Persuasions #2, 1980                                                                                                                                            Page 26

 

JAMES EDWARD AUSTEN (LEIGH)

by Joan Austen-Leigh

Rev. James Edward Austen Leigh (1798-1874) son of Jane Austen’s eldest brother, James, was also the author of the Memoir of his aunt.

On the death of the notorious Mrs. Jane Leigh Perrot (see “The Trial of Mrs. Jane Leigh Perrot”) he inherited her estate at Scarlets, a condition being that he take the name and arms of Leigh. Today, a window still exists on the staircase at Scarlets which bears testimony to this promise. It depicts, in stained glass, the two crests united together, with the date, 1836.

Mrs. Leigh Perrot, a capricious woman, survived her husband (whose money it was, he was the brother of Mrs. George Austen) by nineteen years. During this period she threatened at different times to make various members of the Austen family her heir, in expectation of which, both James Edward and Francis christened sons Cholmely, that being Mrs. Leigh Perrot’s maiden name.

Edward, although the ultimate favourite, was the more unlikely candidate. Mrs. Leigh Perrot – like Mary Crawford – did not care for clergymen, and very much disapproved her handsome great nephew taking orders.

He atoned for this, however, by marrying into a most “eligible” family. The silhouette below was probably made about 1832. It exists in an album of silhouettes cut when JEAL was living with his bride at her mother’s home, Tring Park, a large country house now owned by the Rothschild’s.


Rev. James Edward Austen-Leigh

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