We’re into all things Jane Austen as Bath joins in the national celebrations for the regency novelist’s 250th birthday, but here’s a rather unusual celebratory angle – courtesy of Helen Robson BA (Hons), a Fine Art Administrator at Lacy, Scott & Knight auctioneers who are based in Bury St Edmunds.
Helen writes: I wondered if you might be interested in the attached article regarding a pair of candlesticks which have been consigned into auction with us.
They were presented to Jane Austen’s brother, Admiral Francis William Austen, in thanks for safely leading an East India Company convoy back from the island of St Helena to England during the Napoleonic Wars.
They are mentioned in the recently transcribed manuscript by Francis Austen at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton, but have only just come to light and have been in private ownership since that time.
Jane and her mother lived with Francis and his wife after her father’s death, which was also around the time that Francis undertook this commission. So there is every time a chance that Jane used them for light while writing.”
It’s a fascinating story, and thank you for sharing it with us. I am printing the article that appears on your company’s website.
https://www.lskauctioncentre.co.uk
