Jane Austen, born December 16, 1775, in the Georgian Era of Horse Carriages and Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen came into the world on December 16th, 1775. Born to Reverend George Austen of the Steventon rectory and Cassandra Austen of the Leigh family. She was to be their seventh child and only the second daughter to the couple. Her siblings were made up largely of brothers, which in some ways forced a close relationship with her elder sister, Cassandra (not to be confused with the mother whom also carried the name Cassandra – but further referred to as Mrs. Austen).

The Jane Austen birthday is characterized by a Georgian Era Horse Carriage and celebrated with a bit of Pride And Prejudice, along with a playlist of British Blues Music,on Monday December 16, 2024 at 8:00 AM Alaska Tine. Listen live on102.7fm, or 103.1fm. or https://www.ktoo.org/listen/krnn/

Growing up, the Austen children lived in an environment of open learning, creativity and dialogue. In 1783, at the age of 8, Jane and her sister Cassandra were sent off to boarding school for their formal educations. Education would consist of the appropriate teachings of the time, which included foreign language (mainly French), music and dancing. Returning home, the rest of Jane’s education centered mainly around what her father and brothers could teach her and, of course, what she could learn from her own reading. As Mr. Austen was part of the church, he kept a large collection of literature in his home library. It became quite common for the family to invest time and energy into making home-based productions of existing plays or writing and acting out their own creations.

1787 arrived in time to see Jane start taking more of an interest in generating her own works and keeping them in notebooks for future reference. These collections consisted of stories and poems that allowed Jane to touch upon topics of interest and reflect the times. Collectively, these works became the Juvenilia and made up three whole notebooks. By 1789, Jane penned the dark, satirical comedy Love and Friendship, and began to lean towards writing seriously. Sometime before 1796, members of the Austen family recalled Jane completing the work entitled  Elinor and Marianne to which she would then read aloud for the amusement of the Austen family.

In December of 1795, a nephew of nearby neighbors began placing several visits to Steventon. His name was Tom Lefroy, a student studying in London to be a barrister. Jane and Tom began spending much time with one another and it was noticed by both families. This marks the one documented instance of Jane Austen admitting to falling in love and spent a great deal of energy in writing to her sister Cassandra about their relationship. Lefroy’s family intervened and sent Tom away. Even when in town again, every effort to keep Tom from Jane was made and Jane was never to see her love again for the rest of her life.

With their formal educations completed at the boarding school, Jane and Cassandra return home permanently and Jane sets out to pen the work First Impressions. Little did she know at the time that this single work would become her most popular and enduring piece, becoming the story now known as Pride & Prejudice.

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