B. C. Southam (1931–2010)

Not bad, but could have been better if it was a little shorter. Jane’s “naval” books are Mansfield Park, in which the characters visit the naval base at Portsmouth, and Persuasion, which sees Anne Elliot first turning down (against her instincts) Captain Wentworth, then renewing their romance years latter, when Wentworth has become a successful frigate captain. One of Jane’s few known poems (there are about twenty) concerns a partially naval event, Home Popham’s expedition against Buenos Aires. And that’s it for her naval output. However, the Austen family had considerable naval ties; two of Jane’s brothers – Francis and Charles – were naval officers during the Napoleonic Wars, and both ended as admirals (Charles as a Rear Admiral at 73, in Burma during the Second Burmese War in 1843; Francis as Admiral of the Fleet at 91, in 1865). The bulk of the book is about the careers of Francis and Charles, and general observations of what naval service was like and how it might have affected Jane back home. After that, things seem a little padded. Author Brian Southam devotes a long chapter to the “Popham Poem”, only a few lines expressing Jane’s disapproval of Popham’s court martial. The account of Popham’s career is interesting enough – he was admiral in charge of the Cape of Good Hope station, but without orders decided to invade South America – but the connection to Jane is tenuous. Similarly, there’s a whole section about Charles Darwin and the Beagle; Darwin’s sisters offered a copy of Persuasion to Robert FitzRoy, captain of the Beagle, which he politely declined, explaining he wouldn’t have time to read it; and in a letter the sisters compare Darwin’s description of FitzRoy to Captain Wentworth, but that’s the extent of the association.


If you’re a Janeite, there will be a few interesting details to pick up; equally so if you’re a fan of the Royal Navy, but there isn’t much new beyond that.… (more)