The History of Jane Austen

Jane Austen is arguably the most popular author in the English speaking world (though are certainly a few others in contention for that title!). There are thousands of us who are fascinated by the places that Jane lived at and visited, the books that she wrote, the things that she ate, the clothing that she wore, and anything else you can learn about her life. And now that we have reached the 250th anniversary of her birth in 2025, the interest in Austen is as high as ever. (Why wouldn’t it be??) This beloved author left behind relatively few books but nevertheless led an entirely fascinating life. Let’s get into the history of Jane Austen, and where you can learn more about her!

Jane Austen’s Early Life

Jane Austen led a quietly interesting life, a part of an emerging middle class in Britain that in some ways seems familiar to us but in other ways feels foreign. She was born in December of 1775 to Reverend George Austen and his wife Cassandra, in what we would recognise as a solidly middle class family. She was one of eight children, although they were all brothers aside from one sister (also named Cassandra). Her oldest brother, George, is rarely discussed in Austen histories as he had significant mental difficulties. (He lived with another family, as was not uncommon in the period.)

What would Jane Austen have read?

The family lived in the village Steventon from 1768, where her father was rector, until they moved to Bath in 1801. Jane and her sister would often go to stay with relatives, and were sent away to be educated in both Oxford and Reading. Their education would have consisted of essentially what her characters know: needlework/sewing, dancing, drama, music, and basic French. Jane also, as could be expected, read everything she could get her hands on! Her reading was largely directed by her father and her brothers, but she was also allowed to peruse her father’s library. As boys would board with the family to study under her father, she had access to many books.

Jane the Spinster

If you have seen Becoming Jane, you will know that she was briefly involved with a Tom Lefroy. Lefroy was an Irish barrister that enjoyed a somewhat serious flirtation with Jane from December 1795. From Jane’s letters to her sister, we knew that she wasn’t thinking of accepting his proposal, but she also clearly was attracted to him. His family sent him on in January 1796, and so the two parted forever. (This is often cited as a huge event in Jane’s life, although it happened rather quickly.)

Jane did have a few different suitors, but never ended up marrying anyone. She lived in Bath with her parents and sister from 1801 to 1809, and then to Chawton with her sister and mother from 1809 to 1817. She passed away at the age of 41, and while there are debates over what the cause of death was, it is agreed that the last few years of her life were marked by ill health. (As an historian, I’m not a big fan of diagnosing people in the past.) You can visit her grave in Winchester Cathedral now, and Chawton House, where she spent the last months of her life, is close by.

Austen’s lasting literary legacy

She started writing as a child*, but her first major novel, Sense and Sensibility, was written sometime before 1796- it had a different title but we don’t know what other changes were made. She then wrote the first draft of Pride and Prejudice in 1797. Sense and Sensibility was published 1811, Pride and Prejudice in 1813, Mansfield Park in 1814, Emma in 1815, and Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were both published in 1817. The Prince Regent was so taken with her novels that he requested a visit from Jane in late 1815, and although she wasn’t a huge fan, she did go to meet him. He even kept a copy of all of her novels at each of his residences! (How many authors can claim that?)

*If you have not already done so, I would highly recommend reading her Juvenalia, including The History of England. Her talent is on display from a young age and the snark is still unmatched.

The History of Jane Austen Online 

Thankfully Austenites are wonderful for sharing their work online. There are several online resources to do your Austen research and learn more about Jane and her life! I took the Jane Austen: Myth, Reality, and Global Celebrity course from FutureLearn, and I loved it. It was quite straight forward but the instructors were fantastic and you really come away with a good understanding of her reputation and popularity nowadays. It is less than a month long, so it is the perfect intro to Jane and her mythology (if you will). There are also some other courses online that are more broadly related to Jane (on the English country house and such, but they aren’t specific to her.)

The Jane Austen Centre in Bath has an absolutely fantastic website, and I can’t recommend it enough. I was able to visit the Centre when I was in Bath in 2019, and I was impressed with the wide variety of materials and information on display. However, they also have a lot of background info on Jane Austen online, and about life in Bath at the time! There are some fun things like quizzes and reviews, but there are also several biographies, as well as recipes, and several categories on Regency life. If you sign up for the free newsletter, you also get some very interesting articles and interviews sent to you. (The blog is great, as well.) What I love about the Centre’s site is that there is enough info for Austenites who know their way around the field, but it isn’t overly academic to cut out people who are new to Jane.

What do you know of the history of Jane Austen? And the obvious question, what is your favourite Austen novel? 

Cheers,
The Historian
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