma or another illness.

Unfortunately, the peaceful years at Chawton were not long to be enjoyed. Cassandra's beloved Jane had fallen ill in 1816. In May 1817, the sisters moved to lodgings in College Street, Winchester, so that Jane could be under a physician's care. Jane died there on Friday 18 July 1817, aged 41. Jane Austen was buried in Winchester Cathedral, near the centre of the north aisle. Discover more in The Effects of the Family's Misfortunes on Jane Austen's Death.

"It is a satisfaction to me to think that [she is] to lie in a Building she admired so much… I have lost a treasure, such a sister, such a friend as never can have been surpassed. She was the sun of my life, the gilder of every pleasure, the soother of every sorrow; I had not a thought concealed from her, and it is as if I had lost a part of myself," Cassandra later wrote.

Cassandra later wrote these words to their niece, Edward's daughter Fanny Knight.

Why Did Cassandra Austen Burn Jane's Letters?

Late in her life, in around 1843, Cassandra burned or cut up a large part of Jane's correspondence, perhaps as much as two-thirds of it. She never explained why, but it is generally believed she wanted to protect her sister's privacy and reputation, and to spare family members from Jane's sharper remarks. Around 160 of Jane's letters survive today, but none written before her twentieth birthday.

Many people blame Cassandra for the way she handled Jane Austen's papers after her death. Others see her as the prudish, stiff elder sister who looked down on Jane's flightiness and gaiety. Still others blame her for what they consider to be her unflattering watercolour portrait of her sister. In reality, most of what we know of Jane Austen today, we owe to her sister Cassandra. It was she who filled in gaps in her sister's life for generations after, leaving an oral record to supplement the written. It was she who, while she did destroy many of the letters, preserved the majority of her sister's extensive writings and, most importantly, it was she to whom the letters were written, without which we might never have known the human side of one of the world's favourite authors.

Cassandra the Artist

Cassandra was the artist of the family, and it is thanks to her that we know what Jane Austen looked like. As well as her playful illustrations for Jane's History of England, she painted the only two authenticated likenesses of her sister: a watercolour from 1804 showing Jane from behind, seated outdoors in a blue dress and bonnet, and an unfinished pencil and watercolour sketch of Jane's face from around 1810, now held by the National Portrait Gallery in London. The family felt the sketch was not a good likeness, but it became the basis for the engraved portrait published in 1870 that most of us picture today.

How Did Cassandra Austen Die?

Cassandra was destined to long outlive her sister Jane. She continued on at Chawton with regular visits to her brothers, nieces and nephews. In 1827 Mrs Cassandra Austen, the girls' mother, died and was buried in Chawton churchyard. Soon afterwards (in 1828) Martha Lloyd also left the household, this time to marry Cassandra's brother Frank, later Admiral Sir Francis Austen.