Explore food in Jane Austen’s time with this lively talk highlighting the life of honorary Austen, Martha Lloyd.
Martha Lloyd and Jane Austen were born to be best friends. Neighbours, daughters of clergymen, sister-writers. In the 1790s, around the time that Jane was writing early drafts that would become Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, Martha was starting work on what is now known as Martha Lloyd’s Household Book, a compilation of recipes and remedies more than thirty years in the making – now a treasured part of the collection at Jane Austen’s House. Martha joined Jane’s household in 1805 and moved with the Austen women to Chawton in 1809, her Household Book coming along with her. But that’s just part of her story.
This lively talk – serendipitously coinciding with International Tea Day – will raise a teacup to Martha Lloyd, celebrating her as Jane Austen’s ‘friend and sister under every circumstance’, as well as a sister, a cook, a writer and a woman in her own right. Explore the food Martha (and Jane) enjoyed, the company she was kept, and how she went from being an honorary Austen lady to being Martha, Lady Austen.
