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Jane Austen: The Banker's Sister
When it was announced that Jane Austen would appear on the new £10 note in 2017, the 200th anniversary of her death, there was a flurry of media excitement. Few noted that a £10 Austen banknote was already in existence, albeit one issued by her brother. Henry Austen had set up as a banker in 1804, and built up a small empire of country banks. But Henry went unmentioned, and for good reason―he had gone spectacularly bust in the crash of 1816, the year before Jane died. Versions of Henry appear throughout her novels, not least in the charming but unscrupulous Henry Crawford in Mansfield Park, master of the fashionable card game Speculation. In her last novels, Jane worked through her increasing doubts about the speculative mindset and the shock caused by the collapse of Henry's enterprise. Exploring the close parallels between the speculative political economy of the late eighteenth century and that of the present day, Jane The Banker's Sister counters the stereotype of the spinster tucked away in a Hampshire village, detached from the great historical changes of her era. Based on wholly new research, including sensational new evidence of Henry's entanglements in the dissolute circle around the Prince Regent, this fascinating new volume will change the way Austen's life and her novels are understood. E. J. Clery is Professor of Eighteenth Century Literature at the University of Southampton. An established expert, she frequently appears on radio and TV talking about Austen.
400 pages, Hardcover
Published October 17, 2017
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150 people want to read
About the author
E.J. Clery
11 books4 followersEmma Clery is a Professor of English at the University of Southampton.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 9, 2020
A very interesting read! A few things I disagreed with, but mostly a good read.
September 16, 2017
I loved this. Scholarly yet written in jargon-free prose, full of facts but informed by imaginative and at times daring speculation, an in-depth look at Henry Austen's banking business and the economic and political conditions that informed his sister's novels. Also an engrossing look at their fraternal bond.
Sept 16: I've written more about this wonderful book on my blog at https://thejaneaustenproject.com/2017...
Sept 16: I've written more about this wonderful book on my blog at https://thejaneaustenproject.com/2017...
September 24, 2017
This book shed an entirely new light for me on Jane Austen and her family. But I'll treat this revelation as a spoiler -- moved to the end of this review and marked [spoiler].
It also raises a new possibility as to why Jane Austen pulled her punches on controversial issues in her novels. She didn't want to rock the boat for her brother Henry. It's just a supposition, and I am not even convinced that Jane Austen wanted to be more explicit on political matters, than she actually was. Maybe she wanted to write the kind of novels that she wrote, without getting pedantic or preachy about topics like slavery or women's emancipation or the dissipation of the nobility and so on. However, her love of Henry and her support of his career would have supplied a plausible motive for her to be discreet.
I love doing research and the research in this book is truly impressive. I can picture the devoted Janeites (for who else would do this) tracking down every reference in every dusty financial, governmental or legal archive which mentions the name of "Austen" and all their relatives and associates. And I'm a little jealous of them.
E.J. Clery's bibliography is substantial and I am reminded of Dr. Johnson: "a man will turn over half a library to make one book.”
This book will appeal to people who can't get enough information about Jane Austen's life and times, but have already read and re-read all of her various biographies.
The passages I didn't enjoy so much concerned Clery's interpretations of the novels, because I did not always agree! But a writer who undertakes to analyze Jane Austen must be prepared to deal with the proprietorial feeling of her fans, who have trouble accepting any deviation from their own conceptions of Jane Austen. Austen is the lawful property of each individual acolyte.
[spoiler below]
Her brother Henry moved in more elevated circles than I had realized, due to his banking enterprise. It appears that he benefited from the patronage of certain well-placed noblemen to gain valuable contracts, but instead of outright bribery, his bank was forced to issue "loans" which were never repaid.
It also raises a new possibility as to why Jane Austen pulled her punches on controversial issues in her novels. She didn't want to rock the boat for her brother Henry. It's just a supposition, and I am not even convinced that Jane Austen wanted to be more explicit on political matters, than she actually was. Maybe she wanted to write the kind of novels that she wrote, without getting pedantic or preachy about topics like slavery or women's emancipation or the dissipation of the nobility and so on. However, her love of Henry and her support of his career would have supplied a plausible motive for her to be discreet.
I love doing research and the research in this book is truly impressive. I can picture the devoted Janeites (for who else would do this) tracking down every reference in every dusty financial, governmental or legal archive which mentions the name of "Austen" and all their relatives and associates. And I'm a little jealous of them.
E.J. Clery's bibliography is substantial and I am reminded of Dr. Johnson: "a man will turn over half a library to make one book.”
This book will appeal to people who can't get enough information about Jane Austen's life and times, but have already read and re-read all of her various biographies.
The passages I didn't enjoy so much concerned Clery's interpretations of the novels, because I did not always agree! But a writer who undertakes to analyze Jane Austen must be prepared to deal with the proprietorial feeling of her fans, who have trouble accepting any deviation from their own conceptions of Jane Austen. Austen is the lawful property of each individual acolyte.
[spoiler below]
Her brother Henry moved in more elevated circles than I had realized, due to his banking enterprise. It appears that he benefited from the patronage of certain well-placed noblemen to gain valuable contracts, but instead of outright bribery, his bank was forced to issue "loans" which were never repaid.
November 23, 2021
For my full review: https://girlwithherheadinabook.co.uk/...
I heard E.J. Clery discussing this book on Woman's Hour a few years ago and was intrigued but then it seemed to vanish from view. It was purely by chance that I stumbled across a copy in a remaindered book shop after work one day. Although I have repeatedly promised my partner to stop buying hardbacks as they take up so much space, I couldn't resist. Austen was always remarkably frank about money both in her fiction and in her personal correspondence and so the topic feels well overdue for biographical exploration. Misguided readers have supposed Austen's heroines to be gold-diggers or that the precise calculations of pounds and pence show a desperately mercenary mind but in this riveting and deeply-researched biography, we see how shifting economic tides influenced Austen's life and work. Bluntly, I thought I had reached total biographical fatigue. There are only so many times that you can read that Austen fainted when she heard that her father was giving the family parsonage to her older brother. But The Banker's Sister convinced me that there is still fresh ground for discussion.
The biography's title is a reference to Austen's brother Henry, her favourite brother and the family black sheep. As Clery explains, as James Austen-Leigh and Austen's other nieces and nephews composed the authorised version of Jane Austen's life, Henry's shady employment history led to him being rather sidelined as a proverbial skeleton in the closet. He declined to take orders during his younger years, dallied with being a soldier, married glamourous older cousin Eliza and used her money to set up a banking career. He enjoyed the high life in London for many years but then his bank failed. Henry was forced to declare bankruptcy, dragging most of his siblings towards near financial ruin along with him. Clawing his way out, Henry finally did become a clergyman and lived the rest of his days in respectable near penury. Subsequent generations have identified him with the rakish and dissolute Henry Crawford of Mansfield Park and he has also suffered a rather unfavourable press in Austen-related biographical fiction.
Still, it was Henry who managed to arrange the publication of Pride and Prejudice, who advocated for Austen in the London publishing world, who was so proud of his sister that he always struggled to keep the 'secret' of her anonymity. I had always picked up the vague impression of something disreputable in Henry's refusal to either sail the high seas like Francis or Charles Austen or take orders like James. Yet Clery points out that in his own way, Henry was working for his family. It was through Henry's connections that Francis gained early favour in the navy. The reason why his siblings were so discombobulated by Henry's ultimate ruin was because for years he had been advancing them professionally and financially. I had never been particularly curious about the financial workings of Regency Britain but EJ Clery reveals them as a tangled and perilous web of intrigue and deceit. I had had no idea just how high up Henry Austen's banking connections went. The man's life story was unexpectedly fascinating. It seems that he was able to pursue valuable contracts by offering loans to the nobility ... but then of course many of these loans were never repaid and eventually this caught up with him.
The Banker's Sister offers a fresh perspective on Jane Austen. It has been easy to see her as one half of a double act, that she and her sister Cassandra were two peas in a pod who embraced spinsterhood together. Clery suggests that Austen had an equally important bond with Henry. His name cropped up frequently across her fiction, she wrote about him, he championed her professional success. Henry does seem to have been the brother to get himself into scrapes, yet Austen seems to have been ever ready to roll her eyes and forgive him, writing in her letters, 'Oh, what a Henry!' Clery theorises convincingly that the two of them had shared interests and ambitions and the book contrasts their respective careers to great effect. Starting with Austen's juvenilia, Clery walks through the sister's writing and then analyses how the respective position of the brother and his wider financial dealings may have influenced her work.
The cap of romantic novelist never really sat square on Austen's head. Her central pairings have too many question marks, her own observations about them too wry. But the omnipresent issue of money also overshadows any question of love. This is why readers and literary theorists mistake her heroines for mercenaries; they can't see that Austen is probing at financial questions rather than her characters. Sense and Sensibility is blunt about how money - or rather access to it - determines the fate of the main players. Pride and Prejudice focuses on class mobility. There is a final twist of irony that Austen herself has ended up on a bank note after so much of her professional life commenting on economics. Despite all this, Clery points out that Austen consciously steered away from the more profitable brand of story in favour of her own personal style. She knew that Mansfield Park, which Clery argues focuses on speculation, had an unusual subtext. Austen also knew that Emma Woodhouse was a peculiar heroine. She didn't care. In the midst of all her opinions on finance and society at large, Austen was a resolutely uncommercial writer. If she had been otherwise, she might have written some more convincing romances but her books would not have been half so worth reading two centuries later.
Given the typical level of interest in Austen and the high quality of its insights, I am really surprised at how quickly Banker's Sister appears to have faded from view post-publication. Clery writes clearly and with poise. The book is well-researched and packed full of thought-provoking reflections. More to the point, Clery's love for Austen's work shines through, making it a real joy to read for the Austen fan. A few years ago, I enjoyed Jane Austen the Secret Radical and Banker's Sister challenges the received wisdom on Austen in similar ways but feels sadly neglected in comparison. I had read repeatedly in other biographies that Sir Walter Scott had written positively of Austen's work, so it was interesting to read Clery's take on the matter. Namely that Scott had been more patronising and condescending and that Austen took revenge on him via the character of Sir Walter Elliot in Persuasion. Austen's steely eye for economics is clear throughout her writing and she seems to have gained much of her insight through her bond with her financier brother. As a mirror image, Henry may have ultimately failed as a banker, living the final twenty or so years of his life in genteel poverty as a curate, but his promotion of his sister's legacy both before and after her death is a major part of her posthumous success. There is such beauty in Clery's closing lines as she observes that when you open an Austen novel, 'there are worlds within, of laughter, intelligence and feeling. Her works are among those minor miracles that give life value and meaning'. So true and Clery's book does a magnificent job in shining a light on just why this is.
I heard E.J. Clery discussing this book on Woman's Hour a few years ago and was intrigued but then it seemed to vanish from view. It was purely by chance that I stumbled across a copy in a remaindered book shop after work one day. Although I have repeatedly promised my partner to stop buying hardbacks as they take up so much space, I couldn't resist. Austen was always remarkably frank about money both in her fiction and in her personal correspondence and so the topic feels well overdue for biographical exploration. Misguided readers have supposed Austen's heroines to be gold-diggers or that the precise calculations of pounds and pence show a desperately mercenary mind but in this riveting and deeply-researched biography, we see how shifting economic tides influenced Austen's life and work. Bluntly, I thought I had reached total biographical fatigue. There are only so many times that you can read that Austen fainted when she heard that her father was giving the family parsonage to her older brother. But The Banker's Sister convinced me that there is still fresh ground for discussion.
The biography's title is a reference to Austen's brother Henry, her favourite brother and the family black sheep. As Clery explains, as James Austen-Leigh and Austen's other nieces and nephews composed the authorised version of Jane Austen's life, Henry's shady employment history led to him being rather sidelined as a proverbial skeleton in the closet. He declined to take orders during his younger years, dallied with being a soldier, married glamourous older cousin Eliza and used her money to set up a banking career. He enjoyed the high life in London for many years but then his bank failed. Henry was forced to declare bankruptcy, dragging most of his siblings towards near financial ruin along with him. Clawing his way out, Henry finally did become a clergyman and lived the rest of his days in respectable near penury. Subsequent generations have identified him with the rakish and dissolute Henry Crawford of Mansfield Park and he has also suffered a rather unfavourable press in Austen-related biographical fiction.
Still, it was Henry who managed to arrange the publication of Pride and Prejudice, who advocated for Austen in the London publishing world, who was so proud of his sister that he always struggled to keep the 'secret' of her anonymity. I had always picked up the vague impression of something disreputable in Henry's refusal to either sail the high seas like Francis or Charles Austen or take orders like James. Yet Clery points out that in his own way, Henry was working for his family. It was through Henry's connections that Francis gained early favour in the navy. The reason why his siblings were so discombobulated by Henry's ultimate ruin was because for years he had been advancing them professionally and financially. I had never been particularly curious about the financial workings of Regency Britain but EJ Clery reveals them as a tangled and perilous web of intrigue and deceit. I had had no idea just how high up Henry Austen's banking connections went. The man's life story was unexpectedly fascinating. It seems that he was able to pursue valuable contracts by offering loans to the nobility ... but then of course many of these loans were never repaid and eventually this caught up with him.
The Banker's Sister offers a fresh perspective on Jane Austen. It has been easy to see her as one half of a double act, that she and her sister Cassandra were two peas in a pod who embraced spinsterhood together. Clery suggests that Austen had an equally important bond with Henry. His name cropped up frequently across her fiction, she wrote about him, he championed her professional success. Henry does seem to have been the brother to get himself into scrapes, yet Austen seems to have been ever ready to roll her eyes and forgive him, writing in her letters, 'Oh, what a Henry!' Clery theorises convincingly that the two of them had shared interests and ambitions and the book contrasts their respective careers to great effect. Starting with Austen's juvenilia, Clery walks through the sister's writing and then analyses how the respective position of the brother and his wider financial dealings may have influenced her work.
The cap of romantic novelist never really sat square on Austen's head. Her central pairings have too many question marks, her own observations about them too wry. But the omnipresent issue of money also overshadows any question of love. This is why readers and literary theorists mistake her heroines for mercenaries; they can't see that Austen is probing at financial questions rather than her characters. Sense and Sensibility is blunt about how money - or rather access to it - determines the fate of the main players. Pride and Prejudice focuses on class mobility. There is a final twist of irony that Austen herself has ended up on a bank note after so much of her professional life commenting on economics. Despite all this, Clery points out that Austen consciously steered away from the more profitable brand of story in favour of her own personal style. She knew that Mansfield Park, which Clery argues focuses on speculation, had an unusual subtext. Austen also knew that Emma Woodhouse was a peculiar heroine. She didn't care. In the midst of all her opinions on finance and society at large, Austen was a resolutely uncommercial writer. If she had been otherwise, she might have written some more convincing romances but her books would not have been half so worth reading two centuries later.
Given the typical level of interest in Austen and the high quality of its insights, I am really surprised at how quickly Banker's Sister appears to have faded from view post-publication. Clery writes clearly and with poise. The book is well-researched and packed full of thought-provoking reflections. More to the point, Clery's love for Austen's work shines through, making it a real joy to read for the Austen fan. A few years ago, I enjoyed Jane Austen the Secret Radical and Banker's Sister challenges the received wisdom on Austen in similar ways but feels sadly neglected in comparison. I had read repeatedly in other biographies that Sir Walter Scott had written positively of Austen's work, so it was interesting to read Clery's take on the matter. Namely that Scott had been more patronising and condescending and that Austen took revenge on him via the character of Sir Walter Elliot in Persuasion. Austen's steely eye for economics is clear throughout her writing and she seems to have gained much of her insight through her bond with her financier brother. As a mirror image, Henry may have ultimately failed as a banker, living the final twenty or so years of his life in genteel poverty as a curate, but his promotion of his sister's legacy both before and after her death is a major part of her posthumous success. There is such beauty in Clery's closing lines as she observes that when you open an Austen novel, 'there are worlds within, of laughter, intelligence and feeling. Her works are among those minor miracles that give life value and meaning'. So true and Clery's book does a magnificent job in shining a light on just why this is.
November 15, 2017
I heard the author speak about this book at the Lichfield Festival this year -when the new bank note was about to come out.
JA knew about bankers and banking through her brother Henry , through trying to live on a small income and through trying to get her books published. This book tells the reader rather more about that world than one would ever need to know but it was actually very interesting to set the books in that aspect of the historical context - the wars with France , the beginning of the end of the slave trade, the start of the popularity of the novel among ordinary readers, problems with the currency, the rise of paper money, country banks versus City banks etc.
JA knew about bankers and banking through her brother Henry , through trying to live on a small income and through trying to get her books published. This book tells the reader rather more about that world than one would ever need to know but it was actually very interesting to set the books in that aspect of the historical context - the wars with France , the beginning of the end of the slave trade, the start of the popularity of the novel among ordinary readers, problems with the currency, the rise of paper money, country banks versus City banks etc.
September 11, 2018
Learned much about the financial world of England during the Regency period. It was an English aristocrat who started the concept of travelers’ checks in 1700s. So much wild speculation in currency, banking, stocks at this time. This book filled in a piece of the puzzle that is Jane’s genius and the mileau in which it found expression.
April 24, 2018
A unique and fascinating contribution to the Jane Austen biographical canon, through the economic setting of regency England and the banking and other activities of Henry Austen, JA's favorite and most supportive brother.
July 10, 2020
Jane Austen's life in the context of her relationship with her brother Henry Austen. A dizzying amount of financial information (for me), but it informed Jane's work and promoted it as well. I wouldn't recommend as a first biography of Jane Austen, but a good supplement.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews