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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Jane Austen Centre, where we celebrate the time Miss Austen spent in Bath, both as a visitor and a resident. My name is ________ from the book ________. I would like to begin your visit with a short introduction to Jane’s life and family, which will take about 15 minutes. Afterwards, we will move to our main exhibition. Should you have any questions, I will be available in the exhibition during your visit.

Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775. She lived on a farm in Steventon, near Basingstoke, in the beautiful county of Hampshire, which had a major influence on her work.

Jane's father, Reverend George Austen, was a country parson who farmed 200 acres of land within the parish. He was also the headmaster of his own boarding school for gentlemen’s sons, preparing them for Oxford University. This meant that Jane grew up surrounded by boys.

Reverend Austen had a library of over 500 books to which his children had unrestricted access and which they were actively encouraged to read on a wide range of subjects. When Jane was 21, her father wrote to publishers in London in an attempt to get her work published. For Jane, her father was her greatest intellectual support. He encouraged her writing talent, despite the prejudice against female writers in the society of that time.

Jane's mother, Mrs Cassandra Austen, was a very robust, lively and practical lady who was also known for her attractive appearance (!). She was an intelligent, social woman and was particularly proud of her aristocratic nose and her sharp wit. She was known as the poet of the family. In addition to raising her own eight children and caring for her husband's pupils, she ran the dairy farm and the poultry yard, on top of her daily household chores, which included brewing the family beer.

James, the eldest, was in a sense the first professional writer in the family. After being tutored by his father, he became a scholar and went to St. John's College, Oxford, at the age of fourteen to study for a career in the church. During his studies, he published a weekly paper called 'The Loiterer', which ran for sixty issues. James did not continue his writing career, but it is reported that the young Jane published a letter in 'The Loiterer' under the pseudonym 'Sophia Sentiment'.

As you can see, we have no portrait of George, and that is because he suffered from an unknown mental or physical disability. It is strongly suspected that he was deaf, among other things. It was apparently a tradition in the Austen family to learn sign language (or finger language, as they called it). George did not grow up with the rest of the family; he was cared for locally under supervision, funded by his parents.

Speaking of gentlemen, Edward Austen (later Edward Knight) is depicted here in a very luxurious-looking portrait. This suggests that he was wealthy, although his wealth did not come from the Austen family. When Edward was sixteen, Thomas Knight, a cousin of Reverend Austen, and his wife Catherine asked to adopt Edward as their son and future heir. They were so fond of him that when he was twelve years old, they took him with them on their honeymoon! The Knights could not have children themselves, but they needed an heir, as they owned a large fortune and estates in Hampshire and Kent. It is remarkable that 'Emma' and 'Mansfield Park' feature characters such as Frank Churchill and Fanny Price, who are also adopted by wealthy relatives.

Henry is often called Jane's favourite brother, and he is also a very important brother – for it was Henry who was responsible for the publication of Jane's novels. Henry was known for his brilliant conversation and quick wit – adapted versions of his speeches or arguments may have been put into the mouths of Jane’s characters, such as Henry Tilney from Northanger Abbey.

In the early 19th century, Henry lived and worked in London with his own independent bank. It was Henry who wrote the first 'Biographical Note of the Author' and named his sister as the writer of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Mansfield Park, and in the posthumous publication of Northanger Abbey and Persuasion in 1818. These two novels, set in Bath, were published together in a four-volume set after Austen's death. During Austen's life, her name never appeared in print; in Sense and Sensibility, the first book published, it stated that it was written by a lady!

And now Cassandra. She was Jane's only sister and her best friend and companion. They shared a bedroom for almost their entire lives and were known to always look alike! Like Jane, Cassandra never married, despite her parents' numerous attempts to find a husband for them (especially when they lived in Bath), but like Jane, Cassandra was once engaged. However, Jane was only engaged for one night. She was proposed to one evening, slept on it, and announced the next day that she had changed her mind. Apparently, she did not love the man enough to marry him. Cassandra's engagement to Reverend Thomas Fowle, on the other hand, lasted five years. Before they could afford to marry, Thomas left for the West Indies to serve as a military chaplain, but upon arrival in San Domingo, he died of yellow fever. Cassandra remained unmarried, as she had sworn never to marry at the age of 25, since women over 25 were considered middle-aged; 'put on the shelf', as it were.

When the sisters were not together, they wrote each other daily letters. What remains of those letters forms the most important source of information about Jane Austen – although Cassandra unfortunately destroyed most of the letters in her possession after Jane's death. The relationship between the Austen sisters is likely reflected in the sisterly relationships between Elizabeth and Jane Bennet from Pride and Prejudice and Elinor and Marianne in Sense and Sensibility.

Francis and Charles were both educated and trained by the Navy. They both had impressive careers as officers in the Napoleonic Wars. Francis was one of Lord Nelson’s captains, and both brothers reached the rank of admiral. It is clear that they were the inspiration for the naval characters in Jane's novels. In Mansfield Park, Fanny Price receives an amber cross for her birthday from her brother William, who served in the Navy. This is a real gesture from Jane's life, as both Jane and Cassandra received topaz crosses from their brother Charles, who bought the chains with prize money he had won during his service in the Navy.

At the age of fifteen, Jane wrote 'The History of England by a Partial, Prejudiced and Ignorant Historian'. This was an early example of her talent for writing parodies, with her own satirical versions of the history of the kings and queens of England. The illustrations in the book were also painted in watercolour by Cassandra at the time. This book is available in our gift shop if you would like to take a closer look.

When Jane was twenty, she began writing her novels, and by the time she was twenty-three, she had drafts for 'Sense and Sensibility' (initially titled 'Elinor and Marianne') and 'Pride and Prejudice' (originally 'First Impressions'). Publishers in London were not interested. Gothic literature was much more popular at the time, so Jane wrote 'Northanger Abbey' (under the title 'Susan') as a satire on popular Gothic novels.

Jane began most of her work in Hampshire, but she also worked on pieces in Bath, as that city was a huge social phenomenon. Jane was always a keen observer of people and found much inspiration here for her social satire, but the city also offered many distractions, and she could concentrate less on her writing here than in the countryside. Jane's father died in Bath in 1805 and is buried in St. Swithin's Church, less than a kilometre from here. His death left his wife and daughters with little money, which forced them to live in very poor apartments for four years, as there was not enough money for their own home; or so it seemed. In 1809, Edward gifted Chawton Cottage to the ladies. The house was part of his inherited estate in Hampshire, but he could have offered them this property much earlier. Apparently, there were objections from his wife to him providing much help to his mother and sisters; this is strikingly similar to Mr. and Mrs. Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility.

 

The death of Jane

Unfortunately, Jane never lived to see the publication of her two Bath novels, as she became seriously ill in 1816. The exact cause of Jane's illness remains a mystery. There are various theories, including Addison's disease and cancer.

In the spring of 1817, Jane was taken to Winchester by Henry and Cassandra for better medical care. She had started a new novel, Sanditon, before she became ill, but this project was unfortunately halted. Jane was at home in Chawton in Hampshire when she drafted her will on 27 April 1817. A scan of this is available via the National Archives. At the time of her death, her total assets were estimated at less than £800. In her will, she left almost everything to her 'dearest sister', Cassandra, who had cared for Jane during her illness. On 18 July 1817, Jane passed away peacefully in the arms of her sister, at the age of 41. She was buried in Winchester Cathedral. Henry arranged the obituary for the local newspaper – this was the first time Jane was identified as the author of her novels. After her death, Cassandra wrote in a letter: "She was the sun of my life. The source of all joy, the comfort of all my sorrow. I have kept no thought hidden from her, and it is as if I have lost a part of myself."

 

Portraits

There has been much debate over the years about which portraits of Jane are authentic and which are not. What Jane Austen looked like is still a subject of speculation today.



The original of this portrait is in the National Portrait Gallery in London and is about half the size of a small postcard. It is a watercolour sketch of Jane around her 35th year, made by her sister Cassandra. To date, this is the only lifelike resemblance we have with certainty. Unfortunately, it is unfinished. The Austen family felt that this was not a flattering likeness of Jane. She was always described as a handsome lady: tall and slender with natural curls around her face. Even her neighbours in Bath described the Austen sisters as handsome. One of her nieces claimed that this portrait looked so horribly little like her aunt that Cassandra was absolutely forbidden to finish it.

A stipple engraving of Jane Austen, found in A Memoir of Jane Austen, published by her first nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh in 1870. This engraving was not drawn from life, but is an adaptation of a watercolour sketch by Cassandra.

This is the portrait chosen by the Bank of England for the £10 note from 2017, to mark the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's death. A very special edition of this will be on display later in the exhibition.



This portrait is not very helpful in terms of an accurate likeness, as it is painted from behind. We do know that the original is in the possession of a family member living in the UK. It was painted in 1804 by Cassandra, so the Austens were living in Bath at the time. However, because they left the city so often, for the countryside and the coast, it is difficult to determine the exact location of this painting.



The silhouette is an image that we often see associated with the author. It was originally found in a copy of Mansfield Park. It could very well be her, but some historians argue that, as Jane was described as slender, this silhouette might be too 'full-busted' to represent her. At the top, it says 'l'aimable Jane' in French, which translates to 'the amiable Jane' or 'the dear Jane'. This gives us reason to assume that it could have been made by her niece Eliza de Feuillide, who was French by marriage. She stayed regularly with the Austen family in Hampshire after her husband, the Comte de Feuillide, was guillotined in Paris during the French Revolution.



The Rice portrait. Rice is the name of the family that discovered the original. The portrait is said to represent Jane when she was 13 years old and staying with her great-uncle Francis on her father's side. He was a wealthy man, which explains why this portrait could be commissioned. The artist is said to have been Ozias Humphries, who may also have made the portrait of Edward; art historians note that the walking stick he is holding has the same position as Jane's parasol. Fashion historians, however, state that the type of dress she is wearing could only have been worn by children from 1805, when Jane would have been 30 years old. There are family portraits, separate from those of the Austens, from the 1780s showing young girls wearing a similar dress.

This portrait was discovered and bought at an auction by Paula Byrne, a biographer of Jane Austen and author of 'The Real Jane Austen'. She worked with the BBC, who made a documentary about it in 2011. The portrait is said to represent Jane during one of her visits to Henry in London, with a view of St. Margaret's Church on the edge of Westminster Abbey. It was possibly made between 1813 and 1815, when Jane was 38-40 years old. In all the correspondence Jane had with the family at the time, no mention is made of a portrait. It is plausible that, as she was staying only with Henry, she wrote many letters, especially to Cassandra. Unfortunately, after Jane's death, Cassandra burned most of the letters in her possession. It is possible that this is an imaginary work or fan art of Jane, rather than a portrait drawn from life.

Thank you very much for your attention. I hope you have enjoyed this introduction. If you wish, I will now take you into the exhibition. After my colleague has given you a short presentation in our portrait tunnel, you can enjoy a film, taste Regency biscuits, smell perfumes, try on costumes, practise writing with a quill and ink, and admire our world-famous wax figure of Jane Austen. Don't forget to take photos, and feel free to ask questions.

 

Some facts about the wax figure of Jane Austen



The wax figure of Jane Austen can be admired exclusively at the Jane Austen Centre and was first unveiled in Bath in 2014.

There had never been such a figure made before, and she has also never been seen in any of the Madame Tussauds wax museums, as there is still speculation and discussion about exactly what she looked like.

We do not claim that this is exactly what she looked like, but we think this is as close as possible. Forensic artist Melissa Dring, who worked at the FBI in Washington, was an advisor in the creation of the figure, as she made a portrait of Jane herself in 2002 (right). This is her interpretation of the author, in which she captures a little more of her personality. Her sources were the unfinished portrait by Cassandra, the stipple engraving from 1870, the written descriptions by Jane's contemporaries, and also studying other family members to find the facial features that recurred in each of them, such as the nose.

The figure represents Jane at an age when she lived in Bath (25-30 years). The dress was made by costume designer Andrea Galer, who also designed costumes for the film adaptations of Mansfield Park and Persuasion. The hair and colour specialist was Nell Clark, who previously worked at Madame Tussauds and also made the statue that stands outside the centre entrance.