Jane Austen 250

250 years ago, on December 16th 1775 Jane Austen was born in Hampshire. She was a remarkable author whose novels remain well-loved. Jane Austen regularly visited London to see family, go to the theatre and visit her publishers. London is often mentioned in her books, with city neighbourhoods a subtle indication of the social class of her characters!

A green plaque at 10 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden indicates where she stayed with older brother Henry, visiting her publishers in summer 1813 and March 1814 whilst working on the proofs of Mansfield Park. Jane is also likely to have been working on Emma (published 1816) whilst she was in London. Jane visited nearby theatres the Lyceum and the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane and during 1813 also visited the retrospective exhibition of Sir Joshua Reynold’s paintings at the British Institute in Pall Mall. In a letter to her sister Cassandra, she jokes about finding portraits of some of her best-known characters from Pride and Prejudice, namely Mrs Bingley and Mrs Darcy within the art galleries of London.

To get into the mood...try watching the BBC production of Gill Hornby's book Miss Austen which imagines the background to her sister Cassandra's destruction of most of Jane's private letters.