Born the eldest daughter of Martha Craven and the Reverend Nowes Lloyd of Bishopstone and Hinton Parva, Wiltshire, England. The family then moved to the vicarage at Enborne, Berkshire where her father died in 1789, after which she, her mother, and sister moved into an empty parsonage at Steventon in Hampshire, offered by Reverend Austen, her great friend Jane's father. Martha became a friend as close as Jane's sister, Cassandra. Jane dedicated some early works to Martha. James Austen married her younger sister, and after the Reverend Austen's death, the Widow Austen, Cassandra, Jane and Martha combined their households for fiscal reasons. They first moved to Southampton together to live with Jane's brother Francis' wife Mary while her husband was at sea. The arrangement was apparently quite amicable. They later left Southampton and moved into cottage in Chawton in 1809. Jane died in 1817, and in July 1828, the widowed Francis Austen remarried taking Martha as his wife. She became Lady Austen when her husband was created Knight Commander Order of the Bath in 1837. The couple purchased a house at Portsdown where Martha would live the rest of her life.
Born the eldest daughter of Martha Craven and the Reverend Nowes Lloyd of Bishopstone and Hinton Parva, Wiltshire, England. The family then moved to the vicarage at Enborne, Berkshire where her father died in 1789, after which she, her mother, and sister moved into an empty parsonage at Steventon in Hampshire, offered by Reverend Austen, her great friend Jane's father. Martha became a friend as close as Jane's sister, Cassandra. Jane dedicated some early works to Martha. James Austen married her younger sister, and after the Reverend Austen's death, the Widow Austen, Cassandra, Jane and Martha combined their households for fiscal reasons. They first moved to Southampton together to live with Jane's brother Francis' wife Mary while her husband was at sea. The arrangement was apparently quite amicable. They later left Southampton and moved into cottage in Chawton in 1809. Jane died in 1817, and in July 1828, the widowed Francis Austen remarried taking Martha as his wife. She became Lady Austen when her husband was created Knight Commander Order of the Bath in 1837. The couple purchased a house at Portsdown where Martha would live the rest of her life.
Bio by: Iola
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