Cassandra Austen

Cassandra Elizabeth Austen (9 January 1773 – 22 March 1845 ) was an amateur English watercolourist and the elder sister of Jane Austen. The letters between her and Jane form a substantial foundation for scholarly understanding of the life of the novelist.

Childhood

Austen was born in 1773 at a rectory in Steventon, Hampshire, to the Reverend George Austen (1731–1805), a rector, and his wife Cassandra, née Leigh (1739–1827). Jane Austen was one of eight children, and she and her sister Cassandra were the only daughters in the family. The two shared a lifelong and particularly close bond. More than one hundred of Jane's surviving letters to Cassandra have provided valuable insight into the novelist's personal life and relationships, offering historians important details about her daily experiences.

The sisters went to Mrs. Cawley, their uncle's sister, to be educated in 1783. Cawley lived initially in Oxford, and later in Southampton, but when a typhus epidemic broke out in Southampton, they returned to Steventon after both contracted the disease. Between 1785 and 1786 they attended the Reading Abbey Girls' School. Jane was originally not to go, as she was considered to be too young for boarding school, but ended up attending along with her sister.

In their mother's words, "If Cassandra's head had been going to be cut off, Jane would have hers cut off too." Austen's family had reservations about Jane's real appearance: Anna Austen (Mrs Lefroy) called it "so hideously unlike". Also a 1870 watercolour by James Andrews of Maidenhead, based on Cassandra's sketch, and a Lizars's engraving, were criticized by Anna's half-sister Caroline for the treatment of Jane's eyes. The sketch is now housed in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Later life George Austen was not wealthy and had supplemented his income as a country parson "by taking in pupils and tutoring them for Oxford". After graduating from Oxford University, in 1794, one former pupil, Thomas Fowle, became engaged to Cassandra Austen. She passed the remainder on to relations as mementos.

Film portrayals Lucy Cohu plays Cassandra with Danielle Green playing a younger version in The Real Jane Austen (2002), starring Gillian Kearney as Jane. Greta Scacchi plays Cassandra in the BBC drama Miss Austen Regrets (2007), starring Olivia Williams as Jane. Anna Maxwell Martin plays Cassandra in the film Becoming Jane (2007), starring Anne Hathaway as Jane. Keeley Hawes and Synnøve Karlsen play Cassandra in the 2025 miniseries Miss Austen.