zaterdag 7 november 2009

Harris Bigg-Wither

Bigg and Bigg-Withers Family

The last of the Withers of Manydown family died 31 October 1789. The heir was Lovelace Bigg, who assumed the name Bigg-Withers under Royal Licence, along with the arms of the Withers family. He also changed his sons names, but the daughters retained their surname, Bigg.

Many glimpses of the life at Manydown between 1796-1799 are to be found in the letters of Jane Austen, whose father was Rector of Steventon, two and a half miles distant. The authoress was evidently very much at home with the party at Manydown, where she frequentlv stayed, and was especially intimate with Catherine and Alethea Bigg, who were about her own age.

Writing to her sister Cassandra of a ball 8th January 1799, given by Lady Dorchester, who then lived at Kempshott, Jane Austen says: "Catherine [Bigg] has the honour of giving her name to a set, which will be composed of two Withers, two Heathcotes, a Blachfoyd, and no Bigg except herself."

Harris Bigg-Wither was born in Wiltshire on 18 May 1781, the second youngest of nine children, and was named after his grandmother, Jane Harris. Harris was eight years old when his father Lovelace inherited Manydown Park. When he was 13, his elder brother died and Harris became heir to Manydown Park and several other properties. In December 1802 he proposed marriage to Jane Austen, although she was six years older than him. She accepted, but announced a change of mind the next day, leaving for Steventon.

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