James married again in 1797 to Mary Lloyd (1771-1843) with whom he had two children James Edward (1798) and Caroline (1805). She bore one daughter, one of Jane’s favorite nieces, Anna (1793). He married in 1792 when Jane was 17 to Anne Mathews who died only three years after their marriage in 1795. James Austen (1765-1819) Jane’s eldest brother was studious and went to Oxford University at the age of 14 in 1779 and was ordained as a cleryman in 1787. The Austen children would all grow within this close-knit family with Jane herself forming an exceptional bond with her father. Additionally, he would take on teaching roles within the home to outside children for additional funds. Austen worked away in the rectory and also tried his hand at farming on the side to earn more money for the growing family. Growing up, the Austen children lived in an environment of open learning, creativity and dialogue.

Of all the brothers, it would be Henry to which Jane would form the closest bond with, playing the part of Jane’s literary agent in the later stages of her writing. In order of birth, the Austen children were as follows: James, George, Edward, Henry, Cassandra, Francis, Jane and Charles. Her siblings were made up largely of brothers, which in some ways forced a close relationship with her elder sister, Cassandra (not to be confused with the mother whom also carried the name Cassandra – but further referred to as Mrs. She was to be their seventh child and only the second daughter to the couple. Born to Reverend George Austen of the Steventon rectory and Cassandra Austen of the Leigh family. Jane Austen came into the world on December 16th, 1775. The rectory where she was born is no longer standing. Having read her works, one is left wondering who Jane Austen really was – how close were the predicaments in these works to her real life? What kind of woman was she in the world that she lived in? Did she ever find the love so elusive in her own novels? Family This is the church where Jane Austen’s father preached. Her careful selection of characters placed in ordinary positions of their time, only to develop into a more dramatic situation by the turn of the last page, has kept readers revisiting these ageless classics time and again. Though it has only been relatively recently that her work has become mainstream – thanks in part to required readings in school, reproductions of her classical works at the bookstores and television and cinema productions covering her novels – the lure of the romantic period that Jane Austen created in the minds of her readers has resonated for decades. Jane Austen’s life was relatively short but it nonetheless produced a lasting legacy including six major published works. Jane Austen (1775-1817), one of England’s foremost novelists, was never publicly acknowledged as a writer during her lifetime.

The History of England by Jane Austen