Cassandra Austen in old age
Jane Austen’s family was not rich, by any means, but the family was genteel and belonged to the English gentry. Rev. Austen earned a respectable living as a rector at Steventon rectory. His wife, Cassandra, was a close relative of Theophilus Leigh, head master of Balliol College. She was also a relation of the Leighs of Stoneleigh Abbey, a most impressive and well-regarded family.
When handsome Miss Leigh married the very handsome Mr. George Austen, her life became no picnic. After his marriage, Mr. Austen took to farming with a spirit. This meant that while he enjoyed the prestige of becoming a gentleman farmer, Mrs. Austen took over the daily charge of the dairy with a bull and six cows, plus ducks, chicken, guinea-fowl and turkeys, the vegetables that were grown in the garden, the honey used for mead, and the home-made wines.
Steventon Rectory, Images from BBC
Any surplus allowed the Austen family to sell the produce for a profit. Under Mrs.Austen’s supervision during Jane’s childhood and spinsterhood years, only tea, coffee, chocolate, spices sugar, and other luxury foods were purchased. As James Edward Austen-Leigh wrote in 1870 in his Memoir of Jane Austen,
I am sure that the ladies there [Steventon] had nothing to do with the mysteries of the stew-pot or the preserving pan;but it is probable that their way of life differed a little from ours, and would have appeared to us more homely.”
As with many wives of her station, Mrs. Austen accepted her role as the family’s housekeeper. However, she relied on servants, such as a cook and maid of all work to actually do the “hard” work, such as cooking, cleaning, laundry, and general sewing. While her servants performed the tasks, Mrs. Austen determined the duties of the day, much like a general manager. She met daily with her cook to superintend the meals of the day. There were also a dairy maid and a washer woman, who came once a month. Cassandra Austen’s other important tasks were to train her daughters in the art of overseeing a household.
Susanna Whatman shortly after her marriage
Susanna Whatman was a contemporary of Mrs. Austen. Born in 1752, she was married to James Whatman, a papermaker. Shortly after her marriage in 1776, she wrote a housekeeping book to instruct her servants and offer advice about housekeeping duties and domestic life.
The following passage of her advice is of particular interest. Rev. Austen kept an extensive library, much like Mr. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. In this instance, Mrs. Whatman instructs the housemaid to clean the library.
The sun comes into the Library very early. The window on that side of the bow must have the blind let down. The painted chairs must not be knocked against anything, or against one another. A chair must not be placed against the door that goes into Mr. Whatman’s Dressingroom. All the space between the daydo and skirting board is plaister. Therefore, if it is knocked, it will break. The books are not to be meddled with, but they may be dusted as far as a wing of a goose* will go. Nothing put behind the door besides the ladder. Tea leaves* used on the carpet in this room, Drawingroom, and Eating Parlor, and Mrs. Whatman’s Dressingroom, no where else.
*wing of a goose – dusters were made with goose feathers from their wings.
**During the Georgian era, carpets were sprinkled with moist tea leaves and cleaned with a hair broom.
Jane Austen's World 
I was just getting really involved in your essay and you come to a complete and sudden stop that I was left up i the air wanting more, there will be more I hope Vic. :D
Yes, I thought it was abrupt. The housekeeping advice for the library was slim at best. (Though not for the poor maids, I suspect.)
All in all also a good description of Mrs Bennet’s life ! Although, was Hill a housekeeper? Not a lady’s maid since the household had none, but more that ‘just a maid’ I am convinced.
I believe Hill was a housekeeper. Compared to Mrs Austen, whose participation in running the house was hands on, Mrs Bennet was quite a lazy overseer.
I think you’re correct, after all we KNOW that Mrs Bennet kept enough servants that the daughters were not needed in the kitchen as was Charlotte Lucas.
I wonder what the moist tea leaves would have accomplished. I suppose I could pour my spent leaves from my morning cuppa onto the persian carpet. No, I don’t think I’ll do that.
The damp tea leaves were useful in keeping down the dust as the carpet was swept.
I found the following on the Teatropolitan Times website – and even today there are many other uses for recycled tea leaves :-)
Cleaning (Carpet, Mats, Flooring)
Because tea leaves reduce odor and eliminate bacteria, they are an ideal natural element in cleaning floors and floor coverings. For carpets, spread dried tea leaves and brush them gently over the area, allowing the leaves to crumble into dust; then vacuum the remains up off of the carpet. For flooring and mats, wrap tea leaves in a damp cloth, squeeze it the cloth, and simply wipe the floor, cleaning and polishing the surface.
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Sheesh! I’ll try the tea leaves. As a sole-support parent, I wish there was someone around to help with the “hard” work. The managing is nothing without the doing. :-) And animals and vegetable gardens wait for no-one. Sometimes we think women writing was hiving off time from social duties etc. but the reality was, as it is today, that it was hiving off time from work, childcare, hard labour, and sleep. Still, wouldn’t I exchange my breadmaker, vaccum, sewing machine and laundry for a day – heck, a short tea — with one of these ladies! More 18th C cleaning tips please. It can’t hurt! :-)
I’ve used tea leaves and they work very well. and you can use stiffer brushes than were used with those old, delicate carpets because they have manmade fibres in them, whereas a wool carpet needs a hair brush daily and a stiff brush once a week. Failing that tea leaves and a vacuum work very nicely.
you can still get horse hair brooms for carpets
heh, horsehair brooms sound handy to have. Thanks for that info
Lud, I am picturing a careless maid slinging the painted chairs around willy-nilly, and chunking the legs of them through the plaster. Victorian plaster is a lot more solid [having horsehair and dung mixed in with it] and is only fragile when it has got wet and then dried out, but it does flake something awful after 120 years or so.
It makes so much sense, Mrs Whatman writing down that the painted chairs were not to be knocked together and that the wall was plaster and fragile. She must’ve had to say it until she was just about blue in the face.
Love your comments, all! Tea was of course very expensive and locked in a special tea caddy that only the mistress of the house could access (I believe Jane was in charge of the tea at Chawton Cottage). After the family had tea, the servants made a weaker concoction with the used leaves. By the time these expensive leaves were used for cleaning, they must have lost all their ability to stain.
Thank you, Vic. First I have heard of tea a the cleaning agent.
Wow, I’d like to have a household staff that I could stand around all day overseeing! I loved reading about Cassandra’s daily life. Thanks for sharing!
Perfectly wonderful bits of interesting and imaginative information; this one on housekeeping, and so enjoy reading your blog. Brava!
I could read your blog all day- so glad you’ve returned after your hiatus. I have a question- I’ve read the various Austen novels several times. I’m making my way through classic lit (Europen and American). Who would you say is your NEXT favorite author of the time (or century)? Looking forward to reading more of YOUR writings too :)
Interestingly, at the time that I discovered Jane Austen I fell in LOVE with Ivan Turgenev and the Russians. Jane Eyre, of course, and Wuthering Heights and Rebecca. Later I read all of Georgette the year’s novels. She does not hold a candle to Jane, but I loved her wit and sparkle.
Hi VIc: you suffer from my disease: Typoitis! That’s how I discovered Georgette Heyer: after I finsihed with Jane I asked my English Lit teacher who else I should read.
I meant to say Georgette Heyer’s novels. Hate auto correct.
Interesting post. I may try the tea leaves on the carpet myself. It sometimes seems to me that modern people have a lot to do to keep a household running, but perhaps it was ever thus.
Dry tea leaves, please.
Thanks, Vic. I’ll direct my “staff” to make better use of my spent tea leaves. (Yeah, right!) :D
This came just when I needed it. Amazing information, thank you! Will need to look for that book from Susanna Whatman and get a copy for myself.