At Wargrave Local History Society’s January meeting, Joy Pibworth gave an illustrated presentation about the time when the author Jane Austen was at school in Reading.
Education was not regulated in the 18th century, and parents of children like Jane might keep them at home, where their mother might teach them reading, arithmetic and household management, or they might have a governess.
Jane was the seventh of eight children, with six brothers.
Her sister, Cassandra, was two years older than her, and it was because of Cassandra that Jane attended school. Their cousin, Jane Cooper, was two years older than Cassandra, and as these two girls spent time together, it was decided they should attend the same school.
Jane Austen (then aged seven) was unhappy about this, so persuaded her parents that she should also attend. There were family connections to Oxford, and so that was where the girls were sent, living with and taught by Mrs Cawley, widow of the Principal of Brasenose College (and distantly related to the girls).
Mrs Cawley’s husband left her some household items, but his money went to his siblings, so in 1783 she relocated to Southampton. However, just as Mrs Cawley and the girls moved there, thousands of troops returned to England from the Siege of Gibraltar.
They were riddled with disease, especially typhus, which the 3 girls caught. However, Mrs Cawley did not tell the girls’ parents, so Jane Cooper wrote to her mother, and the girls were moved away. Sadly, Mrs Cooper died of typhus soon afterwards.
Jane Cooper’s father, Edward, became vicar of Sonning. He wanted his daughter to be schooled nearby, and the Austen’s were happy to do the same, having family living at Scarlett’s in Wargrave who could provide a ‘safety net’.
Many small schools advertised in the Reading Mercury, including one in 1781 for a school run by a Mrs Spencer, known as The Ladies Boarding School in the Forbury.
Following Mrs Spencer’s death, Sarah Latournelle – principal assistant to Mrs Spencer for 27 years – took over the school. Sarah Hackitt, from London, had been employed as a French teacher, even though not speaking French, becoming Sarah Latournelle in order to have a French sounding name.
The school was housed in the Abbey gateway in the Forbury and an adjacent building, and it was here that the three girls were sent from July 1785 until December 1786.
Sarah Latournelle was rather old-fashioned, but showed a maternal instinct, serving toast and butter to girls used to having dry bread. There were about 40 girls, who slept in a building to one side of the gateway, dating from the 1600s. Behind the school were gardens which the girls were allowed to walk around, and girls could watch and listen to people nearby – maybe source material for the authoress, and Jane Austen, her sister and cousin, seemed to have enjoyed their time in there.
More details of the Wargrave Local History Society can be found at www.wargravehistory.org.uk – or email [email protected] to confirm meeting details
PETER DELANEY
