Celebrating 250 years of Jane Austen

2025 marks 250 years since the birth of one of Britain’s most beloved writers, Jane Austen. Her stories have touched the lives of generations and live on even today, with many heritage properties providing the backdrop as her stories are adapted for new audiences.

This year, the places that Jane lived and set her novels are gearing up to mark her birthday, so here is your opportunity to learn more about the lady herself and visit some of the places that inspired her works.

First though, let’s look at who Jane Austen was.

Jane was born on 16^th December 1775, the seventh of eight children born to the Reverend George Austen and Cassandra Leigh. The Austens were an old and wealthy merchant family, however, by the time George Austen had been born, there was little money left and after he and his sisters were orphaned, he relied heavily on wealthier family members. He met his future wife, Cassandra Leigh, while studying at St John’s College, Oxford. She came from a prominent family, her father was the rector at All Souls College and her eldest brother had inherited a fortune from a great aunt.

The pair were married in Bath at St Swithin’s Church and had a modest income, supplemented by their families.

After becoming ordained, George and Cassandra were given the Deane Rectory where they lived and had their first three children, James, George and Edward. They then relocated to Steventon in Hampshire, where the rest of their children were born and George worked as Rector and a teacher, with several young boys boarding with the family to help make ends meet. While living at Steventon, the Austens discovered that their second son, George, was unwell, suffering from seizures, he was sent to live with the Leigh family, staying with an uncle who had a similar condition.

There were eight Austen children in total: James, George, Edward, Henry, Cassandra, Jane and Francis (known as Frank).

The family were known to be highly literate and creative, as well as being heavily influenced by the church. Jane began writing at around the age of 11 and her brother James was also known to be a poet. James and another brother, Henry both went into the church, while Francis and Charles joined the Navy, both rising high in the ranks. All of the children were well educated, including the girls, Cassandra and Jane.

The girls were initially both sent off to school in Oxford, Jane was just six years old. Their education then took them to Southampton, but both returned home after contracting typhus – Jane became so ill that she almost died. Following this, they were homeschooled, until being sent to the Abbey School in Reading. However, the school fees were too expensive, so the girls completed their education at home under the guidance of their father and brothers. Rev George was said to have been encouraging of his girls, supplying them with books and paper for writing and drawing. Jane was known to produce stories and plays which she performed for the family. Her teenage writings survive and are split between the British Library in London and the Bodelian Library in Oxford.

In 1801, when Jane was 25, her father retired and the family, now consisting of Jane, her sister Cassandra and their parents, moved to 4 Sydney Place in Bath. Though Jane was upset to leave her family home, she was known to have an active social life while in Bath, attending balls and concerts and holidaying in Devon and Dorset. While she was in Bath, she is only known to have written one piece of work, an abandoned novel, though she did set two of her books in the city. Her father died unexpectedly, leaving the family in financial difficulties. The Austen boys pledged to support their mother and sister financially, and the three of them left Bath, first for Worthing in Sussex and then Southampton, where they lived with Frank, one of the brothers and his wife, keeping her company while he was away at sea.

Image: Visitors to the Jane Austen Festival which takes place in Bath every year. Credit: Visit Bath on Instagram

Another of Jane’s brothers, Edward, was adopted by a wealthy, childless relative, inheriting their estates at Chawton in Hampshire and another in Kent. He gifted a house on his Chawton estate to Jane, Cassandra and their mother and the three moved in with a friend. It was here that Jane did the majority of her writing. She revised earlier manuscripts, most of which were written while still living at Steventon. While here, Jane had the freedom to write. Together with her brother Henry, she began to negotiate with publishers and in 1810, Sense and Sensibility was published anonymously. It wasn’t the first time she had sold a manuscript, in 1803, she sold a novel to a publisher in Bath for the sum of £10, but it was never published.

Pride and Prejudice followed in 1813 and once that was out, Jane began a new novel, Mansfield Park and then Emma, which was published in 1815 by the most fashionable publisher of the time. Following her success, Henry helped her buy back her first sold manuscript which went on to become Northanger Abbey, unfortunately, this wasn’t published in her lifetime.

Jane had begun to feel unwell in around 1816. She ignored this and continued writing – by the middle of that year, she started to deteriorate, eventually being unable to walk, lacking energy and being confined to bed rest. In 1817, she began her final novel, only managing to complete the first 12 chapters, it was in this year that she and her sister moved to Winchester, to be closer to her doctor. By this time, she was experiencing agonising pain and died on 18^th July 1817 at just 41. Her brother Henry used his contacts in the church to arrange for her to be buried at Winchester Cathedral. Six months after her death, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were published together. Henry oversaw the process and provided a preface to the novels, naming his sister for the first time as the author of all her published works.

Jane Austen’s novels

Jane Austen is known for six full length novels, a partially finished novel and a novella. She wrote several short stories and plays as a teen, which were gifted to her nieces and nephews and some of these writings still exist and are split between the British Library in London and other libraries around the world.

Image: The title page of Emma, credit: Canva 

Sense & Sensibility
Originally called Elinor and Marianne, it was started while Jane lived in Steventon and then revised when she moved to Chawton. With Henry as her informal literary agent, Jane secured a publisher and it was published on commission, meaning that the financial risk was to Jane, rather than the publisher. It was published anonymously, simply stating that it was by A Lady. The first print run completely sold out in 2 years, making Jane a profit.

Pride & Prejudice
Perhaps her most famous novel, originally called First Impressions, it was written while living at Steventon following a visit to her brother Edward’s inherited home in Kent. It was revised and renamed while living in Chawton. After the success of her first book, the publisher chose to purchase the copyright, it was again published anonymously as By the same author as Sense & Sensibility. It sold out quickly, but as Jane sold the copyright, she didn’t receive any profits.

Mansfield Park
This was completely written while living at Chawton and was the first of Jane’s novels to have a political theme, touching on slavery and religion. Jane and Henry arranged for this one to be published on commission and again it was published anonymously as By the author of Sense & Sensibility and Pride & Prejudice. The first print run sold out in 6 months.

Emma
The last novel published in Jane’s lifetime, Emma is the first of her protagonists who does not need to marry for money, but there are still themes of class and the lack of possibilities for women, as well as having a political stance, including mentioning the issues in Ireland at the time and health. It was published on 23^rd December 1815 and was credited to the Author of Pride & Prejudice etc and included a dedication to the Prince Regent, however public reaction was mixed.

Northanger Abbey
The first of two novels published posthumously – it came out 6 months after her death. It follows the daughter of a clergyman who leaves her village to go to Bath, it satirises the popular Gothic novels of the time and was initially drafted while in Steventon and was called Susan. It was originally sold for publication in 1803 but never published, Henry brought the manuscript back for the same cost it was sold for and Jane revised it. It was published alongside Persuasion.

Persuasion
Published in 1817 alongside Northanger Abbey, it features the most mature of Jane’s protagonists. It was the last novel to be completed before her death and was originally called The Elliots, however, when Henry arranged for publication, it was renamed Persuasion. The family kept the copyright.

Sanditon, The Watsons and Lady Susan
Sanditon is an unfinished novel that Jane started in 1817. It was originally called The Brothers and she only completed the first 12 chapters before having to stop because of her ill health. It was published in 1925 as Fragment of a Novel by Jane Austen.

The Watsons is the only work she is known to have written while in Bath. It was likely started in 1803 and the fragment was published in her nephew’s book A Memoir of Jane Austen in 1871. The original manuscript is now split between the Morgan Library and Museum in New York and the Bodelain in Oxford.

Lady Susan was one of her earliest works, likely written in 1794 but it was never submitted for publication in Jane’s lifetime. It was published as a novella in 1871.

Even though Jane Austen is famous for writing romances, she was not known to have many relationships. When she was 20 she was introduced to Tom Lefory, who was training to be a barrister, the pair spent some time together over that summer and Jane wrote of him often to her sister. As neither the Austens of the Leforys had money, it wasn’t deemed a good match and his family intervened, the pair never saw each other again.

Perhaps no other suitors matched up to Tom, but Jane did receive a marriage proposal in 1802 from Harris Brigg-Wither. He was the younger brother of a friend and was heir to considerable estates. Jane initially accepted but withdrew the following day, no journal entries or letters survive detailing how she felt about the situation or why the match didn’t work out.

Now you know all there is to know about Jane, here are some of the places you should visit in 2025 to mark her 250^th birthday.

Hampshire

Steventon in Hampshire was Jane’s birthplace.

Chawton in Hampshire is where you’ll find Jane Austen’s House, a museum that has been set up in her final home.

Winchester – Winchester Cathedral is her final resting place.

The majority of her novels were written while living in Hampshire.

Somerset

The city of Bath – Jane Austen lived here for a time, the family moved to 4 Sydney Place in the city and you’ll also find the Jane Austen Centre, a museum dedicated to her.

In September, you can join the Jane Austen Festival, this year taking place between 12^th – 21^st September.

You’ll also find St Swithin’s Church in the city, Jane’s parents were married here and her father is also buried here.

Montacute House – Managed by the National Trust, the house was used as in the 1995 adaptation of Sense & Sensibility.

Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were both based in Bath.

Wiltshire

Lacock Village – Managed by the National Trust, Lacock Village was used in two different adaptations of Austen’s work.

Surrey

Box Hill – one of the most pivotal scenes in Emma is set at Box Hill in Surrey.

Emma is primarily set in Surrey.

Derbyshire

Parts of Pride and Prejudice were set in the Peak District and Chatsworth House was name dropped in the novel while Elizabeth was on her way to Pemberley.

It also featured as Pemberley in the 2005 adaptation.

Warwickshire

Stoneleigh Abbey – the family home of the Leigh family, Jane’s mother’s family. Jane was known to stay here for a time and modelled Northanger Abbey and Sotherton Court from Mansfield Park on the house.

Basingstoke

The Vyne – another property now managed by the National Trust, Jane and her sister Cassandra were known to attend dances here.

London

Westminster Abbey – there is a tablet dedicated to Jane Austen at Poet’s Corner.

Places in Mayfair and Bloomsbury also feature in several novels.