Reflections upon Jane Austen’s death, July 18, 1817: “her talents, her virtues, and her engaging manners”

Much has been written on the cause of Jane Austen’s lingering illness and untimely death in Winchester on 18 July 1817. I have a stack of biographies that I perused in search of a poignant passage that would express the tenor of this solemn day. Her great biographers Claire Tomalin, David Nokes and Elizabeth Jenkins give detailed accounts from family in attendance and their own conclusions. I find her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh’s interpretation from his A Memoir of Jane Austen simple and touching. Even though it is not elaborate or detailed, it is the only version from the view point of someone who actually knew her, and I find that unique and invaluable.

Throughout her illness she was nursed by her sister, often assisted by her sister-in-law, my mother. Both were with her when she died. Two of her brothers, who were clergymen, lived near enough to Winchester to be in frequent attendance, and to administer the services suitable for a Christian’s death-bed. While she used the language of hope to her correspondents, she was fully aware of her danger, though not appalled by it. It is true that there was much to attach her to life. She was happy in her family; she was just beginning to feel confidence in her own success; and, no doubt, the exercise of her great talents was an enjoyment in itself. We may well believe that she would gladly have lived longer; but she was enabled without dismay or complaint to prepare for death. She was a humble, believing Christian. Her life had been passed in the performance of home duties, and the cultivation of domestic affections, without any self-seeking or craving after applause. She had always sought, as it were by instinct, to promote the happiness of all who came within her influence, and doubtless she had her reward in the peace of mind which was granted her in her last days. Her sweetness of temper never failed. She was ever considerate and grateful to those who attended on her. At times, when she felt rather better, her playfulness of spirit revived, and she amused them even in their sadness. Once, when she thought herself near her end, she said what she imagined might be her last words to those around her, and particularly thanked her sister-in-law for being with her, saying: ‘You have always been a kind sister to me, Mary.’ When the end at last came, she sank rapidly, and on being asked by her attendants whether there was anything that she wanted, her reply was, ‘Nothing but death.’ These were her last words. In quietness and peace she breathed her last on the morning of 18 July, 1817.

On the 24th of that month she was buried in Winchester Cathedral, near the centre of the north aisle, almost opposite to the beautiful chantry tomb of William of Wykeham. A large slab of black marble in the pavement marks the place. Her own family only attended the funeral. Her sister returned to her desolated home, there to devote herself, for ten years, to the care of her aged mother; and to live much on the memory of her lost sister, till called many years later to rejoin her. Her brothers went back sorrowing to their several homes. They were very fond and very proud other. They were attached to her by her talents, her virtues, and her engaging manners; and each loved afterwards to fancy a resemblance in some niece or daughter of his own to the dear sister Jane, whose perfect equal they yet never expected to see. [1]

Her burial and gravestone are a bit of an enigma. The fact that she was laid to rest in the north aisle of the nave at Winchester Cathedral is a mystery that has never been explained to me with any satisfaction. Why was she given this sacred spot reserved for dignitaries and aristocrats, not daughters of clergymen who wrote anonymously and were unknown by the general public? To add to the quandary, when her brother Henry composed the epitaph for her gravestone he mentioned her family and faith, but not her writing achievements. Is this a clue that her family did not acknowledge that she was being given this place of honor because of her novels? Why else would the church have approved her burial among saints, cardinals, bishops and other men of distinction? Regardless of the initial reason for approval, close to two hundred years later, she is befittingly its most famous resident.

The Jane Austen Story, an exhibit honoring Jane Austen continues at the cathedral until 20 September, 2010. You can visit Jane Austen’s final resting place and tour the exhibit on her life and funeral.

“I have lost a treasure, such a Sister, such a friend as never can have been surpassed, – She was the sun of my life, the gilder of every pleasure, the soother of every sorrow, I had not a thought concealed from her, & it is as if I had lost a part of myself…” Letter from Jane Austen’s sister Cassandra to her niece Fanny Knight, 20 July 1817.

Further reading

• Visit the official Winchester Cathedral website
• “A building she admired so much…” Jane Austen and Winchester Cathedral
  
• Jane Austen, July 18, 1817 at Jane Austen in Vermont
• Austen and Winchester Cathedral at JASA
• Jane Austen’s Death: Events in College Street 18th July 1817 at Jane Austen’s World
• In Memoriam: Jane Austen at Austenprose
• View beautiful images of Winchester Catherdral at Astoft Gallery website
  

1. J. E. Austen-Leigh, A Memoir of Jane Austen (1989 reprint of 1871 2nd edition) Folio Society, London, p. 154-55