George and Edward were “farmed out” to other families. From infancy, George suffered from epileptic fits. It’s possible that he was also deaf and unable to speak. A cottager family adopted him and he lived into the nineteenth century, until the age of seventy-two.

Mr Thomas Knight and his wife adopted Edward Austen. The adoption was agreed in 1783 and in 1812 Edward formally changed his name to Knight. Edward embarked on the Grand Tour, a cultural coming of age tour for the wealthy. Between 1786 and 1790 he spent time in Dresden, Switzerland and Rome. In Rome, he picked up a souvenir - a portrait of himself, artist unknown.