George Austen
George Austen |
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George Austen was an English clergyman. He attended Oxford University, on a scholarship, where he met Cassandra Leigh, the daughter of an Oxford Dean. He and Cassandra married, and wealthy relatives of hers appointed him to the living in Steventon, Hampshire.
Cassandra bore eight children, James, George, Edward, Henry, Cassandra, Frank, Jane and Charles.
Their second son, George, did not live with the family, due to serious medical issues. Instead he was placed with a rural family, for the rest of his life. Modern commentators speculate he was deaf, and suffered from epilepsy.
George supported his family by serving as a clergyman, farming his glebe, land attached to his living, and by tutoring the sons of wealthy families. Modern commentators have speculated as to how much he earned. The most common guess was 400 pounds per year, but some commentators have speculated his income may have been as low as 200 pounds per year, or as high as 1000 pounds per year. Some sources say he supplemented his glebe by farming an additional 200 acres he leased or rented.
In 1800 Austen retired, and his eldest son James took over his living.
His wife Cassandra had an aunt whose marriage did not result in any children, and she and her husband adopted the third son Edward, when he was a teenager. He added the surname Knight, to honour his adoptive parents.
Henry, the fourth son, went into the army. He eventually served as his battalion's quarter-master -- the officer responsible for buying supplies for the battalion. Relying on his experience in business, as a quarter-master, he opened a bank. His bank was successful, until the end of the Napoleonic wars. In those days banks were not governed by government regulations, and loans the bank were not repaid when borrowers could not cope with the economic impact of Peace. Henry then followed in the footsteps of his father and eldest brother and was appointed to one of the lesser positions as clergyman in his family's gift.
Cassandra, the fifth child, fell in love with a clergyman. Since he couldn't afford to marry her he accepted a position as a clergyman, in the Caribean. Romantically, she promised that she would not seek a new fiance if he should die. He did soon die, from a tropical disease. But she is best known for frustrating scholars by destroying most of the correspondence she inherited after the death of her sister Jane, the novelist.
Frank, the sixth child, joined the Royal Navy, as a midshipman, at the age of twelve. Frank, and later his little brother, Charles, both studied at the Naval Academy, at a time when most officers relied solely on on-the-job training. He rose through the ranks, becoming a Captain in 1800. Promotion from Captain to Admiral was based solely on seniority, so, after the Navy down-sized, after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1815, he relied on his half-pay, until his promotion to Admiral. He lived long enough to rise to the Navy's highest rank, Admiral of the Fleet.
Jane, the seventh child, was a novelist. Austen helped her in her efforts to get her novels published, and one was published, during his lifetime. Jane never married. She did accept a proposal, from a family friend, only to back out the next day. She did publish three more novels, during her lifetime, and modern commentators assert her total royalties, during her lifetime was 750 pounds. The novels published, during her lifetime, were all published anonymously. Her brother Henry arranged for the publication of two additional novels, under her own name, shortly after her death. Her nephew, James Austen-Leigh, publishe a biography of Jane, and an additional early novel, several decades after her death. The popularity of her novels grew, after her death, until by the end of the nineteenth century, she was one of the most popular and well-known novelists in the English language. The popularity of her novels continued to increase in the twentieth century, and they were adapted for film and television more than fifty times. Commentators attribute this popularity to her subtle sarcastic analysis of society, and her insight into human character quirks.
Charles, the last child, like his older brother Frank, also joined the Royal Navy, as a midshipman, at the age of twelve. He also attended the Naval Academy. He also rose through the ranks. But, since the Navy's big victory over the French, at the Battle of Trafalgar largely erased the French threat of Invasion, his progress was slower than Franks, and he wasn't commissioned a Captain until 1810. His turn at promotion to Admiral finally came, and he was appointed to command a squadron in the far east, when he was in his sixties. He died in command of that squadron in his sixties.
James, Edward, Frank and Charles all had children. James had one child with his first wife, and two with his second. The first wives of Edward, Frank and Charles all had ten children.