Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775 at Steventon near
Basingstoke, the seventh child of the rector of the parish. She
lived with her family at Steventon until they moved to Bath when
her father retired in 1801. After his death in 1805, she moved
around with her mother; in 1809, they settled in Chawton, near
Alton, Hampshire. Here she remained, except for a few visits to
London, until in May 1817 she moved to Winchester to be near her
doctor. There she died on July 18, 1817.
As a girl Jane Austen wrote stories, including burlesques of
popular romances. Her works were only published after much
revision, four novels being published in her lifetime. These are
Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield
Park (1814) and Emma (1816). Two other novels, Northanger Abbey and
Persuasion, were published posthumously in 1818 with a biographical
notice by her brother, Henry Austen, the first formal announcement
of her authorship. Persuasion was written in a race against failing
health in 1815-16. She also left two earlier compositions, a short
epistolary novel, Lady Susan, and an unfinished novel, The Watsons.
At the time of her death, she was working on a new novel, Sanditon,
a fragmentary draft of which survives.