JANE AUSTEN PARADE FOR LITERACY 23rd June 2019

Caroline Jane Knight , founder of ,"The Jane Austen Literacy Foundation," and Susannah Harker waiting to lead us off on the walk.

On Sunday 23^rd June, at noon, a whole crowd of Regency attired people gathered at Jane Austen’s Cottage in the village of Chawton in Hampshire a few miles north of Winchester. We waited next to the famous signpost that points its ,”fingers,” four ways, to the," CAR PARK," to the ."VILLAGE HALL," to ,"Jane Austen’s House," and finally, to "St Nicholas Church and Chawton House," paired on a single finger. A colourful, flamboyant gathering with the sole purpose, to make money.

 It was a year and a week since a smaller group had gathered in the same spot for the first Jane Austen Parade for Literacy. Then we made money to finance, teacher training, e-readers and an electronic library for Suhum School in Ghana. I remember walking along with Ruth Sorby from WORLDREADER and talking about the Suhum project. That day  was a great success.

 "Mr and Mrs Bingley," await their departure in the garden of Jane's cottage.

I met Ruth Sorby again this year. She is the manager of UK development, generating new donor engagement and fundraising.  This time the Jane Austen Foundation is supporting WORLDREADER, to provide mothers and fathers in the Delhi district  with a phone app that accesses reading materials to support their pre-school children with reading. The project sounds simple enough but reading to children at home  is a lost tradition in India and despite significant literacy level improvements, still many parents can’t read themselves.   A   campaign of advertising, education and promotion has been put in place by WORLDREADER. Much research has shown that if parents read to children at home from an early age, those children perfom better at school and are more engaged with learning earlier than children who are not read to at home. Reading and talking to your child, asking questions and answering their questions, is a vital learning process. It is also a  way that parents can build rich relationships and positive bonds with their children. A  research programme involving qualitative and quantitative research has been carried out by WORLDREADER. The quantitative research relates to the numbers of apps accessed by families and the number of families using them and how often. The qualitative research is of more value in interpreting the benefits of this project. By interviewing mothers, observing families and engaging with focus groups WORLDREADER can assess the actual impact of using the reading apps. In a pilot scheme this research shows the undoubted progress children are making. There are many motivating factors to get this project financed and put into action. The sooner the better.

Pond Cottages.

So, there we all were. Most were dressed like the characters depicted on the front of a tin of Quality Street, prepared to put our best foot forward. The numbers of us gathered this year had undoubtedly increased because of Caroline Jane Knight’s hard work, and creative instincts. Many of us bought a ,”sandwich box,” ticket   from the ,”Jane Austen Regency Week,” office in Alton and were looking forward to eating our Regency repast, designed and sourced by Caroline, on the lawns of Chawton House at the end of todays walk. The picnic was an innovation Caroline introduced this year and  helped increase our numbers and in the process fill our coffers with more needed money. Some had also gained sponsorship to  walk, like last year. In the interim twelve months Caroline has been contacting people of fame and renown. Susannah Harker, Jane Bennet in the 1995 production of Pride and Prejudice, some think the best adaptation ever made, was invited to become a Jane Austen Foundation Ambassador which she readily accepted. Susannah  graced our walk on Sunday and was introduce  by Caroline before we started off.  Caroline and Susannah lead the way beginning at Jane’s Cottage and walking to the Great House, about a ten minutes walk. It was such a pleasant day, our surroundings were  verdant. Plenty of rain and sunshine over recent weeks had ensured England , in the words of William Blake, were indeed “A green and pleasant land.”The poem this is taken from , an addition Blake made to his poem about Milton, would be an apt anthem reflecting the work of the foundation. Of course, "Jerusalem,” would be a metaphor for a society of literate people.Our surroundings were so pleasant, the sun shone and the company so amiable I think we took our time and extended the experience somewhat.

Three elegant ladies on their way to The Great House.

I was very pleased to meet people I have known for years as a blogger and frequent reader and commentator on Austen blogs and Facebook pages, people I have had lengthy conversations online. Meeting them for the first time in the flesh was quite an experience. You feel you know somebody well but all of a sudden you are meeting them for the first time. This happened to me meeting Rita Watts from Boston. Rita has been very supportive of my blog and what I write about the world of Jane Austen. Then all of a sudden Anna Bhawan introduced herself to me.It feels as though Anna and I have known each other for years but we have never met before.  It was great meeting Jacqui, the manager of the Literacy Mentors, over from Melbourne and also Emile Belinde the editor of ,”Pride and Possibilities ,” who I have messaged back and forth on a number of occasions. Odette Snell and Karin Quint both asked me my surname when they heard me called Tony. I replied, “ I am Tony Grant.” They both lit up. They knew me. Wow! How surprising is that?  Many others who were attending on the day I had met the previous year and it was great to meet everybody again.

Climbing roses in an English Country garden.

Our walk the previous year started  at Janes Cottage and followed the route Jane, her family and Chawton villagers would have taken north west to Alton , about a two mile walk. This time the route was from the cottage again  but passed south east through the village to The Great House which Jane’s brother, Edward Knight, had inherited from his adoptive family the Knights. It is a strange and thrilling experience  following the footsteps of Jane Austen. We walked through the physical space she would have passed through and trod the very ground Jane would have trod. Jane often walked to the great house to sometimes stay overnight and certainly to eat at her brother’s house. We also passed many of the cottages that people Jane knew lived in. Jane’s cottage is at a road junction. In her time one road lead to Winchester and the one passing the driveway to The Great house lead on to Gosport on the coast near Portsmouth. A modern bypass avoids the village nowadays. 

There was a pond, in Jane’s time at this junction near the cottages, beside a house called Chawton Lodge. A family called the Hintons lived here. Jane’s niece Fanny Austen, one of Edward’s daughters, mentions a Miss Hinton calling at The Great House. Just round the corner on The Winchester Road, in a rundown labourers cottage,  poor Miss Benn lived. She was the unwitting  first audience to Pride and Prejudice read to her by Jane and Cassandra. Jane worried about Miss Benn a lot and mentions her in her letters more than any other villager in Chawton.

Jeremy Knight, Caroline's father, escorting two ladies.

We walked on past Pond Cottages, where William Littleworth who was manservant to the Austens lived. We passed Park View Cottages where William Carter and Thomas Appleford, whose wife Mary gave birth to ten children, resided. There was trouble of various sorts with the inhabitatnts of these cottages. The Adams were another family living here.

On October 21^st1813, Jane Wrote

““We are all very glad to hear that the Adams are gone…”

I wonder what could have gone amiss?

Orchard Cottages came next in our walk where Abraham Knight and William Carter and their respective families had lived. The next set of cottages, Malthouse Cottages, are  extremely picturesque. In front of each is a quintessential English Country Garden. Climbing roses trail and wind around the doors, and numerous tall spikes of hollyhocks, vibrant with various colours are massed in front of the cottages . 

We turned left into the long elegant driveway leading up to the Great House. I could see a long line of top hatted gentlemen and bonneted ladies stretching down the gravel drive in front of me. We arrived in the churchyard of St Nicholas Church,  and gathered round the statue of Jane positioned in front of the church door. We had plenty of time for a photoshoot. There were  quite a few visitors standing and looking at us. I asked a bearded  gentleman in a pink shirt to take some pictures with my camera, which he duly did.

Gathered beside Jane's statue outside St Nicholas Church.

From the churchyard we walked up to the lawn next to The Great House. I talked to Odette Snel and Karin Quint , both from  the Netherlands. Karen has just published a book entitled “ Jane Austen’s England, A Travel Guide.” I wondered at the amount of research Karen must have done. Jane had many aunts and uncles and cousins  and she, her sister and mother seemed forever travelling around the country visiting them all. Karen knows the family tree and locations of every Austen family member and relation. Quite some feat. I noticed Karen had her right arm in a wrist brace. She told me that she had inflamed tendons from handwriting. Astounding!

A picnic on the lawn.

When we all arrived on the lawn at the side of the Great House a queue had begun to form stretching behind the house to the kitchen area  where  the sandwich boxes were handed out. I was given a pink sticker to show I had exchanged my voucher for a sandwich box.  Anna Bhawan and I had walked along together talking and setting the world to rights. We have been commenting on each others blogs for  nine years.I  remember Anna telling me about the births of her two children.They are both at school now.The eldest is seven years old. Anna's blog is called, "Austenised." She writes excellent articles, with photographs, about her adventures visiting places that were part of Jane Austen's life.   We sat with Mira Magdo on her ample sized rug and ate our sandwiches. Caroline Jane Knight  sourced the food to represent what might have been eaten in the 18^th century, perhaps at the infamous Box Hill picnic  in Jane Austen’s Emma. There was a pork and quail egg pie, a wholemeal roll with cheese and ham and a sweet custard tart on a pastry base decorated with strawberries. To help it all go down a cup of home made lemonade was provided.

While we sat and ate this repast we were entertained by ,”The Pineapple Appreciation Society.” 

Playing, "The Graces," with a form of badminton and skittles going on in the background.

Sophie Andrews introduced us to a series of 18^th century sports, young ladies would have participated in such as skittles, a form of badminton and a skillful game, designed to improve a young ladies balance and grace of  movement called, “The Graces.” Afterwards another member of the society sang beautifully a few songs that had featured in various Jane Austen film adaptations. This was followed by Alison Larkin reading the opening chapter of Caroline’s Knights autobiography, “Jane Austen and Me My Austen Heritage.”

Alison Larkin reading from ,"Jane and Me."

She began, “ Christmas Eve was my favourite night of the year at Chawton House and Christmas 1986 was no exception.” Alison is a very good actress and she imbued the words with an inner sense and meaning through her expression and tone. The feelings Caroline must have experienced herself. Two very good readers each read extracts from Sophie Andrews new book, “Be More Jane. Bring out your inner Austen to meet life’s challenges.” Good advice gleaned from the characters in Jane’s novels. The illustrations, by Jane Odiwe in Sophie’s book are excellent. Susannah Harker and her sister Nelly read some of their new two person play “The Austen Sisters,” featuring Jane and Cassandra,to the great delight of the picnickers gathered.

Anna Bhawan and myself with Susannah  Harker.

The afternoon was coming to an end and it was time to say my goodbyes before returning to South London. I had had a most enjoyable day and much money had been collected to help support the five public day care centers in Delhi called Anganwadi, that encourage, teach and support parents to interact with their children. I had a final chat with Amanda Mortensen, Caroline’s friend and co-founder of the foundation. We briefly talked about how well the day had gone and I assured Amanda that I would be back next year. Personally I am looking forward to reading more children’s writing and giving them positive feedback. Having been a teacher for forty years, being a Literacy Mentor for the foundation is something I know how to do and I hope, in this way, I can make a useful contribution to the great work Caroline has begun.

Appendix:

“Jane and Me . My Austen Heritage,” by Caroline Jane Knight ( Jane Austen’s fifth great niece.)

“Be More Jane. Bring out your inner Austen to meet life’s challenges.” By Sophie Andrews

“Jane Austen’s England, A travel Guide.” By Karen Quint

Milton ( And did those feet in Ancient Time) by William Blake

“Jane Austen’s Letters,” Collected and edited by Deirdre Le Faye

"Jane Austen and Chawton," by Jane Hurst ( A walk around Jane Austen’s Chawton.)
"AUSTENISED" a blog written by Anna Bhawan  https://austenised.blogspot.com

VAN GOGH AND BRITAIN (Tate Britain 27th March – 11th August 2019)

 THE VAN GOGH EXHIBITON AT TATE BRITAIN

 The entrance to special exhibitions at Tate Britain is by way of the side entrance in Atterbury Street, opposite The Chelsea School of Art. This entrance is reached by way of a sloping ramp to the underground level. Along the smooth limestone wall that faces this entrance has been placed a  a large elongated poster advertising the new Van Gogh exhibition. The self portrait of Van Gogh used in the poster is the portrait he painted in 1889, possibly in Arles and most likely the last of his self-portraits. The self-portrait advertising this exhibition is an intense painting. The eyes, are piercing, and yet have a fragility; a nervousness showing in them. He appears unsure and intense at the same time. The air around the face is dark, vibrating, flowing like a stream of black water surrounding him. The skin colours on his face, bright yellows and pale greens, created with swirling brush strokes, ripple and move like the watery air around it. His hair on the top of his head flames bright red and his beard and moustache almost radiate a heat; the same flaming intensity. The person who painted this is experiencing every atom of himself. 

The exhibition is in two parts, firstly Van Gogh's experience in London and its effects on him as an artist is covered and secondly the exhibition reveals the impact Van Gogh had on British artists especially in the early twentieth century up to the1950s. The radical ideas of religion and politics that was thriving in London when Van Gogh arrived encouraged his interest in religion and his  concern for working class people. As well as working in the art trade he tried teaching and preaching as career paths.

THE SAINT REMY SELF PORTRAIT. POSSIBLY HIS LAST SELF PORTRAIT.

For an exhibiton about Van Gogh there are a considerable number of prints, illustrations and paintings that are by other artists. These were of great importance to Van Gogh ‘s development as an artist. British print makers showed subjects dramatized with light and shade and provided unusual and new ways of composition. Van Gogh studied all these aspects carefully. There are many examples of the pictures Van Gogh was interested in  such as, prints by Gustav Dore that include prints of Lambeth Gas Works, Houndsditch, St Katherines Dock, The Houses of Parliament by Night and a sketch entitled, Coffee Stall- Early Morning. Although Van Gogh was not an artist at this time of his life, in letters to friends and family he often included sketches of places he saw. He was a good writer too. His letters home were detailed and covered art ,and religion as well as recounts of his activities while staying in London. He sketched, The Austin Friars Church London and the small Churches at Petersham and Turnham Green and often sketched figures walking down long avenues of trees. He was a subscriber to The Graphic magazine which was a social reforming newspaper and featured  art work portraying working class life. Van Gogh was taken by the artists who worked for The Graphic and called them,

“ the great portrayers.”

A PAGE FROM THE GRAPHIC DEPICTING THE ARTISTS WHO VAN GOGH REVERED.

Another part of the exhibition shows rural scenes painted by Constable and Turner that Van Gogh mentions seeing in his letters to his brother Theo. You can  see how Van Gogh learned from these artists and began to look at the landscape the way they did, incorporating many of their compositional techniques.

ENGLISH LANDSCAPES BY TURNER AND CONSTABLE INSPIRED VAN GOGH.

After looking at the artists that influenced Van Gogh in Britain the exhibition focuses more on Van Gogh’s paintings themselves showing many pictures he painted in Paris and also while in the South of France in Arles. The Paris paintings tend to be darker, portraits of associates, a pair of boots and personal subjects. In Arles , the light and vividness of the landscape explodes from his canvases.

The final part of the exhibition details the legacy Van Gogh left after his death in 1890. Twenty years after Van Gogh died, in December 1910, there was an exhibiton in London called, “ Manet and the Post Impressionists.”The term,” Post Impressionists,” was invented for this exhibition. It introduced Van Gogh’s art to Britain. British artists were greatly influenced by this exhibition. Virginia Woolf wrote,

“ on or about December 1910, human character changed.”

THE VINEYARD BY VANESSA BELL.

Virgina Woolf’s sister, Vanessa Bell was one of the first artists to take direct inspiration form Van Gogh. A portrait she did of Roger Fry, in 1912, the art critic and member of The Bloomsbury Group is one example. The Vineyard also painted by Vanessa Bell, in 1930 is another example.  Other British artists who were influenced by Van Gogh at this time are also featured. Flower Painting, by Mathew Smith in 1913, Yellow Landscape 1892 by Roderic O’Connor and Miss Jekylls Gardening Boots by William Nicholson in 1920 is almost a straight copy of Van Gogh’s boots he painted in Paris in 1886.

RODERIC O'CONNOR'S ,"YELLOW LANDSCAPE."

Van Gogh looked at paintings and drawings very carefully  and learned from them. He was not taught how to paint and never took an art course. His learning process was very much brought about by looking and thinking and discovering ways of interpreting what he saw and what he believed. I found the exhibition an inspiration getting a sense of how Van Gogh saw the world.

PAINTINGS BY VAN GOGH  THAT INFLUENCED ARTSIST DIRECTLY:

LES OLIVIERS by Van Gogh.

William |Nicholson, Gertrude Jekyll's Boots.

BOOTS by Van Gogh while in Paris.

VAN GOGH. His life in London.

During his stay in London between 1873 to 1876 Van Gogh tried various occupations, art dealer, preacher and teacher. He failed at them all, but each provided experiences that influenced what was to come. They helped ignite Vincent into being the artist he became. The process was a journey of self-discovery. Using a religious allegory, Van Gogh would know it well. His  letters show he would think in this way.  The apostles huddled together in the upper room, at Pentecost, after the crucifixion of Jesus,  failures but  inflamed and inspired by the Holy Spirit. This scene  encapsulates Van Goghs feelings at this time. His paintings  show that passion and a spiritual awareness of the world around him.

 Vincent Van Gogh was twenty years old arrived in London in May 1873.  For two years he worked for Goupil art dealers near Covent garden in Southampton Street and later moved to Bedford Row. The company moved to Bedford Row in May 1875 and Vincent wrote to his brother Theo enthusing about the new gallery.

“Our gallery is now finished and it’s beautiful, we have many beautiful things at the moment: Jules Dupré, Michel, Daubigny, Maris, Israëls, Mauve, Bisschop, &c.” 

The Goupil firm dealt in reproductions, which Van Gogh collected himself, but later in Bedford Row they began to sell original paintings too. He wrote often to his brother Theo and in the letters he enthused about his experiences in London. The 13^th June 1873.

“Last Sunday I went to the country with Mr Orbach, my principal, to Boxhill; it is a high hill about six hours by road from London, partially chalky and overgrown with box and on one side a wood of high oak trees. The country is beautiful here, quite different from Holland or Belgium. Everywhere you see charming parks with high trees and shrubs. Everyone is allowed to walk there.”

Van Gogh loved British culture and this emerged in the art he created later. He knew four languages including English and spoke and read well in all of them. He read and reread all of Dickens novels and said,

“My life is aimed at making the things from everyday life that Dickens described.”

In his letters to friends and family he mentions by name over one hundred books written in English, Hard Times and A Christmas Carol by Dickens, Macbeth and King Lear by Shakespeare. He also read  George Elliot, John Keats the poet, Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, The Bible  and many more. He was influenced by artists portrayal of British scenes such as Gustav Dore, James Whistler and John Everett Millais. Van Gogh immersed himself in culture while he lived in England visiting museums and galleries. He walked everywhere and sometimes rowed on the Thames with acquaintances for pleasure and travelled on the underground too.

VAN GOGH READ DICKENS AVIDLY, READING AND REREADING HIS NOVELS.  HE ALSO READ A WIDE VARIETY OF OTHER AUTHORS TOO.

20^th July 1873 to Theo.

“There are some good painters here, though, including Millais, who made ‘The Huguenot’, Ophelia, &c., engravings of which you probably know, they’re very beautiful. Then Boughton, of whom you know the ‘Puritans going to church’  in our Galerie photographique.I’ve seen very beautiful things by him. Moreover, among the old painters, Constable, a landscape painter who lived around 30 years ago, whose work is splendid, something like Diaz and Daubigny. And Reynolds and Gainsborough, who mostly painted very, very beautiful portraits of women, and then Turner, after whom you’ll probably have seen engravings.”

 He lived for a while in a small terraced house in Stockwell near the Oval Cricket Ground. The house has a blue plaque commemorating his stay there. He became friends with the daughter of the landlady, Eugenie Loyer and enjoyed the company of three Germans living in the same house.

2^nd July 1873 to Theo.

“The neighbourhood where I live is very pretty, and so peaceful and convivial that one almost forgets one is in London.

In front of every house is a small garden with flowers or a couple of trees, and many houses are built very tastefully in a sort of Gothic style.

Still, I have to walk for more than half an hour to reach the countryside.

We have a piano in the drawing room, and there are also three Germans living here who really love music, which is most agreeable.”

87 HACKFORD ROAD ,STOCKWELL TODAY.

 Groupil, who were expanding their trade in prints and original artists while he was with them, provided the opportunity for Van Gogh to see illustrations of modern subjects that included the use of light and shade. He learned about the British , “black and white,” tradition. Van Gogh himself collected over two thousand prints.These prints  provided compositions that were new. When Van Gogh was dismissed from the firm of Groupal he started preaching and teaching in places as diverse as Isleworth in London near Richmond and in Ramsgate in Kent.

NOTES  FROM “THE RICHMOND LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY,”ARTICLE ABOUT VINCENT VAN GOGH IN LONDON.

The Richmomd Local Historical Society, which covers the area of Richmond and Isleworth,  have researched the places Van Gogh frequented in Isleworth and some of the people he was associated with during his time in London.

Van Gogh lodged in 87 Hackford Road, north of Brixton in Stockwell near The Oval Cricket ground. He fell in love with the landladies daughter Eugenie. He spent the first two years working for the art dealer, Groupil, first in Southampton Road and later in Bedford Street on the west side of Covent Garden. He was dismissed from Goupils in January 1876. There is no evidence for why he was asked to leave.Before moving to their office in London he had worked for Goupil in Paris. Photographs of him at this time show him slightly disheveled in appearance which does not  fit the image of an art expert and art salesman. Van Gogh went on to try other ways of making his living. He was an earnest, intense young man. He first turned to teaching at a school in Ramsgate, from April 1876, run by a gentleman called Mr Stokes. Stokes later moved his school to Isleworth located on the north bank of the Thames just west of Twickenham and Richmond, a few miles from the centre of London. He lived at Linkfield House number 183 Twickenham Road. There was a problem though, Mr Stokes did not keep his promise to pay Van Gogh after his first months trial. He left and joined another school nearby at Holme Court, 158 Twickenham Road run by a congregational minister, the Reverend Thomas Slade Jones. Jones paid him a salary of £15 a year plus board and lodging. Van Gogh felt a strong religious calling. He was the son and grandson of Dutch Reform pastors. In July 1876 he wrote to Theo,

“being a London missionary is rather special. I believe; one has to go around among the workers and the poor spreading God’s word……….Last week I was in London a couple of times to find out the possibility of my becoming one ( missionary)….I may well be suited to this… To do this however I have to be at least 24 years old and so in my case I still have a year to wait.”

 He continued as a teacher and spent time sketching and sketches were included in his letters to Theo and other friends and family members. Reverend Slade Thomas thought Van Gogh had a calling to be a pastor. He served at the congregational church in Chiswick Road Turnham Green. Early in October 1886 Van Gogh began to help  Slade Jones with his parish work. He visited the sick, became an assistant teacher at the Sunday School and he helped with the mid week adult Bible studies.

There are records of him attending prayer meetings at the Methodist Church in Kew Road Richmond. Fourteen letters, from July to November 1876 to his brother Theo, are lengthy, exuberant and have many scriptural references Their intensity and emotions could, however, reflect a bipolar episode. There is a possibility he preached at the Vineyard Congregational Church Richmond in December 1876. When he returned to Holland for Christmas in 1876 his health was poor. His parents persuaded him not to return to England. A job was found for him in his uncle’s book shop in Dordrecht. He never returned to England again.

References:

The letters of Vincent Van Gogh: http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/

Richmond Local History Society: https://www.richmondhistory.org.uk/wordpress/history-of-richmond/richmonds-congregational-church-vineyard/preacher-red-hair/

Van Gogh Route: http://www.vangoghroute.com/england/london/

TATE BRITAIN 27 March – 11 August 2019 “The EY Exhibition, "Van Gogh,and Britain.”

JANE AUSTEN WENT TO SEE EDMUND KEAN PERFORM.

Henrietta Street Wednesday March 2^nd 1814 to Cassandra.

“Places are secured at Drury Lane for Saturday but so great is the rage for seeing Kean that only 3^rd and 4^th rows could be got. As it is in a front box however, I hope we shall do pretty well- Shylock- A good play for Fanny.” Jane Austen.

Edmund Kean

Edmund Kean had debuted Shylock just two months previously, on January 26^th and had become an instant sensational hit and achieved mythological status. Drury Lane had been on the verge of bankruptcy and the management gambled on Kean to help rescue the theater. Covent Garden theatre, close by, under the management of the actor John Philip Kemble was  successful and Drury Lane needed to match that success. Edmund Kean had been performing with a touring theatre group in the West Country ( Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall) at the time. The management at Drury Lane were prepared to try out new talent.  Kean was proved to be their saviour.

Edmund Kean was born in March 1789 in the borough of Westminster, London. The exact date is unknown. His mother was Ann Carey, an itinerant actress and his father was Edmund Kean, who suffered mental problems and was a dissolute young man who died at the age of 24. Edmund was  adopted by his uncle, Moses Kean’s mistress Charlotte Tidswell.  She gave Edmund an early stage training and a basic education but she failed to give him a steady disciplined home. At times he lived the life of a waif and stray.

On the 8^th June 1796 his name, which appears on a surviving bill, shows that he played Robin in a performance of The Merry Wives of Windsor.  On Easter Monday 1804, at the age of 14, he acted at the Sheereness theatre working for Jerrold’s company, for a mere few shillings a week.In 1805 he played in the amusement hall in Camden Town. He later played for Michael Atkin’s company in Belfast. In 1806 he played minor roles at the Haymarket Theater. He went on to join a company run by Miss Baker. In 1808 he married Mary Chambers, a fellow member of the theatrical company. Between 1808 and 1813 he was a member of various companies on the West Country circuit including the companies of Beverley, Watson, Cherry and Hughes. He played many different types of role providing him with an important apprenticeship as an actor. His roles included, tragedy, comedy, opera, farce, interlude and pantomime. He lived this strolling player life for ten years. He suffered many privations, living in poor conditions, not always eating properly. He took to drink and became an alcoholic. While he was with Henry Lee’s company, performing in Dorchester ( Dorset) on the 15^th November 1813, he was seen by Arnold, the Drury Lane manager. This lead to him being taken on at Drury Lane Theatre.  

The Drury Lane Theatre.

An actress of the time, Helen Faucit, describes him as,

 “ a pale man with a fur cap, and wrapped in a fur cloak. He looked to me as if come from the grave. A stray lock of hair crossed his forehead, under which shone eyes which looked dark, and yet as bright as lamps. So large were they, so piercing, so absorbing, I could see no other future.”

By the standards of the time he was unsuited to the great tragic roles. The style epitomised by the great actor theater manager of the day John Philip Kemble was a declamatory style, artificial and statuesque. Kean invented a new style full of passion, feeling and emotion. Kemble’s style became defunct.

Edmund Kean generally portrayed villains in Shakespeare plays.He played Shylock in the Merchant of Venice wearing a black beard and played the part as a frenzied embittered monster, evil and armed with a knife. His performance was a sensation.It was this performance soon after it had debuted at the Drury Lane Theatre that Jane Austen went to see.

“We hear that Mr Kean is more admired than ever. The two vacant places of our two rows are likely to be filled by Mr Tilson and his brother General Chownes.” Wednesday March 2^nd 1814.

10 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, where Jane Austen stayed with her brother Henry.

Edmund Kean went on to play a succession of villains such as Richard III, Iago, Macbeth and also played Othello and Hamlet. Apart from Shakespeare he successfully played Sir Giles Overreach in Philip Massinger’s “A New Way To Pay Old Debts.” He was Barabas in Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta.

 Nothing about his performance was improvised. Everything was technically planned. He measured out the number of footsteps he would have to take to various positons on the stage. He used his voice, creating tones, semitones, rests, forte, piano, crescendo and dimuendo like a musical score. For parts of a play he would play his character in a low key bland sort of way but then at key moments  he would let the full force of his emotions rip. Kean used his own forceful and turbulent personality to help portray these characters. He repeated each performance almost identically. We, in the 21^st century, would have found his performances very strange. Nowadays acting is a naturalistic style.

Kean was always admired as an actor but he became more and more unpopular as a public figure. He was a megalomaniac and a turbulent ungovernable genius.  He feared losing his place at the head of British Theater and jealousy towards his rivals drove him. At his height he earned £10,000 a year an enormous amount of money. However, in 1825 he was sued for adultery with a woman whose husband was an alderman of the city of London and a Drury Lane administrator. The press turned against him. There were hostile demonstrations outside of the theatre. The last eight years of his life were a slow decline with drink and other excesses.

The Theatre Royal Richmond upon Thames built in 1899 near the site of the theatre Kean performed in.

Edmund Kean, often performed at the theatre in Richmond. In October 1814  after a season in Dublin which followed his sensational debut at Drury Lane he performed his Shylock at Richmond. He appeared again at Richmond in 1817 and then at various times until 1829. During 1830  Kean had a farewell season in London followed by a tour of the provinces. He had always wanted to manage his own theater. In 1831 The Kings Theatre in Richmond, a previous name for the Theatre Royal Richmond, came up for rent and he took it on. He lived in the house next door. 

Covent Garden Opera House on the site of the Covent Garden Theatre.

As well as his commitments to the Richmond Theatre, Kean still performed in London at the Haymarket and toured the country. On March 25^th 1833 he was performing Othello at Covent Garden and his son Charles was playing Iago. He collapsed during the performance. A few weeks later he died at his home in Richmond upon Thames.

A plaque commemorates him inside St Mary Magdalen’s church in  Richmond. In 1904, when the church was being refurbished an extension was built over the spot where Kean was interred His body was exhumed and he was reburied at All Saints Church in the village of Catherington in Hampshire, just north of Portsmouth.

So what did Jane Austen think of Edmund Kean’s acting?

 To Cassandra. Saturday 5^th March 1814

“ We were quite satisfied with Kean. I cannot imagine better acting, but the part was too short and excepting him and Miss Smith. I shall like to see Kean again excessively and to see him with you too- it appeared to me there was no fault in him anywhere; and in his scene with Tubak there was exquisite acting.”

Praise indeed.

 The plaque inside St Mary Magdelene's Church, Richmond upon Thames, where Edmund Kean was first buried.

 He died  on May 15^th 1833, eight days before his own mother.

JANE AUSTEN: A FAMILY PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM

Reverend Charles Bridges Knight, Marianne Knight, (nephew and niece of Jane Austen) and George Hill, their nephew.

Helena Horton, writing in the Daily Telegraph on the 11^th January 2019, announced that, “ Lost photographs of Jane Austen’s nieces and nephews have been discovered in an old photo album.”A lady called Karen Ievers bought the album on E-Bay, paying $1000. She thought she was buying an album of 19^th century aristocrats, interesting and valuable in their own right but she had no idea how special this particular album would turn out to be. Karen recognized the names penciled at the bottom of some of the photographs. She sent them to a leading historian, Dr Sophia Hill, at Queens University Belfast. It turned out that the photographs are of some of Jane Austen’s nephews and nieces and members of their families. The album was put together by Lord George Augusta Hill who married two of Jane Austen’s nieces, Cassandra Jane Knight and Louisa Knight , two  daughters of Jane’s brother Edward Knight. Dr Hill suggests that the novels of Jane Austen,” foreshadowed the chequered love lives of these family members.”

Jane’s brother Edward  married Elizabeth Bridges (1773–1808) on 27 December 1791, and they had eleven children . Fanny was the eldest but there followed, Edward ( junior), (1794–1879), George Thomas(1795–1867), Henry (1796–1843),  William (1798–1873), Elizabeth (1800–1884), Marianne (1801–1896), Charles (1803–1867), Louisa (1804–1889), Cassandra Jane (1806–1842) and Brook John (1808–1878).    

Photography got going in Britain in the late 1830s with Fox Talbot at Lacock Abbey. He invented a process using  salted paper. This was the calotype process. Louis Daguerre, in France, had also invented the daguerreotype process by this time. The French government, in 1839, gave the world free rights to  the process. They also published detailed instructions about how to create a daguerreotype .
   

Are the pictures Fox Talbot calotype pictures or daguerrotypes? Looking at the photographs printed in The Telegraph it is impossible to tell which process was used. Both techniques were available  and both inventions had been developed to the stage where they took a few minutes to produce an image. Both processes came into public use about the end of the 1830s. 

One picture shows an image of Lady Knatchbull, nee Fanny Knight, who was Jane Austen's favourite niece.

Lady Knatchbull (Fanny Knight)

Fannys face in the picture, her demeanour, her dress style; can we get a glimpse of the person? The young, vibrant, hungry for life young girl Jane Austen, her aunt, knew, in this picture of her in old age? Jane Austen wrote a number of long personal letters to her niece and Fanny wrote to her aunt revealing her inmost thoughts, hopes, desires and passions.

In a letter written between Friday 18^th and Sunday 20^th November 1814 Jane wrote to Fanny a long letter  giving her advice about her infatuation with a young man. Fanny has described the young man to her aunt in a previous letter because Jane knows a lot about him already.  He was sober and shy and he appeared to have ,”evangelical” religious leanings. In this letter Jane looks at all the positive things about the young man highlighting the good things about his character. She discusses the various Evangelical beliefs and ways of worship, the good and the bad, speculating what his attitudes might be.But then Jane gets realistic,

 “ I shall turn round and entreat you not to commit yourself farther and not to think of accepting him. Anything is to be preferred or endured rather marrying without affection.”

In a following letter, ten days later, on the 30^th, Jane has not been able to let the subject go. She is worried about her niece making the wrong decision.

“ When I consider how few young men you have seen.” 

A watercolour painted by Cassandra Austen of her niece Fanny.

Jane is serious, advising Fanny to stand back and take a long cool look at the situation. Fanny appears to have taken her aunts advice. She did not marry  for another six years. She became Lady Knatchbull when she married Sir Edward Knatchbull in 1820. There are other details in Jane's letters to Fanny about family and friends and what various people, they both know, are doing. The letters often start,

“ My dearest Fanny,” and invariably show a lot of affection.”

Cassandra wrote to Fanny after Jane's death. Sunday 20 th July 1817.

  

“My Dearest Fanny- doubly dear to me now for her dear sake whom we have lost. She did love you most sincerely and never shall I forget the proofs of love you gave her during her illness in writing those kind, amusing letters at a time when I know your feelings would have dictated so different a style.”

Nine days later on Tuesday 29^th July, after Fanny had replied to Cassandras first letter, Cassandra writes,

“ My dearest Fanny, I have read your letter for the third time and thank you most sincerely for every kind expression to myself and still more warmly for your praises of her who I believe was better known to you than to any human being besides myself.”

Fanny Knight, Lady Knatchbull, was very dear and close to her aunts and Jane in particular.

I hope with Aunt Jane's advice ringing in her ears Fanny made a match as good as Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, a relationship that grew and developed a deep love and understanding. 

A portrait of Sir Edward Knatchbull, Fannys husband.

A portrait of Fanny's husband, Sir Edward Knatchbull,  shows a gentle looking man with kindness in his face. Lets hope Fanny married him for love. She was his second wife, and step mother to five of the six children from his first marriage to Annabella Honywood. One child died as a baby. She also became the mother of five children she herself bore him. Where is Aunt Jane when you need a baby sitter?

Georgina Prettyman the niece of Lady Knatchbull (Fanny Knight)

Another photograph depicts Georgina Prettyman, daughter of Edward Knight (junior), Fanny's brother and Mary Dorothea Knatchbull, Fanny's step daughter. The elopement and marriage of Georgina's parents was a scandalous affair. It was not technically incestuous. 

You wonder if the photograph was taken inside or outside? The shadow on the left of her face as we look at the picture, is not strong. We can see her features, including her eye, very clearly. It looks like natural light was used. The backdrop gives nothing away. It is a light and neutral wall probably to make the portrait of Georgina stand out  of the picture. There is nothing decorative apart from the Grecian urn and a triangle of drapery to the left. The picture would look extremely stark and austere if the Grecian urn and the  piece of floral drapery were not there.  The picture is a portrait of Georgina dressed in a large voluminous dress. It is impossible to say the colour because the picture is black and white, We can only see it is a dark colour. with even darker, perhaps black,  lace trimmings. A perfectly starched bonnet with broad long white tabs surround her head and face. Her hair is silky smooth with not a hair out of place. Her face is serene. She looks calm and placid. Every part of this picture has been staged and on the part of Georgina,acted. 

The picture is a portrait in the style of the 18^th century portrait painters and this is the purpose of the picture , an elegant staged, portrait, taking its precedence from art portraits. The science used to create the picture is something new though. A science which was already branching out into other purposes for recording images. Daguerre and Fox Talbot took architectural pictures, street scenes, rural landscapes and pictures of everyday life.  Documentary photography was in its infancy and it was just a short step to news photography.

Edward Knight (nephew of Jane Austen and the cause of scandal), Marianne Knight (  niece of Jane Austen) and a young George Hill., son of Lord George Hill and Louisa (Knight), Marianne's and Edward's nephew. 

The above picture shows Jane's niece and nephew Marianne and Edward.  When their mother died in 1808,  Edward (junior), and George, another brother, were staying in Southampton with Jane and their grandmother. Jane was with them when they received and read a letter from their father informing them of their mother’s death.

Monday 24^th Tuesday 25^th October 1808 written to Cassandra from Castle Square Southampton.

“His letter was read over by each of them yesterday, and with many tears, George sobbed aloud, Edwards tears do not flow so easily; but as far as I can judge they are both very properly impressed by what has happened. “

Later in the letter Jane recounts an adventure they had rowing on the Itchen River and other activities. She kept the two boys occupied.

“ We had a little water party yesterday; I and my two nephews went from the Itchen Ferry  up to Northam where we landed, looked in to a 74 and walked home and it was so much enjoyed that I had intended to take them to Netley today, the tide was just right for our going immediately after noon shine but I am afraid there will be rain; if we cannot go so far, however, we may perhaps go round from the ferry to the quay. I had had not proposed doing more than cross the Itchen yesterday, but it proved so pleasant, and so much to the satisfaction of all, that when we reached the middle of the stream we agreed to be rowed up the river; both boys rowed a great part of the way, and their questions and their remarks, as well as their enjoyment, were very amusing; George’s enquiries were endless, and his eagerness in everything reminds me often of his uncle Henry. Our evening was equally agreeable in its way; I introduced, “speculation,” and it was so much approved that we hardly knew how to leave off.”

Writing from Henrietta Street in Covent Garden on Thursday 16^th September 1813 Jane relates to Cassandra the goings on in London with her nephews and nieces. She took the girls,  Fanny and Marianne, to a dentist in London, a Mr Spence.

“ The poor Girls and their teeth!- I have not mentioned them yet, but we were a whole hour at Spence’s and Lizzy’s were filed and  lamented over again and poor Marianne had two taken out after all, the two just behind the eye teeth, to make room for those in front.- When her doom was fixed, Fanny Lizzy and I walked ionto the next room, where we heard each of the two sharp hasty screams. – Fannys teeth were cleaned too- and pretty as they are Spence found something to do with them, putting in gold and talking gravely- and making a considerable point of seeing her again before winter. “

Another scandalous affair occurred. When Cassandra Jane Knight died Lord George Hill married her sister, his sister in law, Louise.  You were not supposed to marry your sister in law. The couple were ostracized because of this.One picture features Lord George Hill with an austere looking Reverend Charles- Bridges Knight, the vicar of St Nicholas Church,Steventon at the time, Marianne and George Hill.

Lord George Hill with Reverend Charles- Bridges Knight, Marianne Knight and George Hill, the son of Lord George, . ( This looks like St Nicholas, Steventon Parish Church.)

Jane described some of her nephews and nieces on a visit to her brother Edwards estate at Godmersham, eight miles from Canterbury in Kent. Elizabeth, her brother’s wife along with some of the children greeted her on arrival at the house.

Wednesday 15^th to Friday 17^th June 1808

“.Elizabeth, who was dressing when we arrived, came to me for a minute attended by Marianne, Charles, and  Louisa, and, you will not doubt gave me a very affection ate welcome. That I had received from Edward also I need not mention, but I do, you see, because it is a pleasure. I never saw him look in better health, and Fanny says he is perfectly well. I cannot praise Elizabeth’s looks but they are probably affected by a cold. Her little namesake has gained in beauty in the last three years, though not all that Marianne has lost. Charles is not quite so lovely as he was. Louisa is as much as I expected, and Cassandra I find handsomer than I expected though at present disguised by such a breaking out that she does not come down after dinner. She has charming eyes and a nice open countenance, and seems likely to be very lovable. Her size is magnificent.”

The importance of this photograph album is immense. It puts real faces to some of the people Jane Austen knew and loved.

Ref: 
Jane Austen's Letters ( New Edition) Collected and edited by Deirdre Le Faye Third Edition Oxford University Press.