Drawing Room Lecture: The Scandalous Mrs Leigh-Perrot at Jane Austen's House

About

Join acclaimed historian Dr Miranda Kaufmann for a fascinating and intimate event in the Drawing Room of Jane Austen's House, discussing the scandalous history of Jane Austen's notorious aunt, Mrs Jane Leigh-Perrot – one of the nine Georgian women portrayed in her recent book Heiresses.

From her birth into a family of enslavers on a Barbados sugar plantation to her sensational arrest for shoplifting, Miranda will trace Mrs L-P's dramatic life story, how it may have inspired Jane's writing and even her health.

Heiresses follows the lives of nine Georgian heiresses, tracing their tainted money from its origins in the sugar plantations of the Caribbean; it reveals a murky world of inheritance, fortune-hunting and human exploitation that is glimpsed behind the scenes in Jane Austen's novels. Enlightening, provocative and masterfully researched, Heiresses offers a vital history of enslavement in Britain and the Caribbean.

Dr Miranda Kaufmann is the author of Black Tudors: The Untold Story (Oneworld, 2017) which was shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize and Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize, and has sold over 50,000 copies. She is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of London's Institute of Commonwealth Studies, an Honorary Fellow of the University of Liverpool, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the Royal Society of Arts. She has written for The Times, Guardian, TLS and BBC History Magazine. Miranda lives in North Wales. She will be donating her profits from the book to reparative causes.

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This event will be filmed for an online audience, but a small number of tickets are also available for the live event! As the live audience you will enjoy special access, you'll be invited to ask questions, and you'll enjoy the unique atmosphere of Jane Austen's House out of normal opening hours.

After the talk, join Miranda for tea in the Historic Kitchen and continue the conversation.

Details:
Date: Tuesday 9 June 2026
Time: 2.30pm – 3.30pm
Location: This event is at Jane Austen's House in Chawton.
Tickets: £25
Book tickets