Fanny Palmer Austen’s Choice of Style and Dress

Fanny Palmer Austen’s appearance in her fine portrait by Robert Field reveals much about her style. She is wearing a fashionable gown for this occasion, but given her transitory naval life, she must have found it challenging to maintain a modish style of dress. A review of her letters and pocket diary, and of her family interactions suggest how she managed her wardrobe according to fashionable Regency values and opinions.

Fig. 1: Fanny Palmer Austen by British portrait painter, Robert Field, c. 1810

Fanny Palmer Austen was about twenty-one when she posed for Field at his studio in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is wearing a white muslin gown, decorated with what appears to be a muslin frill. Fanny is very much in the style of the day for woman of the gentry class favoured white clothing. Over her gown, she is wearing a pelisse, that is a long coat cut on the same lines as her gown. Fanny’s pelisse was constructed from wine-coloured silk and is lined in dark blue. Her headdress is made from “lustrous satin ribbon.”[1] Fanny’s overall sense of colour is good. Her white dress and the coordinated shade of her pelisse are choices which suit her fair complexion and light hair.[2]

According to Regency attitudes, “everything in a person’s ensemble revealed something about them to the Regency observer. Cut, fit and style were important for conveying the message.”[3]  In Fanny’s case, we can see that her figure is slim and her clothes fit well; they appear to be sewn from fashionable fabrics, such as muslin, satin, and silk. In addition, Fanny’s hair style, which featured a cluster of curls about the face, was also very much in vogue. A portrait of Lady Croke (1808), also painted by Field, shows a similar way of arranging her hair. The image Fanny presents is reminiscent of Fanny Burney’s sentiment on what dress ought to do for its wearer - it should suit the style of her beauty and “assimilate with the character of her … gender and class.”[4] 

The Field portrait provides unique access to Fanny’s clothing sense when she was in Halifax. When she sailed to England in 1811, her social spheres changed and, with them, the social influences on her. There were family visits to Jane, Cassandra, and Mrs Austen in the Hampshire village of Chawton, and to the wealthy and fashionable Knight family at Charles’s brother, Edward’s, country estate of Godmersham Park. Additionally, Fanny visited the London home of her parents at 22 Keppel Street. But during 1812 -1814 Fanny lived at sea where she made a home for her husband and young daughters aboard HMS Namur (74 guns).[5] Fanny needed to assemble and maintain clothing which suited her varied lifestyles. Her situation must have prompted a reassessment of her current wardrobe. Gowns that had been perfectly acceptable in colonial Bermuda and Halifax might not be so admired in more sophisticated British circles nor practical for living aboard ship.

Fig.2: Godmersham Park: Where Fanny visited with Charles in 1812 and 1813

For the Godmersham visits, which took place for two to one-week periods in July and October 1812 and 1813, Fanny would need clothes appropriate for the entertainments of the household. We can imagine her packing a variety of muslin gowns, including some suitable for formal dining and for visiting the Knights’ family friends in the neighbourhood. We know that Jane Austen carefully chose her clothes for one of her Godmersham visits. For example, a gown she “brought for special occasions, was insurance against any faux pas as to levels of dress, and would have [as current fashion dictated] been low necked.”[6]  

Jane Austen provides a clue as to the effect that Fanny Austen created at Godmersham when both women were guests there in October 1813. According to Jane’s approving appraisal, Fanny appeared “as neat and white this morning as possible.”[7] To complete her look, she would need to have the appropriate outer wear: a pelisse of suitable texture and colour and perhaps several spencers.[8] Such garments, which could be worn indoors or outside, would provide style, and warmth on occasions when Fanny was driving about in the Knight carriage to view nearby Eastwell Park or exploring the gardens and paths on the estate. Sturdy leather walking shoes or half boots, with a leather lower half and fabric upper, were a must for country walking. Several pairs of elegant, decorative silk shoes would be useful for indoor gatherings and dancing. Some of these items would also be appropriate for Fanny’s lifestyle when visiting her parents in London. They lived in a fashionable part of the city, just off Russell Square, and they had a social circle of cousins and friends, that Fanny would join for supper parties when she was in town.

Fanny’s clothing needs were quite different while aboard the Namur. There were occasions when she needed to dress defensively to combat the extremes of weather. She had to be prepared for bone chilling fogs, blustery winds with driving rain and stormy seas as well as very hot days of unremitting sunshine. For winter wear, she required woolen dresses, pelisses, shawls, and mantles, and during the coldest months, Fanny most likely dressed in layers. Dress historian Hilary Davidson has speculated that Fanny’s purchase of a “waistcoat,” for 12s. 6d., as recorded in her pocket diary for early 1814, refers to a type of warm flannel undergarment, consisting of a “wraparound bodice, buttoning down the front, with gores for hips and bust.”[9] Red hooded cloaks made from red worsted wool were very popular for British outdoor country life. Such an item would protect Fanny during wet weather at sea and could be useful when travelling to join the Austen families in Kent and Hampshire and the Palmers in London. 

Bermuda-born Fanny also knew the importance of being well protected on days of continuous sunshine. Not only did a straw hat provide respite from the heat but it offered a means for preserving an untanned, pale skin which was considered “the epitome of beauty.”[10] Fanny may have brought Bermuda-made straw hats with her to England, but if not, straw hats could be readily purchased in London. A directory for shops on Oxford Street, London (1817), listed ten straw bonnet manufactories.   

By no means was all of Fanny’s wardrobe purchased. Like most genteel women of her time she had learned to sew and so she could satisfy some of her clothing needs while sustaining a modish style of dress. Her letters and pocket diary show that she was committed to constructing clothing and that she had the skills to do so. While in Halifax she made a tucker,[11] which she sent to Bermuda for her sister, Esther. She also created some “very tidy little spencers,”[12] including one for her nephew, Hamilton, and other items for her two-year-old daughter, Cassy. They were most likely short frocks and pantaloons as Cassy was proving to be a vigorous child. She does not write about making her own gowns, but it is at least likely that she could and sometimes did, although the fit might not equal the effect achieved by a professional dress maker.    

While there were shops where drapers sold fabrics and milliners sold hats, ready made gowns were not always regularly for sale. Ladies who could not afford a bespoke gown from a dress maker or mantua maker, often proved to be ingenious in altering the basic shape of an existing gown to reflect more nearly the latest style. According to Hilary Davidson, “once their garments existed, Austen and her contemporaries sallied forth with confidence into amending, turning, and renewing them, refashioning clothes for as long as the fabric endured. …The point of alterations was not only to extend the life of a garment and prevent boredom with a limited wardrobe, but also to remain current, and to pass community scrutiny.”[13] Economies were never far from Fanny’s mind, given the uncertainties of Charles’s employ within the navy, so it is likely that the resourceful Fanny followed this lead and made the alterations which she thought would make her existing wardrobe fashionable once more.[14]

Another popular practice to enliven gowns was to add or replace decorative trims, such as ribbon, lace, flowers, fringing, and braid. As Davidson suggests, “haberdashery[15] applied in inventive, novel ways was a quick, cheap means of achieving freshness and fashion, a significant vehicle for a Regency women’s expression of individual taste when investment in a new garment was a large financial outlay.”[16] Fanny’s pocket diary for early 1814 records the purchase of ribbons, some of which she might have used for trimming a dress. Fanny had an example in Jane Austen who was a devotee of ribbon. She wrote Cassandra in March 1814 that she was “determined to trim [her] lilac sarsenet[17] with black satin ribbon just as my China Crepe is, 6d width at the bottom, 3d or 4d at the top.” In her opinion “ribbons are all the fashion at Bath.”[18]

Fanny also practiced another widespread habit, that of creating one’s own accessories. In the back of her pocket diary for 1814 she recorded that 24 yards of thread[19] were required to make a purse, most likely by means of “netting.” Netted purses were highly popular. They also served a practical purpose for as dress styles had changed to a more flowing, classical look with the introduction of muslin fabrics, it was a convenient way for a lady to carry her necessities, such as a few coins and a scented handkerchief.[20] Fanny conceivably used the pattern she recorded to make her own purse. She may have also sewed reticules, which were another, popular type of small cloth handbag that was often richly embroidered.

Fig. 3: A reticule in the style of the 1790s. Satin stitch is used for the decorative strawberry motif.[21]

Fig. 4: A reticule in a design of about 1800. Note the tassels and beaded decoration.[22]

The female members of her Austen family had occasion to influence Fanny’s deliberations about fashion. During her visits to Chawton and Godmersham, Fanny would spend hours in the company of Jane, Cassandra and their niece, Fanny Knight, engaged in some sort of sewing. Perhaps they advised each other about how to best alter a gown so as to give it a more contemporary look. Or they may have exchanged views about the latest fashions illustrated in current periodicals, such as Lady’s Magazine, Lady’s Monthly Museum, or Ackermann’s Repository of Arts. [23] Jane Austen valued neatness and  propriety in dress,[24] just the kind of opinions that informed Fanny’s perspective and were ultimately reflected in her own choices of clothes.

Fig. 5: Sewing was a significant and regular activity for genteel women.[25]

The Austen women likely also shared opinions about styles they individually observed on visits to London. Prior to the publication of Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1812), and Mansfield Park (1814), Jane spent time in London at her brother Henry’s house checking the proofs of each novel. Being temporarily in her brother’s social circle, she was well placed to notice current styles of dress. Fanny also spent time in London visiting her parents on Keppel Street, giving her opportunities to see the latest style in hats, the newest designs for sleeves, and the appropriate lengths for hems.

Fanny was fortunate that her naval connections gave her access to imported dress making materials, even during the trade restrictions of war time. While in Halifax, she received some unexpected yardage of India crepe, sent by Charles’s naval brother Francis, who was bringing home gifts for the Austen family from Canton, China. With this largesse, she had a Halifax dress maker, Miss Johnson, use part of the fabric to make up a gown for her sister, Esther. Fanny also had opportunities for shopping by proxy. While living on the Namur, she learned that another naval officer, Captain Baldwin, would happily take orders for “Handsome Velvets” from Holland “at about 4 Guineas the dress & also Sarsenets.”[26] She was willing to order some for her mother and her sister, Harriet, but not for herself as she did not think her family’s economy could support such an extravagance at this time.[27]

It is providential that we have the delightful portrait of Fanny when she was in North America, but a pity there are no paintings which show us Fanny’s appearance after she had arrived in England. Were such images to exist, I expect they would reveal a young woman who maintained the same good colour sense and simplicity of style, as are displayed in her portrait by Field. We may assume Fanny successfully continued to embody the changing look of the Regency period in her own personal way.

Fig. 6: Cover of Hilary Davidson’s book, Dress in the Age of Jane Austen Regency Fashion

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[1] See Hilary Davidson, Dress in the Age of Jane Austen Regency Fashion (afterwards HD), Yale University Press, 2019, Fig. 7.2, 250. Thanks to dress and textile historian Hilary Davidson for the richness of information in this fine new book.

[2] In 1811 Fanny’s young niece, Caroline Austen described Fanny thus: “she was fair and pink, with very light hair, and I admired her greatly.” Reminiscences of Caroline Austen, ed. Deirdre Le Faye, 2011, 26.

[3] HD, 47.

[4] HD, 41.

[5] The Namur was a working naval vessel which rode at anchor at the Great Nore, the anchorage off Sheerness Kent.

[6] HD, 193.

[7] See Jane’s letter to Cassandra, 15 October 1813, in Jane Austen’s Letters, ed Deirdre Le Faye, 4th ed., 2011, 241.

[8] A spencer was a “short, close-fitting jacket, … [which] followed the form of the gown bodice over which it was worn” (HD, 286).

[9] HD, 70.

[10] See HD, 151. Nor was this only a feminine ideal:  In Persuasion, Sir Walter Elliott makes a scathing comment about the appearance of a retired Admiral: “his face [was]the colour of mahogany, all lines and wrinkles, rough and rugged to the last degree … an example of what a sea faring-life can do.” See Persuasion, ed. R.C. Chapman, 3rd. ed. 1933, 20.

[11] A tucker was “a separate edging of linen, lawn, muslin or some other fine material, worn around the top of a low-necked bodice and tucked into it” (HD, 297). For Fanny’s mention of a tucker, see Sheila Johnson Kindred, Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister (hereafter JATS), 2017, 66.

[12] Fanny Austen to Esther Esten, 14 August 1810. See JATS, 65.

[13] See HD, 121-22. There are many instances in Jane and Cassandra Austen’s correspondence which detail plans for altering and enhancing existing garments. As Davidson observes, “their correspondence demonstrates practical knowledge of dress construction: how many skirt breadths can be got from a length of muslin; where angled side gores need to be added” (HD,122).

[14] Fanny had another reason for altering her gowns, as she was pregnant twice between 1812 and 1814.  

[15] Small items used in sewing.

[16] HD, 122. 

[17] Sarsenet was a fine soft, silk material.

[18] Letters, Jane to Cassandra, 6 March 1814, 269.

[19] The thread would be either silk, cotton, linen or woollen.

[20] Small purses were a welcome change from the previous fashion of wearing “pockets,” bags with a slit opening tied around the waist under the skirt and used to carry one’s necessities. See HD, 83.

[21] Thanks to Joy McSwain of JASNA NS, the creator of this period reticule, for permission to photograph and reproduce the image.

[22] Thanks also to Darcy Johns of JASNA NS for permission to reproduce an image of the period reticule she has made.

[23] While at Godmersham in 1813 Fanny participated in another activity relating to fashion. She and her niece, Fanny Knight, took Fanny’s younger sisters, Louisa and Cass, to Canterbury to try on stays. Stays were a “close- fitting under garment, shaped and stiffened with whalebone, cording … and closed with lacing, which shaped the wearer’s torso” (HD, 296).

[24] See HD, 76.

[25] “Industrious Jenny Ever Useful Miss!! Employs Her Time In Making A Pelisse.” Yale Centre for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.

[26] Fanny Austen to her sister Harriet Palmer, 5 February 1814. See JATS, 148.

[27] Even though Charles’s salary on the Namur was about £500 per annum, this was a temporary assignment and there was no certainty that Charles would be posted into another vessel when his term as flag officer for Sir Thomas Williams expired in October 1814.

In the Footsteps of the Austens: A Walking Tour of Halifax, Nova Scotia

In early summer 2017, Austen scholar Sarah Emsley and I created a Walking Tour to highlight places familiar to Jane Austen’s naval brother’s, Charles and Francis and their families, during the time that they spent in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The purpose was to share this perspective on Halifax with participants at the Jane Austen Society UK conference, held in the city from 20-27 June. The original version of the tour is also available on Sarah’s webpage. The version you are viewing here benefits from further enhancements added by Trudi Smith. You can click on each image for further details. You can check out the immersive Global Earth Walking Tour version. Thanks, Trudi, for these fine additions.

Download a PDF of this walking tour: In the Footsteps of the Austens- A Walking Tour of Halifax, Nova Scotia

Jane Austen never visited Halifax, Nova Scotia, but two of her brothers were stationed in the city during their time in the Royal Navy, and she was very interested in their careers. She drew on their experiences when she wrote her two naval novels, Mansfield Park (1814) and Persuasion (1818). Nova Scotia and Bermuda are the only places in North America where the Austen brothers lived and worked, and it is still possible to see many of the sites they knew. This walking tour of Halifax includes Citadel Hill, St. Paul’s Church, the Naval Yard Clock, Government House, St. George’s Church, and Admiralty House, along with the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.

HMS Cleopatra

Captain Charles Austen was the first to visit Halifax. He came as a young officer during his appointment to the North American Station of the Royal Navy and stayed several times between 1805 and 1811—first with his ship HMS Indian, a 399 ton, 18 gun sloop of war, later with HMS Swiftsure (74 guns) as flag captain to Admiral Sir John Warren, Commander-in-Chief of the North American Station, and finally with HMS Cleopatra, a 32 gun frigate. It was the turbulent time of the Napoleonic Wars with France and Spain.

In 1811, Jane Austen, who was beginning her novel Mansfield Park, wrote to her sister Cassandra that she knew, “on the authority of some other Captn just arrived from Halifax,” that Charles was “bringing the Cleopatra home” to England (25 April 1811).

Thirty-four years later, in more peaceful times, Admiral Sir Francis Austen arrived on the 50 gun HMS Vindictive as Commander-in-Chief of the North American and West Indies Station, 1845-48. He was seventy-one and on what would prove to be his last command. He and his squadron spent each June to October based in Halifax.

HMS Vindictive (50 guns), moored off the Naval Yard, by Herbert Grey Austen (Private collection; reproduced with permission of the owner.)

Halifax is famous for its huge natural harbour. It was chosen as a British naval and military base and settlement because of its natural features and its location as the first mainland landfall in North America from Europe. Founded in 1749, Halifax was strategically positioned close to the route to French possessions in Québec to the north and the Thirteen Colonies on the American seaboard to the south.

When Charles was in port between 1805 and 1811, his vessel could be found either moored at the north side of Georges Island or perhaps at one of the anchorages adjacent to the Naval Yard. When Sir Francis arrived each year to set up a summer headquarters, it was most convenient to moor HMS Vindictive close to the Yard and in sight of his official residence, Admiralty House.

walking tour highlights

Click on each image for details. For the full walking tour, download the PDF, or check out our immersive Google Earth Walking Tour.

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A. Citadel Hill

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B. St. Paul's Church

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C. Art Gallery of Nova Scotia

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D. Naval Yard Clock

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E. Maritime Museum of the Atlantic

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F. Government House

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G. St. George's Church

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H. Admirality House

Fanny Austen and Chawton

Come join me in a tour of Austen family homes as Fanny came to know them. First, this month to Chawton Cottage and Chawton House in Hampshire and next month to Godmersham Park in Kent.

Soon after her arrival in England in July 1811, Fanny made the first of several visits to Chawton, a small village in Hampshire about 52 miles southwest of London. She travelled through lovely countryside composed of woods, sheltered valleys, hop fields, lanes and downs.[1] On August 8th Fanny, Charles and their two children arrived at Chawton Cottage. Here she met the widowed Mrs George Austen and her daughters, Cassandra and Jane, for the first time.  

Fig. 1: View of Chawton Cottage today

Fig. 2: Dining Room at the Cottage

Originally an 18th century farm house, the Cottage had been recently renovated. To Fanny’s eye, it must have looked inviting, set off by an attractive garden, which included shrubberies made by adding ornamental plants, such as lilac and herbaceous plants to the existing hedgerows. The women immediately warmed to Fanny and the children, Cassy (age 2½) and Harriet (1½) , and they were delighted to welcome Charles after an absence of over 6½ years while he was serving on the North American Station of the Royal Navy. Cassandra described Fanny as “a very pleasing little woman, she is gentle and amiable in her manners and appears to make [Charles] very happy,”[2] words which suggest that Fanny passed muster with the Chawton Cottage family from the very beginning.

Besides the happy busyness of a family visit, this would have been an occasion for Charles and Fanny to share some of their experiences in the North American naval world they had recently left. Austen scholar Brian Southam pictures the returned Charles, and presumably Fanny, as “regaling the Austens with stories of Bermuda and Halifax, [the major ports on the North American Station] and Charles’s successes in his vessel, the Indian.”[3] Fanny and Charles departed after an enjoyable visit of one week but their return was greatly anticipated. Cassandra, Jane and Mrs Austen welcomed “Charles and his pretty little wife [back to the Cottage] early in the winter.” In Cassandra’s words: “Charles and his Fanny came to us for a few days previous to taking possession of their aquatic abode [aboard HMS Namur].”[4]

Fig. 3: The Great House, front approach.

Living primarily at sea from 1812-1814 meant that Fanny and her family had reduced opportunities to make shore-based visits into Hampshire, but they did go again to Chawton in May 1813. They stayed at the Cottage but frequently socialized with several of their immediate relatives, who were staying at the mansion house, [5] where Charles’s brother Edward Knight was in temporary residence with his own large family.   Edward had been adopted as an adolescent by wealthy childless cousins, Thomas and Catherine Knight. As their heir, he had come into possession not only of Chawton Great House and its estate but also Godmersham Park in Kent.

Chawton Great House had its origins in Elizabethan times but was subsequently much altered by generations of Knights. The house retained aspects of its early construction and decoration so that Fanny could admire some of its original sixteenth-century features, such as a fireplace backed with herringbone brickwork and the richly carved oak panelling in the Great Hall and Dining Room. Edward’s fourteen-year-old  daughter, Fanny Knight, on first seeing the Great House in 1807, described it as “a fine large house [with] such a number of old irregular passages etc. that it is very entertaining to explore them, and often when I think myself miles away from one part of the house I find a passage or entrance close to it, & I don’t know when I shall be quite mistress of all the intricate, and different ways.”[6] Perhaps Fanny Austen explored the interesting complexities of the house with Fanny Knight as her guide.  

Fig. 4: Chawton House, side view.

During Fanny’s two and a half weeks in Chawton, she made many informal visits to the Great House, which was easily reached by following a path from the Cottage through the estate to the mansion house.   

Fig. 5: Way across the fields from the Cottage to the Great House

Should it be a morning visit, the ladies usually gathered in the Oak Room.  

Fig. 6: View from the window seat in the Oak Room.

Fig. 7: Fanny Palmer Austen’s Silhouette.

In a sense, Fanny has a continuing presence in this room even today as her silhouette, created by John Meirs between 1811 and 1814, hangs on the left-hand side of the fireplace.

More formal family events also occurred, such as the dinner on May 17th when Fanny, Charles, Jane, Cassandra and their friend, Martha Lloyd, dined at the Great House and enjoyed games in the evening. Perhaps those assembled played charades, a favourite pastime within the Austen family. On another occasion, according to Fanny Knight, they had a “merry” time playing “jeu de violin.”   

Chawton also had a place in the lives of Fanny’s two oldest daughters, Cassy and Harriet. They spent most of June 1813 with their Aunts Cassandra and Jane at the Cottage. In both 1813 and 1814 they made winter visits there, for Fanny feared for her children’s well-being when cold winds, wet, foggy weather and the constant motion of the sea made life on board truly uncomfortable. Her eldest, Cassy, who was particularly prone to seasickness, made regular trips to Chawton even though Fanny hated being separated from her children.  

Fig. 8: Quilt made by Jane, Cassandra and Mrs Austen displayed at the Museum

Fanny surely enjoyed the time she spent at Chawton. She experienced the conviviality of a large family gathering at the Great House and the attendant luxury of the Knight’s hospitality. The Cottage also offered a genuine welcome in a pleasing village with a rural setting and a chance for Fanny to become more intimately acquainted with her new sisters, Cassandra and Jane. Moreover, Chawton provided an escape from the confinement and loneliness, the cabin fever that was the fate of an officer’s wife living on a naval vessel riding at anchor at sea.

Today Chawton Cottage is the Jane Austen House Museum and has recently celebrated the 70th anniversary of its founding. The collection of artefacts associated with Jane Austen, her family and her novels is evocative and impressive.

The reconstruction of the garden to include plants which would have likely been in place when Jane was in residence greatly enhances the charm of the setting.

Fig. 9: The Cottage garden today

 Chawton House is also a fascinating destination as an example of a Tudor mansion and estate, successively adapted and modernized over 500 years. Visitors can view the 15,000-volume library, which specializes in the works of early women writers, and walk in the restored Georgian garden and “wilderness,” while reflecting on the historic associations with the lives and times of Jane and Fanny Austen.

Learn more:

• Jane Austen House Museum

• Chawton House

Photos by Hugh & Sheila Kindred, except Fig.1, courtesy of David Brandreth.    

[1] The text in this blog is derived from my book, Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister, 78-81, 88, 121-23.

[2] Cassandra Austen to Phylly Walter, quoted in Austen Papers, ed. Richard A. Austen-Leigh, 251.

[3] See Brian Southam, “Jane Austen and North America: Fact and Fiction,” in Jane Austen and the North Atlantic, ed. Sarah Emsley, 26.

[4] Cassandra Austen to Phylly Walter, Austen Papers, 251

[5] The party included Charles’s brother Henry, his brother James’s wife, Mary, and their daughter, Caroline.

[6] Quoted in Deirdre Le Faye, Fanny Knight’s Diary, 12.

Sheila's Australian Book Tour

Jane among the koalas

Ready for the book tour

Who could refuse an invitation to speak to Jane Austen Societies in Australia at a time of year when Nova Scotia is buffeted by icy gales and often buried in snow? Yet it was not a matter of weather that was the deciding factor. The Jane Austen Societies in Australia are known for their keen interest in all things Austen, their impressive scholarship and their welcoming spirit. Between the 8th and 23rd February, I was delighted to spend time with them. I spoke about my book, Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister, in Brisbane, the Southern Highlands (Bowral), Sydney, Newcastle and Melbourne. My husband, Hugh, accompanied me. 

Speaking in Sydney

Sydney was a focal point of the book tour, both as a transportation point and the largest gathering - 150 members of JASA. There I shared the stage with Susannah Fullerton, author of Happily Ever After: Celebrating Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, A Dance with Jane Austen and Jane and I: A Tale of Austen Addiction, who conducted the AGM of JASA prior to my talk. It was Susannah who initially invited me to speak in Australia and she proved to be a wonderful host and helpful advisor on all aspects during the book tour. A delicious tea followed the talk, a pattern repeated with much panache in Brisbane and elsewhere. 

Mixing with the marsupials

Brisbane provided a warm welcome (in 36 degree’s heat), dinner with the local Jane Austen committee and most hospitable accommodation with Barbara O’Rourke. A strong turnout of 90 members came to hear about Fanny Palmer Austen. While in Queensland Hugh and I made the acquaintance of koalas, kangaroos, wombats, echidnas, and cassowaries at the justly famous Australia Zoo and enjoyed exploring Brisbane on the Water Cat, a convenient form of transport on the river. 

The Bowral meeting took place in the beautiful and delightfully cooler area of the Southern Highlands, located between Sydney and Canberra. A small, but enthusiastic group showed a marked interest in Fanny Palmer Austen and the narrative of her transatlantic life at sea and on shore. We enjoyed several meals with the local committee members and two scenic drives to nearby villages. I saw my first poisonous snake, which fortunately showed no interest in me. 

Lunch with Janeites in the Southern Highlands

Historic Morpeth, NSW

In Newcastle the Hunter Region were great hosts and an attentive audience. Pamela Whalan made us very welcome in her home. I happily traded books with Pamela, who has adapted all six of Jane Austen’s novels for the stage. Pamela also took us on a very interesting day’s drive, exploring the Hunter River valley as far as Maitland and historic Morpeth 

The last stop was Melbourne. Here I was impressed by the range of ages and interests of JAS Melbourne. That college age students met to discuss Jane Austen with members as old as 93 proves Austen’s appeal to the young, the old and all in between. The Melbourne committee arranged a happy dinner after my talk at which there was lots of additional chat. Before leaving Melbourne, Hugh and I had a wonderful day out with Margaret Baulch (a direct descendent of Charles Austen) who took us to the Healsville Animal Sanctuary and the fascinating William Ricketts Sculpture Garden at Mount Dandenong. 

As we departed for home, I learned that JASA is planning a study day on “Jane Austen & Art,” on 29 June, and news that JASA hopes to host Adrian Lukis, the actor who played George Wickham in the 1995 film version of Pride and Prejudice, for a programme in Sydney titled “Being Mr Wickham.” These are only two events of what looks like a vibrant year for the Jane Austen Societies of Australia. Would that they were not over 16,000 km away from my home base in Halifax, Nova Scotia! I close in gratitude for the new friendships and many enjoyments which enriched my book tour. My heartfelt thanks go to all those who hosted and assisted me and my husband along the way. 

Louisa, Fanny, and Sophy: Lives of Naval Wives

Lady Louisa Hardy

Naval officers’ wives during the Napoleonic Wars have long fascinated me—both the real-life ones and those found in fiction, such as in Jane Austen’s Persuasion. While researching the life of Fanny Palmer Austen, I came upon the story of Louisa Berkeley, who married a naval officer in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the same year Fanny Palmer married Charles, Jane’s younger naval brother, in Bermuda. Comparing Louisa’s actions as a naval wife with Fanny’s gave me insights into the significance of Fanny’s relationship with Charles within the naval world they shared. In the process, I discovered how aspects of Fanny’s married life found echos in Austen’s imagining of Sophy, wife of Admiral Croft, in Persuasion. Here are profiles of the diverging and diverting sea going lives of Louisa and Fanny that afforded me a greater understanding of the character of Sophy Croft in Persuasion.

Louisa Berkeley was the eldest daughter of Admiral Sir George Cranfield Berkeley, Charles Austen’s commander-in-chief on the North American Station of the navy, 1806-08. Fanny may even have met the vivacious Louisa, and her sisters, for Sir George brought his family out with him to the North American Station. After a whirlwind courtship in Halifax, Louisa married Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy in St. Paul’s Church on 16 November 1807. Hardy had been Admiral Nelson’s close friend, and captain of his flag ship, HMS Victory, at the Battle of Trafalgar, and had recently been made a baronet, accomplishments which presumably contributed to his attractiveness as a suitor. One wonders if Louisa had any clear idea of what life as a naval wife might entail. She was soon to find out.

After the wedding, Sir Thomas was immediately sent to the Chesapeake Bay area, off the coast of Virginia, where the British navy was determined to contain French war ships already shut up in the Bay. According to a disgruntled Louisa, writing from aboard Hardy’s warship, the 74 gun Triumph, “we spent from December 1807 to April 1808 in the gloomy, desolate [Chesapeake] Bay not allowed to land as the Americans were in such an exasperated state that they might have been disagreeable” (quoted in Nelson’s Hardy and his Wife 1769-1877, by John Gore [1935]). During the whole winter the ship was kept perpetually ready for action and no fires were allowed. In these frigid and far from romantic circumstances, Louisa became pregnant with her first of three daughters. She had no regrets when “at last we were released and I returned to Bermuda where my family were, and soon after . . . [on the Triumph], we returned to England.”

It must have become very soon apparent to Louisa that sharing a naval life with Hardy would have limited attractions for her. They were mismatched in matters of personality and interests. He was a serious, unromantic and uncharismatic 38-year-old, wedded to his career in the navy, whereas she was nineteen, socially ambitious, and fun loving. She scarcely knew Hardy when she married him and their first months together on the Triumph, as she describes them, must have reduced any feelings of “fine naval fervour” that she might have originally felt. She found that she hated to be at sea and very early decided she was uninterested in her husband’s career. In subsequent years she often lived abroad with their three daughters, cultivated the friendship of foreign aristocrats and pursued a life of amusement and entertainment, unconcerned that Hardy was regularly posted on assignments at sea taking him far from England. Louisa was essentially a naval wife in name only.

Fanny held very different views and attitudes about her role as a naval wife. She had the advantage of getting well acquainted with Charles during the two years before they married. She knew him to be kind, caring, charming, entertaining, and very handsome. Beginning with their earliest days together, Fanny saw herself as Charles’s helpmate and supporter. As she lived in Bermuda, the southern base of the North American Station, she understood what the career of a serving naval officer entailed, and she willingly became a participant in naval life. She travelled with Charles on board his vessel the eighteen gun Indian between Bermuda and Halifax on a number of occasions. She experienced at least one horrific storm at sea, but this did not discourage her from sailing with him, including undertaking a North Atlantic crossing to England in 1811. She was attuned to the social role which she was expected to fulfill as flag captain’s wife in Halifax in the summer of 1810 and again during 1812-14 in England, when Charles was flag captain on the 74 gun HMS Namur, which was stationed at the Nore. During this later period, Fanny courageously accepted the challenge of making a home for their family of three daughters on board the Namur.

Some of Fanny’s naval experiences would have been known within the Austen family, and especially by Jane and Cassandra. Fanny had originally been introduced through correspondence within the Austen family and once she was in England, she and Charles paid regular visits to Chawton Cottage, where Jane and Cassandra periodically cared for their children. On one occasion when Fanny and Jane were both guests at Godmersham Park, the estate of Charles’s brother, Edward, Jane wrote to Cassandra, speaking of Fanny in familiar terms. She refers to her as “Mrs Fanny, “Fanny Senior,” “[Cassy’s] Mama”, and part of “the Charleses” (15 and 26 October 1813). She notes that Fanny appears “just like [her] own nice self,” words which suggest Jane had a warm and affectionate attitude towards Fanny. Contacts such as these allowed Jane Austen to learn about Fanny’s unique and diverse involvement as an officer’s wife in a naval world. Crucially, Fanny was able to articulate the complexities of naval life from a female point of view.

Jane’s evident sensitivities to Fanny’s life as a naval wife likely influenced her creation of Sophy Croft in Persuasion. Certainly, there are some key differences between Fanny and Sophy in terms of age and appearance, perceptions of what counts as “comfortable” living on a war ship, and the absence of children to care for and nurture. However, there are striking similarities between the two women in terms of behaviour, attitudes and practical common sense.

Both woman made voyages with their husbands. Fanny sailed with Charles between the bases on the North American station and she travelled to England with him on his frigate Cleopatra in 1811. Sophy crossed the Atlantic four times and accompanied Admiral Croft on many other voyages as well. Additionally, Sophy was familiar with Bermuda, a clue that she has been with Admiral Croft on the North American Station, just as Fanny had been with Charles. Fanny periodically lived on four of Charles’s vessels; Sophy made her home on five of her husband’s ships. Both women staved off periods of sea sickness when under sail.

Both Fanny Austen and Sophy Croft were most content when sharing their husband’s lives. Fanny’s letters speak of her very great pleasure in being in Charles’s company. She frankly admits that she is “never happy but when she is with her husband” (4 October 1813). According to Sophy, “the happiest part of my life has been spent on board a ship. While we were together . . . there was nothing to be feared. Thank God!” Likewise, Jane Austen depicts the Crofts as a “particularly attached and happy” couple. Jane Austen’s appreciation of Fanny’s strong desire to support Charles, to find a community of friends, and to be his constant and affectionate companion, may have influenced her ascription of those traits to Sophy Croft.

In his biography of Jane Austen, Park Honan suggests that she drew on some aspects of Fanny for Mrs Croft and that she admired Fanny’s “unfussiness and gallant good sense” (Jane Austen: Her Life [1997]). My research into Fanny’s articulate and candid letters written from the Namur, together with records and accounts in her pocket diary, supports this observation. They show her organizing domestic arrangements, acquiring food and necessities for her family at bargain prices and identifying books for the education of her five-year-old daughter, Cassy. In a similar vein, within her domestic sphere, Mrs. Croft proves to be practical and business-like in the matter of arranging for the tenancy of Kellynch Hall and effecting practical alterations once they are resident there.

The three naval wives in question, Louisa, Fanny, and Sophy, make up a diverse trio. Louisa proved to be largely absent from Thomas Hardy’s naval life, but Fanny supported Charles in his naval career with courage, spirit, and dedication. It is fortunate that Jane had a “sister” of Fanny’s ilk, whose richness of experience as a naval wife could contribute to Austen’s creativity when she came to draw the very likable and competent Sophy Croft in Persuasion.

Quotations are from the Penguin Classics edition of Persuasion, edited by D.W. Harding (1965), and the Oxford edition of Jane Austen’s Letters, edited by Deirdre Le Faye (4th edition, 2011).

It is likely that Jane’s sensitivities to Fanny’s naval experiences also influenced some aspects of Anne Elliot and Mrs. Harville. For a full discussion of the other naval wives and more about the resonances between Fanny and Sophy Croft, see Chapter 9 in Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister: The Life and Letters of Fanny Palmer Austen, by Sheila Johnson Kindred (2017).

First posted on http://sarahemsley.com