2025 will see Southampton celebrate its strong connections to former resident Jane Austen with an extensive programme of events and activities to mark the 250th anniversary year of her birth (16 December 1775) - every reason to visit the city!

While Austen's links to Bath and North Hampshire have been well publicised, her ties to Southampton are lesser known. She went to school in Southampton and, as well as visiting several times over the intervening years, she also lived in the city between 1806 and 1809.

Southampton's Jane Austen 250 programme launches November 15 with a major exhibition at God's House Tower. Entitled In Training for a Heroine it will showcase the novelist's travelling writing desk alongside an innovative and contemporary interpretation of her life and literary works, 'No Notion of Loving by Halves' by British artist Jocelyn McGregor.

Other highlights include an exhibition at the SeaCity Museum focusing on the novelist's wide circle of friends, theatrical and musical performances, talks and conferences plus a series of new themed walking trails. New events run from autumn 2024 throughout 2025, see: https://visitsouthampton.co.uk/janeausten250

The celebrations will shine a spotlight on Jane Austen's largely untold Southampton story, where she lived, went to school and celebrated her 18th birthday. Visitors will be invited to explore different perspectives of her life, the city's influences on her novels and the relevance of her storytelling for Southampton in 2025.

Programme highlights include:

15 November 2024 – 23 February 2025

Jane Austen Exhibition at God's House Tower: In Training for a Heroine

Kick-starting the celebrations, In Training for a Heroine will see Austen's travelling writing desk exhibited at God's House Tower. On loan from the British Library, the desk, which was a gift from her father around her 19th birthday, is returning to the city the first time since she lived here between 1806 and 1809. As a special coup, Southampton is the only place in the UK to be exhibiting the writing slope before it embarks on a world tour.

Alongside the desk, a contemporary art interpretation of Jane Austen's works has been commissioned by a space arts. 'No Notion of Loving by Halves' by British artist Jocelyn McGregor will explore how her fictional relationships reflect Austen's reality and the synergy between Gothic women authors and their works of fiction. More information at www.godshousetower.org.uk

New Jane Austen Walking trail

Available as a downloadable PDF, a new Jane Austen Heritage Walking Trail Map commemorates Austen's time in Southampton, featuring eight locations pertinent to the author's life, each site is marked by a plaque.

A must for Austen fans, the first plaque shows the spot at the at Bargate where seven-year-old Jane, her sister and cousin briefly attended a nearby school run by a Mrs Ann Cawley, her attendance cut short by an outbreak of typhus. The trail also features addresses of friends and family and locations where the author holidayed and lived.

29 March – late autumn/winter 2025

A Very Respectable Company – Jane Austen & her Southampton Circle Exhibition at the SeaCity Museum

Inspired by the Persuasion quote: 'My idea of good company, Mr Elliot, is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company", this exhibition gives a rare chance to see items loaned by descendants of Austen's circle of friends.

For more information: www.seacitymuseum.co.uk

10-14 June 2025

Fun retelling of Pride and Prejudice on stage at the Mayflower Theatre

Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of), a unique and audacious retelling of Jane Austen's most iconic love story, from 10-14 June 2025 at the Mayflower Theatre. The Olivier Award-winning comedy, is an irreverent but affectionate adaptation of the matchmaking saga, set to a string of pop classics including Young Hearts Run Free, Will You Love Me Tomorrow and You're So Vain...  Book at www.mayflower.org.uk .

Ends

Jane Austen's Southampton

2025 will be a landmark year for Southampton, it marks the anniversary of the birth of one of its most famous former residents and one of Britain's best-loved novelists, Jane Austen. Jane Austen 250 will see a packed programme of events across the city to shine a light on her Southampton connections.

While Austen's links with Bath and Hampshire are well documented, less well-known are her ties with Southampton but she visited the city twice before living here from 1806 to 1809.  Jane and her sister Cassandra attended a boarding school in 1783, she celebrated her 18th birthday at a ball dancing in the upstairs rooms of The Dolphin and resided in Castle Square with her brother Frank and his family.  The Austen family attended All Saints Church and frequented plays at The French Street Theatre.

The city was clearly an influence on her writing. On one visit to Southampton in its heyday as a watering place and spa, she stayed with her cousin Elizabeth and visited Netley Abbey, a Gothic ruin. On returning home she wrote Susan, an early version of Northanger Abbey which she sent to a publisher for an advance of £10.  The novel had not been published when Austen returned to Southampton in 1806 living in the shadow of the Gothic Southampton Castle, she then reworked it as Northanger Abbey, published after her death. She is also known to have worked on the novel Emma while in Southampton.

Austen would have used the writing slope, to be exhibited at God's House Tower 15 November to 23 February 2025, for letters and drafts of her novels where she could store them away.

Visit here for more information.

Jane Austen Exhibition at God's House Tower: In Training for a Heroine is generously funded by Arts Council England, Esmee Fairbairn, National Heritage Lottery, The Arts Fund.

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