Nelson’s Navy
Jane Austen had many connections to the navy through family and friends. Roy and Lesley Adkins explain how you can discover ancestors serving aboard during her lifetime
Britain is an island nation, so most people have a sailor somewhere in their family tree and many would have served in the navy.
The most detailed records from the period of Jane Austen’s lifetime (1775-1817) inevitably relate to naval officers rather than the seamen they commanded. A young boy from a middle- or upper-class family might join a naval ship as a ‘captain’s servant’. This was not a servant as such, but the first step towards the lowest officer rank, that of ‘midshipman’. The next stage after midshipman was to pass the lieutenant’s examination, after which the young men were commissioned officers, holding a commission from the Admiralty. They could work their way up through the ranks of lieutenant to become ‘master and commander’ and finally ‘post-captain’.
Without the critical move to post-captain, careers of lower ranks stalled, but once achieved, promotion up the ladder was automatic every time somebody above them died. Anyone living long enough could become Admiral of the Fleet, the highest-ranking officer in the Royal Navy.
The Austen boys
Because senior naval officers were prominent society members, it is often more productive to start researching them in unofficial sources. Naval actions were routinely reported in newspapers and magazines, naming the officers involved, and more famous characters had biographies written about them. Jane Austen’s brothers, Francis and Charles, are typical examples. During their lives they were known for their naval careers, not for their relationship with their sister.
After joining the navy in 1788 at the age of 14, Francis
Anyone living long enough could become Admiral of the Fleet, the highest-ranking officer in the Royal Navy