Friday 26 February 2010
Letter #2, To Cassandra, from Steventon, “The Rivers are still at Manydown, and are to be at Ashe tomorrow. I intended to call on the Miss Biggs yesterday had the weather been tolerable.” – Jane Austen, Thursday 14 January 1796

The Rivers family were baronets of Chafford, Kent. They had seven children who were alive in 1796, Thomas a 7th Baronet who died in 1805, James an 8th Baronet who was accidentally killed in 1805, and Revd Henry Rivers a 9th Baronet who was the rector of Martyr Worthy, Hants. He died in 1851. Their sisters were Mary, Emilia, Maria, and Louisa.



Revd Henry Rivers church would have been St. Switchuns, Martyr Worthy, Hampshire, which is a small Anglican church. The bell turret was added in 1865.



Manydown was the home of the Biggs; Harris, Althea, Elizabeth and Catherine. The ladies were friends with Cassandra and Jane.



Ashe is where the ball would be the next night. It is where the Lefroy’s lived and where Tom Lefroy was visiting.

Friday 12 February 2010
Letter #2, To Cassandra, from Steventon, “How impertinent you are to write to me about Tom, as if I had not opportunities of hearing from him myself. The last letter that I received from him was dated on Friday the 8th, and he told me that if the wind should be favourable on Sunday, which it proved to be, they were to sail from Falmouth on that Day. By this time therefore they are at Barbadoes I suppose.” – Jane Austen Thursday 14 January 1796

Tom; Revd Tom Fowle (1765-13 February 1797). He was Cassandra’s fiancé. He had a small parish in Allington, Wilts. which he had received from Lord Craven in 1793 and was also one of Lord Craven’s domestic chaplains. Lord Craven asked him to go with him as chaplain to the campaign in the West Indies.

Tom and Cassandra had become engaged sometime in 1792. They had not married because they had hoped to receive a more valuable parish from Lord Craven in Shropshire. Tom and Cassandra had just spent time together in Kintbury with his parents before he left for the West Indies.

As the distance between England and Barbados is 4,185 miles or 6,734 kilometers it is not likely that Tom was in Barbados yet, but it is very sweet of Jane to suppose this part of his trip would be over.

It is interesting that in 1796 William Wilberforce was working very hard to have the slave trade abolished and Tom was heading out with Lord Craven on a slave trade mission.

Thursday 4 February 2010
Letter #2, To Cassandra, from Steventon, “I am very glad to find from Mary that Mr & Mrs Fowle are pleased with you. I hope you will continue to give satisfaction.” – Jane Austen, Thursday 14 January 1796
Mary would have been Mary Lloyd. She is mentioned at the beginning of this letter as having written to Jane also. Mr. and Mrs. Fowle were her aunt and uncle on her mother’s side. She must have been visiting with Cassandra.

Cassandra was visiting Mr. and Mrs. Fowle, her fiancés parents, in Kintbury, Newbury. I am sure they wanted to get to know his furture wife. Tom, her fiancé, was at sea with Lord Craven. Mr. Fowle was Revd Thomas Fowle II, (1726-7 February 1806). Mrs. Fowle was Jane Craven Fowle, (died in 1798).

The Revd Thomas Fowle II was vicar at St. Mary's in Kintbury as of 1762. He took the position when his father died.


This is St. Mary's in Kintbury where Cassandra was visiting at the time this letter was written.



This is just another view of St. Mary's in Kintbury. It is so pretty, what a great building.

Here is a link to St. Mary's in Kintbury.

http://www.berkshirehistory.com/churches/kintbury.html

He was also rector of Hampstead Marshall, Berkshire as of 1771.



This is St. Mary's in Hamstead Marshall.

This is a link to great information on St. Mary’s in Hamstead Marshall. Revd. Thomas Fowle II is listed in their list of rectors.

http://www.hamsteadmarshall.net/church/index.htm

This is a house near St. Andrew's in Sherborne St. John. I would not say for sure that it is the house James and his family lived in, but it is pretty.


James was vicar in Sherborne St. John and this is St. Andrew's church in Sherborne St. John, so I imagine this would have been his church in 1796.

Tuesday 2 February 2010
Letter #2, To Cassandra, from Steventon, “Anna is now here; She came up in her chaise to spend the day with her young Cousins; but she does not much take to them or anything about them, except Caroline’s Spinning-wheel.”

Anna; Her full name was Jane-Anna-Elizabeth Austen, but she was known as Anna, (15 April 1793 to 1 September 1872). Her father was James Austen, Jane Austen’s oldest brother. She would have been 5 years old, and an only child at this time. Her mother, Anne Mathew Austen, had died on 3 May 1795, so I am sure her life had changed considerably. This letter being written 14 January 1796, her mother had only been gone 8 months.

Her father was vicar at Sherborne St. John, Hants., in the district of Basingstoke and Deane. The distance between Steventon and Sherborne St. John is about 6.8 miles or 11.0 kilometers; so about, I am estimating, not quite an hour away, maybe a half hour on a good day?

Caroline was Edward Cooper’s wife.

The Cooper’s children, just then, would have been Edward-Philip (27 October 1794 – 29November 1864)) and Isabella-Mary (29 November 1795 – 31 January 1859). So, Edward-Philip would have been twenty-seven months old and Isabella-Mary fourteen months old. They probably did not do too much to interest five year old Anna.

Monday 1 February 2010
Letter #2, To Cassandra, from Steventon, “Edward is gone to spend the day with his friend, John Lyford, & does not return till to-morrow.” – Jane Austen, 14 January 1796

Edward would have been the Revd Edward Cooper who was visiting during the writing of this letter. He has been discussed previously in this letter and also in letter #1.

John Lyford; He was in fact Revd John Lyford (1769 to 12 June 1799); the curate of Basing and Nately 1793. He married Jane Lodge 19 April 1799, died suddenly and was buried at Basingstoke. He was married just under two months. That is very sad.

An interesting note about his family is that his brother, Charles Lyford (1743-1805), was a surgeon in Winchester and his son, Giles-King Lyford (1764-1837), was Surgeon-in-Ordinary at the County Hospital, Winchester, and attended Jane Austen during her last illness.