OXFORD

St. John's College

Map

Photo: St. John's College, Oxford

Before taking orders to become a clergyman in Georgian England, a young man was required to hold a degree.  Many such men would attend St John's College in Oxford to attain this qualification.

Any type of honours degree was acceptable to become a parish priest, but most likely it would have been in Latin, History or Literature. Some graduates, like George Austen, chose to extend their studies beyond their first degree and attain a Masters, or specialise in Theology to become a Bachelor of Divinity.

Photos: St. John's College, Oxford.

SCHOLARSHIPS

Mrs Cassandra Austen was a direct descendent of one of the founders of the college, a merchant named Thomas White. As a result, a scheme was set up for successive relatives, who could prove they were direct relations, to apply for a scholarship to study there.

It was through this scheme that Mr & Mrs Austen's sons, James and Henry, became eligible for the Oxford Founder's Kin Scholarship. Both went on to attain a Bachelor of Arts from St John's College. 

Coincidentally, Mr White also set up scholarships to St John's for pupils from four prestigious schools across the country. One of these was Tonbridge School where George Austen was a pupil, and he entered the college on the Fellowship reserved for a scholar from Tonbridge. 

Mike Riordan has written an article about the Austen's history with St. John's College on the Discover section of their website. You can read it here.

Photos: St. John's College, Oxford

The Wikisource page: Alumni Oxoniensis (1715-1886) documents dates of attendance and qualifications for past Oxford students.

Below, are the students from our story who attended St. John's College with links to their records. 

•  George Austen: Matriculated 2nd July 1747, aged 16. Bachelor of Arts - 1751 / Master of Arts - 1754 / Proctor - 1759 / Bachelor of Divinity - 1760.   See record.
•  Nowes Lloyd: Matriculated 6th April 1739, aged 19. Bachelor of Arts - 1742 / Master of Arts - 1747.   See record.
• William Vanderstegen: Matriculated 26 November 1778, aged 18. Bachelor of Arts - 1782. See record
• James Austen: Matriculated 3 July 1779, aged 14. Bachelor of Arts - 1783 / Master of Arts - 1788. See record
• Fulwar-Craven Fowle: Matriculated 19 June, 1781, aged 17. Bachelor of Arts - 1785 / Master of Arts - 1788. See record
• Tom Fowle: Matriculated 9 July 1783, aged 17. Bachelor of Arts - 1787 / Master of Arts - 1794. See record.
• Henry Austen: Matriculated 1 July 1788, aged 17. Bachelor of Arts - 1792 / Master of Arts 1796. See Record.

Photos: City streets, Oxford.

THE LOITERER

Between January 1789 and March 1790, James and Henry Austen worked together to produce a weekly periodical magazine from the university, called The Loiterer. It ran for sixty editions and was intended as a collection of 'moral lectures, critical remarks and elegant humour'. 

There is speculation from scholars that Jane Austen wrote a letter for the magazine which appeared in print on week nine, under the name of Sophia Sentiment. 

There has never been any real proof of this, but the close similarity between the Juvenilia that she was writing at the time, and her connection to the magazine through her brothers, means that the possibility of it being her first-ever published work is still debated today. The Book Collector podcast has a whole episode dedicated to this argument. It includes the reading of the letter itself and various theories concerning its publication. For a link to the podcast entitled Who Was Sophia Sentiment? Was She Jane Austen? by Zachary Cope, click here.

You can purchase facsimile copies of the entire collection of The Loiterer today in paperback or ebook format. You can find more information on the Amazon site here.

mrs cawley's school

In the Spring of 1783, Cassandra and Jane Austen, along with their cousin, Jane Cooper, went to school in Oxford to be educated by Mrs. Cawley. A few months later, Mrs Cawley moved the school to Southampton to avoid an outbreak of measles, and the girls went with her.

The exact address of the school in Oxford is not known, but before she became a widow, Mrs Cawley lived at Brasenose College where she was married to the Principal.

There is an interesting article about Mrs Cawley on the Brasenose College website which you can access here.

oxford extract

If you would like to read an extract from The Austens of Steventon, where the events happen in Oxford, click here.