“Jane was certainly acquainted with some notorious characters.”
Foundation Ambassador Hazel Mills details some of the most unique people Austen met during her life.
In 1869, Jane Austen’s nephew, reputedly her favourite, James Edward Austen Leigh published the memoir of his aunt. In the introduction, he wrote, “Of events her life was singularly barren: few changes and no great crisis ever broke the smooth current of its course.” He then went on to describe her parents and siblings and added, “This was the small circle, continually enlarged, however, by the increasing families of four of her brothers, within which Jane Austen found her wholesome pleasures, duties, and interests, and beyond which she went very little into society during the last ten years of her life.”
Edward, as he was known in the family, could not have been more wrong. However, in his defense, he did not have Jane’s letters available to help him. Most of them were in the possession of his cousin Fanny who was of advanced age, showing signs of senility, and would not allow any family members to look for them. It was indeed, thanks to family that Jane met some very interesting people, often friends and acquaintances of Aunt and Uncle Leigh Perrott, brother Henry, or brother Edward
We begin with Mrs. Lillingston, a friend of Jane’s Aunt and Uncle Leigh Perrot. She had been born Wilhemina Johanna Dottin, a younger daughter of a Barbados plantation owner. Her older sister, Mary, inherited the property. Wilhelmina married Luke Lillingston when she was 28 in 1769. Her groom was 52 years old, but he died in 1778, leaving her widowed with a seven year old daughter, Elizabeth. Wilhelmina moved to Bath and lived on Rivers Street, and Elizabeth married Abraham Spooner, the brother-in-law of William Wilberforce, the abolitionist. Ironically, when Mary died, Elizabeth inherited £5,000 in 1803, assets produced from slavery. Following Elizabeth’s marriage, there was a serious breach between mother and daughter over finances. The breach was never healed, which resulted in no money being left to Elizabeth or her children. This is the reason why Mrs. Lillingston is of interest to us because she did leave £50 each to Jane and her sister, Cassandra.
Jane’s uncle Leigh Perrot was the executor of Wilhelmina’s will, and his accounts for expenditure and bequests still remain. Her house in Rivers Street was sold to a Mr. Russell. When Jane wrote Persuasion, Anne Eliott’s mother substitute, a good and benevolent woman, much like Mrs. Lillingston, was Lady Russell, living in Rivers Street. Did Jane remember Mrs. Lillingston's kindness in leaving her money when none of her rich relations did?
Anne Elliot and Lady Russell, Persuasion, 2007
Still in Bath, we meet Mr. Evelyn, who was a friend of Jane’s brother, Edward. Jane first met Mr. Evelyn while visiting the Leigh Perrots in Bath in 1799 and disliked his enthusiasm for horses. They met again in 1801, when he promised to take her out in his phaeton. Jane said in a letter to Cassandra, “whether it will come to anything must remain with him. I really beleive [sic] he is very harmless."
Some Austen biographers, including John Halperin, considered Mr. Evelyn a possible suitor for Jane. In his article, “Jane Austen’s Lovers”, he tells us “The day after writing this she was taken out by Mr. Evelyn for a ride in his phaeton; but the gentleman, simply making good on a promise, offered no other declaration. That was that.” There could not possibly be any declaration. At the time of this trip in his phaeton, with no less than four of his precious horses, William Evelyn was sixty-seven years old and had been married forty years to his wife, Susannah, who was around sixty-three.
Another tea-drinking acquaintance of the Leigh Perrots and Austens in Bath was Mrs. Lysons. She was the wife of a Bath doctor, who is not of the social status with whom you imagine the Leigh Perrots would trouble themselves. However, Dr. Daniel Lysons was a very unusual man for that time. He was the son of a very wealthy and benevolent landowner in Gloucestershire whose properties included the impressive Hempstead Court, plus many other holdings. I had assumed he must have been at least the fourth son, following the usual tradition of the heir, a son in the military, and one in the church, but he was their first-born son and heir to the family fortune. However, he chose to become a doctor and one of great repute.
Hempstead Court
Now we move to Kent and one of the many Kent-ish neighbours with whom Jane socialised when staying at her brother Edward’s home in Kent. This is Mrs. Ruth Milles. She had married Charles Milles in 1743, but like Mrs. Lillingston, she was widowed early, after just six years of marriage. In 1808, when Jane attended a party at her house, Mrs. Milles had spent 61 years without her husband and never remarried. She was an amazing 86 years old when throwing this party at her house and Ruth was living with her spinster daughter, Molly. When Ruth died at the age of 95, Jane was concerned for 73 year old Molly’s future, and we have one of Jane’s famous quotes on the occasion, “Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor, which is one very strong argument in favor of matrimony”. However, Jane need not have worried, as Molly inherited a great deal from her mother and at her death bequeathed sums of money to Jane’s niece Fanny and other extended family members of the Knights mentioned regularly in Jane’s letters.
In 1805, Jane Austen dined at Eastwell Park in Kent with her brother Edward and his wife Elizabeth. Eastwell was the country house of George Finch Hatton, whose primary residence was Kirby Hall in Northamptonshire. His wife was Elizabeth Murray and many of you will have seen her portrayed in the film, “Belle”, the cousin of Elizabeth Dido Belle, brought up by their great-uncle, Lord Mansfield. Jane was not very complimentary about Elizabeth. She wrote in a letter to Cassandra, “I have discovered that Lady Elizabeth for a woman of her age & situation, has astonishingly little to say for herself."
The Finch Hatton residence of Kirby Hall was used in the 1999 adaptation of Mansfield Park. Most of the huge building is now in ruins but the production used lots of trompe-l’oeil in the rooms that remain intact and used CGI make ruined parts appear whole. Also at the meal was George Finch Hatton and Elizabeth Murray’s son, 14 year old George junior. He would go on to marry Jane’s great-niece, Fanny Rice. Their grandson was Denys Finch Hatton, who was portrayed in the film Out of Africa by Robert Redford. Denys was the love interest of the Danish writer Karen Blixen. My Tea for Literacy, which I held in 2022, was held at Sandbjerg Gods in Denmark, a house and estate built in the 1780s that belonged to Ellen Dahl, the sister of Karen Blixen.
Eastwell Park
In another connection to films, we meet a very flirtatious man enamoured of Jane named Stephen Lushington in Miss Austen Regrets. Jane did indeed meet the gentleman, but her initial interest in him was to get a letter sent using his MP-status, providing a frank to allow Jane to send her letter without payment. However, she found him to be a much more interesting man than merely the provider of free postage. She wrote in a letter to Cassandra, “Mr. Lushington goes to-morrow. Now I must speak of him, and I like him very much. I am sure he is clever, and a man of taste. He got a volume of Milton last night, and spoke of it with warmth. He is quite an M.P., very smiling, with an exceeding good address and readiness of language. I am rather in love with him. I dare say he is ambitious and insincere.”
Stephen Lushington was a year younger than Jane but was in fact married with six children at that time and would go on to have two more. Could Jane have had a chance with him when he was widowed? No, his wife died in 1856 when he was aged 80. He did marry again at the age of 82 with his new wife being 41 years old. He died in 1868 aged 92 .
We now move to London where Jane met The Comte Emmanuel-Louis-Henri de Launay D’Antraigue and his wife in 1811. They were the acquaintances of her cousin Eliza de Feuillide, brother Henry’s wife. The Comte had acted for years as a secret agent for Royalist France, Russia, and Prussia but was also a successful expert forger of supposed rediscovered ancient Roman historical writings. He was spying for the Russians in Dresden when it became too dangerous, and he and his wife had to flee to England. He set up a summer residence in Barnes, Surrey with his wife, who was the former Madame de Saint-Huberty , an opera singer and actress who had been his mistress, and their son Julien.
The year after Jane’s visit with the Comte and his family, he and his wife were stabbed to death by an Italian servant named Lorenzo Stelli. The Comte had many weapons in his bedroom, and Lorenzo took one of the the four pistols kept in his room, and a dagger. The servant shot at his master, but missed so stabbed him in the shoulder, then mortally stabbed the Countess in the chest.
The dying count managed to return to his bedroom, where he died. Lorenzo returned and took another of the pistols, then shot himself. It is not known if this had been an assassination or if it was personal, as Lorenzo was about to be dismissed from the D’Antraigues service. Whatever the motive, it’s incredible to think that Jane was in company with a spy and forger with an arsenal of weapons in the house she was visiting.
Another London acquaintance was William Seymour, brother Henry’s man of business, attorney and friend. He was just 6 years older than Jane. In 1803 he was the man who sold the manuscript of “Susan” to the publisher Crosby, on behalf of Jane and Henry. Jane dined alone with him in 1815 as Henry felt unwell and went to bed early. She reported to Cassandra that “Mr. Seymour and I dined together tête-à-tête.”
However, this is not the only time Jane was alone with the gentleman. The helpful Mr. Seymour had been married in 1793, but Mrs. Seymour died in 1811, leaving William a widower with his three teenage sons.Many years later, the Austen Leigh family were in possession of a scrap written out in William Austen-Leigh’s hand, but from an unnamed source. It read, “As I told my Mother-in-law of my very pleasant hours at Chawton, she recalled an old Solicitor named Seymour telling her how he had escorted your illustrious Great-aunt from London to Chawton in a postchaise, considering all the way whether he should ask her to become his wife! He refrained, however, and afterwards married twice.” So, William Seymour was yet another possible suitor of Jane’s.
She also dined in London with a Mr. and Mrs. Hoblyn. The lady was something straight out of a novel. She was born Frances Ann Mary Chaworth the illegitimate daughter of Frances Roworth and William Chaworth. Before the couple could marry, William was killed in a duel with William Byron, 5th Baron Byron, a distant cousin and friend of the victim and great-uncle to the poet and his successor, Lord George Byron, 6th Baron. He lived long enough to quickly write his will with an attorney before he died. He bequeathed £20,000 payable to a son at the age of 21, or £5,000 if it was a girl, payable on her reaching 21 or upon her marriage. Such was the lot of women.
Frances Chaworth
Frances’ first marriage was as controversial as her birth. She married a soldier, John Collins Overend, in January 1782, when she was just 16 years old. This was done without the consent of either her mother or a court. The ensuing court case referred to Frances as an “infant” which resulted in her being returned to her mother, and her husband was imprisoned. However, the parties returned to court and Frances’ finances were settled to everyone’s agreement, John Overend was released from Fleet Prison, and the marriage was allowed to stand.
In 1797, John Overend decided to try his hand as a merchant and took a ship with cargo to Colombo in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. The ship became damaged, and John Overend had to land on the Maldives where the islanders stole the cargo. He attempted to get the goods back but died of a fever, leaving Frances a widow aged 31 with a child aged thirteen. Frances then married Thomas Hoblyn from Liskeard in Cornwall on 1st January 1802, and they had a daughter in 1804. He worked as a clerk to the Treasury, rising to chief clerk.
Now we move to Hampshire where we introduce the Bolton and the Powlett families. Hackwood Park was the residence of 1st Baron Bolton who had married into the infamous Powlett family. His wife, Lady Bolton was the illegitimate daughter of the 5th Duke of Bolton who had eventually inherited most of the Bolton estates on the death of her uncle, the 6th Duke, who had died without any legitimate male issue.
Jane rubbed shoulders with the Boltons at many balls in the area; however, she was not enamoured of the Bolton’s son. In a letter to Cassandra, she wrote, “One of my gayest actions was sitting down two dances in preference to having Lord Bolton's eldest son for my partner, who danced too ill to be endured.” Lord Bolton’s eldest son was William who would become Lord Bolton in 1807; Jane was obviously no fortune hunter!
Hackwood Park, J. P. Neale, 1813
Jane also got to know another member of the Powlett family. Lady Bolton’s second cousin, Charles Powlett, was sent to live at Hackwood Park on the early death of his father, Percy. Percy was the illegitimate son of the 3rd Duke of Bolton, another Charles Powlett. The 3rd Duke had married Anne Vaughan in 1713 but it was an unhappy marriage, and no children were produced. However, in 1728 the Duke set up home with the actress Lavinia Fenton, 23 years his junior. They had three children together, with Percy their second child. The Duke’s first wife died on 20th September 1751, and he married Lavinia exactly one month later.
I do wonder if Charles Powlett was an inspiration for Mr. Wickham as “he became acquainted with rank and fashion in abundance which somewhat unsettled him for the sphere to which his ill-starred fortunes destined him.” In a letter dated 18th January 1796, Jane wrote to Cassandra about her admirers, including Charles Powlett, “Tell Mary that I make over Mr. Heartley and all his estate to her for her sole use and benefit in future, and not only him, but all my other admirers into the bargain wherever she can find them, even the kiss which C. Powlett wanted to give me, as I mean to confine myself in future to Mr. Tom Lefroy, for whom I don't care sixpence.”
Mr. Wickham, Pride and Prejudice, 1995
Charles went on to become a clergyman and held several Bolton family livings. The couple, just like Wickham and Lydia, lived beyond their means, with Rings of Basingstoke withdrawing credit and repossessing items of furniture. His extravagant habits obliged him to flee to France in 1827, following his wife’s death, and he died in Brussels in 1834. It’s probably for the best Jane did not allow the kiss!
John Portal was another attendee at balls with Jane in Hampshire. He was the grandson of Henri de Portal, a Huguenot refugee from Poitiers in France. Henri found work with other Huguenot refugees at Bere Mill paper mill, where he was befriended by the owner, Sir William Heathcote, another family well known to the Austens. When the tenant of the mill died, Sir William offered it to Henri, who accepted and then opened another mill at Laverstoke. Both mills were located just 5 miles from Steventon.
John Portal married twice, his first marriage taking place in 1794. One of his daughters from this marriage was Caroline Harriet, who went on to marry Jane’s nephew, the Rev. William Knight. Adela, from his second marriage, would marry William Knight’s brother and heir of Edward Austen Knight, Edward Knight Junior. Laverstoke Mill remained in the Portal family until 1995. You can have a tour of the premises today and enjoy a gin as it is now the premises of the Bombay Sapphire Gin distillery.
Now onto a few other interesting people Jane knew, beginning with John Claude de Nattes, who was a painter, watercolourist, drawing master, print dealer, and a founding member of the Old Watercolour Society, from which he was expelled in 1807 for submitting other artists' works under his name. Many engravings were made of Nattes work, and some may be familiar to some of you, such as Sydney Gardens” in 1804 when Jane was living just across the road at 4 Sydney Place. However, Jane had met him many years before in 1784 when she was almost 9 years old, as her father George Austen employed Nattes as a drawing master, paying him £11.9s.0d.
Nattes was not the only master that Jane met. In 1813, Jane Austen’s niece, Fanny, wrote in her pocket book: “Mr. Griespach a musick [sic] master came to teach the children.” This was Karl Friedrich Ludwig Griesbach, who attended the children five times, and Jane was present at three of these occasions. He was one of five musical brothers who made their way from Coppenbrugge, Germany to play in King George III and Queen Charlotte’s private band (orchestra) possibly thanks to their maternal uncle, William Herschal, the Astronomer Royal.
So, how did an eminent royal musician come to be the music teacher of Edward’s children in rural Hampshire? The clue may come from his wife, Sarah Wigg of Medstead, a village less than 5 miles from Chawton. Charles married Sarah in Medstead in December 1796 and they went on to have ten children. Their first child was born in 1797 and was baptised at Medstead. The following six were baptised at or near Windsor, except for their third child, who was baptised at St. George’s, Westminster. However, the final children were baptised in Winchester between 1813 and 1823, with 1813 being the year he tutored the Knight children. Jane probably heard him play at an evening of music at Chawton House.
We now meet Jane Musgrave, Jane’s godmother, who was related to her through the Perrot side of the Leigh family. Extraordinarily, she provides us with a connection to Sir Isaac Newton. He died in 1727 without having left a will, so all his possessions, including his library, were put up for auction. The books were bought by John Huggins, a notorious warden of Fleet Debtors Prison in London and the grandfather of Jane Huggins Musgrave, Jane’s godmother. He paid approximately £400 for the volumes and sent them to his son Charles at Chinnor Rectory. When Charles died in 1750, the books were bought by his successor, the Rev. James Musgrave who married Charles’s niece, Jane Huggins.
James Musgrave proceeded to catalogue the books and placed his own bookplate over the Huggins plates. When he died, he left the books to his wife in his will. It was intended that the books and household goods were to be sold to clear the debts that James was leaving behind. However, Jane did not sell Newton’s library, as some years later, the books were discovered at the home of her son, James Musgrave Junior. In 1778, he inherited an estate from his spinster aunt, Cassandra Perrot, known as Barnsley Park, Gloucestershire. This estate has another link to Austen, a much more recent one, as Barnsley Park was used as Kellynch Hall in the 1995 adaptation of Persuasion.
Our final acquaintance is William Wickham of Wick Place, a house less than five miles from Chawton. Jane mentioned Mr. Wickham in a letter written to Cassandra on the 5th March 1814. “Edward has had a correspondence with Mr. Wickham on the Baigent business.” This was regarding a possible second trial of 11 year old James Baigen, who had been acquitted of stabbing a boy in his father’s employ, a hop farmer, but was facing a possible second trial. The Baigens were very close neighbours of Jane, living only about 100 yards around the bend in the Winchester Road. The house today is still called Baigens. William Wickham’s previous life was like something from a novel. He had studied law in Switzerland and at Lincoln's Inn, London. At Geneva, he married Eléonore, daughter of mathematics teacher, Prof. Louis Bertrand, and this provided him with useful Swiss connections for his future work.
Poor health forced Wickham to abandon his career as a barrister in 1791, but he was soon employed by his old friend, Lord Grenville, who recognised his potential as a spy. With the outbreak of war with France, he was appointed superintendent of aliens in July 1794 and became a key figure in the alien office, a shadowy sub-section of the Home Office, which was in reality a fully functioning British secret service. Wickham had responsibility for monitoring foreigners in Britain, but in the autumn was sent to the Continent on a secret mission to negotiate with French royalist factions. He was, in fact, the leading British intelligence agent on the Continent, a “Master Spy”. He became one of the most wanted individuals in France. I earlier suggested that William Wickham’s life was like something from a novel. Well, he has appeared on our TV screens in Poldark and in other novels . The PBS website WTTW tells us of the episode when William Wickham made an appearance.
In London, the Drury Lane lobby is abuzz with news of that afternoon’s assassination attempt on the King. Ross recognizes some familiar faces from the abolitionist gathering, including Hadfield, and notes their suspicious behavior. Sending his party into the theatre, he follows the conspirators. The King arrives in his box, Hadfield aims a gun at him, and Ross successfully deflects the shot. As others restrain the shooter, Ross suddenly feels a gun at his own back and is “escorted” to a private box, where he finds the leader of the King’s secret service, William Wickham. Wickham acknowledges Ross’s service to the Crown and suggests his talents might lend themselves to “covert” purposes. A wily Ross asks what the Crown will give him in return…
Jane was certainly acquainted with some notorious characters.
For yet one more lovely little link, William Wickham in Poldark was played by Anthony Calf, who also portrayed Colonel Fitzwilliam in the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice, who is also the brother-in-law of the lovely Susannah Harker, one of the Foundation’s Ambassadors.
© Hazel Mills 2024. Hazel Mills is a retired science teacher, a founding member of the Cambridge Jane Austen Group and a Jane Austen Literacy Foundation Ambassador. She contributes to the “Jane Austen Daily” Facebook page, producing an article every day about Jane, her family, or individuals and events in the world around her. Since moving to Denmark, she has remained the Chair of the Cambridge Group, thanks to modern technology, and founded a Danish Group. She lives in a lovely house with her incredibly supportive husband, who built her a library to accommodate her extensive Austen collection, which includes over 260 different copies of Pride and Prejudice.
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