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Archive for the ‘Jane Austen’s family’ Category

The Church at Godmersham: St. Lawrence the Martyr

Posted in Anglican Church, Churches of the Austen family, Jane Austen's family, Jane Austen's religion, Jane Austen's World, tagged on February 26, 2026| 2 Comments »

By Brenda S. Cox

A few days ago we “visited” Godmersham, the estate of Jane Austen’s brother in Kent. Today we’ll continue that visit with the church she attended while she was there. Like so many English churches, it is named after a Christian saint.

St. Lawrence the Martyr: Who Was He?

More than 200 churches in England are named after St. Lawrence. The church at Godmersham, where Jane Austen often visited her brother Edward, is one of them, as is the church at Alton, closest town to Austen’s village of Chawton.

St. Lawrence the Martyr, parish church of Godmersham, which Jane Austen often attended.

The original St. Lawrence’s story is inspiring but rather grisly. He was a deacon in charge of the treasures of the church, and of distributing alms to the poor. When the Roman Emperor Valerian demanded that Christians sacrifice to the Roman gods or else be killed, they refused. Pope Sixtus II and his deacons were beheaded. Lawrence was told to hand over the church’s treasures. Instead of bringing gold, he brought in many of the poor and said they were the church’s treasure.

Valerian supposedly commanded that Lawrence be roasted on a gridiron, and Lawrence even made a joke as he was dying. (Some think he was actually beheaded and the gridiron is a transcription error; scroll down at this link.) He became the patron saint of comedians and poor people as well as those who work with open fires, such as bakers, and those who fear fires, such as librarians.

And, guess what else? He’s apparently the patron saint of barbecues. On August 10, St. Lawrence’s Day in the church calendar, many churches like this one celebrate by having a community-wide barbecue. Okay, that’s the grisly part. Moving on . . .

Godmersham Church and Jane Austen’s Family

Godmersham church plaque mentioning Jane Austen
Memorial to Jane Austen’s brother, Edward Austen Knight “of Godmersham Park in this parish, and of Chawton House in the country of Southampton,” and his wife Elizabeth. It tells about Edward’s name change and inheritance. Edward is described, “Living peaceably in his habitation, he was honored in his generation, a merciful man whose righteousness shall not be forgotten.” (This combines verses from Ecclesiasticus 44:6, 7, 10; Ecclesiasticus is a book of the Apocrypha.)
Memorial in the Godmersham church to the Knights that Edward inherited from, cousins of the Austens. The broken pillar symbolizes the end of the Brodnax family they were descended from. Thomas Brodnax, who built Godmersham Park (which was originally called Ford Place) in 1732, changed his name to May and then to Knight in order to inherit fortunes from distant relatives. His son, also named Thomas Knight, adopted Edward Austen as his heir.

Jane Austen, in a total of ten months staying at Godmersham, must have attended this church at least forty times. More likely eighty times, if they had morning and evening Sunday services as many churches did at the time. So she would have known it well.

In her time, the chuch had a triple-decker pulpit: a high wooden pulpit with a sounding board over it (a wooden structure reflecting the sound forward), from which the vicar would preach. Below that was the vicar’s “prayer desk,” from which he would lead the service, reading prayers and Scriptures. And below that, the “parish clerk’s pew,” from which the church clerk would lead congregational responses. (These are the three “decks” of the pulpit.) (See another example here.)

Across the church from this pulpit were two huge “box pews” for the major families of the parish. These were on top of burial vaults, so Austen would have walked up five steps and through an arched doorway to get to the Knight family’s “pew,” actually a separate room which enabled them to see over everyone’s heads to the top pulpit (See pages 70 and 73–pp. 26 and 29 of the pdf file– of The Parish Church of St  Laurence). Quite a different experience than her tiny churches at Steventon and Chawton, where only the squire of the area and his family would have a box pew, on a much smaller scale.

Box Pew at Steventon Church, for the squire of the area and his family. The box pews at Godmersham were much larger and more ornate, but were demolished in the 1860s.
While the Godmersham church’s triple decker pulpit is gone, like most of this era, you can still see a triple-decker pulpit at the John Wesley’s New Room Chapel in Bristol. The congregation heard preaching from the top level, Scripture reading and prayers from the middle level, and responses led by the parish clerk from the lower table.

Like so many of the Austen-era churches, the Godmersham church was remodeled and expanded in the 1860s. According to the “Souvenir Guide” for the church, at that time “The Georgian furnishings (triple-decker pulpit, parlour pews, western gallery and box pews) were swept away and the entire building restored and refurbished.”

Interior of Godmersham church, much changed from Jane Austen’s time
This chapel under the tower of the Godmersham church was built in the twelfth century. Next to it hang ropes for ringing the bells in the tower. The eagle lectern, a stand for reading the Bible, is typical of English churches.
Church Bell-ringing is a challenging skill to learn. Five bells in the Godmersham church tower were cast in 1687, while a sixth was added in 1999.

Vicars

The Godmersham church had vicars over the centuries. English churches traditionally either have rectors, who received all the tithes of the parish, or vicars, who received only part of the tithes. For a church with a vicar, a nominal rector elsewhere received the main tithes. The only vicar in Austen’s novels is Mr. Elton, who thus received a lower income and needed to marry money. (Tithes are ten percent of the income of the people of the parish; in Austen’s time, it was legally required that this be paid to the parish priest, in either cash or in agricultural produce. The system and these definitions have changed, of course, in modern times.)

The Vicars of Godmersham Church

The “rector” of the Godmersham church, who received most of the tithe money, was the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral, meaning the leaders of the Cathedral: the dean, canons, and prebendaries. Much of the parish income went to them, but some went to the vicar, who performed the daily responsibilities of the church and preached and led services. In Austen’s time, Francis Whitfield was vicar (1778-1811), then Joseph Godfrey Sherer (1811-1823). Jane visited Mrs. Sherer, and said in a letter that she liked Mr. Sherer very much (Sept. 23, 1813). She wrote to her brother Frank (Sept. 25, 1813):

“Mr. Sherer is quite a new Mr. Sherer to me; I heard him for the first time last Sunday, and he gave us an excellent Sermon—a little too eager sometimes in his delivery, but that is to me a better extreme than the want of animation, especially when it evidently comes from the heart, as in him. The Clerk is as much like you [Frank] as ever, I am always glad to see him on that account.”

Here we get a personal view of what Jane Austen liked in sermons: not too much emotion, but enough to show that the preacher is speaking from his heart. It reminds me of a section in her unfinished novel The Watsons, where Emma’s father, a clergyman, commends the sermon of the local minister (Emma’s love interest). Sermons were generally “read”:

“He [Mr. Howard] reads extremely well, with great propriety, and in a very impressive manner, and at the same time without any theatrical grimace or violence. I own I do not like much action in the pulpit; I do not like the studied air and artificial inflexions of voice which your very popular and most admired preachers generally have. A simple delivery is much better calculated to inspire devotion, and shows a much better taste. Mr. Howard read like a scholar and a gentleman.”

Mr. Sherer would have lived in this vicarage (also called a parsonage) close to the church. It is possible that Mr. Collins’s rectory is partially based on this building. It was enlarged in the 19th century.

Austen continues in the same letter,

“But the Sherers are going away. He has a bad Curate at Westwell, whom he can eject only by residing there himself. He goes nominally for three years, and a Mr. Paget is to have the Curacy of Godmersham—a married man, with a very musical wife, which I hope may make her a desirable acquaintance to Fanny.”

A curate was an assistant or substitute clergyman, generally paid a low salary. Mr. Sherer will hold the office of vicar of Godmersham for life, unless he resigns it. But he can hire a curate to take his place while he resides in another parish for which he is presumably also rector or vicar.

Austen mentions several more visits by the Sherers until on Nov. 7 she says they are actually gone, although Mr. Paget has not yet come. As we often see in Austen’s novels, the clergyman was a central person in a country community.

Baptismal font and organ in the Godmersham church
This memorial on the church’s outside wall, to Susanna Sackree, the nursemaid who raised the Knight children after their mother’s death, was recently unveiled. Photo ©Deborah Barnum, 2025.

The Godmersham Church Today

Like so many English churches today, the Godmersham church is now combined with several other churches in the area, and they take turns hosting services. Our guide estimated that there are about three hundred people in the parish, and only 15 or 20 show up for regular Sunday services. However, larger crowds show up for events such as weddings, funerals, baptisms, and church holy days. The church is blessed to have funding from wealthy former owners of Godmersham Park who left money for the church.

Our guide said he loves the peace and quiet of the church area, and enjoys the changes in the seasons, seeing the snowdrops, the daffodils, and the holly berries. The Pilgrim’s Way from Winchester to Canterbury brings modern-day pilgrims down a path next to the church, where they can enjoy it also.

This lovely, historic country church welcomes visitors, but be sure to make arrangements beforehand. And check on visiting hours for the Heritage Centre.

 

Brenda S. Cox is the author of Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen’s England. She also blogs at Faith, Science, Joy, and Jane Austen.

All photos in this post ©Brenda S. Cox, 2026 (except for Deb Barnum’s photo, which is labeled).

 

For Further Exploration

St. Lawrence the Martyr church at Godmersham 

Brief History of the church

Services at the church

Detailed history of the Godmersham church (pp. 66-77, “The Church in Jane Austen’s Time” includes sketches of the church interior as Austen knew it. Note the huge box pews on p. 73. Austen would have sat in one of these when she was visiting her Knight relatives.)

The reference to Mr. Sherer’s church at Westwell may refer to this church in Kent. 

See also Deborah Barnum’s post.

Other Austen Family Churches

Steventon

Chawton

Deane

Hamstall Ridware and Austen’s First Cousin, Edward Cooper

Adlestrop and the Leigh Family

Stoneleigh Abbey Chapel and Mansfield Park

Great Bookham and Austen’s Godfather, Rev. Samuel Cooke

Ashe and the Lefroy Family

St. Paul’s Covent Garden (with links to other churches mentioned in Austen’s writings)

St. Swithin’s Walcot (Bath)

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Godmersham: Inspiration for Pemberley?

Posted in 19th Century Servants, Architecture, Edward Knight, Jane Austen's family, Jane Austen's World, tagged , , , on February 23, 2026| 3 Comments »

By Brenda S. Cox

“I am all alone. Edward is gone into his woods. At this present time I have five tables, eight-and-twenty chairs, and two fires all to myself.”—Jane Austen writing from Godmersham, Nov. 3, 1813

Jane Austen’s brother Edward, adopted by wealthy relatives, inherited not one, but two extensive estates. Jane and her mother and sister eventually lived in a cottage at Chawton in the county of Hampshire, Edward’s secondary estate. You can still visit Chawton House and Chawton Church.

Godmersham Park

Godmersham Park today. This estate was probably one inspiration for Pemberley. Edward Knight’s income was even higher than Mr. Darcy’s, but Edward had to run two estates.

Jane and Cassandra often enjoyed the luxuries at Edward’s main residence at Godmersham Park, in the county of Kent. Edward, his wife Elizabeth, and their eleven children often needed the help and company of Edward’s poorer sisters. Sixty-one of Austen’s surviving letters (out of 161) were written either from or to Godmersham. Jane spent a total of ten months of her life at Godmersham.

Entrance to Godmersham Park today. American owners in the 1930s, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Tritton, remodeled the house. In Austen’s time it was three stories, with painted bricks on the front (which were turned around when the house was remodeled). The back and front of the house were reversed from today.

In 1808, Jane wrote of her brother James and his wife, “James and Mary are much struck with the beauty of the place” (June 15). She herself was enjoying ice cream, a Regency delicacy, and wine: “I shall eat Ice and drink French wine, and be above Vulgar Economy” (June 30). No doubt Elizabeth Bennet, once she marries Darcy, will enjoy such luxuries as well!

One of two “follies” at Godmersham Park built from two facades of white pillars that were originally at the front of the main house.
The Godmersham Park Heritage Centre is a small museum showcasing portraits, photos, and artefacts of earlier times.

Servant-Friends

Jane Austen made two friends among the servants at Godmersham. Anne Sharp was her niece Fanny’s governess; Jane later corresponded with her. Susannah Sackree was the children’s nurse. Both are often mentioned in Austen’s letters. For example:

“Pray say everything kind for us to Miss Sharpe, who could not regret the shortness of our meeting in Canterbury more than we did. I hope she returned to Godmersham as much pleased with Mrs. Knight’s beauty and Miss Milles’ judicious remarks as those ladies respectively were with hers.”—Jane Austen, Aug. 30, 1805

“Sackree is pretty well again, only weak. Much obliged to you for your message, &c.; it was very true that she blessed herself the whole time that the pain was not in her stomach. I read all the scraps I could of your letter to her. She seemed to like it, and says she shall always like to hear anything of Chawton now” —Jane Austen at Godmersham, Sept. 23, 1813

Memorial in the Godmersham church to Susanna Sackree, the Knight family’s beloved nurse. Sackree’s original memorial outside is illegible, so JASNA donated this parchment version. It calls her “faithful servant and friend for nearly 60 years” and says that at her own request the following was written on her tombstone: “Flee from evil, and do the thing that is good, for the Lord loves the thing that is good. Keep innocency, and take heed unto the thing that is right, for that shall bring a man peace at the last.” Then, “My dearest friends I leave behind/ Who were to me so good and kind/ The Lord I hope will all them bless/ And my poor soul will be at rest.”
One exhibit at the Godmersham Park Heritage Centre maps the living quarters of the servants and shows items they would have used.

The Library

Austen’s favorite part of the house, not surprisingly, was the extensive library. Like Darcy’s “delightful library” at Pemberley, it was “the work of many generations,” with Edward Knight “always buying books,” like Darcy, to add to it. Jane wrote:

“We live in the library except at meals, and have a fire every evening. . . . I am now alone in the library, mistress of all I survey; at least I may say so, and repeat the whole poem if I like it, without offence to anybody.”—Jane Austen at Godmersham, Sept. 23, 1813. The poem is “Verses on Alexander Selkirk” by William Cowper; Selkirk’s real adventures were the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe.

“The Comfort of the Billiard Table here is very great. It draws all the gentlemen to it whenever they are within, especially after dinner, so that my brother, Fanny, and I have the library to ourselves in delightful quiet.”—Oct. 14, 1813

The 1818 catalogue of the library lists more than 1200 books. The books in the library were removed to Chawton before Godmersham was sold in 1874.  Most were later dispersed. The library’s bookshelves were removed and the area split into offices. The website “Reading with Austen” is an attempt to digitally recreate the library Jane Austen so much enjoyed.

Godmersham Park is now a college of the Association of British Dispensing Opticians (ABDO College) and is not open to the public. However, we were allowed to see the front rooms. Here you can see the collage of the old, classical decorations of the entry room and the newer apparatus of the opticians association.
Godmersham Park entry area.
Godmersham Park still has beautiful gardens. The grounds were once quite extensive, like those of Pemberley, and you can still roam around and see different types of gardens.
The “Lime Walk” is another lovely part of the Godmersham Park gardens. Emma walks in a lime walk at Donwell Abbey.

When Austen visited Godmersham, she attended church at St. Lawrence the Martyr parish church of Godmersham. On Thursday we explore that church.

All photos in this post ©Brenda S. Cox, 2026

Brenda S. Cox is the author of Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen’s England. She also blogs at Faith, Science, Joy, and Jane Austen.

 

For Further Exploration

Edward Austen Knight: A tightwad or a man with heavy responsibilities?

Godmersham Library—“Reading with Austen”—Search to see what books Jane might have read there, and see annotations in some of the books.

Reading at Godmersham: Edward’s Library and Marianne’s Books

Godmersham Park Heritage Centre

Godmersham Village

Godmersham Walking Tour

Godmersham Park, history of the house

Review of Godmersham Park, novel by Gill Hornsby

Godmersham Park: A Novel of the Austen Family, is based on the story of Anne Sharpe, governess at Godmersham and friend of Jane Austen.

More Godmersham Photos in this post by Deb Barnum

Regency Ice Cream and Ice Cream in Jane Austen’s Day

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Book Review: The Austens, by Sarah Emsley

Posted in Book review, Jane Austen's family, Jane Austen's World, tagged , , , , on November 19, 2025| 9 Comments »

Reviewed by Brenda S. Cox

I very much enjoyed Sarah Emsley’s new novel, The Austens. It is written as a series of first-person diary entries and letters, mostly invented, but based on solid research. It shows the relationship between Jane Austen and her younger brother Charles’s wife, Fanny Palmer Austen.

Sarah Emsley gives us deep insights into the lives and struggles of women of Austen’s time. We see contrasts and commonalities between the lives of a young naval wife and mother traveling the world, and an unmarried author living with her family in rural Hampshire.

The Austens, a new novel by Sarah Emsley, tells the story of Jane Austen and her sister-in-law Fanny Palmer Austen in a series of letters and journal entries.

We asked Sarah Emsley, who lives in Canada and has explored the Austen connection to Nova Scotia, to tell us more.

Jane Austen’s World: Sarah, what led you to write this book? Why did you choose Fanny Palmer Austen as the second main character?

Sarah Emsley: The striking contrasts between the lives of Jane Austen and her sister-in-law Fanny Palmer Austen sparked my imagination, leading to The Austens. I wanted to tell a story about the Austen family set partly in North America and to focus on sisterhood and friendship.

While Jane is writing fiction in England, not knowing if any of her novels will ever be published, Fanny is sailing from Bermuda to Nova Scotia and back again, and eventually to England. She is dealing with the challenges of pregnancy and childbirth and caring for her young daughters.

No letters between the two of them survive, and that gap seemed an area worth exploring in fiction. I imagined Jane and Fanny developing a friendship through letters sent across the North Atlantic and then meeting in person the summer before Sense and Sensibility was published.

Also, as I researched The Austens, my own first novel, imagining my way into the story, I found my heroine Fanny asking Jane urgent questions about her books: What was left out? What might happen to her heroines after the happy endings?

From the beginning of my work on The Austens, the voices of both Jane and Fanny were central. I don’t think it could have been a novel about just one heroine or the other.

JAW: What do you admire most about Fanny Austen?

I like and admire Fanny Austen’s courage in doing the best she could to adapt to the challenges and uncertainties of her husband’s naval career. Like Mrs. Croft in Persuasion, she and other naval wives learned that “We none of us expect to be in smooth water all our days.”

JAW: How long did it take you to research and write the book?

Eighteen years! When I began, I had no idea it would take that long. It wasn’t my only project during that period, but it was the main one. I worked on it steadily over all those years. I learned through experience that books need to take the time they take. The writing and publishing process are different every time, for every book and every writer. I sort of knew that before, from writing and publishing nonfiction, but this novel taught me far more about patience and persistence. I cared so much about the Austens, Jane and Fanny and their extended family, that I couldn’t give up on them.

Sarah Emsley spent 18 years working on The Austens, which is set in England, Bermuda, and her native Halifax, Canada.

JAW: There are many books on Jane Austen and her family. What makes yours unique?

My novel has a particularly North American flavour because it’s set on this side of the Atlantic as well as in England, during Jane Austen’s lifetime. I was inspired to begin the book when I learned about the Austen family’s connections with my hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia at the 2005 Jane Austen Society (UK) conference. The organizer was Patrick Stokes, a direct descendant of Charles Austen and Chairman of the Society. He had asked the archivist at St. Paul’s Church in Halifax to search for the baptismal record for Charles and Fanny’s first daughter, Cassy.

I was a parishioner at St. Paul’s and got married there. I had written a short, illustrated history of the church in 1999, without knowing about the Austen connection. Details of Cassy’s baptism were first published by Sheila Johnson Kindred in Jane Austen and the North Atlantic, a collection of conference papers I edited for the Jane Austen Society in 2006.

When I began my novel in 2007, I did extensive research on the Austen family and their historical period. I had already visited Austen-related sites in England. I began to visit Austen-related places in my own hometown, including Government House in downtown Halifax, featured on the cover of The Austens. Those visits were among the many joys of working on this book.

JAW: What was the hardest part of this book for you to write?

The Harris Bigg-Wither section, near the beginning of The Austens, was the hardest to write. In early drafts, I used a flashback to 1810 to show Jane accepting and rejecting his marriage proposal. I wasn’t satisfied with that approach, and I kept going back to imagine what it might have felt like for her to live through those painful hours. Early in 2019, after almost twelve years of work, I finally wrote a draft of this section I liked. Then I revised it many more times before the book was published.

One of the hardest parts of writing this book was figuring out where to begin the story! Some of the earliest drafts began with Fanny’s perspective in 1809. As I worked, I saw where I needed to expand and deepen the story, going further back in time.

JAW: What was the most fun part of the book to write? 

I loved bringing to life the ball at Government House. Fanny wrote to her sister Esther that this ball was “splendid” (12 June 1810). She also referred to Captain Pechell, one of Charles’s brother officers, as her “very great favorite” (14 August 1810). (You can read these letters in Sheila Johnson Kindred’s biography, Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister: The Life and Letters of Fanny Palmer Austen.) It was such fun to research and write this scene.

I pictured Fanny arriving at Government House with her husband on a chilly evening in June, wishing she could linger with him in the garden. But she knows she must follow him into the ballroom and socialize with Admiral and Lady Warren and other guests. Each time I visited Government House, I could see Fanny there, dancing with Captain Pechell, playing cards with Lady Warren, and feeling naïve and excluded from the inner circles of Halifax society when she hears about a scandalous poem.

Emsley chose to write in the voice of Fanny Palmer Austen, wife of Charles Austen. Painting by Robert Field, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

JAW: Why did you choose to write in the first person as Jane Austen? What source material did you use to echo her voice? How difficult was it to get into the mind of the author?

When I began to work on this book, I wrote in third person—first person didn’t even occur to me. I suppose it was too intimidating to think of writing in the voice of Jane Austen, one of the greatest writers of all time. At the same time, I was trying to write a novel that would look and sound sort of like an Austen novel. Paradoxically, then, I was trying to echo her voice, style, and structure too closely.

Through research and immersion in Jane Austen’s world for many years, I got a good sense of what she might have been thinking and feeling. However, I was at first too scared to say any of it from her point of view. But after about twelve years (!), once I had worked out the shape of the plot, I decided to try writing in the first person. I wanted to see what Jane would sound like, and that transformed the novel. Reading, and rereading, her letters and teenage writings helped me find the voice I wanted.

Jane herself gave me courage, especially through her strong heroines, Fanny Price and Elizabeth Bennet. I needed to stay true to my vision of this story, told from inside the minds and bodies of my two heroines. I found my own voice, and allowed myself the freedom to include letters, newspaper clippings and notices, and other pieces of writing. Once I invented letters from Jane to Fanny and from Fanny to Jane, it felt natural to write longer chapters also in the first person.

Figuring out how to write in both Jane’s voice and Fanny’s voice was part of the long, eighteen-year process of helping the novel find its best possible shape.

Thanks very much, Brenda and Vic, for the opportunity to talk about The Austens!

Brenda: Thank you, Sarah, for your insightful answers.

Gentle readers, I think you will love The Austens, as I did. No matter how well you know Jane Austen, it will give you new perspectives on her novels, her life, and the life of her sister-in-law. You may also enjoy Sarah Emsley’s blog.

You can find the book at:

Jane Austen Books,

Woozles (signed copies, personalized on request, for shipping in the United States and Canada)

Bookmark (signed copies, personalized on request, for shipping within Canada)

Amazon in the UK (available in March, 2026)

ebook from:

Amazon in the US (Kindle only right now, paperback later)

Barnes and Noble

In brief:

The Austens: Jane Austen chooses art and the freedom to write fiction instead of marrying for money and thereby selling her body and soul, while her sister-in-law Fanny chooses to marry for love. Their disagreements about work and family threaten their friendship in a world that is hostile to art and love, and even the idea of a woman making a choice.

Sarah Emsley is the author of Jane Austen’s Philosophy of the Virtues and the editor of Jane Austen and the North Atlantic. She lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with her family, and she writes about Austen and other authors she admires at www.sarahemsley.com. The Austens is her first novel.

Happy reading!

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Jane Austen’s Favourite Brother, Henry: An Interview with the Author, Christopher Herbert

Posted in Anglican Church, Biography, Book review, Clergy, Jane Austen's family, Jane Austen's World, Regency Life, Religion in Austen's England, tagged , , on September 25, 2025| 3 Comments »

Interviewed by Brenda S. Cox

“As soon as he can light upon a bishop, he will be ordained. I wonder what curacy he will get!”–Anne Steele, about Edward Ferrars in Sense and Sensibility.

A few days ago, I told you about a fascinating new book on Henry Austen. The author is a retired Church of England bishop, living in Farnham, where Henry Austen served as perpetual curate of the parish church. (A perpetual curate was a curate, substituting for the rector or vicar holding the living of that church. “Perpetual” meant that he could not be fired; he could keep his job for life, just as a rector or vicar did. However, his salary was still only a portion of the tithes that supported the main, absentee clergyman.)

I asked the Right Reverend Dr. Christopher Herbert, who is now a Visiting Professor of Christian Ethics at Surrey University, about his journey in writing this book.

Jane Austen’s Favourite Brother, Henry, was written by an Anglican bishop, Christopher Herbert

Jane Austen’s World: Rev. Herbert, what led you to write Jane Austen’s Favourite Brother, Henry?  How did you get interested in Henry Austen?

Rev. Herbert: In retirement I live in Farnham, Surrey, only a few miles from Chawton. I am the Patron of the Farnham Castle Trust; Farnham Castle was once one of the major homes/palaces of the Bishops of Winchester. At a Trustees’ meeting, discussing how to attract more visitors to the Castle and Farnham, I wondered if there might be some connection with Chawton and Jane Austen. The other Trustees did not know of any, but a friend pointed out an article in the Farnham Herald mentioning a man called Henry Austen christening a baby in the parish church of St Andrew’s. [JAW: This story opens Herbert’s book.]

I followed this up, checking the Parish Registers at the Surrey History Centre, and found many signatures in Henry’s hand—and of course, he was Jane’s brother. I was fascinated. Who was he? How did he become a Perpetual Curate in Farnham? What was his story?

At that point, all that I had were his dates of birth and death, and a few insights from Wikipedia. I had no intention of writing a book about him, but the more I researched his life, the more intriguing Henry became. By the way, my book’s publication in the 250th Anniversary Year was pure chance. I had no idea that was coming up when I raised my initial question!

JAW: How long did it take you to research and write the book?  What were some of the most interesting sources you found?

I took well over two years to research and write the book. That might seem a short period of time. However, in my earlier work as a diocesan bishop, with over 400 churches in my diocese, plus membership of the House of Lords and other national and international responsibilities, I was accustomed to working very rapidly to fulfil all my duties. I also read for [pursued/studied for] an MPhil [Master of Philosophy] and a PhD in Medieval Art History at the University of Leicester whilst I was a bishop, and again, had been able to read and digest and write rapidly. So, I had some of the requisite research skills, and I loved the research process—that joy of discovering new and unexpected jewels.

My most useful primary sources were obtained from the Hampshire County Record Office where I was able to trawl through a great deal of original material, plus similar material such as the Parish Registers of St Andrew’s, Farnham, at the Surrey History Centre.

For secondary sources, I read biographies of Jane Austen by people such as Claire Tomalin, and David Cecil, and accessed the huge online resources of JASNA, etc. I was helped greatly by the staff at Jane Austen’s House, Chawton, and, of course, re-read all of Jane’s novels, plus the utterly invaluable edited version of Jane’s letters by Deirdre Le Faye and invaluable and scholarly papers by people such as yourself [Brenda Cox], John Avery Jones, et al.

Of course, as is often and frustratingly the case, after my book had been published, I came across some more primary material at Winchester College. The researcher’s life, as you know, is littered with ‘if onlys’. [I encouraged him to find a place online to publish his further research.]

Amongst the most interesting material were the Parish Registers of Bentley and Farnham. Those gave me enlightening insights about the lives of Henry and his parishioners.

JAW: What did you learn about Henry that interested you the most?

Apart from my obvious personal affinity with Henry as a clergyman, it was his time as a dealer in Army Commissions, a Banker, and a Tax Collector which I loved researching. I am not an economic historian and so my research in this area was very challenging. I would need to re-train in economic history to begin to fully understand every detail. This was the most difficult part to write, trying to get my head around the economic and financial landscape within which Henry worked.

Beneath all the top-layer elements of his life, I enjoyed delving beneath the wealthy surface and speculating on Henry’s motivations and methods of work. Walking the streets of London and investigating where he lived during this phase of his life was hugely enjoyable.

Following Henry through his banking downfall and his approach to his bishop to discuss the possibility of ordination required a great deal of ‘inner work’ on my part  to comprehend how and why that happened. I have interviewed hundreds of ordinands in my life. It was fascinating trying to get into the mindset of Henry’s bishop, Bishop Brownlow North, who lived in very different times to my own. Like Henry, Bishop North worked with different cultural assumptions than ours. It is such a challenge to try to stretch one’s sympathetic imagination into another era.

By contrast, and bathetically*, it was the fact of Henry having almost 1,000 bottles of wine in his cellars which sticks in my mind!

Henry Austen as a Clergyman later in life. Public domain via wikimedia.

JAW: What was something interesting you learned about Jane Austen herself in writing the book?

Oddly, it was spending time exploring Steventon and realising how isolated the Rectory and the village were in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. I had, of course, been to Jane Austen’s House in Chawton a number of times, but in my mind’s eye I had imagined Steventon as a quintessential English Village: village green, church, a few farmsteads, a pub, and even, perhaps, a game of cricket. That idea was completely shattered when I visited Steventon. The cultural life inside the Rectory must have been a great contrast to the isolated, scattered cottages of the poor inhabitants of the village. 

My understanding of the life of Cassandra Austen (Leigh) [Jane’s mother] grew as I thought of her coping with her own children plus the students boarding with them—all that food, oversight of the washing of bedding and getting it dry, all that hullabaloo inside the house during term-time. When did she have a moment to herself?  I began to wonder, as Jane watched her mother, how much Jane recognised the sheer logistical task her mother undertook to keep the ship happy, afloat and moving in the right direction.

This was the most fun part of the book to write, showing the inside of Steventon Rectory with all the liveliness and learning of Jane, Henry, and their siblings.

And, of course, Jane’s letters are an absolute delight. If only there were more…if only…

JAW: If you were able to meet Henry Austen personally, what do you think you would like about him? What would you want to ask him? What parts of his character might you find difficult or less pleasant?

I would enjoy his sense of humour, his generosity towards, and affection for, Jane, and his affection for Liza [his wife Eliza] and her son, Hastings. Not being a risk taker myself, I would love to hear about his own understanding of the nature of financial risk and entrepreneurship. When did he see the storm clouds brewing? Was ordination always at the back of his mind? Was it a kind of attempt to ‘give back’ to society, having enjoyed and then lost the fruits of worldly success?

I would find his undoubted attraction to the aristocratic level of society difficult, but I fully recognise that it was the 18th/early 19th century way. And when he was Perpetual Curate, I suspect I would have found his lack of awareness of the Farnham Workhouse very difficult. However, in fairness, I must add that it might simply be lack of evidence which leads me to suppose that he was not at his best with the poor and impoverished. So much information has been lost. I could be entirely wrong. 

JAW: Why do you think he was Jane’s favourite Brother?

I will say the idea for the title of the book was not mine, it was my publisher’s, but I am entirely happy with it. Why was Henry Jane’s favourite? He was obviously very close to her and looked to her for help whenever he hit a difficult or tragic patch in his life. They shared the same sense of humour, the same love of the quirks of society, the same interest in humanity. And it was Henry who went out of his way to ensure that her books were published. Besides, who but a favourite brother would actually volunteer to read Proofs!?

JAW: What would you like to tell potential readers about your book?

I hope that if they love Jane Austen, my book will reveal some lesser-known aspects of Regency society which might enhance their understanding of Jane and her novels. In brief, context really matters. But, most importantly of all, if my book leads to people reading or re-reading Jane, my hopes will have been more than fulfilled.

JAW: Thanks very much, Christopher! I loved Jane Austen’s Favourite Brother, Henry, and I think our readers will also.

Jane Austen’s Favourite Brother, Henry, by Christopher Herbert, is now available from the publisher, Pen & Sword, and from Amazon in the US and in the UK in hardcover. The Kindle version will be released September 30, 2025.

You can find out more about Dr. Herbert at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Herbert and https://www.chpublishing.co.uk/authors/christopher-herbert Since those lists of accomplishments, he has also been involved in the Royal Hospital for Neurodisability in London and the Lyme Resource Centre, a charity based in Scotland raising awareness of the growing incidence of Lyme disease and co-infections in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK.

*I looked up bathetic. It means “producing an unintentional effect of anticlimax.” Nice word!

Brenda S. Cox is the author of Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen’s England. She also blogs at Faith, Science, Joy, and Jane Austen.

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Jane Austen’s Favourite Brother, Henry—by Christopher Herbert

Posted in Biography, Book review, Clergy, Jane Austen's family, Jane Austen's World, Regency Life, Religion in Austen's England, tagged , , , on September 22, 2025| 2 Comments »

Book Review by Brenda S. Cox

“I had a letter from him [Henry], in which he desired to hear from me very soon—His to me was most affectionate and kind, as well as entertaining;—but there is no merit in that, he cannot help being amusing.”—Jane to Cassandra, April 8, 1805

“Henry at White’s! Oh, what a Henry!”—Jane to Cassandra, June 23, 1814 (when Henry attended an exclusive high class gathering celebrating Napoleon’s defeat)

Jane Austen’s Favourite Brother, Henry, by Christopher Herbert, gives an in-depth view of Henry Austen’s life, beliefs, and connections with Jane and her novels.

What a Henry

Henry Austen was apparently a lot of fun, and Jane loved her brother dearly. He was also quite versatile. At various times he was:

  • an Oxford student who produced a periodical called The Loiterer with his brother James,
  • paymaster and adjutant in the Oxford Militia,
  • army agent,
  • banker (of a bank that eventually failed),
  • receiver general of taxes,
  • Jane Austen’s own literary agent,
  • clergyman of several parishes,
  • chaplain of the British Embassy in Berlin, and
  • husband of Eliza de Feuillide and later of Eleanor Jackson (niece of Rev. Papillon of Chawton).

Christopher Herbert, in his fascinating new book, Jane Austen’s Favourite Brother, Henry, explores Henry Austen’s life through all these changes.

Culture and Current Events

I loved that Herbert gives lots of cultural details in going through Henry’s life. For example, in the chapter on Henry’s birth, we learn about childbirth practices at the time. During pregnancy, his mother Cassandra Austen, rather than buying special maternity clothes as we do today, would have widened her stomacher, used aprons to cover gaps in clothing, and loosened side lacings. A “churching” service would celebrate her survival of the very dangerous process of giving birth. Philadelphia Hancock, her sister-in-law, may have been there to help the mother before, during, and after the delivery.

The author speculates on what the children growing up in the the rectory may have read, who taught them to read and write, and where they obtained their books.

Current events and ideas are woven in alongside stories of Henry and Jane growing up. The balloon ascent of 1784 is described by quoting a magazine article of the time. We hear about battles, steam power, improvements and enclosures, and the Wesleyan revival which began at Oxford. We see how the ideas of contemporary writers such as John Locke, focusing on reason in understanding God and society, may have affected Jane Austen’s ideas of church and clergy in Mansfield Park, as well as her prayers.

Henry Austen as a Clergyman later in his life. Public domain via wikimedia.

Work and Money

An in-depth discussion explains Henry’s various jobs and what they involved. We see how his bank throve, launching Henry into upper ranks of society, and then failed. The author obviously did quite extensive research to dig this all up, and it was interesting to learn, for example, what exactly an army agent was. (For me, there was a little too much detail, since I’m not interested in finance; however, other readers may find this the most illuminating part!) It seems Henry had some financial dealings which were at least ill-advised, and possibly questionable.

Henry as Clergyman

After his bank failed, Henry reverted to earlier plans and was ordained as a clergyman. In Henry’s one extant sermon, he attacks pride and prejudices. Herbert says Henry is encouraging his congregation toward giving Catholics political rights, a major issue of that time. (See also “Sermons by Jane Austen’s Family.”) Herbert explores what Henry may have believed, also drawing from statements in Mansfield Park.

He also points out that Henry’s pastoral workload was much greater than that of Mr. Elton or other Austen clergymen. In one year, Henry performed 149 christenings, 34 weddings, and 105 funerals! All for very little income. He also had to deal with a new workhouse and other issues related to the poor of his parishes. Henry’s journey as a clergyman, his income and how he spent it, are further explored, as well as his anti-slavery work.

Jane Austen’s Novels

The author skillfully connects concepts to passages in Austen’s novels.  He also explains Henry’s role in getting her novels published. He concludes that there are still some questions about Henry’s life. But we do know that:

“without Henry’s determined and passionate commitment in getting Jane’s novels published, our lives, and the life of the world, would be so much the poorer.”

Amen!

On Thursday I will post an interview with the author, who is uniquely qualified to write this book. He is a former bishop of the Church of England, now living in Farnham where Henry Austen served as perpetual curate in the parish church. Farnham Palace, where the Right Revd. Dr. Herbert is a patron, was a home of the Bishops of Winchester.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about Austen’s family and her world.

Jane Austen’s Favourite Brother, Henry, by Christopher Herbert, is now available from the publisher, Pen & Sword, and from Amazon in the US and in the UK in hardcover. The Kindle version will be released September 30, 2025.

Brenda S. Cox is the author of Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen’s England. She also blogs at Faith, Science, Joy, and Jane Austen.

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