A map of 18th-century Antigua by Eman Bowen
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Jane Austen Society of
Australia
Jane Austen and the Antigua connection
The Antigua Connection
Did you realise that Antigua, source of Sir Thomas Bertram’s wealth, and subject
of Fanny’s brave question about slavery, had connections with the Austen family?
Brian Southam’s note in the JAS UK newsletter, is revealing:
Is it more than a coincidence that a number of names in the novels and minor works can
be found on the standard 18th-century map of Antigua (c.1750) by Eman Bowen? These include
Williams, Willoughby and Wickham, Lucas, Parry and Martin.
Given that Jane Austen’s father was trustee of the Nibbs plantations on Antigua (four
are marked on the map) and that the plantation-owner himself, James Langford Nibbs, was
godfather to Jane’s eldest brother, James; and given that the plantation-owner’s
son was tutored at Steventon Rectory, it is quite feasible that a framed copy of
Bowen’s Antigua map hung on the Rectory walls, a familiar sight to the young writer
and a convenient source for her characters’ names. Later, Antigua returned to Jane
Austen’s mind as the location for the Bertram property in the West Indies and the
destination for Sir Thomas in Mansfield Park.
Brian Southam in Newsletter of The Jane Austen Society (UK) No. 6, April 1996
Mark Turner, an Internet contact, has sent JASA a copy of the Antigua map (above left).
To view of print the map at full size click one of the following:
Antigua map for viewing: antigua.gif, 72 dpi 165 x 230 mm
(43kb)
Antigua map for printing: antigua.jpg, 300 dpi, 240 x 320
mm (856kb). Be patient ~ this file may take a while to load, and you'll need an A3 printer
to print it.
Of course, Australia can also lay claim to possible sources for Austen names –
D’Arcy and Wentworth, to name two, as Barbara Ker Wilson notes in her Jane Austen
in Australia. |
