FANS OF THE BBC'S MISS AUSTEN CAN DISCOVER MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR'S LIFE AND FRIENDS AT NEW SOUTHAMPTON EXHIBITION

Fans of the new BBC One series Miss Austen can learn more about the author's life and friends at a specially commissioned exhibition opening next month in Southampton.

Entitled “A Very Respectable Company – Jane Austen and her Southampton Circle” will be at the city's Sea City Museum from 29th March until late October. The exhibition is part of a city-wide programme celebrating the 250th anniversary of the author's birth and will focus on Austen's female network of friends, many of whom could have been the inspiration for her iconic female fictional characters.

These include Charlotte Fitzhugh who married into a wealthy East India Company and was a superfan of Austen's favourite actress Sarah Siddons, and Anne Middleton, a mixed-race plantation heiress from Jamaica whose private life was splashed across national newspapers.

On show will be never-before-seen rare paintings, letters, books and personal items like the precious Austen Family Household Book of recipes and silhouettes first started by Austen's grandmother. Book tickets for Seacity here. 

To find out more about Jane Austen's Southampton's connections and other events in the city celebrating her 250th anniversary see: https://visitsouthampton.co.uk/janeausten250.