JASNA Greater Sacramento wishes to extend an invitation for our event with Matthew Sheldon, Executive Director of Museum Operations for the National Museum of the Royal Navy. 

Jane Austen’s brothers Charles and Francis served in the Royal Navy. This 45 minute illustrated talk will investigate the character of the Navy which Jane was familiar with and investigate its central place in Regency society.

It will use as a lens the social and political caricatures which famous artists such as James Gillray and Thomas Rowlandson created as satirical commentary. That commentary was often biting and sharp-edged, whether considering the power of the Navy and its changing enemies, or the events, personalities, and unique society of Britain’s Senior Service. Whilst cartoons may be simple, they are not necessarily simplistic; the best are a short-cut to understanding the complexity of the Navy’s power and identity and revealing how it was represented to the public.

The talk will draw on the unique collections of the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth. The Museum is situated within Portsmouth Historic Dockyard: 200 yards from the Naval Academy which Jane’s brothers attended for 2 years: a mile from Old Portsmouth as described in Mansfield Park: 25 miles from Jane’s home in Chawton.

Register in advance for this meeting:https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZctf-mhqjkqE92mgvKd_jNoxnvBowx05rVG ;

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.