The write move for Jane Austen’s 250th anniversary

Jane Austen’s travelling writing desk is going on display in Southampton for the first time since she lived in the city more than 200 years ago.

As part of Hampshire celebrations to mark the 250th anniversary of her birth next year, the novelist’s desk will be displayed from November 2024 in God’s House Tower, just a stone’s throw from where she lived during her time in Southampton.

Marking the start of a city-wide programme of activities and events for ‘Jane Austen 250’ – which will be marked throughout Hampshire – the desk will be exhibited in the Collections Gallery at the historic 13th century heritage building until February 2025.

One of Hampshire’s best loved daughters, Jane Austen, has been a household name for more than two centuries, but while her links with Winchester, Chawton, Alton and Steventon are usually in the spotlight, the writer’s connections with Southampton are less well known.

Sent to school there when seven years old, she visited several more times before living in the city in her early 30s, and the new exhibition will be the first time her writing desk has returned to Southampton since the author was a resident between 1806 and 1809.

Given to the author by her father in December 1794, the desk, on loan from the British Library, opens to provide a slope on which to write, and has various compartments, including a lockable drawer for paper and valuables.

Alongside that display, from January 2025 a contemporary artist has also been commissioned to fill the main gallery at God’s House Tower, the award-winning flagship arts and heritage venue located in Southampton’s historic Old Town. A participatory women’s creative writing programme will offer routes to explore Austen’s life through the lens of her writing, the desk, and her time in Southampton.

Meanwhile, Hampshire more widely is set for a year of celebration during 2025 to mark the milestone anniversary.

The county was not only her birthplace, but its people, and the society in which she moved, provided inspiration for many of her novels. Born on 16 December 1775 in the Old Rectory in Steventon, which no longer exists, the county has plenty to tempt Austen fans, including the most iconic, and evocative, of all Austen sites: Jane Austen’s House, in Chawton.

This year celebrating 75 years as a museum, it is now gearing up to mark the 250th anniversary, which will start in late 2024 and run throughout 2025, culminating on the anniversary of her birth on 16 December (www.janeaustens.house).

For more information on God’s House Tower, visit: https://godshousetower.org.uk

All tourist information for Hampshire can be found at www.visit-hampshire.co.uk

Photo of God’s House Tower, above: Visit Hampshire

Photo of Jane Austen’s Writing Desk: a-space