Jane Austen, the Cravens and the Leigh family
Jane Austen, the Cravens and the Leigh family. DR671/56 Jane Austen is listed as receiving jewellery after the death of Mary Leigh in 1806 This document from the archives of Stoneleigh Abbey is a page from the Will of the Hon. Mary Leigh who died in 1806, listing the names of female relatives to whom she left small bequests of jewellry. On the left hand side are listed "Miss Austen" and "Miss Jane Austen" - that is, the novelist and her elder sister Cassandra. On the right hand page we find the names of three of the daughters of Elizabeth Craven, the writer who was at one time married to the 6th Lord Craven. The married daughters are "The Countess of Sefton" and "The honourable Mrs St. John" while the unmarried Georgiana is "The honourable Miss Craven". Both the Cravens and the Austen family were related to the Leigh family, and so they are mentioned side by side in this list of beneficiaries. This common link was one of several connect