George Austen ~ His world of silence and ignorance

[stella]

George Austen

26th August 1766

George (1766-1827), was mentally handicapped and lived quietly away from home in the neighborhood of Steventon. The only mention of him in surviving correspondence among the Austens occurs in a letter written by his mother in December 1770, when he would have been four:
'My poor little George is come to see me to-day, he seems pretty well, tho' he had a fit lately; it was near a twelve-month since he had one before, so was in hopes they had left him, but must not flatter myself so now.' We can surmise from Jane Austen's knowledge of the dumb alphabet--in 1808 she said she could talk to the deaf with her fingers--that he remained deaf through all or much of his life."
Jane's second brother was nine years older than her. Although he was sickly George lived for twenty-one years after his sister.


1766 - Henry Cavendish, was a British scientist noted for his discovery of hydrogen or what he called "inflammable air".[1] He described the density of inflammable air, which formed water on combustion, in a 1766 paper "On Factitious Airs". Antoine Lavoisier later reproduced Cavendish's experiment and gave the element its name (hydrogen).

A deaf artist born in the same time as George
http://www.studio-international.co.u...g/brewster.asp

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...et/6526687.stm



Most Virgos have an intensity that makes them both industrious and efficient. Sticklers for detail, they are very organised. They are also hard workers as they are driven to do, not daydream. They are weary of making decisions until they know all the facts. Virgos are shy by nature and function better in one-on-one situations rather than in large social gatherings.

--Poor George at least Jane took him in hand and tried to help and understand him it is a shame not much could be done for him at the time. He is the least talked about Austen there is not any information on his relationship with sister Cassandra and whether or not she took on any relationship with him after Jane died.
Stella

[Barbara]

I think if one looks at what often happened to handicapped people at that time George was very well taken care of - otherwise I think he would not have lived that long. From what is known nowadays handicapped people usually did not have an easy life at that time, mainly because they were regarded as "useless". Some were even shown off in circusses and others (mainly mentally handicapped) simply put in homes where they were chained to the beds and neglected. So George was still lucky, even though he was probably not often mentioned in the Austens' correspondence.

[stella]

Surely it is true that George was very lucky to have Jane and not been largely abandoned by the elder Austens as it is also true and even to this day some whom are disabled in any form he was certainly luckier than most. He had a very loving family despite their difficulties and the death of their father caused some hardship but they banded together.
Sometimes I try and read between the lines as she did write about all the members in her family in one way or another or people that she had met. Trying to figure out if and whom would she have molded his character into her books.