Jane Austen: The classic author led an elementary life behind the closed doors

Updated on July 18, 2022 17:41 PM by Ella Bina

Jane Austen in 1806

Jane Austen is one of the most famous female authors who gave English literature the taste of her conventional yet brilliant talent through her novels. Today, we will remove the curtain and try to look into her personal life a bit.

Jane Austen, the transcriber of Pride and Prejudice, has inspired billions of women with her one character Elizabeth Bennet, who lived a very ordinary British life.

It was August 1806 when Jane Austen was with her sister and mother along with her lawyer in a carriage. They were rushing into Warwickshire in their cousin’s carriage.

One woman who created history

Jane Austen was always present in all forms of Austen family drama and participated in all the family complications. The lady who was one of the first to give in to the art of feminism and woman empowerment is today a history. That day in August 1806, she was going towards the ancestral home of the Lee family.

The place was a Stoney Abbey - moreover, Jane Austen has always been an integral part of all the issues related to money and inheritance. She was one of the first who thought about women's independence, not just emotionally but also financially.

Jane Austen died young and was never married. However, marriage was the one topic that was the core of her writings in various novels.

The author suffered from a financial crisis

Mary Lee was the mistress of the house of Warwickshire; she died unmarried and childless; however, according to the British monarchy, Jane Austen’s cousin brought her with him to claim the property inheritance of that big mansion.

In 1806, Jane Austen was an unpublished, unrecognizable, three-decade-old budding writer. Right now, after two centuries, she is history. At that time, she was forced to leave the city of Bath as she was running out of funds.

From the prolific writer to a world-class author

The woman who created classic novels like Persuasion (1816); Pride and Prejudice (1813); and Sense and Sensibility (1811) earned her financial independence at forty.

Unfortunately, she lost her life in her late adulthood, so she could not see the recognition she received after her untimely death. She accompanied her cousin and mother in the carriage, hoping to get some of the inheritance from Mary Lee’s property.

Those were times when writers like Jane Austen had to fight for money, even though her writings are an elixir of life, human civilization, and time itself.

Little did she learn that she would be a historical figure after two centuries; living an exceedingly ordinary life, she gave birth to novels that went on to create the base of British literature and maybe English literature.

Her books are her reflection

Stoney Abbey offered Jane Austen prospects as an aspiring novelist in dire need of funds. The most ironic part is how Pemberley is described in the book Pride and Prejudice; Jane Austen herself was introduced to the Stoney Abbey in the same manner by the housekeeper. Pride and Prejudice hold many written documentaries about Jane Austen’s real-life experiences.

Mansfield Park, published in 1814, also witnessed the documentation of the Stoney Abbey Chapel in its pages. Jane Austen never considered herself an ambitious woman who could write and be successful.

Today J.K Rowling has earned the place of a billionaire author; ironically, Jane Austen was suffering from financial constraints and used to write to make herself a living.

The legacy she has left

Many readers find her a lonely lady, unaware she was lively, flirtatious, and was born much before time. Jane Austen, unfortunately, did not receive any funds and did not inherit any portion of Mary Lee’s property.

Nevertheless, the Abbey got its place in the pages of the classic writer. Regardless of the inheritance, Stoney Abbey is a legacy through her works.

The books she wrote are still alive and inspiring multiple movies now; the most breathtaking factor is that she wrote something back in time that is still alive amongst human civilization.

Time has made Jane Austen immortal as she lives and breathes amongst the book lovers. All of Jane Austen’s manuscripts hold witness to the homes she lost and the mansions she gained as she moved from one place to another all her life.

The female face of classic English literature

She was always considered an aspiring writer until she received international recognition and a permanent place in the classic English literature books during her four decades of life.

Due to the lack of wealth and financial stress, all her novels revolved around the threat of poverty and the fake promises of gaining wealth- she wanted a stable life with a husband and a good house. But, she achieved worldwide fame as a price of not getting those things that ordinary girls used to get back then.

In her forty-one years of life, she stayed in many houses, suffered from depression due to lack of money, and wrote the best novels, for which time will always be grateful to her. Her talent was immense, but the recognition was slow.

There were times when she was extremely close to cash, inheritance, and property; at other times, she was just an edge closer to poverty. Her writings didn’t earn her enough money to give her a house and a carriage of her own back in 1806.

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Jane Austen - the young girl

Moreover, she was an unmarried woman in 1806 who did not know how to make a living on her own. All she knew was that she was able to write. Due to her independent mind, Jane Austen suffered from various social obligations. Moreover, men found her too bold and less ladylike, but that did not stop her from having multiple romantic encounters.

Jane Austen used to create homemade ink as she was very much involved with home economics and even was into cooking and cleaning. She lived in numerous houses all her life and explored as a writer giving her the space and time to grow her creativity.

In 18th Century England, Jane Austen started her life in Hampshire three centuries back.

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An elementary village life

18th Century England was much different towards women than towards men. The monarchy determined the position of inheritance from the time of birth.

Jane Austen belonged to a very unconventional 18th-century British family. She lived in Hampshire and the same home up to the age of twenty-five, where she was born. Jane Austen grew up in the village of Steventon; back then, the village life was much lazy and slow-mo.

The demographic boundaries were much different in 18th Century England; Jane Austen’s father was a rector in the local Church of Steventon. She was born in 1775, during the reign of George III.

Different times and different lives were back then in England. Austen’s family was a bit unconventional compared to the families of that time. She was brought entirely up with progressive thoughts back then. As a result, Austens were considered odd by the people.

An austere life Jane Austen lived

However, Jane Austen’s father, George Austen, was considered a gentleman in the village. Austen's family struggled due to limited income; they were never affluent in wealth, houses, or carriages. Jane Austen could fulfill her daily necessities but was not into splurging on gold coins. Jane Austen’s Steventon has entirely changed over the three centuries. Today, Steventon is much different than the times of Jane Austen.

There were cottages back in the 19th Century in Steventon; however, they were demolished under a different monarchy over time. The rectory in which Jane Austen grew up was destroyed; now, there is only a plain grassland. The classic writer stayed with her parents, sister Cassandra Elizabeth, and six brothers.

The first home of Jane Austen

Archeologists have worked on the piece of land where Jane Austen and her family’s cottages existed. The first house of Jane Austen was medium-sized, and the front porch faced the north side.

The door was in the middle of the north side of the house, and it was a rather squarish-shaped cottage. The first home of Jane Austen had a lobby and a front kitchen along with a back kitchen. The leading parlor where all the dining took place was on the front side of the house.

The first cottage in Hampshire by Jane Austen also contained a sitting parlor and included Father George Austin’s study at the back of the house.

There were other cottages nearby; you can read the whole set of her house in the novel Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth Bennet’s house, along with all her neighbors, was nothing but the real-life characters in her personal life in Hampshire.

She took real-life examples

Elizabeth Bennet’s father was much likely Jane Austen’s father. He was also a reclusive priest who preferred to stay at the back of her house in her study rather than involve himself in the household chaos of eight children and his wife, Cassandra Austen.

Jane Austen’s Hampshire house is only in sketches now and looks like a big house. However, the place was always busy and crowded with many kids and close neighbors.

Jane Austen was raised in a very mingling household with too many sons. The family was big, and to feed so many mouths, Jane Austen’s father used to run a boy’s boarding school other than a local church rector.

So, from a very young age, she realized the importance of women in the inheritance of their father’s property. Her frustration is further sensed in her novels Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice.

Her simple village life with her family

Mr. Austen used to do three jobs, a rector, running a boy’s boarding school, and being a farmer. However, none of the estates of Mr. Austen went down to Jane Austen and her sister Cassandra Elizabeth Austen, so it was apparent for the author to search for financial independence at a very young age.

Jane Austen was raised between cows, ducks, and chickens - living a very simplistic life, the lady gave the world the best writings and novels, which are the baseline and pillar of the English language and literature.

Inspiration for her novels

Readers imagine her growing up in a country house, which is the opposite. She has worked on a farm with her father, made food and household things with her family, and even did all those village kinds of stuff that villagers of 18th Century England used to do.

She spent time with the dairymaids, milking the cows and grazing them. She used to feel excited living an ordinary life which contradicted her enriching novel writing.

Jane Austen’s few letters, which are left, give a detailed explanation of her life in Steventon's house. She did not live in a house filled with luxury, but there was happiness and lots of liveliness all the time.

She might not receive monetary comfort, but intellectual enrichment was the root of the family. Jane Austen’s egg cup is still in a museum, which is stored to give an idea of the transfer print, which was popular back in 1770s England.

Books and Knowledge

Jane Austen used to make her dinner at 3:30 PM, and after 6:00 PM, the family used to have tea. Mr. Austen used to read William Cooper to the family, and Jane Austen used to participate in listening to the readings whenever she could.

Books were essential to Austen’s family, and Jane Austen had free access to all the books in her father’s library. Knowledge was a necessary part of Jane Austen’s life which helped her to grow as a writer in her initial years.

Loads of authors and multiple books gave inspiration to Jane Austen to help her write her manuscripts. The author started writing at eleven and used to write plays and satires from a tender age.

Jane Austen’s father always supported her little girl and her aspiring writing skills. So, she received on her 19th Birthday a beautiful yet exclusive mahogany desk by her father.

Her classic Mahogany Desk

The Mahogany desk is a relic now, and under the flap of the desk, the author kept the drafts of her novels which have formed legacies now. If Jane Austen is brought back from time to the present, she will be shocked to see her influence on the world.

All her life, Jane Austen carried her portable desk box and gave birth to multiple manuscripts and drafts, which are part of the present English literature.

Jane Austen loved to walk and went on long walks, which is reflected in all the female characters in her books. Nature gave her the time and peace to think and contemplate various aspects of her life and the world around her. But, walking was not her first favorite pastime; the absence of a carriage made Jane Austen walk miles to meet her wants and needs.

Her long travels to the neighboring villages

Elizabeth Bennet is the witness of walking miles in the novel Pride and Prejudice, giving an idea of Jane Austen’s personal life choices and ways of transportation. Jane Austen was a very socially amicable person and had many friends.

She used to travel miles to her neighboring villages from Steventon to meet her friends and attend social events. Ironically the Ashe Rectory is one of the houses which has survived the two centuries of English village life.

Books and music during her time

Jane Austen’s close friend was Mrs. Ann Lefroy, whose son Tom Lefroy, the lawyer, became the reason behind her first scripting of the novel Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen was a fabulous piano player, and music was a big subject between these two women.

Moreover, the social life of 18th Century England involved ladies coming together and finding music as a common factor to discuss and spend time with each other.

In all her novels, Jane Austen has reflected on the kind of social life she led while she used to stay in Steventon.

The Emma (1815) writer has mentioned several times through her novels that she preferred intellectual conversations, books, and music. The author loved dancing and singing and used to attend social parties, just like the characters in her book.