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Author: Jacques, Charles Austen

Biography:

JACQUES Charles William Austen (1756-1825: ancestry.com)

The author of the 1776 volume Sylvæ; or, A Collection of Poems on Several Occasions was baptised 21 Dec. 1756 at St Peter the Great, Chichester, Sussex. In a family of four children, he was the elder of the two sons of Charles Jacques (1723-1782), stamp distributor for western Sussex, and his wife, Sarah Kemp (1730-1765). His brother, Dennet Jacques (1758-1825), the duke of Richmond’s librarian at Goodwood, was a Chichester stationer, bookseller, publisher, and binder. Dennet also was a printer, notably of Charlotte Smith’s translation, Manon L’Escaut: or, The Fatal Attachment (1786). Other than “gentleman,” Charles Jacques’s own occupation is unrecorded. On 6 Sep 1791 at St Pancras, Chichester, he married widow Ann Austen (1755-1836). They had a single child, Charles Austen Jacques (1792-1872). Ann’s first husband was Malster and bailiff James Drew (1742-1785). Jacques died at Chichester, aged 68, on 19 July 1825 and was buried the following day at St Mary, Rumboldswhyke. (ancestry.com 2 Nov. 2023; PROB 11/1703; GM n.s. 18:2 [1825], 190; L. Fletcher, Charlotte Smith: A Critical Biography [1998], 82) JC

 

 

 

Books written (1):

Guildford: [no publisher: "for the Author"], 1776