Austen, Cassandra Elizabeth

WATERCOLOURIST (ENGLAND)
BORN 9 Jan 1773, Steventon, Hampshire - DIED 22 Mar 1845, Portsdown House, Hampshire (near Portsmouth)
GRAVE LOCATION Chawton, Hampshire: St. Nicholas' Church (Churchyard)

Cassandra Elizabeth Austen was the elder sister of famous novelist Jane Austen. Cassandra was educated at Abbey House School in Reading. In 1791 she created a series of illustrations for Jane's manuscript "The History of England". She was engaged to be married to Reverend Tom Foyle, but he died of yellow fever in the West Indies in 1797 and she remained single. In 1805 her father George Austen died and the family moved to Southampton to live with their brother Francis Austen. In 1809 they went to live in Chawton with their brother Edward. Cassandra and Jane were very close until Jane's death in 1817.

After her mother died in 1827 and Francis married Martha Lloyd in 1828, Francis, she lived alone in the cottage in Chawton. Possibly she destroyed many letters from Jane in 1843, but more than hundred letters from Jane to Cassandra are still in existence. In 1845 she suffered a stroke during a visit to Francis Austen and she died in his house near Portsmouth. She was buried next to her mother in Chawton.

Related persons
• is brother/sister of Austen, Jane

Images

The house in Chawton where Jane Austen lived from 1809 until her death in 1817.
Picture by Androom (30 Jun 2017)

 

The graves of Cassandra Elizabeth Austen and Cassandra Leigh Austen at St. Nicholas Churchyard, Chawton, Hampshire.
Picture by Androom (30 Jun 2017)

 

The grave of Cassandra Elizabeth Austen at St. Nicholas Churchyard, Chawton, Hampshire.
Picture by Androom (30 Jun 2017)

 

Sources
• Le Faye, Deirdre (ed.), Jane Austen's Letters, Fourth Edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011
Cassandra Austen - Wikipedia (EN)


Austen, Elizabeth

Published: 26 Aug 2018
Last update: 31 Dec 2023