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Which of Jane Austen’s brothers served in the Royal Navy?

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Portrait of Jane Austen seated, wearing a light blue dress and bonnet, holding a closed book on her lap with a thoughtful expression. — Jane Austen Jane Austen, a 19th-century engraving likely derived from a portrait by her sister, Cassandra Austen, c. 1810.

Jane Austen’s brothers who served in the Royal Navy were Francis Austen (1774–1865) and Charles Austen (1779–1852).1

Both brothers served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and eventually reached the rank of Admiral. Their naval careers significantly influenced Jane Austen’s writing, and her depictions of naval life in her novels Mansfield Park and Persuasion are considered tributes to their service. In Mansfield Park, she specifically referenced ships commanded by her brothers, including Francis’s Canopus and Elephant, and Charles’s Endymion and Cleopatra.12