Jane Austen's Military Men Trivia Quiz

Answer: Admiral Croft

Sir Walter Elliot was a vain and somewhat silly man, whose income was insufficient to keep pace with his profligacy and extravagant tastes. As a result he was forced to pack up and move to a much smaller house in Bath while Admiral Croft took over as 'lord of the manor' at Kellynch Hall. To add insult to injury, Admiral Croft was also the brother-in-law of Captain Wentworth - the man who Sir Walter Elliot had previously felt was of insufficient wealth or status to marry his least favourite daughter, Anne. Luckily, the fact that Admiral Croft and his wife decided to move to Kellynch gave Wentworth and Anne the chance to both get to know each other again and achieve their deserved happy ending.

Admiral Lord Nelson was the famous British naval hero of the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar; Admiral Bligh was the William Bligh of 'Mutiny on the Bounty' fame; and two of Jane Austen's brothers (Charles and Francis) both achieved the rank of admiral during their naval careers.

Answer: General

General Tilney was the demanding, difficult and somewhat villainous father of the Tilney family. His eldest son Frederick was also an army officer (a captain). Despite owning a grand house he was on the lookout for a rich wife for his younger son, Henry (a clergyman) and was mistakenly directed towards the novel's heroine - Catherine Morland. Poor Catherine was just a young, naïve girl and in no way resembled a worldly-wise rich heiress. However, she did fall in love with Henry and ended up on the receiving end of the General's wrath when he discovered his mistake...

The incorrect options are all other ranks in the British army. General is the most senior rank generally (no pun intended) available in the 21st century; Field-Marshal is a higher position but is now conventionally reserved for honorary appointments.

Answer: Her aunt died and the Admiral's mistress moved in with him

Admiral Crawford and his wife had brought up his niece and nephew after they were orphaned at a young age. However, after his wife's death, the Admiral - who Austen described as "a man of vicious conduct" - had invited his mistress to live with him and therefore displaced his niece from her home. Throughout the course of the novel Austen left several hints to suggest that the morals of both Mary Crawford and her brother Henry had been damaged by being brought up by the Admiral. Henry Crawford thought nothing of seducing and running away with a married woman (Maria Rushworth), while Mary did not really believe her brother had done anything wrong. Although this might seem like nothing to 21st century society, in Jane Austen's England both his actions and her opinion of them would have shocked society.

'Mansfield Park' was first published in 1814, during the latter stages of the Napoleonic Wars. During the novel Sir Thomas Bertram (the owner of the eponymous estate) went to Antigua, but no characters (including Admiral Crawford) were killed in a duel.

Answer: Colonel Fitzwilliam

Colonel Fitzwilliam was introduced to the readers of 'Pride and Prejudice' when he accompanied Mr Darcy on his annual visit to Rosings Park - the home of their aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. He was from the aristocratic side of Darcy's family, the younger son of the Earl who was brother to Lady Catherine and Darcy's mother, Lady Anne. However, as a younger son he had no grand inheritance ahead of him and was forced to make a living for himself in the army. He soon made his relative poverty (and need to marry for money) clear to Elizabeth Bennet: "Younger sons cannot marry where they like...there are not many in my rank of life who can afford to marry without some attention to money".

Mr Gardiner and Mr Phillips were Elizabeth Bennet's uncles, while Sir Lewis de Bourgh was Darcy's uncle - none of these characters held a military title.

Answer: Laconia

No real ship of the Royal Navy has ever borne the name 'HMS Laconia', but two British ocean liners named RMS Laconia were both sunk by German U-boats (one during the First World War and the second during the Second World War). The fictional Laconia was mentioned in 'Persuasion' as being the ship in which Captain Frederick Wentworth was able to make the bulk of his fortune. In the 19th century, Royal Navy captains did not earn a particularly high salary, but they did get prize money for capturing both enemy merchant ships and naval vessels. In 1814 - the year in which 'Persuasion' was set - these would likely have been ships belonging to both France and the USA, as Britain was embroiled in both the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 with these countries. In fact, Captain Wentworth confirmed his own history matched this by mentioning that "after taking privateers enough to be very entertaining, I had the good luck in my passage home, the next autumn, to fall in with the very French frigate I wanted" during a dinner party at Uppercross.

The Elephant, Endymion and Cleopatra were all real British navy ships and were mentioned in Jane Austen's 'Mansfield Park'. HMS Elephant was at one time under the command of her brother Francis Austen. Her other brother, Charles Austen, was captain of HMS Cleopatra from 1810 to 1811 and also served on HMS Endymion as a junior officer.

Answer: Delaford

Colonel Brandon's rather tragic history was an interesting side plot to the main events of 'Sense and Sensibility'. As might be expected from his military credentials, he was a younger son and originally had no expectation of inheriting the Delaford estate. He had fallen in love with his father's ward (a cousin) but, since she was rich and the estate "much encumbered", she was unwillingly married off to his elder brother instead. He had then joined the army and moved abroad in order to try to heal his broken heart and give his brother and sister-in-law a chance to be happy together - unfortunately while he was gone, they got divorced and she ended up alone, with an illegitimate child and failed health. To make matters worse, her daughter (the Colonel's ward) suffered a similar fate at the hands of the handsome but immoral Willoughby.

Combe Magna was Willoughby's estate; Allenham was the home of Willoughby's rich aunt, Mrs Smith; and Cleveland belonged to Mr Palmer.

Answer: Poetry

Captain Benwick, described by Austen as "a little man" with "a pleasing face and a melancholy air", had previously served under Captain Wentworth as a first lieutenant. He and his fiancée, Fanny Harville, had waited to get married until he had gained promotion to captain and made his fortune. Sadly, by the time he achieved both of these aspirations, Fanny had died and he was left apparently inconsolable - with only his collection of poetry that included "various lines which imaged a broken heart, or a mind destroyed by wretchedness" - not exactly a cheery existence...

'Fordyce's Sermons' make an appearance in 'Pride and Prejudice' when the pompous clergyman, Mr Collins, attempts to read these religious works to the Bennet sisters; Gothic novels (particularly Ann Radcliffe's 'The Mysteries of Udolpho') are central to the plot of 'Northanger Abbey'; and plays make several appearances in 'Mansfield Park', in particular the misjudged amateur production of Elizabeth Inchbald's 'Lover's Vows'.

Answer: Forster

The militia that was based at Meryton during the first half of 'Pride and Prejudice' was commanded by Colonel Forster. The officers from the regiment became highly popular with the young women of the town and the youngest two Bennet sisters, Kitty and Lydia, in particular. They danced with the officers (who included Denny, Chamberlayne and Carter) at balls and private parties, took lots of walks into Meryton to meet with them and got up to various other escapades such as dressing them up as women...

Lydia Bennet was also good friends with Colonel Forster's wife and ended up accompanying the regiment to Brighton as Mrs Forster's companion.

Answer: William

Progress in the Royal Navy of the 19th century was often very much down to who you knew and whether you had any rich or influential relatives. As the son of a poor former lieutenant, William Price had very little chance of progressing up the naval ranks - however, once the rich Henry Crawford introduced him to his influential uncle, Admiral Crawford, he was soon duly promoted to "Second Lieutenant of HM Sloop Thrush". Henry Crawford's actions were not entirely altruistic though - his good turn for William Price was intended to improve Fanny Price's opinion of him.

Fanny Price was one of ten children and three of her six brothers were serving with the Royal Navy. One (either John or Richard) was only mentioned briefly, but Fanny helped Sam with the preparations for his first time at sea when she visited her family in Portsmouth.

Answer: George Wickham

George Wickham was the son of Mr Darcy's father's steward and was a great favourite of the elder Mr Darcy and a childhood playmate of the younger one. However, as an adult he was probably best described as a 'rake' - seducing young women, running up gambling debts, squandering what little fortune he had and slandering Mr Darcy. He attempted to elope with Georgiana Darcy both because she had a fortune of thirty thousand pounds and because he wanted revenge on her brother for refusing to give him a lucrative position in the church. His motives for running away with Lydia Bennet were even less honourable - he simply wanted some female company for his journey - and he had no real intention of marrying her until Mr Darcy bribed him to do so.

The incorrect options are all characters from Jane Austen's 'Emma' - which probably has the fewest military characters or connections of all her novels. The only ones to get a brief mention were Jane Fairfax's late father (an army lieutenant) and her benefactor Colonel Campbell.