Jane Austen is one of Britain’s most distinguished authors, known for her six completed novels characterising life among the landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Her skilled prose and wit continue to generate a global fan-base and have inspired a plethora of successful films and TV series.
Less well-known is the writer’s connections with Southampton, in 2025 a line-up of celebratory events is about to set the record straight! Austen is a former resident of Southampton, she attended boarding school here briefly with her sister and celebrated her 18th birthday dancing at a ball in the upstairs rooms of The Dolphin. Many of the historic streets and walkways of the old town would have been only too familiar to her. Read more about Jane Austen's connections to Southampton in our blog post here.
Jane Austen 250 celebrations kick-start with an exhibition of the writer’s travelling desk running now until 23 February 2025 at God’s House Tower, but there will be scores of workshops, dance and music performances and a host of other events right across the city.
A free, downloadable Jane Austen Heritage Walking Trail Map has been specially created pin-pointing eight key locations explaining Austen’s Southampton story.
Check out the events below, watch this space for the latest updates and get involved in a year-long celebration of perhaps the greatest romantic author to have ever lived in Southampton.
Marking the start of Jane Austen 250 in Southampton, Austen’s travelling writing desk will be exhibited at God’s House Tower, just a stone’s throw from where she lived in the city over 200 years ago. On loan from the British Library, the desk is returning to the city the first time since she lived here between 1806 and 1809.
In Training for a Heroine begins with the story of Jane Austen as a young, ambitious writer at the very start of her career. The exhibition takes its title from a passage in Northanger Abbey, in which Austen describes the protagonist, Catherine Morland, at the age of ‘fifteen to seventeen’ - the same age Jane Austen would have been when she began writing the novel.
At the age of nineteen, the author was gifted a travelling writing desk by her father, Rev. George Austen. The portable mahogany desk was designed to fold into a case for ease of travel and has a secret drawer where Austen stored her most treasured possessions.
Extracts from Austen’s letters provide an insight into her life and her time in Southampton, where she lived from 1806-1809. Her writing is full of witty observations, humorous anecdotes, and scandalous gossip, as well as comments and reflections on her own published works and a passionate defence of the novel as a literary form.
‘a space’ arts and Southampton Forward have secured the loan of Jane Austen’s travelling writing desk from the British Library, with support from Art Fund.
This exhibition is part of the Jane Austen at GHT programme, including a new contemporary art commission, No Notion of Loving by Halves by Jocelyn McGregor. It is a site-specific, multi-media installation and programme of live performances that take a deep dive into Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey and the enduring legacy of the ‘Female Gothic’.
Walking Tours
18th & 25th January, 8th, 15th & 22nd February, from 11am.
Discover Jane Austen’s Southampton with a specially curated walking tour in Southampton’s historic Old Town. Discover the locations that influenced Austen's life and writing, including her family home, the bustling fish market, and the hotel where she celebrated her 18th birthday. This circular tour begins and ends at GHT, offering you a unique glimpse into the life of one of the World’s most celebrated authors. Book here.
FLARB (Free, Lazy, Arty, Radical Bookclub)
Saturday 1st Feb, 2pm - 4pm
FLARB is a ZEST Arts Collective initiative run by ZEST co-director and artist Ellen Gillett. For this special series of FLARB events at GHT, Ellen will facilitate an informal conversation in response to the exhibition, referencing a newly commissioned text by Anna Bogutskaya and some coffee and cake. Book a free spot here
Artist Voices: In Conversation with Jocelyn McGregor, Matilda Moors and Anna Bogutskaya (Online)
Thursday 6th Feb, 6pm – 8pm
Join Jocelyn McGregor, Matilda Moors and Anna Bogutskaya to discuss 'genre' in art practice, with a particular focus on the Gothic and horror. Book a free spot here.
And There It Was… For The Curious…
Wednesday 12th Feb, 7:15pm - 8:45pm
And There It Was… For The Curious… is a fabulously fun, engaging and welcoming writing group that meets on the second Wednesday of the month. For this special edition, the group will absorb the history and mystery of Jane Austen’s travelling writing desk. Book a free spot here.
Jane Austen Closing Event
Friday 21st February from 6pm - FREE
The last chance to see three exhibitions: In Training for a Heroine: Jane Austen's Travelling Writing Desk, No Notion of Loving by Halves by Jocelyn McGregor and Dear Jane: a Volunteers Showcase. Find out more and book your free place here.
Curated around descendants and families linked to Jane Austen’s time in Southampton, a never-before-seen exhibition of rare paintings, letters, books and personal items will be on display to the public for the first time. The exhibition will focus on Austen’s female network of friends, many of whom could have been the inspiration for some of her iconic female fictional characters.
This circle of friends included her next-door neighbour Ann Newell, an absentee landlord of plantations and slaves, Charlotte Fitzhugh who married into a wealthy East India Company and was a superfan of Austen’s favourite actress Sarah Siddons, and Anne Middleton, a mixed-race plantation heiress from Jamaica whose private life was splashed across national newspapers. Items on display will include the precious Austen Family Household Book of family recipes and silhouettes first started by Austen’s grandmother.
The Jane Austen Heritage Walking Trail was launched in 2017 to commemorate Austen’s time in Southampton.
There are eight plaques each at a location associated with Jane Austen. The plaque at the beginning of the trail at Bargate marks the place where seven-year-old Jane, her sister and cousin attended a nearby school run by a Mrs Ann Cawley, only to return home again after a few weeks when the school was closed down after an outbreak of typhus. The author spent many holidays in Southampton and subsequently moved to live in the city from 1806 to 1809.
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