Charles Austen

Rear-Admiral Charles John Austen CB (23 June 1779 – 7 October 1852) was an officer in the Royal Navy and the youngest brother of novelist Jane Austen. He served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and beyond, eventually rising to the rank of rear-admiral.

Family and early life

Charles was born in 1779 as the sixth and youngest son of the Reverend George Austen and his wife, Cassandra Leigh.

His elder brother, Sir Francis Austen, also joined the Navy, and eventually became an admiral of the fleet.

Charles joined the Royal Naval Academy in July 1791, and by September 1794, he had become midshipman aboard . He subsequently served aboard and . While serving aboard the Unicorn, Austen assisted in the capture of the 18-gun Dutch brig Comet, the 44-gun French frigate Tribune, and the French transport ship Ville de l'Orient. |group=Note He kept control of her until the following day when Endymion could complete the capture. |group=Note After his continued good service under Captain Charles Paget, the Admiralty promoted Austen to commander and he took command of the sloop on 10 October 1804.

Command Austen spent the next five years serving on the North American Station, based at St. George's Town, at the East End of the developing Imperial fortress of Bermuda (where the Royal Naval Dockyard had yet to be completed at the West End), in British North America. He was promoted to Commander and given command of HMS Indian, a sloop newly built in Bermuda (when ashore, he lived at Alnwick, near to Convict Bay and St. George's Garrison). He was promoted to captain on 10 May 1810 when he was given command of the 74-gun , which was then the flagship of Sir John Borlase Warren. Austen and the Bellerophon returned home, where the latter was paid off in June 1841.

On 30 April 1852 Austen had been thanked for his services in Burma by the Governor-General of India, The Marquess of Dalhousie, who subsequently also formally recorded his regret for Austen's death. his grave was rediscovered in 1984/1985.

There is a monument in his honour at the Esplanade burial ground in Trincomalee. There is also a memorial at St. Anne’s Church in Portsmouth for Austen.

Family and issue Austen married Frances Palmer, the youngest daughter of the late Attorney General of Bermuda, in 1807. The two had three children together.

Footnotes