Geraldine Buchanan is co-author of  Bloody British History: Winchester.

Jane Austen had six brothers and one sister, Cassandra, to whom she was very close.  In fact they were to live together throughout all of Jane’s life, since neither of them ever married.

She was born in 1775 in Steventon, Hampshire, where her father was rector of the Parish.  Four of her brothers served in the Navy or the Militia and the oldest, James, followed in his father’s footsteps and entered the clergy, later taking over the parish of Steventon after his father’s retirement.

On his retirement, Jane’s father moved the family to Bath.  He died in 1805, leaving his wife and daughters with very little money.  They had to move to Southampton to live with Jane’s brother Frank. 

Eventually another brother, Edward, who had been adopted by a wealthy landowning family in Chawton as their heir, offered them Chawton Cottage (pictured above), which is now the home of the Jane Austen Museum.  A friend called Martha Lloyd came to share their home and it was she who did the cooking.

So how did these four women spend their days during the winter?   Jane, of course, had her writing.  Her first book was published in 1811, although she had started writing in earnest in her late teens. 

Her first three novels had been written whilst they were living in Steventon.  They read aloud to each other; they wrote long letters, some of which still exist; they went for walks when it was not too muddy; or drove out in the donkey cart; they mended clothes, bed linen and curtains; they were very accomplished needlewomen – in the museum there is a beautiful patchwork quilt, consisting of several hundred diamond-shaped pieces of material, a joint effort, which has survived the years intact; they played the piano.

Because of her writing, Jane was excused from domestic chores, except for making the tea, or when her sister Cassandra went to stay with Henry at his other house in Godmersham, Kent.