Jane Austen's Southampton

It’s universally acknowledged by her many admirers that Jane Austen spent her early years in Steventon, then some time in Bath, before finally settling in Chawton, Hampshire. However, as I discovered recently, the port city of Southampton in Hampshire has as big a claim to the author as any of these places.

And this year, on the 250th anniversary of her birth, it will commemorate her time there with a host of exciting events.

To get a true feeling of Southampton as Austen would have known it, and to get a flavour of the many places she would have visited, danced, stayed and worshipped, I recommend joining one of the guided walking trails.

Although Southampton fared very badly in the Second World War, when many buildings were destroyed by enemy bombing, there are enough 18th and 19th century survivors to give a taste of the city in the Georgian era.

During Austen’s time there, Southampton had already become a famous spa town playing host to fashionable people – including the Prince Regent – from London and beyond.

Southampton was considered the height of sophistication and could boast six libraries, three churches, many coffee houses and stylish assembly rooms.

I was fortunate to be guided round the city by sisters Linsey Heathershaw and Alex Scott, from the Southampton Tourist Guides Association. Their enthusiasm for both their hometown and Austen is truly infectious, and their knowledge of her time in the city is encyclopaedic.

The stories of Austen’s life were delivered with wit, charm and imagination and vividly brought to life the people Austen knew and the places she stayed and visited.

We started our tour at The Bargate, the original main entrance to Southampton – Austen’s cousin Harriet leased a house just outside the gate and we know the novelist visited her there.

However, that was not her first foray to the city. As girls, in 1783, Austen and her sister Cassandra were sent from Steventon to attend Mrs Cawley’s school for girls. Unfortunately, both girls contracted "putrid fever" – probably typhus – and their father had to travel from Steventon to take them home. They didn’t return to school and Mr Austen generously paid Mrs Cawley ten shillings for her trouble.

Ten years later, in 1793, Austen was back in Southampton staying with her friends, the Butler Harrisons. It was while she was there she celebrated her 18th birthday at The Dolphin Hotel, a mere hop and a skip down High Street from The Bargate, where it is believed Austen danced the night away at a winter assembly.

Today the Dolphin still stands, and while it is now a faded Georgian beauty, it still sports its magnificent bow windows. Looking up the first floor to one of these to where Austen probably spent her birthday, it’s easy to imagine the music, the dancing and the carriages coming and going through the huge double doors into the hotel’s large courtyard.

Austen’s father moved the family to Bath in 1801 after he retired as a clergyman, but his stay there was short-lived. He died in 1805 leaving Austen, Cassandra and their mother in very reduced circumstances. Luckily, Austen’s brother Frank invited them to live with him and his wife in Southampton; they stayed here until 1809 before moving to Chawton.

By all accounts Austen’s time in Southampton was a happy one.

She attended church, the theatre, wrote her stories and particularly liked tending the garden of Frank’s house, which stretched to the seawall. The house is no longer there but a painting in the Sea City Museum shows it nestled near the seawall and, as I stood by the wall looking out over the Solent, it is very easy to imagine her life there.

As well as the walking trail, visitors to Southampton can find out more about Austen’s life and all the events in the city at Visit Southampton.