By Fiona Hurley
 
Jane Austen’s most beloved book, Pride and Prejudice, celebrates its 200th anniversary in 2013. But did you know that Austen was an Auntie to over 30 nieces and nephews?
 
Her nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, wrote in one of the first biographies of his famous relative:
 
Though in the course of fifty years I have forgotten much, I have not forgotten that Aunt Jane was the delight of all her nephews and nieces. We did not think of her as being clever, still less as being famous: but we valued her as one always kind, sympathising and amusing.
 
Some of the correspondence between Jane Austen and her nieces survives today. For example, here is Auntie Jane advising her eldest niece, Fanny Knight, after a broken courtship:
 
Do not be in a hurry, the right man will come at last; you will in the course of the next two or three years meet with somebody more generally unexceptionable than anyone you have yet known, who will love you as warmly as possible, and who will so completely attach you that you will feel you never really loved before.
 
In 1815, young Caroline Austen became an Auntie to her older sister’s baby. Caroline was only 10 years old and must have been excited, especially when she received the following letter from her own Auntie Jane:
 
Now that you are become an Aunt, you are a person of some consequence and must excite great Interest whatever you do. I have always maintained the importance of Aunts as much as possible.
 
Jane Austen’s belief in “the importance of Aunts” can be also seen by the essential role that they play in her novels.
 
Aunt Gardiner and Lady Catherine in Pride and Prejudice
There are two important Aunties in Pride and Prejudice, and each plays her own part in bringing Elizabeth and Darcy together.
 
Elizabeth Bennett’s Aunt Gardiner is her good friend and confidAunt. Uncle and Aunt Gardiner bring Elizabeth on a tour with them to Derbyshire, and it is here that she sees Darcy’s home. Aunt Gardiner is also the one to reveal to Elizabeth what Darcy has done for her sister, and therefore to make Elizabeth realize how much he cares for her.
 
Mr. Darcy’s aunt, Lady Catherine, is a proud and overbearing woman. She planned for Darcy to marry her own daughter and sees Elizabeth as an upstart. However, in opposing the match, she forces Elizabeth into realizing her own feelings for Darcy. In the end, Lady Catherine achieves the opposite of her goal, but the novel would not be the same without her!
 
Anne Elliot in Persuasion
The heroin of Persuasion, Anne Elliot, is a loving Auntie to her sister Mary’s two boys. Mary is a vain hypochondriac who pays little attention to her little sons, but Auntie Anne steps in to make up for their mother’s shortcomings.
 
In a touching scene, Anne is taking care of one sick nephew when the other climbs over her and won’t let go. Captain Wentworth relieves her by lifting the child away, and this intimacy gives Anne the “most disordered feelings.” So, the scene is set for a reunion of the lovers, thanks to a mischievous nephew.
 
Emma Woodhouse and Miss Bates in Emma
At the beginning of Emma, the heroine sees no reason to ever marry. She enjoys her positions as the rich daughter of the most respected house in Highbury; and she will never lack for affections while her sister’s children are close by. “My nephews and nieces!” she proclaims. “I shall often have a niece with me.”
 
The other Auntie in Emma is the poor and very talkative Miss Bates, whose pride shines through each time she mentions her in her elegant and accomplished niece, Jane Fairfax. Emma looks down her nose at Miss Bates, but she is soon upbraided for this by the novel’s resident uncle: Mr. Knightly.
 
Knightly’s brother is married to Emma’s sister, and the love for their mutual nieces and nephews is one thing that Emma and Knightly can agree on. Surely, this is a good omen for Emma and Knightly’s future relationship together.

Published: March 5, 2013