Claire BarnesDec 22, 2022
@Tony_Meredith I also found 'The Comedy of Social Distinctions in Pride and Prejudice' by John McAleer which explains that Jane Austen's great-grandmother was a Brydges & descended from Lionel Duke of Clarence - so as it happens #JaneAusten was a direct descendant of Elizabeth de Burgh #LadyOfClare. However the evidence seems compelling that Jane's #CharacterNames were directly related to political issues of her day. She started writing in Oct1796, just as Pitt proposed reforming the #PoorLaws.
Show threadClaire Barnes

@Tony_Meredith Sheryl Craig’s book ‘Jane Austen & the State of the Nation’ looks good, & may well be based on her PhD thesis ‘Above Vulgar Economy: Jane Austen & Money’, free online at https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/1808/8052/Craig_ku_0099D_11190_DATA_1.pdf
This is a superb read: maybe only a #JaneAusten scholar could write so well.

#EdmundBurke opposed a #MinimumWage & insisted that the poor could keep up with #FoodCosts if the workers substituted cheaper alternatives to bread.

Dec 22, 2022 at 8:07amWeb
Show threadClaire BarnesDec 22, 2022
@Tony_Meredith Sheryl Craig & Janine Barchas have documented the political context & other #CharacterNames convincingly, but although the characters of #EdmundBurke & the fictitious #CatherineDeBourgh are discussed, & other #Whig names make political references clear, I have not seen the name discussed explicitly.
Modern readers may not realise that these are variant spellings? but there were Irish #Burgh & #Burke peers in Jane’s time, both using variants of the original Burgh arms.
Show threadClaire BarnesDec 22, 2022
@Tony_Meredith #EdmundBurke’s 1795 ‘Thoughts and Details on Scarcity’ argued that “the monopoly of capital… is a great benefit… particularly to the poor”, & “very few have actually died of want”. Full text online at https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/ecco/004903053.0001.000
Online dictionaries say that the disparaging slang ‘#berk’ first appeared in the 1930s. Janine Barchas has noted that #JaneAusten books were popular among the working classes in the mid 19th century, so an earlier origin would not have surprised me.
Thoughts and details on scarcity: originally presented to the Right Hon. William Pitt, in the month of November, 1795. By the late ... Edmund Burke.

Show threadClaire BarnesDec 22, 2022

@Tony_Meredith Thanks for drawing my attention to the relevance of #PrideAndPrejudice to #UKpolitics today. 225 years ago #Britain had a #Tory #PrimeMinister pushing for a fairer society with a #LivingIncome & an expansion of #WelfareBenefits. He was supported by many enlightened landowners but undermined by proponents of low taxes, #TrickleDownEconomics, & #charity. All astutely observed by #JaneAusten!

#WilliamPitt #PoorLaws #FairPay #MinimumWage
#Edmund Burke #CatherineDeBourgh
#SupportNHS

Show threadClaire BarnesJan 4, 2023

@Tony_Meredith Just stumbled across this article by Ronald Dunning on a Burgh-Darcy marriage, back in 1329: https://janeausteninvermont.blog/2013/03/13/what-jane-knew-a-1329-darcy-de-bourgh-marriage-in-jane-austens-family-tree/

Elizabeth #LadyofClare probably attended the first wedding of her husband's sister Joan de #Burgh at #Greencastle in 1312, but left Ireland in 1316 so would not have been at the second.

I think the #PrideAndPrejudice #CharacterNames allude to #UKpolitics in #JaneAusten's day, but a lot of #genealogical info was available to her: more at https://historians.social/@kawulf/109627062228137872

What Jane Knew ~ A 1329 Darcy – De Bourgh Marriage in Jane Austen’s Family Tree

Jane Austen in Vermont
Show threadClaire BarnesJun 11, 2024
@Tony_Meredith hi Tony, may I ask if you've opted to auto-delete posts after a specific time? While investigating a problem of fragmented threads, I've been looking at our interesting conversation on Jane Austen back in 2022, where my contributions are now in 6 parts (eg https://h-net.social/@ClaireFromClare/109518225616732305), no longer connected by yours. If you deleted your posts deliberately that's fine of course, but links can also be broken by admins clearing cache, & we're just discussing implications for threads...
Claire Barnes (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image @[email protected] There's a 1953 paper by Donald Greene which you'll find interesting, "#JaneAusten & the Peerage", https://www.jstor.org/stable/460000 (let me know if you'd like a pdf). "...when she creates families with any pretensions to gentle birth, she almost always endows them with names belonging to actual British families, sometimes with an extinct title of nobility, sometimes with a living one"; Greene also talks about Jane's lack of admiration for Sir Egerton Brydges, who claimed de Burgh ancestry.

H-Net
Show threadHistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Apr 2, 2023

@ClaireFromClare @Tony_Meredith

Very perceptive 😀:

https://h-net.social/@ClaireFromClare/109556329817289341

Claire Barnes (@[email protected])

@[email protected] Thanks for drawing my attention to the relevance of #PrideAndPrejudice to #UKpolitics today. 225 years ago #Britain had a #Tory #PrimeMinister pushing for a fairer society with a #LivingIncome & an expansion of #WelfareBenefits. He was supported by many enlightened landowners but undermined by proponents of low taxes, #TrickleDownEconomics, & #charity. All astutely observed by #JaneAusten! #WilliamPitt #PoorLaws #FairPay #MinimumWage #Edmund Burke #CatherineDeBourgh #SupportNHS

H-Net
Show threadClaire BarnesApr 3, 2023

@HistoPol

#JaneAusten was indeed perceptive, & the great social issues of her day seem very relevant to ours...

Do any chroniclers of today's politics have the insight, deft language & playfulness to become so beloved?

@Tony_Meredith #UKpolitics #novel #fiction #bookstodon