The Life and Family of Jane Austen Quiz

Answer: 1775

Jane Austen was born in 1775 in Hampshire, England. She lived in a pleasantly rural area with an affectionate and loving family. Jane had six brothers and one sister.

Answer: Minister

The Reverend George Austen was an Anglican clergyman. He was the Rector of Steventon, Hampshire, and also of Deane, Hampshire. The Austen family lived in Steventon Rectory, and Jane was born there.

Answer: Graeme

George, Charles, and Henry were three of Jane's six brothers. Apparently Henry was Jane's favourite.

Answer: Cassandra

Cassandra was nearly three years older than Jane. Their mother was also called Cassandra.

Answer: Bath

The move occurred due to Mr. Austen's abrupt decision to retire, possibly because of declining health. Bath was a health spa, where one "took the waters". Mr. Austen died in 1805, so it is difficult to say whether Bath did him any good or not. Jane was devastated by the move away from her familiar territory. Only a well-off family like the Austens could have afforded to make such a move to a spa town.

Answer: December 16

Jane Austen was born on December 16th, 1775, and I have always wondered why international Jane Austen fans don't have huge celebrations like Joyce fans and Mozart fans do. We should start something.

Answer: Godmersham Park

The first drafts of these books were written at Godmersham Park, the home of Jane's niece, Anna LeFroy. Jane spent just over two months there, and had a lot of quiet time to write. In other words, she wrote the first drafts of three novels in a two-month period? What a pace!

Answer: Her elder sister

Jane and her sister had a vast correspondence which can still be read today. I recommend a version with notes, as they used a lot of shorthand and refer to people about whom we know nothing. There exist some letters to her brother Francis and to her sister-in-law Fanny Knight, but none that I know of to her childhood friends Alethea and Catherine Bigg.

Answer: Sir Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott was an ardent supporter of the magazine but refused to be its editor. Its reviews of "Emma" were among its very first ever. In later years, "The Quarterly Review" gave terrible reviews to Dickens; he certainly would never have been allowed to write for them!

Answer: Addison's disease

Jane's contemporaries believed that that she had died of tuberculosis. However, doctors who have read Jane and Cassandra's letters closely believe that she actually suffered from Addison's disease, which is an illness which prevents the adrenal glands from producing sufficient cortisol. Symptoms include darkening skin, fatigue, weight loss, muscle weakness, and low blood pressure, all of which are mentioned in Cassandra and Jane's letters, and which probably led to her death at the age of 41. She is buried in Winchester Cathedral. Thanks to http://endocrine.niddk.nih.gov/pubs/addison for information on Addison's Disease.