THE NEW GROWTH
Robert Austen died at his house in London on a gloomy November day, but his funeral was from his Surrey home and he was buried, according to his directions, in the family vault below the chancel of St. Mary's Church, as became a Lay Rector, or Rector Impropriate to use his legal title.
His life-long friend William Bray records the following entries in his Diary -
1797 November 3rd. To Mr. Austen's at Shalford.
1lth. With Mr. Halsey and Dr. Benamore at 1 o'clock from Mr. Austen's house with the funeral.
12th. Mr. Coussmaker and Mr. Martyr met us at the 'Green Man'. Got to Shalford at 1 o'clock.
l6th. With Master Austen to Harrow School.
Thus are we introduced to Henry Edmund Austen, the first bud of the new growth. He was twelve years old when his father died. His guardians, viz., Henry Halsey of Henley Park, Richard Lannoy Coussmaker of Westwood, and William Bray of Great Russell Street, were all present at their late friend's funeral. Of his school days we know little except that he was a school fellow of Sir Robert Peel, Lord Byron, Lord Aberdeen, and other celebrities of the Regency period. At the age of eighteen he went up to Oxford and was entered at Oriel. He was well off as an undergraduate, for his guardians gave him an allowance of' £400. a year. He was thus able to cut a dash among his fellows, whom he entertained on a generous scale. But though he spent a good deal on his 'Wines' as these College entertainments were called, he inherited some of his father's prudence in money matters and kept a careful account of his expenditure. He kept a horse and dog cart, and though never an ardent sportsman went out occasionally with the hounds. His College bills at Oriel, 1803-05, amounted to £117. 2. 10, which seems moderate according to present day standards.
The set in which Henry Austen moved was composed chiefly of wealthy young men belonging to influential Whig families. They affected liberal ideas - a few from a genuine love of liberty and progress, but more from loyal adherence to the views of the political party with which their families were traditionally associated. Henry Austen knew that in the conflict between the Stuarts and the English Middle Class, which culminated in the Civil War, the Austens had adhered to the Parliamentary Party. He therefore held that his proper place was among its Whig successors. An affected liberalism did not however lessen the tenacity with which he held to the rights and privileges of the land owning class, or the veneration with which he regarded the Throne, the Church, and the British Constitution.
It is said that a man's character may be judged by the books he reads, but though that may be true of those whose characters have had time to develop, it cannot be true of an undergraduate whose reading must to a great extent be determined by the nature of his studies. Nevertheless it may be of interest to name the principal works on Henry Austen's shelves at Oriel, and the price he paid for them. These were Smollett and Hume's History of England, 13 vols., £6. 6. 0.; Milton's Works, 6 vols., £3. 3. 0.; Pliny, l6s.; Gibbon's Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, 12 vols., £6. 16. 6.; Homer's Odyssey, £l. 1. 0.; Paley's Evidences of Christianity, 3 vols., £2. 5. 0.; Aeschylus, £2. 6. 6.; Junius' Letters, 2 vols., £1. 6. 0.; Elegant Extracts of Verse, 2 vols., £l. 4. 0.; and Robertson's Works, 12 vols., price not mentioned. We find that the total he spent on books at Oxford was £84. 5. 0., but the bill was reduced to £76. 15. 6. when he went down, as his obliging bookseller gave him credit for the books which he returned. One rather gathers from this that most of these massive works had reposed on his shelves so peacefully and undisturbed, that he was able, when he left the University in 1807, after taking his M.A. degree, to return them in their original condition.
But though no bookworm, Henry Austen was cultured and well educated. He was a respectable Latinist and an enthusiastic Shakespearean student. His library at Shalford was large and varied, and the number of French books it contained shows that he was a good French scholar. His taste for French literature was developed in later years by residence in France, and by the fact that his wife had French connexions who had been emigres in England during the Revolution.
Under the terms of his father's Will, Henry Austen was to come into the unfettered control of his estate on coming of age, or before that on his marriage, provided that he married with the consent of his guardians. He ignored the latter proviso however, for on 21 October 1805, being then not twenty years old and an undergraduate, he married, without consulting them, Ann Amelia Bate, who was also under age. The ceremony took place by license at St. Leonard's Church, Shoreditch, known as the Actor's Church because it was the church of Burbage and many of the players of the Elizabethan period. There is nothing on record to account for this curious choice, except that it was in a remote locality where he was not likely to meet people whom he knew, and was therefore well suited to a clandestine marriage, both his wife and himself being legally infants at the time. This hasty and imprudent action got him into trouble. The Consistory Court of the Bishop of London took legal action against him for making the false declaration that he and his wife were of full age. This offence was eventually purged by the payment of a fine. But besides the wrath of the Church, he had to face the cold disapproval of his guardians who complained that he should not have married without first obtaining their consent.
Robert Austen died at his house in London on a gloomy November day, but his funeral was from his Surrey home and he was buried, according to his directions, in the family vault below the chancel of St. Mary's Church, as became a Lay Rector, or Rector Impropriate to use his legal title.
His life-long friend William Bray records the following entries in his Diary -
1797 November 3rd. To Mr. Austen's at Shalford.
1lth. With Mr. Halsey and Dr. Benamore at 1 o'clock from Mr. Austen's house with the funeral.
12th. Mr. Coussmaker and Mr. Martyr met us at the 'Green Man'. Got to Shalford at 1 o'clock.
l6th. With Master Austen to Harrow School.
Thus are we introduced to Henry Edmund Austen, the first bud of the new growth. He was twelve years old when his father died. His guardians, viz., Henry Halsey of Henley Park, Richard Lannoy Coussmaker of Westwood, and William Bray of Great Russell Street, were all present at their late friend's funeral. Of his school days we know little except that he was a school fellow of Sir Robert Peel, Lord Byron, Lord Aberdeen, and other celebrities of the Regency period. At the age of eighteen he went up to Oxford and was entered at Oriel. He was well off as an undergraduate, for his guardians gave him an allowance of' £400. a year. He was thus able to cut a dash among his fellows, whom he entertained on a generous scale. But though he spent a good deal on his 'Wines' as these College entertainments were called, he inherited some of his father's prudence in money matters and kept a careful account of his expenditure. He kept a horse and dog cart, and though never an ardent sportsman went out occasionally with the hounds. His College bills at Oriel, 1803-05, amounted to £117. 2. 10, which seems moderate according to present day standards.
The set in which Henry Austen moved was composed chiefly of wealthy young men belonging to influential Whig families. They affected liberal ideas - a few from a genuine love of liberty and progress, but more from loyal adherence to the views of the political party with which their families were traditionally associated. Henry Austen knew that in the conflict between the Stuarts and the English Middle Class, which culminated in the Civil War, the Austens had adhered to the Parliamentary Party. He therefore held that his proper place was among its Whig successors. An affected liberalism did not however lessen the tenacity with which he held to the rights and privileges of the land owning class, or the veneration with which he regarded the Throne, the Church, and the British Constitution.
It is said that a man's character may be judged by the books he reads, but though that may be true of those whose characters have had time to develop, it cannot be true of an undergraduate whose reading must to a great extent be determined by the nature of his studies. Nevertheless it may be of interest to name the principal works on Henry Austen's shelves at Oriel, and the price he paid for them. These were Smollett and Hume's History of England, 13 vols., £6. 6. 0.; Milton's Works, 6 vols., £3. 3. 0.; Pliny, l6s.; Gibbon's Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, 12 vols., £6. 16. 6.; Homer's Odyssey, £l. 1. 0.; Paley's Evidences of Christianity, 3 vols., £2. 5. 0.; Aeschylus, £2. 6. 6.; Junius' Letters, 2 vols., £1. 6. 0.; Elegant Extracts of Verse, 2 vols., £l. 4. 0.; and Robertson's Works, 12 vols., price not mentioned. We find that the total he spent on books at Oxford was £84. 5. 0., but the bill was reduced to £76. 15. 6. when he went down, as his obliging bookseller gave him credit for the books which he returned. One rather gathers from this that most of these massive works had reposed on his shelves so peacefully and undisturbed, that he was able, when he left the University in 1807, after taking his M.A. degree, to return them in their original condition.
But though no bookworm, Henry Austen was cultured and well educated. He was a respectable Latinist and an enthusiastic Shakespearean student. His library at Shalford was large and varied, and the number of French books it contained shows that he was a good French scholar. His taste for French literature was developed in later years by residence in France, and by the fact that his wife had French connexions who had been emigres in England during the Revolution.
Under the terms of his father's Will, Henry Austen was to come into the unfettered control of his estate on coming of age, or before that on his marriage, provided that he married with the consent of his guardians. He ignored the latter proviso however, for on 21 October 1805, being then not twenty years old and an undergraduate, he married, without consulting them, Ann Amelia Bate, who was also under age. The ceremony took place by license at St. Leonard's Church, Shoreditch, known as the Actor's Church because it was the church of Burbage and many of the players of the Elizabethan period. There is nothing on record to account for this curious choice, except that it was in a remote locality where he was not likely to meet people whom he knew, and was therefore well suited to a clandestine marriage, both his wife and himself being legally infants at the time. This hasty and imprudent action got him into trouble. The Consistory Court of the Bishop of London took legal action against him for making the false declaration that he and his wife were of full age. This offence was eventually purged by the payment of a fine. But besides the wrath of the Church, he had to face the cold disapproval of his guardians who complained that he should not have married without first obtaining their consent.
His wife, Ann Amelia Bate, was the only daughter of Robert Spearman Bate, formerly a Captain in the East India Company's Army in which he had served on the Madras Establishment. There is some uncertainty as to who her mother was. In a pedigree of rather uncertain authority, her maiden name is stated to have been Struther; but it may have been De Belloy. Ann Amelia Austen was certainly connected with the De Belloys. One of her kinsmen was Cardinal De Belloy, the saintly Archbishop of Paris, another was the Marquis de Belloy, head of a noble but impoverished family of Picardy. Ann Amelia Bate, or Mrs. Austen as we must now call her, was tall and good-looking. She was also an artist of some talent as well as an accomplished musician.
The young couple moved about a good deal in the early years of their marriage. In 1806 they were living in lodgings at Broadstairs, and there their first child was born - a boy who died before he was a year old. In 1807 they were living in a rented house at Spring Hill, Southamton. There they set up house and kept a pair of horses and a carriage. Besides a coachman, the establishment consisted of two indoor servants. Interesting details have been preserved regarding the items and cost of the coachman's livery. The Bill shows that it included:
A Box-cloth Overcoat of fine Livery Drab with five large Capes lined throughout with Padaswey, £5.10.0.; a Surtout for ditto of same cloth with one Cape and Collar, £3. 10. 0.; a Blue Coat of fine Livery Cloth with yellow Welts, Cuffs, and Collar laced, £2. 10. 0.; a pair of best Livery shag-lined Leather Breeches, £l. 15. 0.; a yellow cloth Waistcoat with Shalloon sleeves £l. 5. 0.; a Fustian Jacket lined throughout, £l. 5. 0.; and a pair of Fustian Overhauls, £l. 1. 0.
This noble outfit was completed with a Livery glazed Hat gold-laced with a two-inch gold band, £1. 18. 0. Evidently the Jehu waxed fat, for later in 1807 there is a charge of 1/4d. for letting out his breeches!
Like his father, Henry Austen was prudent, for on his marriage he insured his life for £3000 in the Pelican Life Office, for which he paid an annual premium of £2. 5. 4. per cent.
In 1808 Henry and Ann Amelia Austen went into residence at Shalford. During his minority the house had been let, and among the tenants was H.R.H. the Comte d'Artois, afterwards Charles X., brother of Louis XVI., King of France. 'Monsieur', as he was then called, lived there for some months before he went to Holyrood, which was placed at his disposal by the Prince Regent. A tree outside the drawing-room at Shalford is said to have been planted by him.
Among the Austen Bills of this period are many for furniture, curtains, etc., and for painting and decorating. The Dining Room, now called the Oak Room, was furnished with handsome red and gold curtains and pelmets, and coats of arms in stained glass were placed in the windows.
Meanwhile the Austen family was increasing rapidly. Between 1808 and 1820 there were born at Shalford a daughter and four of the six sons of Henry and Amelia Austen. Robert Alfred was born in 1808, Henry in 1809, Amelia in 1810, Frederick in 1813, and John in 1820. The other two sons were Algernon born in Edinburgh in 1815, and the youngest, Albert, born at Versailles in 1822. Mrs. Austen was the Lady Bountiful of Shalford and was much beloved for her kindness and the care she took of the poor, the sick and the infirm.
In 1810 Henry Austen was 'picked' for the Office of High Sheriff of Surrey. His principal duty as such was to attend the King's Judges at the Assizes, which were held at Kingston in the Spring and at Guildford in the Summer. He had also to attend Quarter Sessions at Kingston and Reigate. On the first day of the Assizes the High Sheriff had to wait upon the Judges and escort them with a hired bodyguard of eight Javelin men and a trumpeter whose trumpet bore a banner displaying his arms. The whole party had to be mounted, fed, paid, clothed in liveries, and equipped with halberts at his expense. He had also to make a handsome present to the Judges' Chaplain and to the Sexton or Verger of the Parish Church on the first Sunday of the Assizes when their Lordships attended Divine Service in State. Besides this, the Sheriff had to provide their Lordships with a carriage and four horses on the day of their entry, and thereafter a carriage and two horses. Wherever they went, two footmen in livery, carrying canes, had to be in attendance. The Sheriff had also to entertain the Judges, the gentlemen of the Grand Jury, as well as such of his friends among the County Gentry as chose to honour him by their presence on the occasion. This entertainment took the form of a public breakfast, or luncheon as we would call it, at one of the Inns, and presumably the Judges did some entertaining on their own account later, for I find that Henry Austen had to give the Clerk of the Assizes three dozen of Claret, a dozen of Port and a dozen of Sherry or Madeira, which we may assume was for the use of the Judges. To complete the sum of his benefactions, three dozen favours of the High Sheriff's colours had to be distributed by the Under Sheriff to the Bailiffs and the servants of the High Sheriff's friends, who were regaled with ale at his expense. A memorandum in Henry Austen's writing shows that acceptance of the office of High Sheriff cost him £60, but other expenses brought up the total to about £100 - a heavy charge for a country gentleman of moderate means with a rapidly increasing family.
The Penal Laws of those days were terribly harsh. At the Guildford Assizes of 18th August 1810 there were 65 prisoners for trial. Of these 13 were sentenced to death; 10 were reprieved and 6 of them were whipped; but 3 were executed, one for stealing 2 sheep, another for stealing 2 horses, and the third, a woman, for burglary. Those sentenced to death for whom a reprieve was allowed, had their sentences reduced to transportation, nominally for life, but really for seven years; for after good conduct and service for that period as an indentured servant of one of the colonists, the prisoner was restored to freedom and assisted to make a new start in life. Up to about 1776 transportation was to the West Indies and American colonies. These were called Plantations, because the convicts were mostly sent to the cotton or tobacco growing areas. We get a vivid picture of the lives of these unfortunates in Defoe's novel, 'Moll Flanders' and in Sabatini's 'Captain Blood'. They were virtually slaves for the time being, and were in some cases treated with great harshness. Cromwell disposed of Royalist prisoners taken in Ireland, and James II. of prisoners taken in Monmouth's rebellion, by selling them as slaves to the planters in the West Indies and America. After the Declaration of Independence no more convicts went to America, where they swelled the ranks of the poor whites. They had to be sent elsewhere, and this led to the use of Botany Bay and Van Diemen's Land as penal settlements. Some of the convicts were ruffians of the worst kind, but most of them were the victims of extreme poverty, which drove them to petty thefts and poaching, offences which nowadays would be disposed of by a caution in the case of first offenders, or some comparatively light punishment.
The young couple moved about a good deal in the early years of their marriage. In 1806 they were living in lodgings at Broadstairs, and there their first child was born - a boy who died before he was a year old. In 1807 they were living in a rented house at Spring Hill, Southamton. There they set up house and kept a pair of horses and a carriage. Besides a coachman, the establishment consisted of two indoor servants. Interesting details have been preserved regarding the items and cost of the coachman's livery. The Bill shows that it included:
A Box-cloth Overcoat of fine Livery Drab with five large Capes lined throughout with Padaswey, £5.10.0.; a Surtout for ditto of same cloth with one Cape and Collar, £3. 10. 0.; a Blue Coat of fine Livery Cloth with yellow Welts, Cuffs, and Collar laced, £2. 10. 0.; a pair of best Livery shag-lined Leather Breeches, £l. 15. 0.; a yellow cloth Waistcoat with Shalloon sleeves £l. 5. 0.; a Fustian Jacket lined throughout, £l. 5. 0.; and a pair of Fustian Overhauls, £l. 1. 0.
This noble outfit was completed with a Livery glazed Hat gold-laced with a two-inch gold band, £1. 18. 0. Evidently the Jehu waxed fat, for later in 1807 there is a charge of 1/4d. for letting out his breeches!
Like his father, Henry Austen was prudent, for on his marriage he insured his life for £3000 in the Pelican Life Office, for which he paid an annual premium of £2. 5. 4. per cent.
In 1808 Henry and Ann Amelia Austen went into residence at Shalford. During his minority the house had been let, and among the tenants was H.R.H. the Comte d'Artois, afterwards Charles X., brother of Louis XVI., King of France. 'Monsieur', as he was then called, lived there for some months before he went to Holyrood, which was placed at his disposal by the Prince Regent. A tree outside the drawing-room at Shalford is said to have been planted by him.
Among the Austen Bills of this period are many for furniture, curtains, etc., and for painting and decorating. The Dining Room, now called the Oak Room, was furnished with handsome red and gold curtains and pelmets, and coats of arms in stained glass were placed in the windows.
Meanwhile the Austen family was increasing rapidly. Between 1808 and 1820 there were born at Shalford a daughter and four of the six sons of Henry and Amelia Austen. Robert Alfred was born in 1808, Henry in 1809, Amelia in 1810, Frederick in 1813, and John in 1820. The other two sons were Algernon born in Edinburgh in 1815, and the youngest, Albert, born at Versailles in 1822. Mrs. Austen was the Lady Bountiful of Shalford and was much beloved for her kindness and the care she took of the poor, the sick and the infirm.
In 1810 Henry Austen was 'picked' for the Office of High Sheriff of Surrey. His principal duty as such was to attend the King's Judges at the Assizes, which were held at Kingston in the Spring and at Guildford in the Summer. He had also to attend Quarter Sessions at Kingston and Reigate. On the first day of the Assizes the High Sheriff had to wait upon the Judges and escort them with a hired bodyguard of eight Javelin men and a trumpeter whose trumpet bore a banner displaying his arms. The whole party had to be mounted, fed, paid, clothed in liveries, and equipped with halberts at his expense. He had also to make a handsome present to the Judges' Chaplain and to the Sexton or Verger of the Parish Church on the first Sunday of the Assizes when their Lordships attended Divine Service in State. Besides this, the Sheriff had to provide their Lordships with a carriage and four horses on the day of their entry, and thereafter a carriage and two horses. Wherever they went, two footmen in livery, carrying canes, had to be in attendance. The Sheriff had also to entertain the Judges, the gentlemen of the Grand Jury, as well as such of his friends among the County Gentry as chose to honour him by their presence on the occasion. This entertainment took the form of a public breakfast, or luncheon as we would call it, at one of the Inns, and presumably the Judges did some entertaining on their own account later, for I find that Henry Austen had to give the Clerk of the Assizes three dozen of Claret, a dozen of Port and a dozen of Sherry or Madeira, which we may assume was for the use of the Judges. To complete the sum of his benefactions, three dozen favours of the High Sheriff's colours had to be distributed by the Under Sheriff to the Bailiffs and the servants of the High Sheriff's friends, who were regaled with ale at his expense. A memorandum in Henry Austen's writing shows that acceptance of the office of High Sheriff cost him £60, but other expenses brought up the total to about £100 - a heavy charge for a country gentleman of moderate means with a rapidly increasing family.
The Penal Laws of those days were terribly harsh. At the Guildford Assizes of 18th August 1810 there were 65 prisoners for trial. Of these 13 were sentenced to death; 10 were reprieved and 6 of them were whipped; but 3 were executed, one for stealing 2 sheep, another for stealing 2 horses, and the third, a woman, for burglary. Those sentenced to death for whom a reprieve was allowed, had their sentences reduced to transportation, nominally for life, but really for seven years; for after good conduct and service for that period as an indentured servant of one of the colonists, the prisoner was restored to freedom and assisted to make a new start in life. Up to about 1776 transportation was to the West Indies and American colonies. These were called Plantations, because the convicts were mostly sent to the cotton or tobacco growing areas. We get a vivid picture of the lives of these unfortunates in Defoe's novel, 'Moll Flanders' and in Sabatini's 'Captain Blood'. They were virtually slaves for the time being, and were in some cases treated with great harshness. Cromwell disposed of Royalist prisoners taken in Ireland, and James II. of prisoners taken in Monmouth's rebellion, by selling them as slaves to the planters in the West Indies and America. After the Declaration of Independence no more convicts went to America, where they swelled the ranks of the poor whites. They had to be sent elsewhere, and this led to the use of Botany Bay and Van Diemen's Land as penal settlements. Some of the convicts were ruffians of the worst kind, but most of them were the victims of extreme poverty, which drove them to petty thefts and poaching, offences which nowadays would be disposed of by a caution in the case of first offenders, or some comparatively light punishment.
Of the less serious offences dealt with at Quarter Sessions during Henry Austen's Shrievalty, a few cases may be noticed as showing how much our laws and customs have changed since those days. On 22nd June 1810, George Green got one month's hard labour for unlawfully absenting himself from the service of his master without leave or authority. In these days, when servants so often 'walk out' without giving notice, many employers would welcome a revival of the law that then protected them. Another case may be mentioned. On 4th July 1810, Mark Kilroy on the oath of Bridget McCabe, was charged with having gotten her with child, which child was born a bastard chargeable to the parish of St. Saviour's, Southwark. Nowadays Kilroy could have demanded a blood test, and if this had shown him to be the father of the child, an affiliation summons would have been served on him and he would have been made to contribute towards its support.
During the winter months of' 1813-14, the Austens stayed at Bath, probably on account of Mrs. Austen's health. They rented furnished house - No. 5 Green Park Place, for thirteen weeks at rental of £100. Some of the Bills relating to this visit have been preserved and are interesting as indicating the wages and prices of that period. The footman's wages were £29. 8. 0. per annum. Those of the cook £15. 15. 0., of the parlour-maid £l0. 10. 0., and of the Kitchen maid £9. 9. 0. The wages were paid quarterly. For a Sable Tippet purchased from S. Brookman, Haberdasher, of Abbey Churchyard, Mrs. Austen paid £l. 8. 0., which seems very cheap. Mr. Austen and his wife evidently shared in the amusements and gaieties of the Bath Assembly Rooms, for there is a Bill for £2. 16. 0. for the hire of fancy dresses worn at a Masquerade.
The ending of the French Wars produced great political and economic changes in England. All through the War period the price of corn had been very high and farmers had enjoyed great prosperity, for in the matter of food the Britain of that day was self-supporting. During this period landowners were able to command high rents, for where the land was fertile there was keen competition to lease their farms. The rent of Nore, for instance, was £800 a year up to 1814. The slump that came after Waterloo led to a fall in prices and consequently to a shrinkage of landowners' rent rolls. Henry Austen suffered severely in this respect, and to economise let Shalford House and went to live abroad.
The Austen family went to France in 1821. They landed at Calais and set out at once for Paris. We learn from the Diligence Agent's bill, dated 30th September, 1821, that the contract for the journey was as follows -
Conduire M. Austen et sa famille de Calais a Paris pour le prix de 470 francs en lui fournissant cinq chevaux dont trois pour une voiture à tire (this was his own carriage) et lui fournir un coupé (this was the hired vehicle for conveying the maid and younger boys).
Henry Austen's note on the bill says - 'Paid 245 francs in advance - balance to be paid on arrival.' After a short stay in Paris, the Austens settled at Versailles where they rented a house in the Impasse de Satory, belonging to the Aurelles de Villiers, at a rental of 4800 francs a year, paid quarterly.
Christmas 1821 must have been celebrated in English fashion, for we find that in December Henry Austen was in Paris, where he bought eighteen mince pies from an English Pastry Cook living at 23 Place Vendôme, who states in his bill that ‘he formally (sic) lived near the Grande Hotel de Rivoli.
Early in 1822 the two eldest Austen boys, Robert Alfred and Henry, were pupils of a Mr. Beaver, an English Tutor living at Versailles; but as soon as they had acquired a sufficient knowledge of French, they entered the local Lycée then called the Collage Royal de Versailles. Of Henry's progress there nothing is said; but of Robert Alfred the Headmaster gave a very good report.
Je profite de cette occasion pour vous dire que votre fils fait des efforts pour se rendre digne de tous vos soins. J’espère que son zéle ne ralentira pas et qu’il continuera toujours de marcher dans le bon chemin.
The fee for 'Austen, élève, Pensionnaire au Collège Royal' was 209 francs 38 centimes per quarter - a very low fee for an excellent education.
Later Henry Austen's third and fourth sons, Frederick and Algernon, were pupils of Mr. R. Roberts, 24 Rue de Vergennes, Versailles, and the fee paid him, for each of the brothers was 250 francs a month. Frederick was still there in 1825, but Algernon left after a while to join the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth, a precursor of the 'Britannia' and Dartmouth, for which he had received a nomination.
Henry Austen's fifth son John, had a rather different bringing up. He was the best looking of' the boys, and was known as 'pretty Jack'. An old retired officer, General Mackay of the East India Company's service, and his wife, took a great fancy to the lad and when the Austens went abroad, they asked that little Jack might stay with them. The invitation was accepted and for some five years he lived very happily with the old couple who became very fond of him. In 1830, Mr. Henry Austen, writing to the General, expressed the wish that John should return to his family, so as to be a companion to his younger brother, Albert. A letter has been preserved in which General Mackay 'deplores this decision', but admits that 'he cannot oppose Mr. Austen's wishes'; and so Jack, rather unwillingly, returned to his own family. He had been much petted and spoilt by the kind old couple, who wanted to adopt him as they had no children. It was a rude awakening for little Jack to find himself the junior but one of a brood of six, and not much considered either by his parents or his brothers. Frederick was his father's favourite, while his mother's affection was centred on her youngest son Albert. Jack's best friend was his eldest brother, of whom he was very fond. He made fun of his brother Henry who was solemn and rather fat, Algernon he hardly knew, and his younger brother Albert he greatly disliked, he being the model boy of the family and his mother's darling. If Jack was ever in France as a boy it must have been for a short time only, for he never knew much French and was sent to school in England. Amelia, the only daughter, was in 1831 a pensionnaire at a School for Young Ladies called 'L'Institution de Demoiselles, Boulevard de la Reine, Versailles, dirigee by Madame Crosnier nee Digoin de Varigny.'
During the winter months of' 1813-14, the Austens stayed at Bath, probably on account of Mrs. Austen's health. They rented furnished house - No. 5 Green Park Place, for thirteen weeks at rental of £100. Some of the Bills relating to this visit have been preserved and are interesting as indicating the wages and prices of that period. The footman's wages were £29. 8. 0. per annum. Those of the cook £15. 15. 0., of the parlour-maid £l0. 10. 0., and of the Kitchen maid £9. 9. 0. The wages were paid quarterly. For a Sable Tippet purchased from S. Brookman, Haberdasher, of Abbey Churchyard, Mrs. Austen paid £l. 8. 0., which seems very cheap. Mr. Austen and his wife evidently shared in the amusements and gaieties of the Bath Assembly Rooms, for there is a Bill for £2. 16. 0. for the hire of fancy dresses worn at a Masquerade.
The ending of the French Wars produced great political and economic changes in England. All through the War period the price of corn had been very high and farmers had enjoyed great prosperity, for in the matter of food the Britain of that day was self-supporting. During this period landowners were able to command high rents, for where the land was fertile there was keen competition to lease their farms. The rent of Nore, for instance, was £800 a year up to 1814. The slump that came after Waterloo led to a fall in prices and consequently to a shrinkage of landowners' rent rolls. Henry Austen suffered severely in this respect, and to economise let Shalford House and went to live abroad.
The Austen family went to France in 1821. They landed at Calais and set out at once for Paris. We learn from the Diligence Agent's bill, dated 30th September, 1821, that the contract for the journey was as follows -
Conduire M. Austen et sa famille de Calais a Paris pour le prix de 470 francs en lui fournissant cinq chevaux dont trois pour une voiture à tire (this was his own carriage) et lui fournir un coupé (this was the hired vehicle for conveying the maid and younger boys).
Henry Austen's note on the bill says - 'Paid 245 francs in advance - balance to be paid on arrival.' After a short stay in Paris, the Austens settled at Versailles where they rented a house in the Impasse de Satory, belonging to the Aurelles de Villiers, at a rental of 4800 francs a year, paid quarterly.
Christmas 1821 must have been celebrated in English fashion, for we find that in December Henry Austen was in Paris, where he bought eighteen mince pies from an English Pastry Cook living at 23 Place Vendôme, who states in his bill that ‘he formally (sic) lived near the Grande Hotel de Rivoli.
Early in 1822 the two eldest Austen boys, Robert Alfred and Henry, were pupils of a Mr. Beaver, an English Tutor living at Versailles; but as soon as they had acquired a sufficient knowledge of French, they entered the local Lycée then called the Collage Royal de Versailles. Of Henry's progress there nothing is said; but of Robert Alfred the Headmaster gave a very good report.
Je profite de cette occasion pour vous dire que votre fils fait des efforts pour se rendre digne de tous vos soins. J’espère que son zéle ne ralentira pas et qu’il continuera toujours de marcher dans le bon chemin.
The fee for 'Austen, élève, Pensionnaire au Collège Royal' was 209 francs 38 centimes per quarter - a very low fee for an excellent education.
Later Henry Austen's third and fourth sons, Frederick and Algernon, were pupils of Mr. R. Roberts, 24 Rue de Vergennes, Versailles, and the fee paid him, for each of the brothers was 250 francs a month. Frederick was still there in 1825, but Algernon left after a while to join the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth, a precursor of the 'Britannia' and Dartmouth, for which he had received a nomination.
Henry Austen's fifth son John, had a rather different bringing up. He was the best looking of' the boys, and was known as 'pretty Jack'. An old retired officer, General Mackay of the East India Company's service, and his wife, took a great fancy to the lad and when the Austens went abroad, they asked that little Jack might stay with them. The invitation was accepted and for some five years he lived very happily with the old couple who became very fond of him. In 1830, Mr. Henry Austen, writing to the General, expressed the wish that John should return to his family, so as to be a companion to his younger brother, Albert. A letter has been preserved in which General Mackay 'deplores this decision', but admits that 'he cannot oppose Mr. Austen's wishes'; and so Jack, rather unwillingly, returned to his own family. He had been much petted and spoilt by the kind old couple, who wanted to adopt him as they had no children. It was a rude awakening for little Jack to find himself the junior but one of a brood of six, and not much considered either by his parents or his brothers. Frederick was his father's favourite, while his mother's affection was centred on her youngest son Albert. Jack's best friend was his eldest brother, of whom he was very fond. He made fun of his brother Henry who was solemn and rather fat, Algernon he hardly knew, and his younger brother Albert he greatly disliked, he being the model boy of the family and his mother's darling. If Jack was ever in France as a boy it must have been for a short time only, for he never knew much French and was sent to school in England. Amelia, the only daughter, was in 1831 a pensionnaire at a School for Young Ladies called 'L'Institution de Demoiselles, Boulevard de la Reine, Versailles, dirigee by Madame Crosnier nee Digoin de Varigny.'
In 1811, Mrs. Austen, Henry Austen's mother, got tired of being a widow and married, rather suddenly and imprudently, a Mr. James Crompton. He was poor, of obscure origin and without character or personality. Presumably he thought that he would better his position by marrying a widow who though not rich was comfortably off. Fortunately for her, her money was so strictly tied up that her husband failed to get the handling of it. They separated after a while, his wife's piety proving more oppressive than James Crompton could bear. This incident rather confirms the estimate of Frances Cromptons character formed by her first husband Robert Austen, viz., that she lacked balance and was not to be trusted with the management of money. Her instability was shown later by a complete change of religious views. From being attracted by Methodism she fell under the spell of Rome. On the authority of Mrs. Rae Godwin-Austen she is said to have become a Roman Catholic, and this is perhaps borne out by the fact that certain documents bearing her signature are witnessed by a Roman Catholic priest. In the end however, she seems to have reverted to the Church of England of which she was apparently a member in 1845 when she died, she being then 94 years old. She died at Cheltenham, very suddenly of influenza, and her daughter Elizabeth Smith Austen fell a victim a few days later to the same epidemic. Mrs. Crompton was pious and much given to good works. Her wedding present to my grandfather John Austen, and Ann Philpot, his wife, was a beautifully-bound Bible in which she wrote 'remember dear children that the Scriptures have God for their Author, Truth for their Foundation, and Salvation for their End.'
Elizabeth Smith Austen who lived with and looked after her mother through life, was a good woman of business and managed her affairs with marked ability. Besides being a devoted daughter, she was the best of spinster aunts, and was a mother to her two orphan nephews, Edward Henry and Paul Austen Bedford who were brought up by their grandmother and herself. Affection and care were wasted however in their case, for both youths were spoi1t and unreliable and both developed unsatisfactory characters when they grew up, particularly the one who entered the Church. The brothers Bedford inherited between them a fortune of £18,000 which they squandered in a few years through extravagance, drink and vice. They were cordially detested by their uncle Henry and all their Austen cousins.
Some of the household bills of the Austens when living at Versailles are rather interesting. It was the period of the Bourbon Restoration so most of the Bills are headed with an engraving of the Royal Arms of France. The family chemist, Monsieur Batelle, describes himself as 'Pharmacten de MM. les Gardes du Corps du Roi.' His bill, besides Fleurs d'Oranges, includes the familiar item 'Sel d'Epsom Anglais 4 onces, 2 francs.' There are many wine bills. Champagne cost 5 francs a bottle as supplied by 'S. Soupè et Cie, Fournisseurs de Vins du Roi et de Leurs Altesses Royales le Duc de Bordeaux et Madame la Duchesse de Berri.' The gem of these accounts is that furnished by the draper who supplied 'la famille Osten' with linen and lingerie. M. Barre' Degoufreville, for that was his name, describes his shop as 'La Maison de Confiance, Rue Satory No. 19.' He seems to have been in advance of his times in the matter of publicity and advertising, for in a circular dated 1821 he addresses his customers as follows -
Monsieur Degoufreville pense qu'il ne doit pas employer le charlatanisme qui s'ost glisse dans le commerce depuis plusieurs années. Il s'entient absolument à vendre tres bon marché et à conserver son ancient titre de Maison de Confiance.
Henry Austen was a good and careful landlord and while abroad received monthly reports from his bailiff, giving him particulars of all happenings and expenditure relating to his estate. Details of personal interest were interspersed with business items. We learn that Mrs. Smith's infant died soon after birth; that the Dun Cow had dropped a calf; that Widow Jones' gate post was badly in need of repairs, and that Farmer Botting, of Manor House Farm, was as usual in arrears with his rent.
In his desire to protect his estate from the mismanagement of his widow, in whose Judgment he had no confidence, Mr. Robert Austen had placed it in the hands of trustees whose discretion was limited by so many provisions in his Will, that administration of the property presented many difficulties. There was a proviso that no trees were to be cut down and that his collection of coins was to be treated as an heirloom. Henry Austen, his son and heir, was not interested in coins, but he was anxious to make provision for his younger children who, through the property being entailed, could take no share in the settled estate. So he sought permission to sell the coin collection and to fell timber as occasion demanded. Eventually he succeeded, but not without having to go to the expense of getting a Private Bill passed by Parliament to give him the requisite authority. So by Act 50. of George III. 1810, the surviving trustees under the Will of Robert Austen were empowered to sell the coins which realised £4000, and under certain conditions, to cut down trees, the amount realised from these sources being credited to a separate fund controlled by the Court of Chancery to be formed to the uses of the Will. This fund, which was known as the Nore Timber Fund, proved a valuable asset to the estate for its value on lst July 1857 was £13,888 and about 1870 it was worth about twice that amount.
Henry Austen's children were now growing up, and in due course the eldest son went to Oxford, one of them became a solicitor, one went into the Navy and three into the Army; and his only daughter married. Meanwhile I will continue my account of the life and times of Henry Edmund Austen, 10th Squire of' Shalford. He was swept into politics about 1830, when William IV. had come to the throne and the country was in a great state of agitation over the Corn Laws which had been passed in 1815 in the interests of the landowners. By stopping the importation of foreign corn, the price of' home grown wheat was kept up. Farmers were thus enabled to maintain their profits and landowners their rents.
These laws were manifestly unfair to the growing population of the industrial towns which in many cases were not represented in Parliament. Nevertheless these laws were not repealed until 1846, and then only after the passing of the Reform Bill of 1832 which put the franchise on a more liberal and logical basis, abolished the pocket boroughs and distributed the 143 seats taken from them among the new industrial towns. These reforms were stoutly opposed by the Tory majority in the House of Lords, but they were taken up by the Whigs, led by Earl Grey, and the rejection of the Reform Bill by the Lords after it had been passed by the Commons caused so great an agitation that riots were started all over England. The feeling in the country became so violent that the Duke of Wellington, the Tory leader, advised his followers to give way. The Bill was reintroduced and the Reform Act of 1832 was then passed by both Houses.
Henry Austen who was a Whig by tradition and inclination, was a warm supporter of Lord Grey's policy of reform. He worked whole-heartedly in favour of it and his position as a landowner gave him considerable local influence. His political services were rewarded by a knighthood in 1832 and later in the same year by his appointment as a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, a sinecure appointment in the Royal Household not to be confused with that of a Privy Councillor. It is said that there was some talk of his being offered a peerage, which was to have been a revival in his favour of the extinct Barony of Haversham to which he had some claim being a descendant of the Honble Helena Thompson, eldest daughter of the first Lord Haversham, who married Sir Henry's great-grandfather, the Rev. Thomas Gregory, Rector of Toddington, Beds., and Haversham, Bucks. This project was abandoned however, partly because the income of the family estate was insufficient to support the dignity of a Baron, and partly because Sir Henry's eldest son, Robert Alfred Cloyne Austen, opposed the proposal, for being burdened with an ever growing family, he was unable to face the additional expense which higher social rank would have entailed.
Sir Henry Austen, as we will now call him, was a good landlord. He originated the idea of allotments, i.e., the setting apart of small plots of land for letting to agricultural labourers at nominal rents, so as to enable them to supplement their meagre wages by growing potatoes and vegetables and so helping them to maintain their families. As a farm labourer's wages at this time were only 12/- a week, to hold an allotment was a real benefit to an industrious married man.
Sir Henry added considerably to the acreage of his estate. He bought farms and houses adjoining his property as opportunity offered, and generally raised the purchase money by mortgaging other portions of the estate. Many of his household bills have been preserved and they furnish interesting details. Rents were paid in arrears and tenants were often behindhand in their payments. Thus Sir Henry, in common with other landowners, was at times very short of cash. His bankers were Haydon & Co. of Guildford, but his bills were not paid by cheque as they would be now. All important payments were made by Promissory Notes at three months' sight. The more important purchases, such as wine, books and pictures, came to Guildford from London by carrier's waggon, but heavier articles, such as coal, timber, stone, bricks, gravel, etc. , came by river and canal.
From Weybridge where it joined the Thames, the River Wey had in 1653 been made navigable as far as Guildford and in 1760 as far as Godalming, the original course of the river being changed to improve navigation. The straight reach of the river below St. Catherine's is largely artificial, its original winding course being that now indicated by the backwater near Shalford House. Among the family archives are the maps prepared to show to whom the lands below St. Catherine's belonged at the time that the Wey was canalised, together with the assessments of the Commissioners of the Wey Navigation as to the compensation payable to owners whose land had been taken up. In 1913 the Wey was joined, through Bramley and Cranley, to the Arun above Pulborough in Sussex.
Sir Henry Austen did much to improve his farms and the cottages of the labourers. He adopted picturesque designs for the latter, and the extent of his activities in this respect can be traced by the small shields bearing the letter A which he placed over the porches of all the farm houses and cottages on the estate. In 1837 he had an album of drawings made of the principal houses he owned. This collection, which has been preserved and is a fine example of pencil work, was executed by a young artist named Russell, a member of a well known Guildford family one of whom was John Russell, R.A., the famous pastel portrait painter. The latter drew the portraits of Sir Henry and his sister Elizabeth as children. Both were sold to Mr. Godman in 1899 when the contents of Shalford House were auctioned and dispersed.
Like his father, Sir Henry was a great planter of trees. The afforestation of the Chantry Downs begun by his father, was continued by him and resulted in the Chantry Woods now one of Guildford's beauty spots and part of the Green Belt of London. The Chantries became in his time an excellent game preserve and the pheasant shooting in these woods was, until less than half a century ago, one of the principal amenities of the estate. These also included trout fishing in the Tillingbourne - the stream which runs below the Chantries from Chilworth and joins the Wey near Shalford Church.
As Lay Rector of Shalford, Sir Henry was a loyal supporter of the Established Church and a regular attendant at Divine Service whenever he was in residence at Shalford. The ugly Georgian Church built by his father was pulled down in 1843, rebuilt in 1846 and reconsecrated in 1847, more or less on the lines of the original Norman Church which had fallen into a dangerous state in 1790 and been replaced. He contributed L500 towards the cost of the new structure and the contributions of other members of the Austen family increased this sum to L650. He also added to the hatchments, monuments and tablets in the Church, and gave play to his Latinity, in which he took great pride, by the laudatory inscriptions in that language with which he adorned them.
Among the family portraits there are two of Sir Henry painted when he was a good looking young man of 25 or 30. The best is by Gaugain, a well known French portrait painter. As Sir Henry and his eldest son Robert Alfred Austen became 'dead cuts', and as there is no member of the latter's family now alive who can describe their paternal grandfather from personal knowledge, I must give my mother's description of him. Alice Bingley, nee Austen, met her-grandfather when she was about 10 or 12 years old. Her recollection of him was that he was 'a small apple-cheeked old gentleman very dapper in his appearance, with agreeable manners inclining to gallantry.'
Lady Austen suffered much in health and often went abroad, for months at a time, undergoing cures at various foreign watering places. She liked Continental life and paid frequent visits to France. Her French relations, the De Belloys, had returned there before the fall of Napoleon, and after the Bourbon Restoration they resumed their rank, though greatly impoverished, as members of the ancienne noblesse. This was no doubt an attraction to Lady Austen, who being artistic and musical found much that was congenial in the cultivated French society of that day. During these periods of absence her younger sons, when not at school, were often boarded out among the tenants, while Sir Henry amused himself in town.
It was on her return from Pau in the Pyrenees that she was taken seriously ill in Dieppe, where she died on 13th September 1837, the year in which Queen Victoria succeeded her uncle King William IV. Not long after the young queen's accession, a number of Court appointments were abolished, among them that of Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, of which Sir Henry Austen was one of the holders. The Government of the day, bent on reform and economy, decided, and not unreasonably, that the continuance of this sinecure office could hardly be justified, especially in the case of a female sovereign.
Elizabeth Smith Austen who lived with and looked after her mother through life, was a good woman of business and managed her affairs with marked ability. Besides being a devoted daughter, she was the best of spinster aunts, and was a mother to her two orphan nephews, Edward Henry and Paul Austen Bedford who were brought up by their grandmother and herself. Affection and care were wasted however in their case, for both youths were spoi1t and unreliable and both developed unsatisfactory characters when they grew up, particularly the one who entered the Church. The brothers Bedford inherited between them a fortune of £18,000 which they squandered in a few years through extravagance, drink and vice. They were cordially detested by their uncle Henry and all their Austen cousins.
Some of the household bills of the Austens when living at Versailles are rather interesting. It was the period of the Bourbon Restoration so most of the Bills are headed with an engraving of the Royal Arms of France. The family chemist, Monsieur Batelle, describes himself as 'Pharmacten de MM. les Gardes du Corps du Roi.' His bill, besides Fleurs d'Oranges, includes the familiar item 'Sel d'Epsom Anglais 4 onces, 2 francs.' There are many wine bills. Champagne cost 5 francs a bottle as supplied by 'S. Soupè et Cie, Fournisseurs de Vins du Roi et de Leurs Altesses Royales le Duc de Bordeaux et Madame la Duchesse de Berri.' The gem of these accounts is that furnished by the draper who supplied 'la famille Osten' with linen and lingerie. M. Barre' Degoufreville, for that was his name, describes his shop as 'La Maison de Confiance, Rue Satory No. 19.' He seems to have been in advance of his times in the matter of publicity and advertising, for in a circular dated 1821 he addresses his customers as follows -
Monsieur Degoufreville pense qu'il ne doit pas employer le charlatanisme qui s'ost glisse dans le commerce depuis plusieurs années. Il s'entient absolument à vendre tres bon marché et à conserver son ancient titre de Maison de Confiance.
Henry Austen was a good and careful landlord and while abroad received monthly reports from his bailiff, giving him particulars of all happenings and expenditure relating to his estate. Details of personal interest were interspersed with business items. We learn that Mrs. Smith's infant died soon after birth; that the Dun Cow had dropped a calf; that Widow Jones' gate post was badly in need of repairs, and that Farmer Botting, of Manor House Farm, was as usual in arrears with his rent.
In his desire to protect his estate from the mismanagement of his widow, in whose Judgment he had no confidence, Mr. Robert Austen had placed it in the hands of trustees whose discretion was limited by so many provisions in his Will, that administration of the property presented many difficulties. There was a proviso that no trees were to be cut down and that his collection of coins was to be treated as an heirloom. Henry Austen, his son and heir, was not interested in coins, but he was anxious to make provision for his younger children who, through the property being entailed, could take no share in the settled estate. So he sought permission to sell the coin collection and to fell timber as occasion demanded. Eventually he succeeded, but not without having to go to the expense of getting a Private Bill passed by Parliament to give him the requisite authority. So by Act 50. of George III. 1810, the surviving trustees under the Will of Robert Austen were empowered to sell the coins which realised £4000, and under certain conditions, to cut down trees, the amount realised from these sources being credited to a separate fund controlled by the Court of Chancery to be formed to the uses of the Will. This fund, which was known as the Nore Timber Fund, proved a valuable asset to the estate for its value on lst July 1857 was £13,888 and about 1870 it was worth about twice that amount.
Henry Austen's children were now growing up, and in due course the eldest son went to Oxford, one of them became a solicitor, one went into the Navy and three into the Army; and his only daughter married. Meanwhile I will continue my account of the life and times of Henry Edmund Austen, 10th Squire of' Shalford. He was swept into politics about 1830, when William IV. had come to the throne and the country was in a great state of agitation over the Corn Laws which had been passed in 1815 in the interests of the landowners. By stopping the importation of foreign corn, the price of' home grown wheat was kept up. Farmers were thus enabled to maintain their profits and landowners their rents.
These laws were manifestly unfair to the growing population of the industrial towns which in many cases were not represented in Parliament. Nevertheless these laws were not repealed until 1846, and then only after the passing of the Reform Bill of 1832 which put the franchise on a more liberal and logical basis, abolished the pocket boroughs and distributed the 143 seats taken from them among the new industrial towns. These reforms were stoutly opposed by the Tory majority in the House of Lords, but they were taken up by the Whigs, led by Earl Grey, and the rejection of the Reform Bill by the Lords after it had been passed by the Commons caused so great an agitation that riots were started all over England. The feeling in the country became so violent that the Duke of Wellington, the Tory leader, advised his followers to give way. The Bill was reintroduced and the Reform Act of 1832 was then passed by both Houses.
Henry Austen who was a Whig by tradition and inclination, was a warm supporter of Lord Grey's policy of reform. He worked whole-heartedly in favour of it and his position as a landowner gave him considerable local influence. His political services were rewarded by a knighthood in 1832 and later in the same year by his appointment as a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, a sinecure appointment in the Royal Household not to be confused with that of a Privy Councillor. It is said that there was some talk of his being offered a peerage, which was to have been a revival in his favour of the extinct Barony of Haversham to which he had some claim being a descendant of the Honble Helena Thompson, eldest daughter of the first Lord Haversham, who married Sir Henry's great-grandfather, the Rev. Thomas Gregory, Rector of Toddington, Beds., and Haversham, Bucks. This project was abandoned however, partly because the income of the family estate was insufficient to support the dignity of a Baron, and partly because Sir Henry's eldest son, Robert Alfred Cloyne Austen, opposed the proposal, for being burdened with an ever growing family, he was unable to face the additional expense which higher social rank would have entailed.
Sir Henry Austen, as we will now call him, was a good landlord. He originated the idea of allotments, i.e., the setting apart of small plots of land for letting to agricultural labourers at nominal rents, so as to enable them to supplement their meagre wages by growing potatoes and vegetables and so helping them to maintain their families. As a farm labourer's wages at this time were only 12/- a week, to hold an allotment was a real benefit to an industrious married man.
Sir Henry added considerably to the acreage of his estate. He bought farms and houses adjoining his property as opportunity offered, and generally raised the purchase money by mortgaging other portions of the estate. Many of his household bills have been preserved and they furnish interesting details. Rents were paid in arrears and tenants were often behindhand in their payments. Thus Sir Henry, in common with other landowners, was at times very short of cash. His bankers were Haydon & Co. of Guildford, but his bills were not paid by cheque as they would be now. All important payments were made by Promissory Notes at three months' sight. The more important purchases, such as wine, books and pictures, came to Guildford from London by carrier's waggon, but heavier articles, such as coal, timber, stone, bricks, gravel, etc. , came by river and canal.
From Weybridge where it joined the Thames, the River Wey had in 1653 been made navigable as far as Guildford and in 1760 as far as Godalming, the original course of the river being changed to improve navigation. The straight reach of the river below St. Catherine's is largely artificial, its original winding course being that now indicated by the backwater near Shalford House. Among the family archives are the maps prepared to show to whom the lands below St. Catherine's belonged at the time that the Wey was canalised, together with the assessments of the Commissioners of the Wey Navigation as to the compensation payable to owners whose land had been taken up. In 1913 the Wey was joined, through Bramley and Cranley, to the Arun above Pulborough in Sussex.
Sir Henry Austen did much to improve his farms and the cottages of the labourers. He adopted picturesque designs for the latter, and the extent of his activities in this respect can be traced by the small shields bearing the letter A which he placed over the porches of all the farm houses and cottages on the estate. In 1837 he had an album of drawings made of the principal houses he owned. This collection, which has been preserved and is a fine example of pencil work, was executed by a young artist named Russell, a member of a well known Guildford family one of whom was John Russell, R.A., the famous pastel portrait painter. The latter drew the portraits of Sir Henry and his sister Elizabeth as children. Both were sold to Mr. Godman in 1899 when the contents of Shalford House were auctioned and dispersed.
Like his father, Sir Henry was a great planter of trees. The afforestation of the Chantry Downs begun by his father, was continued by him and resulted in the Chantry Woods now one of Guildford's beauty spots and part of the Green Belt of London. The Chantries became in his time an excellent game preserve and the pheasant shooting in these woods was, until less than half a century ago, one of the principal amenities of the estate. These also included trout fishing in the Tillingbourne - the stream which runs below the Chantries from Chilworth and joins the Wey near Shalford Church.
As Lay Rector of Shalford, Sir Henry was a loyal supporter of the Established Church and a regular attendant at Divine Service whenever he was in residence at Shalford. The ugly Georgian Church built by his father was pulled down in 1843, rebuilt in 1846 and reconsecrated in 1847, more or less on the lines of the original Norman Church which had fallen into a dangerous state in 1790 and been replaced. He contributed L500 towards the cost of the new structure and the contributions of other members of the Austen family increased this sum to L650. He also added to the hatchments, monuments and tablets in the Church, and gave play to his Latinity, in which he took great pride, by the laudatory inscriptions in that language with which he adorned them.
Among the family portraits there are two of Sir Henry painted when he was a good looking young man of 25 or 30. The best is by Gaugain, a well known French portrait painter. As Sir Henry and his eldest son Robert Alfred Austen became 'dead cuts', and as there is no member of the latter's family now alive who can describe their paternal grandfather from personal knowledge, I must give my mother's description of him. Alice Bingley, nee Austen, met her-grandfather when she was about 10 or 12 years old. Her recollection of him was that he was 'a small apple-cheeked old gentleman very dapper in his appearance, with agreeable manners inclining to gallantry.'
Lady Austen suffered much in health and often went abroad, for months at a time, undergoing cures at various foreign watering places. She liked Continental life and paid frequent visits to France. Her French relations, the De Belloys, had returned there before the fall of Napoleon, and after the Bourbon Restoration they resumed their rank, though greatly impoverished, as members of the ancienne noblesse. This was no doubt an attraction to Lady Austen, who being artistic and musical found much that was congenial in the cultivated French society of that day. During these periods of absence her younger sons, when not at school, were often boarded out among the tenants, while Sir Henry amused himself in town.
It was on her return from Pau in the Pyrenees that she was taken seriously ill in Dieppe, where she died on 13th September 1837, the year in which Queen Victoria succeeded her uncle King William IV. Not long after the young queen's accession, a number of Court appointments were abolished, among them that of Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, of which Sir Henry Austen was one of the holders. The Government of the day, bent on reform and economy, decided, and not unreasonably, that the continuance of this sinecure office could hardly be justified, especially in the case of a female sovereign.
Lady Austen's body was brought from Dieppe to Brighton and from there to Shalford, for burial in the family vault. The funeral was a grand one, carried out with all the pomp, ceremony and marks of mourning, considered necessary at that time. The original front entrance to Shalford House was on the north side, facing a lawn encircled by the carriage drive. It was approached from Guildford by a drive through the Park, and its exit on the Shalford side was by the existing drive which runs parallel to the Churchyard wall. According to the custom of the period, all the leading county families sent their carriages to join in the funeral procession. The hearse itself was drawn by four black horses decorated with nodding black plumes. Four attendants called Mutes walked beside it, clad in black, their top hats wreathed with crape veils called weepers, and their hands encased in black gloves. In rear of them came the relations and household of the deceased, including the principal tenants of the estate, all clad in deep mourning. Before the coffin had been placed in the hearse, it lay in state in the Stone Hall of Shalford-House, covered with a rich purple and silver pall, flanked by wax candles on tall wooden standards. Sir Henry Austen, who was dramatically inclined, pronounced a funeral oration in which he expatiated on the virtues of the deceased and expressed his sorrow at her death.
When the coffin had been lifted into the hearse, and the cortege had begun to move, of course very slowly, Sir Henry's imagination was so stirred by the solemn dignity of the ceremony that he placed himself in the centre of the lawn, and took stock, with pride and satisfaction, of the number of his friends' carriages, most of them empty, that had been sent to honour the deceased. As the Church is very near the house, the procession had not enough road space to allow of its being deployed to advantage before going to the Church where the funeral Service took place.
Sir Henry Austen had little in common with his eldest son Robert Alfred Cloyne Austen. The latter had married July 23rd 1833, Maria Elizabeth, only daughter of Colonel H. Godwin, C.B., a distinguished Peninsular officer. The young Austens then lived in Devonshire, but came to Shalford to attend Lady Austen's funeral. Quarrels over details of estate management and settlements accentuated their mutual ill feeling, and correspondence between them was confined to business matters which were generally carried out through the intermediary of Frederick Austen, the third of Sir Henry's sons, who belonged to the firm of Hopton Forbes & Co., of 5 Ely Place, Holborn, and acted as his fathers solicitor.
In 1843 Sir Henry Austen married again. His second,wife was Catherine Frances, Lady Pocklington, widow of Colonel Sir Robert Pocklington, who had been created a Knight of the Order of Maria Teresa by the Emperor of Austria, in recognition of his gallantry when in command of a squadron of the 15th Hussars which saved the Emperor from capture by the French at Villiers en Couche in 1794. Lady Pocklington's maiden name was Blagrave, and a Miss Blagrave, who was perhaps a sister, and certainly a near relation, lived for some years at Debnersh, an old house in Shalford, opposite the Church, which had once been the home of a Surrey family named Duncombe. This house, in the correspondence of the time, is often referred to as Every House. It was probably so called by Sir Henry Austen because one of the Earl of Anglesey's daughters married Sir John Every, Bart., and her likeness by Lely is among the family portraits. Debnersh is the name by which the house is now known and is the name of the field near which it stands.
After his second marriage Sir Henry lived almost entirely at Chelsworth Hall in Suffolk. This was the home of the Pocklingtons of which Lady Austen retained the use during her lifetime. Shalford House was then let, and was rarely occupied by Sir Henry until after his second wife's death in 1856. Even then he lived there only occasionally, preferring the cuisine, comfort and companionship afforded by the Reform Club and Hatchett's Hotel, to solitary grandeur at Shalford.
But though he lived more in Suffolk and in London than in Surrey, Sir Henry Austen was keenly interested in all Surrey matters and never failed in his duty as a Deputy Lieutenant and Magistrate of the County, or as one of its principal landowners. He presented the windows in St. Mary's Church, Guildford, placed there in memory of the Testard family, one of whom was an official of the King's Household and landowner of Guildford, in the reign of Henry III. He also as already stated subscribed liberally to the rebuilding of Shalford Church, and to commemorate its reconsecration in 1847, contributed the Chancel windows. He also presented St. Nicholas Church, Cranleigh, with its altar table, his connection with the place being derived from the ownership of Bowles, Starveall and other farms in that parish.
Sir Henry's relations with his sons were generally friendly. They always referred to him as the Padre. His occasional explosions of wrath were usually addressed to his son John, who was always in need of money. His son Henry was virtuous in a smug and uninteresting way. His favourites were Frederick with whom he was in constant touch, and Albert who of the younger sons was by far the most talented, the best conducted and the most distinguished, but of whom Sir Henry saw very little after his leaving the Addiscombe Military Academy, as his career was spent in India. He was very fond of his daughter Amelia, who was a link between the old man and his younger sons, especially in his latter days when the behaviour of some of them brought little credit to the family.
Sir Henry Austen's writing was of the most spidery character and grew more illegible as he grew older. Messrs A. F.and R. W. Tweedie, the family solicitors, found it more and more difficult to decipher his letters and on one occasion had to refer one of them back to him as they could not make head or tail of it. The old gentleman was very stately and huffy about it. 'Sir Henry Austen' he wrote, 'is surprised to find that a firm of Messrs A. F. and R. W. Tweedie's respectability is unable to read the writing of a gentleman.' He toured extensively in Scotland in 1815, and wrote an account of his travels. Owing to bad roads and inadequate travelling facilities, such a journey in those days was rather an adventure. His journal has been preserved, but it is almost illegible, because of the indistinctness of the writing.
Sir Henry had lived abroad for many years and enjoyed Continental life. His visits to Paris were therefore frequent, and it was on one of these excursions that he came to Versailles, where my mother, then a young girl, was living with her father and mother. Her father had quarrelled with Sir Henry and foolishly refused to meet him; but the old gentleman was charming to her mother and herself. He took them out, entertained them, and presented them with bouquets when he left. He was rather a dandy in his way. He usually wore a blue frock coat with a high collar and velvet cuffs, and a Gladstonian shirt collar with a black silk stock. His trousers were generally of shepherd’s plaid pattern, strapped over highly varnished boots. A curly brimmed top hat and cane completed his get up, which included an eye glass suspended from a black watered silk ribbon. He was clean shaven most of his life, but in old age he allowed his beard to grow.
Sir Henry Austen died at Cheltenham on lst December 1871, at the age of 86. His end was very sudden and no one was with him except Eveson his valet. His coffin was brought by train to Shalford for interment in the family vault below the Chancel of St. Mary's Church. It was the last to be placed there, all subsequent family burials being either in the churchyard or the cemetery. The funeral was conducted with the pomp that was dear to him. In splendour it fell short of that of his wife, but it was nevertheless a formal and dignified ceremony, reflecting some of the glories of a bygone age. A hatchment blazoning the Austen Arms was hung over the main entrance of Shalford House for a year after Sir Henry's death, after which it was taken down and fixed with similar emblems of mourning on the walls of the Church of which he had been Lay Rector. A tablet to his memory, with a suitable Latin inscription, was placed there by his eldest son and heir Robert Alfred Cloyne Godwin-Austen, who had prefixed his wife's name of Godwin to his own after her father's death.
Shalford House which had been let for many years, became once more the home of the Austen family. In accordance with Sir Henry's Will £10 worth of bread was given to the poor of the parish on the first Sunday after his funeral. We are told that 320 quartern loaves were distributed after Morning Service. The newspaper adds 'we have not seen so many of the working classes at Church for many years.'
When the coffin had been lifted into the hearse, and the cortege had begun to move, of course very slowly, Sir Henry's imagination was so stirred by the solemn dignity of the ceremony that he placed himself in the centre of the lawn, and took stock, with pride and satisfaction, of the number of his friends' carriages, most of them empty, that had been sent to honour the deceased. As the Church is very near the house, the procession had not enough road space to allow of its being deployed to advantage before going to the Church where the funeral Service took place.
Sir Henry Austen had little in common with his eldest son Robert Alfred Cloyne Austen. The latter had married July 23rd 1833, Maria Elizabeth, only daughter of Colonel H. Godwin, C.B., a distinguished Peninsular officer. The young Austens then lived in Devonshire, but came to Shalford to attend Lady Austen's funeral. Quarrels over details of estate management and settlements accentuated their mutual ill feeling, and correspondence between them was confined to business matters which were generally carried out through the intermediary of Frederick Austen, the third of Sir Henry's sons, who belonged to the firm of Hopton Forbes & Co., of 5 Ely Place, Holborn, and acted as his fathers solicitor.
In 1843 Sir Henry Austen married again. His second,wife was Catherine Frances, Lady Pocklington, widow of Colonel Sir Robert Pocklington, who had been created a Knight of the Order of Maria Teresa by the Emperor of Austria, in recognition of his gallantry when in command of a squadron of the 15th Hussars which saved the Emperor from capture by the French at Villiers en Couche in 1794. Lady Pocklington's maiden name was Blagrave, and a Miss Blagrave, who was perhaps a sister, and certainly a near relation, lived for some years at Debnersh, an old house in Shalford, opposite the Church, which had once been the home of a Surrey family named Duncombe. This house, in the correspondence of the time, is often referred to as Every House. It was probably so called by Sir Henry Austen because one of the Earl of Anglesey's daughters married Sir John Every, Bart., and her likeness by Lely is among the family portraits. Debnersh is the name by which the house is now known and is the name of the field near which it stands.
After his second marriage Sir Henry lived almost entirely at Chelsworth Hall in Suffolk. This was the home of the Pocklingtons of which Lady Austen retained the use during her lifetime. Shalford House was then let, and was rarely occupied by Sir Henry until after his second wife's death in 1856. Even then he lived there only occasionally, preferring the cuisine, comfort and companionship afforded by the Reform Club and Hatchett's Hotel, to solitary grandeur at Shalford.
But though he lived more in Suffolk and in London than in Surrey, Sir Henry Austen was keenly interested in all Surrey matters and never failed in his duty as a Deputy Lieutenant and Magistrate of the County, or as one of its principal landowners. He presented the windows in St. Mary's Church, Guildford, placed there in memory of the Testard family, one of whom was an official of the King's Household and landowner of Guildford, in the reign of Henry III. He also as already stated subscribed liberally to the rebuilding of Shalford Church, and to commemorate its reconsecration in 1847, contributed the Chancel windows. He also presented St. Nicholas Church, Cranleigh, with its altar table, his connection with the place being derived from the ownership of Bowles, Starveall and other farms in that parish.
Sir Henry's relations with his sons were generally friendly. They always referred to him as the Padre. His occasional explosions of wrath were usually addressed to his son John, who was always in need of money. His son Henry was virtuous in a smug and uninteresting way. His favourites were Frederick with whom he was in constant touch, and Albert who of the younger sons was by far the most talented, the best conducted and the most distinguished, but of whom Sir Henry saw very little after his leaving the Addiscombe Military Academy, as his career was spent in India. He was very fond of his daughter Amelia, who was a link between the old man and his younger sons, especially in his latter days when the behaviour of some of them brought little credit to the family.
Sir Henry Austen's writing was of the most spidery character and grew more illegible as he grew older. Messrs A. F.and R. W. Tweedie, the family solicitors, found it more and more difficult to decipher his letters and on one occasion had to refer one of them back to him as they could not make head or tail of it. The old gentleman was very stately and huffy about it. 'Sir Henry Austen' he wrote, 'is surprised to find that a firm of Messrs A. F. and R. W. Tweedie's respectability is unable to read the writing of a gentleman.' He toured extensively in Scotland in 1815, and wrote an account of his travels. Owing to bad roads and inadequate travelling facilities, such a journey in those days was rather an adventure. His journal has been preserved, but it is almost illegible, because of the indistinctness of the writing.
Sir Henry had lived abroad for many years and enjoyed Continental life. His visits to Paris were therefore frequent, and it was on one of these excursions that he came to Versailles, where my mother, then a young girl, was living with her father and mother. Her father had quarrelled with Sir Henry and foolishly refused to meet him; but the old gentleman was charming to her mother and herself. He took them out, entertained them, and presented them with bouquets when he left. He was rather a dandy in his way. He usually wore a blue frock coat with a high collar and velvet cuffs, and a Gladstonian shirt collar with a black silk stock. His trousers were generally of shepherd’s plaid pattern, strapped over highly varnished boots. A curly brimmed top hat and cane completed his get up, which included an eye glass suspended from a black watered silk ribbon. He was clean shaven most of his life, but in old age he allowed his beard to grow.
Sir Henry Austen died at Cheltenham on lst December 1871, at the age of 86. His end was very sudden and no one was with him except Eveson his valet. His coffin was brought by train to Shalford for interment in the family vault below the Chancel of St. Mary's Church. It was the last to be placed there, all subsequent family burials being either in the churchyard or the cemetery. The funeral was conducted with the pomp that was dear to him. In splendour it fell short of that of his wife, but it was nevertheless a formal and dignified ceremony, reflecting some of the glories of a bygone age. A hatchment blazoning the Austen Arms was hung over the main entrance of Shalford House for a year after Sir Henry's death, after which it was taken down and fixed with similar emblems of mourning on the walls of the Church of which he had been Lay Rector. A tablet to his memory, with a suitable Latin inscription, was placed there by his eldest son and heir Robert Alfred Cloyne Godwin-Austen, who had prefixed his wife's name of Godwin to his own after her father's death.
Shalford House which had been let for many years, became once more the home of the Austen family. In accordance with Sir Henry's Will £10 worth of bread was given to the poor of the parish on the first Sunday after his funeral. We are told that 320 quartern loaves were distributed after Morning Service. The newspaper adds 'we have not seen so many of the working classes at Church for many years.'