As 2025 draws to a close, we also mark the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth. This milestone reminds us of her fascinating connections to Longford, which played a significant role in her life.
In January 1796, Thomas Lefroy visited his relatives at Ashe, Hampshire, where Jane Austen was staying. Lefroy, from Carrigglass Manor near Longford, caught Jane’s attention. They attended a ball together, and Jane later wrote about their playful behaviour: “Imagine anything more profligate in the way of dancing and sitting together.”
Their romance was brief, as Lefroy’s aunt intervened, ending the relationship. Jane wrote, “At length the day is come on which I am to flirt my last time with Tom Lefroy… My tears flow as I write.” Scholars widely agree that Tom Lefroy inspired Mr Darcy in Pride & Prejudice.
Jane’s connection to Longford did not end with Lefroy. After publishing Emma, she sent a copy to her favourite author, Maria Edgeworth, in Edgeworthstown. In a letter to her aunt, Maria wrote, “The authoress of Pride & Prejudice has been so good as to send me a new novel just published, Emma.”
Previously, Maria had written to her cousin Sophia, praising Austen’s Mansfield Park. Jane, too, expressed admiration for Edgeworth’s work. In 1814, she wrote to her niece Anna, “I have made up my mind to like no novels really but Miss Edgeworth’s, yours, and my own.”
This historic connection was reignited recently when two volumes of Emma were offered for sale by Sotheby’s New York. The books fetched a hammer price of $279,400. Volume I featured Maria Edgeworth’s signature on the title page, cementing the link between the two literary giants.
The staff at the Maria Edgeworth Visitor Centre followed the sale with envy, hoping such items could return to Ireland, ideally to Edgeworthstown. The Centre always seeks works associated with Maria Edgeworth, but these items command astronomical prices.
This sale follows a previous auction of her letters and notebooks by Cotswold Auction Company in Cheltenham. Some lots sold for over €200,000 and were acquired by the National Library of Ireland and Princeton University Library in New Jersey.
The Maria Edgeworth Visitor Centre proudly displays signed letters, books, and manuscripts by Maria Edgeworth and her family. It offers visitors a glimpse into the life of one of Ireland’s literary treasures.
Open six days a week, the Centre is well worth a visit for anyone interested in Jane Austen, Maria Edgeworth, or Irish literary history.
Written by Matt Farrell for the Longford Leader 
