Cassandra Austen
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Cassandra Elizabeth Austen (9 January, 1773 - 22 March, 1845 [1]) was an amateur English watercolorist and the older sister of Jane Austen.
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[edit] Childhood
Austen was born 9 January, 1773 at a rectory in Steventon, Hampshire to the Rev. George Austen (1731–1805), a rector, and his wife Cassandra, née Leigh (1739–1827). She and her younger sister, Jane, being the only girls in a family with six brothers, maintained an especially close relationship throughout their lives. Over one hundred letters addressed to Cassandra from Jane have survived. These letters have helped historians to construct details about the life of Jane Austen.
The sisters went to Mrs. Cawley, their uncle's sister, to be educated in 1783. Cawley lived initially in Oxford, and later in Southampton, and, when an epidemic broke out in Southampton, the Austen sisters returned to Steventon. Between 1785 and 1786 the sisters attended the Reading Ladies boarding school in the Abbey gatehouse in Reading, Berkshire. Jane was originally not to go, as she was considered to be too young for schooling, but ended up going along with Cassandra. In their mother's words, "if Cassandra's head had been going to be cut off, Jane would have hers cut off too". [2]
[edit] Artwork
Austen and her sister were also tutored in drawing and playing piano at home. In 1791, she produced a series of circular illustrations of British monarchs for Jane's manuscript The History of England, which are noted to have resembled members of the Austen family more than royalty. [1] Cassandra Austen is also credited with having created two paintings of her sister. One, painted in 1804, is a back view of Jane seated by a tree. The other, an incomplete frontal portrait dated circa 1810, was described by a family member as being "hideously unlike" Jane Austen's real appearance. This sketch is now housed in the National Portrait Gallery, London. [3]
[edit] Later life
Austen became engaged to Thomas Fowle, a former student of her father, in 1794. The engagement continued while Fowle awaited access to a living in Shropshire. He later joined the British Armed Forces as a chaplain, and was dispatched to the Carribean, where he died of yellow fever in 1797. Austen inherited £1000 from him. She, like her sister, never married.
After the death of her father in 1805, Austen, her sister, and their mother moved to Southampton, where they lived with their brother Frank and his family for five years. They moved again in 1809 to a cottage on their brother Edward's estate in Chawton.
When Jane died in 1817, Austen is reported to have destroyed many of her letters, most of them dated after 1795. [1] Austen herself lived alone until her death on 22 March, 1845, at age 72. She was buried at St Nicolas church in Chawton, Hampshire. [4]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "Cassandra Austen." (n.d.) Jane Austen Centre Magazine. Retrieved December 31, 2006.
- ^ "Jane Austen's Life and Family." (n.d.) The Jane Austen Information Page. Retrieved December 31, 2006.
- ^ "A New Portrait of Jane Austen." (2003). Jane Austen's Regency World. Retrieved December 31, 2006.
- ^ "St Nicholas, Chawton, Hampshire." (2004). Ukgraves.info. Retrieved December 31, 2006.
