QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Caroline provides insight into her family history and the motivations behind establishing the Foundation
TELL US ABOUT LIVING IN CHAWTON
I had the enormous privilege of growing up in Chawton House surrounded by 400 years of my own heritage and the legacy of Jane Austen, my fifth great aunt. Portraits, statues, stained glass windows, carvings, bookplates, plaques, gravestones, furniture and even the plates we ate from carried the family name or coat of arms and etched our history into the fabric of the estate and my heart. My grandfather, Edward Knight, was the 15th Squire of Chawton House, and my family and I lived in the north wing until I was eighteen. I was the youngest grandchild living in the house and the only conversation I ever had with my grandfather, the 'king' of everything I could see, was on his deathbed. It sounds extraordinary now but it felt quite normal at the time. The family fortune ran out at the beginning of the 20th century, and we were not financially rich - just the opposite in fact. But it was a magical place to grow up and I am grateful to have known Chawton House as a family home.
WHEN DID YOU REALISE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JANE'S LEGACY?
I have always known Jane was a remarkable woman and an exceptionally talented writer, long before I read her work. We welcomed a few thousand tourists each year into our home for tea, keen to see where Jane had been inspired, so she was a part of our everyday lives. Jane's cottage is only 400 metres from Chawton House, the home of her brother Edward Austen Knight, my fourth great grandfather. Edward changed his name - and therefore my name - to Knight as a condition of his inheritance of Chawton from his fourth cousin Thomas Knight II. I sometimes sat in Jane's garden as a child wondering what all the visitors to her cottage had come to see and what she would make of all the attention! Jane has been popular for 200 years - Jane Austen is one of the world's most enduring brands.
WHY DID YOU FAMILY LEAVE THE GREAT HOUSE IN CHAWTON?
Death duties were introduced in 1894 and changes to estate economy in England were already well advanced by 1900. Land values had plummeted from 1870 as foreign imports undercut home produced products. Estate duties were introduced in 1914 and were crippling for the landowners of England. For many, labour forces had been depleted during the First World War and after the war many former estate worked sought alternative opportunities upon their return. The traditional structure of landed estates all over England collapsed. When my grandfather died in 1987, he left a diminished estate in need of significant restoration and it simply wasn't possible for it to be kept as a family home.
WHAT HAS SINCE BECOME OF THE GREAT HOUSE?
Chawton House is no longer a residential home. It was beautifully restored in the 1990s, saving it for future generations to enjoy. The house opened in 2003 and attracts visitors from around the world. A fine example of a large Elizabethan country manor house, in the heart of Jane Austen’s literary legacy, Chawton House is also an internationally respected research and learning centre for the study of early women's writing from 1600 - 1830. Access to the library's unique collection is for the benefit of scholars and the general public alike. The library also houses the Knight Family Collection of books that I grew up with. Many of the books carry bookplates to signify which of my ancestors originally owned the book. I was fascinated by the choice of bookplate design as it seemed to be an indication of the personality of each Squire, as was their choice of books. On the shelves sitting side by side were the personalities and choices of generations. I knew the faces of each Squire from their portraits; the bookplates brought them to life.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR LIFE AFTER CHAWTON
I was saddened to leave Chawton and didn’t talk about my connection or heritage for 25 years, even my closest friends were unaware. I wanted to make it on my own and succeed on my own merits. I started a career in business in my early thirties and relocated to Australia in 2008 to become the CEO of a large field marketing company for the Photon Group, who at the time owned about forty-five agencies worldwide. In my first full year as CEO I delivered the highest growth in the whole group and quickly grew in confidence. In 2010 I joined the board of the charity Life Education, which empowers children and young people to make safer and healthier choices through education and not fall into drug addiction or alcohol abuse. In 2012 I was made a life fellow or the Australian Institute of Management, training partner to over half the companies on the Australian Stock Exchange, and joined the board. That same year I was a finalist in the Telstra Businesswoman of the Year Awards. Everything changed in 2013, the 200 year anniversary of the publishing of Pride & Prejudice, when I made the decision to leave my corporate career, open my own consultancy business and launch the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation. I live on the outskirts of Melbourne with my husband and when I’m not working, you’ll find me on or in the water, or painting in my art shed.
HAVE YOU EVER RETURNED TO CHAWTON?
Yes, my father and I took my husband to an open day at the house in 2007. A woman overheard Dad talking about the old fire buckets that hung in the entrance hall and asked if he had been a Barnardo's child. The charity, Dr. Barnardo's, had evacuated children from London to the safety of Chawton House, and other country homes, during the Second World War to avoid bombing from enemy fighters. "No, I grew up here, I'm Jeremy Knight", my father explained and the woman curtsied, bowed her head low and said how honoured she was to meet him. I hadn’t seen anyone curtsy to Dad before but wasn’t that surprised, I had seen all sorts of reactions from Jane Austen fans over the years, but I could see the shock on my husband's face. I didn't visit again until 2014 and, pandemic years aside, have been a regular visitor since. It is fantastic to see the house in such good condition and being enjoyed, but I can't deny it is always a little strange being a visitor in our family home.
IS OUR UNDERSTANDING OF JANE CORRECT WITH YOUR FAMILY'S UNDERSTANDING OF HER?
There is a lot published and on the internet about Jane that is conflicting or inaccurate, and I think it's very difficult for anyone to be sure about Jane's life and personality - so much is assumed from letters and the memories of those around her. The family have been managing Jane's brand from the day she died, although they might not have thought about it in those terms. Cassandra Austen burnt many of Jane's letters so thoughts, confessions and opinions written to her sister in private would remain forever so. The first family biography was published in 1869 and painted a picture of a genteel woman who wrote a few books as a hobby and was not motivated by literary success. This is not the Jane I was brought up with and in recent decades academic research has dispelled many of the myths. Jane was a remarkable author and pioneer who, despite many hurdles and setbacks, remained determined and achieved her ambition. Jane was warm and generous, witty and quick, with a keen sense of independent thought and responsibility. I am lucky to have grown up with Jane as a role model.
HAVE YOU KEPT ANY ITEMS THAT WERE OWNED BY JANE?
Most of Jane's own few possessions are on show at Jane Austen's House Museum in Chawton, or at other museums, but my family do have things that Jane would have known and used. In September 1813, Jane wrote to her sister Cassandra of a trip to London with her brother, Edward. "We then went to Wedgwood's where my brother and Fanny chose a dinner set...the pattern is a small lozenge in purple, between lines of narrow gold, and it is to have the crest." Jane ate from the dinner service and luckily most of it has survived. My grandfather gave it to my parents as a wedding present. A few pieces of this precious heirloom are on display at Chawton House. Jane would also have known many of the books in our family library, where tales of foreign travel, brightly coloured natural history illustrations, novels, books of letters, politics, law, sport, history, estate management, art, religion and poetry were interspersed with estate records, family history and our Chawton heritage.
WHY DID YOU WANT TO START THE FOUNDATION?
2013 marked the 200-year anniversary of Pride & Prejudice and the celebration stretched globally from England to Australia and everywhere in between. Media articles were written, documentaries and movies were played on television, commemorate merchandise went on sale and events where held to mark the anniversary. Since Colin Firth's iconic portrayal of Mr. Darcy made women swoon around the world, there have been over seventy film and television adaptations of Jane's works and life, there is a multi-million dollar Austen merchandise, tourism and re-enactment industry and over 7000 websites and social media profiles across the world from Australia to Asia, Europe and America - The Jane Austen Society of North America has over seventy branches!
With 258 million children not in school, there is a literacy crisis and I could not ignore the opportunity to harness the worldwide passion for Jane Austen to raise money to improve global literacy rates. Jane herself was an advocate for education and I am sure she would approve of her legacy being used to help people connect through literacy.
