Robert Cary Elwes Esq.

(the Real Mr.  Darcy?)

​

A photograph of a portrait of  "SQUIRE" Robert

Cary Elwes aged about 18 painted  in Paris  1790

by Ludwig Guttenbrun famous 18th/19th century

portrait artist.  Painted when the sitter was 18/19. 

​

Its the only image I have been able to locate of

Robert Cary Elwes.   It was published in 1932 by

the  Connoisseur magazine.  This journal ceased

publication decades ago.  It has not been possible

to either trace copyright or to find out even if 

 copyright still exist.  There is much more to be said

later about RCE in Paris.  The current whereabouts

of this portrait is unknown despite efforts to trace

it.  

Does he look like a man who 5 or 6 years later

when Jane Austen first began Pride and Prejudice 

could  be described as haughty, reserved, and 

fastidious and with manners well bred but not

inviting?  This is how Jane Austen describes Mr.

Darcy in the third paragraph before the end of

Book 1 Chapter 4.

I have checked this man's name on the births, deaths, marriages and elsewhere etc to find out about him and to see if he provides other links to Pride and Prejudice.  He most surely does. The first link that I found came from his early life and the obvious closeness of his connections to Hertfordshire that are to be found.  There is no proof only conjecture as to how Jane Austen appears to be so well informed about Hertfordshire (some cousins many times removed is the official, unproven!, best guess! version and regaled as the absolute unquestionable truth  that that is how she must have known details of Hertfordshire despite never having been there.  I am paraphrasing a little but this is pretty much the story that Maureen Stiller, (Hon. Sec. JAS) Deidre Le Fay (Expert now deceased ) and a few others have presented to me.  But if she did meet Robert Cary Elwes then he would be an undeniably good source for knowledge of  life in Hertfordshire near the town of Ware given that one of his  estates was just  a few miles north of Ware.   

​

      He was born on the 28th of July 1772.  He may well have been born in a small village called Throcking.  The small village of Throcking is less than 15 miles away from both Hertford and Ware in the county of Hertfordshire. The village of Throcking looks now as it probably was then a very rural small village with very few buildings in it apart from the manor since demolished, a large, now converted barn, a parsonage and church. How promisingly auspicious. If there is one county where I would hope to find Robert Cary Elwes it would be Hertfordshire and if there any  towns I would wish to find him anywhere near it would be the towns of either Hertford and Ware, particularly Ware, the generally accepted most likely location for the fictional Meryton.  He certainly lived for a time at Throcking because his parents owned Throcking Manor.  His parents were Cary Elwes also born in Throcking and Elizabeth Elwes born Holgate.  Throcking Hall was a magnificent mansion built circa 1743 that reputedly cost £11,000 but was later demolished. Cary Elwes, his father died in 1782 leaving most of his estate  to Robert but also a substantial amount 30,000 pounds to Elizabeth his sister who if Robert died before the age of 21 would have inherited the lot. 

   In common with Darcy he has only one sister.  His sister Elizabeth was born 1771 and married Rev. Robert Cary Barnard (see Burke's Genealogical.... )  More about him and  other relatives with the name  Barnard will be met with a little later.  

​

     Elizabeth his sister is of course older than Darcy's sister Georgiana but obviously Georgiana's role could not have worked as it did if she was older. However, Elizabeth his sister, like Georgiana, Darcy's  was also worth £30,000.  Her father had left her £20,000 upon reaching the age of 21 and a further £10,000 was to come to her the day she married. 

     Was Robert Cary Elwes clever? Well he appears in the list of Cambridge Alumni so I would guess yes he probably was clever. The executor account for his fathers will, seems to show that he was privately tutored by one of its executors Rev. Charles Drake Barnard (a later chaplain to the Earl of Oxford) another member of the Barnard family whose lives are weaved generationally with the Elwes family. (He was a brother of 2 of the Senior Prebendarys at Winchester in the late 18th century and brother also to Rev. Thomas Barnard vicar of Great Amwell 1793 see more below) and its reasonable I think to assume that his education was good and that he went to Cambridge because he was possibly clever. Some of his direct descendants were intelligent for sure.  They include artists, an opera singer, a monsignor, and of particular note Francis Emilius Cary Elwes.    Throcking was not the only estate that Robert inherited. He inherited estates at Roxby and Bigby in Lincolnshire (sizes currently  unknown) and Egton in Yorkshire. Egton in particular was a huge estate covering 12,500 acres about 18 square miles and costing in 1743 about £38,000. This estate included besides land and timber most of the houses and farms enclosed within this area in the villages of Egton and Egton bridge. In common with Darcy he was a substantial landowner with an estate up north. (see below*) 

​

               A view across the North Yorkshire moors.  This view is just a small panoramic snapshot of the land

              he owned . 

               It is as fine a territory for shooting today as it was 200 years ago.  Little has changed.

               Robert Cary Elwes's  youngest son Francis wrote and illustrated a superlative account of a season's 

              shooting 1862 - 63 part of which takes place on the Egton Estate.  This shooting diary has been

               transcribed with explanatory notes and can be found elsewhere on this website. 

               Go to the contents page Wisden's Secret part 1 and scroll down for Shooting Season 1862 - 1863 for

               the completely transcribed  account. 

              Below is  the idyllic entrance of one the routes  into Egton village                   

​

​

​

​

* At the time of writing the above I had initially thought the estate was 6,000 acres in size. This figure was based upon the size it currently is according to its current owners. Since then I have discovered the auction sale catalogue of the Egton estate in 1869. This shows an estate of nearly 12,500 acres and included some valuable "Timber". The estate sold for £155,000 and the timber was sold separately for £25,000. This estate also included most of the property enclosed within. Exactly how big this estate was in 1795/6 I do not know but when it was bought in 1743 by Robert Elwes of Twickenham and costing £38,000 it cannot have been small. A very detailed catalogue of the sale by auction of the Egton Estate has survived and is held by Northampton Archives . 

​

A cutting from the Leicestershire Mercury 27 March 1852 reporting on the probate details for Robert Cary Elwes reveals that the Mercury had been given to understand that the rental income from his Yorkshire and Lincolnshire estates amounted to in excess of 20,000 pound per year and  was valued at 160,000 pounds and that a further 2000  pounds per year came from the estate at Great Billing. 

      Fitzwilliam Darcy although a very rich landowner was not a nobleman, just a plain Mister. He shares this fictional quality with the actual reality of Robert Cary Elwes who was also, a very rich landowner although not a nobleman, just a plain Mister. 

​

       Along with the estates he also owned the advowson at Great Amwell a mile south of Ware and a few miles further from Hertford. This had been the gift of his family for some 200 years and is relevant because Darcy also had the gift of a church living in his power. This living had been promised to Wickham the son of Darcy's land steward. Interestingly, the advowson of Great Amwell was given to Thomas Barnard in 1793. He was a member of the Barnard family that Elwes clearly must have known given that his sister was married to one of them and another was an executor of his father's will and tutor  and friend .   

​

      One of the Barnards,  Charles Drake Barnard was a joint executor of the will of Robert Cary Elwes's father and another may have been a land steward for some/all the estates held in Lincolnshire by him.  Robert Cary Elwes therefore certainly could have provided some of the details about Hertford/Ware.  Whether or not Jane Austen met Robert Cary Elwes  on only a very few occasions even maybe debatable, but he obviously must have had some knowledge about Hertford/Ware. 

​

             Another possibility for providing Jane Austen with her knowledge of Hertford/Ware was Robert Cary Elwes's sister Elizabeth who was married to the Reverend Robert Cary Barnard Rector of Withersfield. Robert Cary Barnard was from the same branch of the Barnard family as the Barnards above.  Robert Cary Elwes's sister's husband Robert Cary Barnard  had relatives that Jane Austen's father must have known. He must have known them because in a professional sense they were next door neighbours. His parish was Steventon and it came within the diocese of Winchester. The relatives that Jane Austen's father must have known are the Reverend Robert Barnard Senior Prebendary at Winchester, Reverend John Gilbert Barnard also a senior Prebendary at Winchester died 1791.  Steventon, where Jane Austen's father was  Rector, being in the diocese of Winchester these two must surely have been known to Jane Austen's father George. Its surely not impossible that other members of the Austen family knew of the 2 Senior Prebendaries named Barnard.  Would the Austens or at least Jane Austen's father never have called in to see or met in passing  The Reverend Robert Barnard and his wife the Hon. Louisa Peyto daughter of John Peyto 6th Baron Willoughby de Broke (Is this where the character name John Willoughby of Sense and Sensibility came?). I think it a possibility. Whilst there, is there not a strong possibility that on occasions Elizabeth Barnard nee Elwes married to Reverend Robert Cary Barnard was there seeing his cousins 2 Senior Prebendaries.  Perhaps even, as the Barnard family were closely connected to the Elwes family, is it not also a possibility that Robert Cary Elwes was at some point also there.  And even if not present, conversation between people who know each other could easily have extended to enquiries about family members etc. 

​

     There must have been times when some of  the Austens went to Winchester if only her father Reverend George Austen. 

​

      To begin, George Austen had an account at a local bookshop. Some contact with Winchester must have occurred because the Cathedral's assistant organist George Chard used to ride frequently to Steventon to give piano lessons. Jane Austen had friends apparently who used to live in Cathedral Close Winchester.  "Trade" gossip between Jane's father and George Chard re the Barnards could easily have brought Robert Cary Elwes and his youthful fortune to Jane Austen's attention. There is no proof apparently but she may well have danced in the Assembly rooms in Winchester. * (See the entry for Winchester Races at Worthy Down for one, probably annual occasion at least, when she might have danced at the Winchester Assembley Rooms.  ) 

​

      So I think it is worth looking again at the opening chapters and the introduction and imminent arrival of a young, rich and single young man and that there may well be some loose basis in reality that these chapters are based upon. 

With this in mind I think there must have been a strong possibility that Jane Austen not only knew of Elisabeth Barnard and or Robert Cary Elwes but may have met them on occasion. A visit to Elizabeth's husband Reverend Robert Cary Barnard's relatives perhaps and from there met Jane Austen, talked of Hertford or Ware towns both Robert and Elizabeth knew well and perhaps even about her brother Robert Cary Elwes  who the Austens may have known of from another source already. 

​

     In Pride and Prejudice Wickham's father had been a steward of Darcy's late father.  Given that the Barnards came from Bigby in Lincolnshire and given that Elwes senior owned a large estate in Bigby as well as nearby Roxby and that this land had been owned by an Elwes for a century and given that Elwes's father died when he was very young, is it possible that the man who  looked after  these estates  was a member of the Barnard family and that the figure of 10,000 a year was a figure based upon a real known amount.  Furthermore is the fact that  Charles Drake Barnard another member and brother of the others so far mentioned and  one of the executors of Cary Elwes's will must have   had a good idea, perhaps even exactly of just how rich Robert Cary Elwes was.  There exists  brief financial accounts compiled by Charles Drake Barnard in his role as executor and considerable sums are paid to Charles Drake Barnard.  These sums cannot be for nothing and are not just tuition fees.  CDB also oversaw the  financial transactions.  

      Such stewardship between the families was to cross over into the 1860's when one of the Barnards was appointed along with R.J.C Elwes (brother of Francis) to administer the account at Goslings of Francis Emilius Cary Elwes the man who wrote the ms.  (in part at least the "Original source Manuscript to the 1st Edition of Wisden's Almanac 1864 that forms a large part of this website blog. A member of the Barnard family was an executor of Robert Cary Elwes's father, Cary Elwes’s will. The connections between the families are of long duration that cross generations and at the time at least were trusted and for all I know still are.   There can be no doubt that the Barnard family were obviously very well known to Robert Cary Elwes. 

​

    Jane Austen's knowledge of the military presence of the Derby Militia in Hertfordshire must have come from someone too. The Derby Militia were stationed close to the estate in Throcking owned by Robert Cary Elwes and either he or his sister Elizabeth surely could have provided knowledge of a militia in Hertfordshire. Throcking is only a few miles away from Welwyn and the military presence there simply  cannot have been unknown by people living close by.   

    There is again no proof but it has been suggested that Jane Austen must have known about the military presence in Hertfordshire via her brother Henry who had served in the militia. Whilst he could have provided knowledge about life in the militia itself it does not therefore follow that he also knew about the militia in relation to Hertfordshire. (see Colonel Fitzwilliam and the Militia) 

​

     Another possible source for Jane Austen to have known about and heard about Robert Cary Elwes was via the Rector of Elkstone's family. The rectors son Tom Fowle ,who was Jane's sister Cassandra's prospective husband and a close family friend could quite easily known about Robert Cary Elwes. Gentleman and their wives and families for their social interaction look to other gentlemen and their wives and families and if one lives in a small village like Colesbourn that means sometimes looking in a different village not too far away. In the village of Elkstone only a few miles away lived the Fowle family. People like the Fowle family would have mixed socially, sooner or later with people like the new owners in 1789 of nearby Colesbourn Park. 

​

     It was bought by John Elwes son of the celebrated miser John Elwes supposedly the inspiration for perhaps Dickens's most famous character Scrooge and a relative  of Robert Cary Elwes. Its difficult to imagine that the new owner of Colesbourn Park and his doings were unknown to the Rector of Elkstone and his son Tom, and therefore I think it is quite possible that in conversation with the Fowle family, and in particular Tom, Cassandra Austen's fiancee, the fact and knowledge about Robert Cary Elwes and his youthful fortune may well have come to the attention of Jane Austen. 

​

     * In early 2021 I was contacted  by a member of the Barnard family who suggested that I might find it fruitful to look at the university/s which members of Jane Austen's family may have attended.   2 of her brothers, Henry and James went to university and attended St. Johns Oxford  between the years 1775 and 1792.  They were  scholarship pupils there I presume for the education, in their case Divinity.  Whilst there they jointly produced a publication primarily for students  known as The Loiterer.

     Most members of the Barnard family attended Cambridge but there was one Charles Drake Barnard (mentioned earlier ) who attended Trinity College Oxford in the late 1780's.  He came away with a B.A. and moved to Cambridge where he gained an M.A. in Divinity.  At the time of writing I have not ascertained whether the B.A. at Oxford was in Divinity or not but his subsequent life in the clergy makes it likely. 

     Could this Barnard who according to my source knew RCE very,  very well have known either or both of the Austens.  

 St John's College is almost next door to Trinity College.  Close...

​

A building a short distance away from St. John's and Trinity  where  CDB could have met  one or both Austens and that all three may have visited was Divinity School and next door to that is the Bodlaien Library.  There are not thousands of students studying divinity in 1789   Closer.... 

    In producing The Loiterer  1789 primarily for students is it not possible that one or other of the Austens in casual conversation or even promoting The Loiterer  could very easily have encountered Barnard .....

​

    So at a ball such as is described in P and P how does gossip spread within 5 minutes that a seemingly  completely unknown man by the name of Mr.  Darcy is worth 10,000 a year.  Somebody must know! 

​

My theory.

    In 1790 CDB leaves Oxford to go to Cambridge to study for an M.A. in divinity.  Before leaving he tells either one or both Austens that he is leaving and that whilst at Cambridge he will be paid for tutoring a fellow student he has known since childhood.  A man who has inherited land property etc and is worth 10,000 a year.    Fast forward a few years and a party consisting of Charles Drake Barnard, Robert Cary Elwes; his sister and her husband another member of the Barnard family come to Winchester to visit another close family member.  They come in summer for the races at Worthy Down and through connections attend the stewards ball afterwards.  At the ball are Jane Austen's family  who as I will point out later  knew the steward ( a man named Chute ) of the Worthy Down races (more later about Worthy Down races).  One of the Austen brothers recognises CDB from Oxford talks to him discovers that Elwes is the man worth 10,000 that he was tutoring and 5 minutes later the whole room knows.

Conjecture?  Of course.  But... *      

  A note about Darcy: 

​

    Maureen Stiller Hon. Sec of the Jane Austen Society has proposed to me that Darcy, the name, has been chosen precisely because, although she (Jane Austen) knew many people (you have only to read her letters, she tells me) she DID NOT know anyone with the surname Darcy.  I cannot say that this is  not an argument.  But "I do not know anyone called Darcy so I will call the hero of my book Mr. Darcy." does seem an unlikely scenario. What a dull way to arrive at the name of the hero.  I simply cannot believe that an author with the inventiveness of Jane Austen as clever and smart witted as Jane Austen  chooses her hero's surname because she knew nobody with that surname.  An absurd idea. 

​

​

      Whilst writing the March diary commentary for Wisden's Secret I came across the mention of someone the author Francis Emilius Cary Elwes knew, one Henry William Lindow.  I have just looked his name up and there may be a connection between this man's father and Pride and Prejudice.  I am not suggesting for one minute that he has provided any plot or character for Bingley as for Robert Cary Elwes, but he may with clever wordplay have provided the name Bingley and some of the "concrete " details about his life.  Nor can I say whether there is any chance that she could have heard of him from any source, but that is not to say she could not have if she in fact knew Elwes. 

​

      In real life he lived at Lower Slaughter House, Lower Slaughter Gloucestershire.  He would have been a little younger than Bingley (coincidence Bingley was also a little younger in reality than Darcy about 4 years in each case) but he does have things in common with Bingley. 

​

      He inherited at a young age, land and estates and presumably income and probably slaves. The land was in Lancaster, St Vincents and Grenada. He left Oxford at 17 and in July 1795 turned 18. The name Bingley can also be found by a word play. It is to be a fair a little tortuous. My daughter succinctly describes it as "a bit of a reach." Riddles often are though and riddles like anagrams are something else Jane Austen enjoyed. 

​

The word play 

​

A type of widow that rhymes with his name Bay to Bey 

The use of the letter 'g' for Grenada 

Mixing the first half of his name Lin 

Stir them all up and the name Bingley appears 

His name was Henry Lindow Lindow but he was born Henry Lindow Rawlinson and changed his name 

in order to inherit. 

As with Elwes I'm not aware of any other suggestions as to who or where or how the name Bingley could have evolved or been arrived at but this at least is something not conceived of to date. 

 Each day a little more appears. I can connect Robert Cary Elwes with Henry Lindow Lindow back to at least 1817 when he married Charlotte Elizabeth Barnard, the daughter of reverend Robert Cary Barnard and his wife Elizabeth nee Elwes Barnard. Robert Cary Elwes's name appears on the marriage settlement between them and its reasonable I think to assume Elwes and Lindow knew each other for a time at least before this marriage in 1817; the question is for how long. Charlotte was Robert Cary Elwes's niece. 

​

*In 2022 I learnt that the Gosling Archives held accounts for Charles Drake Barnard and Edward Austen ( More about Edward in good time)  In May 2022 I looked at these accounts.  Here I struck gold.  I may not be able to trace Lindow to RCE  beyond 1817 but I can trace someone by the name of Lindow and likely the man I am trying to trace back to the best friend tutor etc to RCE Charles Drake Barnard.  I have found  there  are 2 records of  payments to "Lindow" in these accounts.  One for 15th November 1805 and a second for 17th January 1806.  The surname Lindow is a very uncommon surname nowadays and no doubt was uncommon 200 years ago.  When did Barnard and Lindow first meet.  Who knows days, weeks, months, maybe years  but certainly prior to November 1805.  Barnard was very close to RCE  and it is probable also that RCE knew of if not knew Lindow.

​

     A further coincidence: Robert Cary Elwes's father's name was Cary Charles Elwes. Henry Lindow Lindow's father was brother-in-law to William Lindow and it was William Lindow's estates that Henry Lindow Lindow inherited. Can the use of names (Fitz)william Darcy and Charles Bingley be just a simple coincidence. Not sure about that one. 

​

    Just guesswork of course but there are mysteries to be solved.

​

     How much were Robert Cary Elwes and Mr. Darcy worth in today's money. This is supposedly quite difficult to work out. The Telegraph helps out in an article entitled "could Mr. Darcy afford a stately home today" In the article they produce a table based upon values in 1810 close to the time when Jane Austen produced her novels in which they suggest that £10,000 a year has a real value today of £619,100 numerically approx. 60 -70 times as much but has a prestige value of £8,877,000 numerically 800-900 times as much. 

​

     For a couple of reasons I'm not sure about the credibility of the first figure of 60-70 times today’s value. In 1861, 70 years later Robert Cary Elwes's Elwes's son purchased Number 39 Queens Gate Terrace Kensington a five storey mansion for somewhere between £6 and £8,000. This house if unconverted would now sell for well in excess of (let's not exaggerate)

£6 - 9  million; a figure closer to 1,000 times the original cost. 100 years or so after Jane Austen was writing her novels mainly in the early 19th century, Robert Tressell wrote "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists"  A fictional tale of working class life as a painter and decorator by a painter and decorator and therefore much of it surely factually based. 

​

Wages for a skilled man such as the main character Owen were 6 pence an hour or 7 pence for special work of the sort that Owen was capable of producing.  A pound a week give or take a few shillings.  Labourers earned substantially less. At the "real value" above a painter and decorators wage would be £60 -70 a week which is clearly rubbish in today's world 2018  in the U.K.  You cant get a days labour out of a skilled man for £70 a day never mind a full week.  The "prestige value "at 8-900 times the values in 1810 gives a much better comparison with reality and is much nearer to what a skilled painter and decorator currently expects to earn today ie. £8-900 a week. 

     Either way though Robert Cary Elwes was without doubt, a very wealthy young man.  Some of his banking records survive.  They date from 1799.  There must have been others prior to 1799 and there may well have been other bank accounts in 1799 that have not survived.  According to the only account of his that I have found in 1799 he held a sum in cash close to £35,000.  Add to this four estates, not just the land but all the property too and the likelihood of wealth elsewhere... 

​

     The Lincolnshire Archives Committee Archivists Report 20 gives quite some detail about the Elwes holdings in Lincolnshire in Roxby and Bigby. Not as large as Egton but not that small and built up over many years. I do not know the exact figure of either estate nor if they also included property but I would be surprised if they did not include property holdings also. 

​

      As a "real value" today according to the Telegraph figures then in cash he would be worth perhaps £2 million plus the four estates etc.  In terms of "prestige value" perhaps a sum held in cash in excess of £25 million plus 4 estates etc. 

​

     At today's valuations of his land and property holdings his wealth would far exceed that.  Land in Yorkshire today retails at a minimum  5000 pounds plus per acre and  Robert Cary Elwes owned 12500 acres and in addition  most of the property in the 2 nearby villages.  Do the maths. 

      With such extensive land and property holdings and by the time income from his estates is included he surely could have been close to being the single young man in possession of  £10, 000 a year, and therefore in need of a wife. 

​

​

*A Process of Elimination. 

     I have included this section because someone pointed out to me that there must have been many people in 1795 who had the necessary attributes and income to be Mr. Darcy.  But is that so.  I think by a process of elimination one could come close to identifying him.  Mr Darcy belonged to the landed gentry class, a group of people who comprised perhaps one and a half per cent of the population in 1795.  The 1801 census indicates that the population of England was about 5 million people . 

Some fag packet calculations: 

​

      So Landed gentry equals one and a half percent of five million which is about 75,000 people; so to keep the sums easy call it 100,000. Minus 5o% because they are women = 50,000 left.  Minus 90% of the remaining males because they are 

a) too young 

b) too old 

c) they are already married/betrothed = 5,000 left 

Minus 80% of those who unlike Darcy are not clever = 1000 left 

Minus another say 60% of  those who were not only sons as Darcy was = 400 left 

Minus those who were plain Mr. rather than Lord Duke etc say another 50% = 200 left 

Minus those who whilst wealthy did not possess a sizeable estate say another 75 % = 50 left 

Minus those who did not have it in their power to bestow a church living say another 20 % = 40 left 

Minus those who only had one other sibling a sister worth 30,000 pounds  

Minus those who did not have anywhere near £10,000 a year 

Minus those who cannot be shown to have one degree or closer connections to Jane Austen 

Minus those whose names have no obvious relationship to the name Darcy = A number close to one. 

One possible candidate for the identity of Mr. Darcy.  Can anyone name better?  Perhaps there are other young men whom in 1795 the above could also be applied to but there cannot possibly be many. 

​

     More could have been added to the above to make the argument more compelling  Knowledge  about Chatsworth and the Cavendish family, (see below ) Hertford and or Ware.  As I was t o find out later and will explain later, there was yet more besides.   

Mr. Darcy has characteristics that fit the above process. So does Robert Cary Elwes. But who else does? 

​

​

​

​

* *  In  late February / early March 2021 and following contact with a member of the family I thought a little more as to whether there were others ways in which the possibility of connection between Darcy and Elwes could have been established.  The initial criteria I have employed  to establish a connection is to assume that when Jane Austen gives detail about Darcy the man she is speaking about is a real life individual.  

    On that basis there are at least 2 further ways which when combined with the above pin down Robert Cary Elwes as the man.

Firstly:   We learn that Darcy has a substantial estate (Pemberley)  somewhere up north. Drawing a horizontal line above say  South Birmingham if the owner of every substantial 18th century landed estate was examined we would find very few candidates who could fit  the bill.  How many of these substantial landowners are a) the right age 20 - 30, b)  plain Misters,  c)  have only a single  sister, no brother and that  worth 30,ooo pounds.  Not very many I beg to suggest  but one who does is Robert Cary Elwes.

​

*Qualities shared by both Darcy and Elwes are found later.

Secondly:   We learn from Wickham that Darcy is intelligent.  Where do intelligent sons of the wealthy receive their education?  Eton Harrow privately and the university along with many sons of the wealthy who were not intelligent they receive their education in their late teens and early twenties at university.  If there were a real life individual based upon Darcy would he be any different.  Highly unlikely  I think.  In which case which university would he have attended 

​

Before the beginning of the 19th century there were only 2 universities that he could have attended Oxford and Cambridge.  Both these universities have full records of their former alumni.  Late 18th century university numbers are far below today's numbers but of course there is still a lot of names to look;  certainly a few thousand.  a search for a needle in a haystack?  Perhaps But if you do not search the haystack you cannot find the needle.  So given that Jane Austen began writing P and P in 1795 Darcy one reasonably and realistically  would think could not be older than 30 nor younger than 20.  A systematic search could reject many  because they were not wealthy enough, they already had a title by 1795, they were not the owner of a substantial estate/s, they had many other siblings not just one sister.  As one systematically runs through the list of alumni one comes to the name Robert Cary Elwes  and his entry  in the Cambridge Alumni   demands an immediate and  closer look.  I hope to be able to show a screenshot of his entry in this database which can be found by googling "database Cambridge Alumni"  and searching for his entry.  Pre- internet days of course this entry would have taken some effort to find whereas today a quick search using google and then  a search of the database and a few minutes later up comes all the information.

​

But until such time as I  can show the screenshot below are some details which the well informed student of Jane Austen, her works, life and times and who thinks there may indeed have been a real man who provided the inspiration at least and quite probably the actuality for Mr. Darcy would  surely have seized upon as information that demanded thorough checking!   How could you not?  Hindsight is such a wonderful thing.

​

​

Pemberley / Chatsworth 

​

     It is thought by many that Pemberley House in Pride and Prejudice is based upon Chatsworth House and that Jane Austen's description of this place must have come from a visit to Bakewell made in 1811, although there is no evidence that she went to Chatsworth. It has also been suggested to me that she knew about Chatsworth through either books or publications (plural) of the period.  The, let’s call her an authoritative individual, who informed me of this offered no evidence of whatsoever  these books or publications (plural or singular ) may have been.  For the record lets just say that there are very very few that could have been consulted.  This is another example of conjecture unquestioned for so long that it is now related as truth or certainly related to me as truth that needs to be reviewed. 

​

      Might there be another way that she knew of Chatsworth House in the way for example that she appears to know a great deal about Hertfordshire despite never having been there. I have recently read the description of Elizabeth's tour around Pemberley.  It certainly reads like a real description from life.  How was she able to do this if she never went there?   

​

      I think there is a way and it comes courtesy of Robert Cary Elwes if she met him.  The Elwes family (Robert Cary Elwes) seem to have been associated with Billing Hall from sometime in 1795 renting before purchasing it in 1799.  It had formerly been the property of Lord John Cavendish who died in 1796.  Lord John Cavendish was the youngest son of the 4th Duke of Devonshire and brother of the 5th.  Negotiations for the sale and purchase of Billing Hall one would imagine took place over a reasonable period of time.  Before paying for somewhere like Billing Hall some sort of inventory must have taken place and a price arrived at and agreed upon.  Although not owning the hall until 1799 these associations between Elwes and the Cavendish family would appear to have commenced as early if not earlier for other reasons by the renting of Great Billing Hall at sometime in 1795. 

​

      In that period of time before being bought by Elwes is it not possible that Elwes may have visited perhaps even known well the owner of Chatsworth House, given that Lord John Cavendish the previous owner of Billing Hall was the youngest son of the fourth Duke of Devonshire a former owner of Chatsworth House and younger brother of the fifth Duke of Devonshire the current owner in 1795. 

​

     The Great Billing Hall estate was bought by Elwes in 1799 for about £40,000. I have no problem with the possibility of Rober Cary Elwes knowing about Chatsworth and being given a guided tour and therefore being able to talk about Chatsworth knowledgeably. 

​

​

​

Colonel Fitzwilliam and the _____ Militia 

​

      The ____ Militia who were posted to Hertfordshire in Pride and Prejudice are thought to be the Derbyshire Militia. I thought it worth a look to see if Colonel Fitzwilliam the man in charge of the _____ Militia in Pride and Prejudice could be identified with a real man and if that man might have links with Colonel Fitzwilliam and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. 

​

In Pride and Prejudice in brief we learn that Colonel Fitzwilliam was a Colonel the youngest son of an earl, and of good family. 

​

In 1795 In charge of one regiment of the Derbyshire Miltia was Colonel George Augustus Henry Cavendish and he was born in 1754. He was a Colonel from 1783 until 1811. The name Cavendish is of immediate interest because as already explained Robert Cary Elwes bought Billing Hall and rented initially from the Cavendish family of whom the Duke of Devonshire and owner of Chatsworth House was the best known. George Augustus Henry Cavendish was a younger son ( Colonel Fitzwilliam was the youngest son ) His father's name was William Cavendish the 4th Duke of Devonshire and owner of Chatsworth House. 

​

Interestingly enough the prefix for the name Fitzwilliam Fitz means son of hence in this case, son of William. Coincidence? Although George Cavendish was not the son of an earl as Fitzwilliam was, he was the son of a duke and being the son of a duke is pretty similar in social standing but for those interested in such nuances it is of higher rank. No matter what, as a man he would have been considered as being from a good family. 

​

      A point to consider: The Derbyshire Militia were based for a while in Hertfordshire.  Elwes's estate seems to have been right in the middle or very close to where the Derbyshire Militia were camped.   Where would Colonel Geoge Henry Augustus Cavendish have slept at night. In a tent? I am sure Robert Cary Elwes must have been aware of the nearby presence of the Derby Militia. If George Augustus Henry Cavendish spent time a few short miles away at Throcking home of Robert Cary Elwes it would be no surprise to me and via Robert Cary Elwes provides a way in which Jane Austen may have learnt not only about Hertfordshire, the Derbyshire Militia, and Chatsworth but also about the real life Colonel Fitzwilliam!!! 

​

Winchester Races at Worthy Down 

Two  further possibilities as to why Robert Cary Elwes may have been anywhere near Jane Austen  in 1795/6 besides visiting his relatives in Winchester have emerged.

​

Firstly Elwes was to become a race horse breeder who purchased Great Billing Hall from the Duke of Devonshire's brother's estate;  an estate with its own private race course.  Elwes purchased this estate in 1799 having been associated with it since 1795.

At Worthy Down near Winchester horse racing was held.  Horse racing here was a major social event at the end of the 18th century to  which the great and the good would attend from far away so it is not impossible that a man with all the time and money he needed in which to do as he pleased, and with an interest in horse racing should be there.  Besides which he had strong family connections living within Winchester itself who if he did not already know about Worthy Down could have told him and would have provided a further good reason to visit.  

  * A newspaper article from 1794 gives a brief account of the social side of the occasion with the following quoted text 

​

    " The company was numerous and splendid - On Tuesday evening there was a concert at St. John's House. The theatre was opened as usual and was brilliantly attended on Wednesday evening, when the performances were by the desire of W. Chute Esq. the  steward of the races - The stewards ball and supper on Thursday evening at St. John's House, were attended by all the beauty and fashion in this city and neighbourhood"

       *Special thanks for the above newspaper report to John Slusar owner of the Greyhoundderby website  who made me aware of the existence of this  report through his interest in horse racing and among other things horse racing courses, including the one at  Worthy Down Winchester * 

Point No. 1

St. John's House Winchester is a grade II listed building with an 18th century first floor Regency Assembly Room.

Point No.2

The Chute family were undoubtedly known to the Austen family through James Austen who was the vicar of Sherbonne St.John just outside of which  the Chutes lived in a magnificent country house known as the Vyne.

Point No. 3

Although there is no account of the entertainment associated with the Winchester races in the years 1795/6/7 its highly probable that there were very similar entertainments in these years, and that there was a stewards ball, whether the steward was W. Chute is not at this moment known but I can find no reason so far for him not to have been the steward of the races in 1795/6/7 at Worthy Down Winchester.  

Point No. 4 

If  W. Chute Esq. were still the steward at the Worthy Down races 1795/6/7 and at the time of writing it appears he was and no reason why not ; and  given that the Austen family and the Chute family who must have known each other fairly well through  at least  James Austen, Jane's brother and  because  W. Chute owned "The Vyne" in Sherbonne St. John and James Austen was the vicar of Sherbonne  St. John courtesy of W. Chute.  Would it be a surprise if  Jane Austen and her family were invited guests at the stewards  ball in 1795/6/7.   Close Friends and acquaintances of the steward would be likely to be invited.   Young attractive ladies are always needed at such events and I would be more surprised if she did not get an invite than if she did, and if so could this be the ball that provides the basis for the ball at Meryton were Elizabeth first encountered Darcy and Jane Austen writing that everyone agreed that he (Darcy)  "was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world and everybody there hoped he would never come there again" The dating of the ball at Meryton it needs to be noted is not the same because the ball at St. John's House takes place in July whereas the ball at Meryton takes place Octoberish.

Maureen Stiller Hon. Sec of the JAS. has informed me that Jane Austen rarely went to Winchester, Balls or otherwise but if there were one good reason for Jane Austen being in Winchester and moreover at a  ball in Winchester then  the stewards ball organised by W. Chute after the racing at Worthy Down is it.  Isn't it?

Similarly if Robert Cary Elwes did travel to Worthy Down for the racing and there were a ball in Winchester to be attended by Robert Cary Elwes then the stewards ball after the racing at Worthy Down is likely and thus the 2 could have met.  Could they not? 

Yes its conjecture.  But its plausible conjecture with some structural factual support that provides answers as to how come and where Jane Austen could have met the man who might be the man with  definite similarities and commonalities with Darcy of Pride and Prejudice.  It explains how a man nobody had seen before or knew of, could have appeared from nowhere so to speak in a manner not dissimilar to the appearance of Darcy a man nobody had seen before.   

​

Added July 30th 2018        

A further reason for Robert Cary Elwes to be in Winchester besides horse racing and relatives relates to the death of his father and a Doctor John Berkenhout of Winchester.  Whether or not the Austen family knew of him or not I do not know although in his day he would have been a well known figure.  A clever knowledgeable man and published author see Oxford DNB entry.  But Robert Cary Elwes certainly knew of him.

Held in Northampton archives is an executors account book by one Francis Grojan and Charles Cary Barnard (the same relative of the Barnards previously mentioned)  who was the trustee for the will of Cary Elwes, Robert Cary Elwes's father.  It details the income and expenses for the estate of Cary Elwes until Robert Cary Elwes reached the age of 21. 

There is an expense of 200 pounds for 17 days (the last 17 days in the life of Cary Elwes )  of medical care  payable to John Berkenhout of Winchester.  Berkennhout would therefore in all probability have been the last or one of the last people to have seen Robert Cary Elwes's father alive.

John Berkenhout's Wikipedia entry shows him as dying in 1791 so if Elwes did try to visit him it would have been in vain.   

​

Horse Racing Newmarket  Mansfield Park

I had suggested that the B____ races could be Banbury.  John Slusar of the greyhoundderby website has told me that there was no horse racing at Banbury between 1809 and 1813, therefore B_____ races is unlikely to be Banbury.  For the same reason this includes nearby Brackley also.  There was horse racing at Bedford during this period.

     However he did inform me of an interesting fact with regard to Robert Cary Elwes and horse racing at Newmarket. Newmarket was the race course that Tom Bertram had his accident and thus a race course that Jane Austen knew something of at least in order to include it in Mansfield Park.   In 1812 Robert Cary Elwes raced  and won with a horse  by the name of Master George at Newmarket. The Racing Calendar for 1815 lists the previous winners of races in 1812. The entry reads Master George, Mr. Elwes's 225 gns and 50 gns at Newmarket

              In the Sporting Intelligence section of the London Chronicle for 1812 is an article about the third October meeting at Newmarket in 1812 on Wednesday 28 October It reads  " Mr. Elwes's c. Master George 8st. 7lb. beat Lord Lowther's brother to Buttercup 8st 4lb. A. F. 50 gs.  five - 4 on Master George.

     Jane Austen wrote the book Mansfield Park between the years of 1812 and 1814 at Chawton Cottage.

     In early 2021 I realised there was another possibility for B______ Races that had been staring me in the face.   Elwes's estate at Great Billing had its own private racecourse and thus B______  could easily stand for Billing   

​

​

​

       Could Throcking be the Original siting of Longbourn. Was there a real Oakham Mount and did this place provide the inspirational source for the naming of Netherfield Park? 

​

      There is one major argument for saying that Throcking is not the original location for "Longbourn" and that is its distance from Hertford or Ware  (Meryton) Throcking is 15 miles away from Hertford and 12 and a half from Ware, whereas Longbourn is only a mile away from Meryton. However just as Jane Austen disguised place names might she not also have disguised location. Its worth noting that despite Jane Austen's precision location of one mile from Meryton nobody has found or been able to name it for certain. 

​

      Aside from the fact that Robert Cary Elwes grew up and lived in Throcking there at least 2 good arguments for suggesting that Throcking maybe the original Longbourn. 

​

      The first argument is that Throcking is 7/8 miles away from Baldock. Baldock was a small town that was an important staging post along the Great North Road in the late 18th century. This is an important point because on hearing of Lydia and Wickham's elopement, ostensibly to Scotland, via London, they would have travelled along the Great North Road. A character, based in Longbourn laments that "they must have passed within 10 miles of us" 

​

         The second argument is in relation to Oakham Mount. Mrs. Bennet advises Mr. Darcy, Lizzy and Kitty "to walk to Oakham Mount this morning. It’s a nice long walk and Mr. Darcy has never seen the view" 

​

     There is a small village close to Throcking with superb views, apparently all the way to Ely on a clear day,a distance of about 20 miles.  Clicking google images brings some of these views these up.  In 1936 it provided a trig. point for the ordnance Survey.  To reach this point from Throcking would have been a good long walk.  The distance there and back is about 14 miles.  Besides being a possible location for Oakham Mount it may also have provided the inspirational source for the name Netherfield Park.  According to a Cary map of 1787 it appears to be slightly North East of Throcking. Therfield is the name of this place and if one adds NE the abbreviation for North East to Therfield the name Netherfield results. 

​

​

     There are however 2 further possibilities that could be "Longbourn."  Both can be connected to Elwes. The first is the village of Great Amwell.  It is a small village about a mile outside Ware just as Longbourn is a small village about a mile from Meryton.  It is in respect of the church at Great Amwell that Elwes held the church living.  This church living that was gifted to Thomas Barnard a brother of the "Winchester Cathedral" Barnard brothers. Aside from this there is at least one further interesting connection to Amwell and Longbourn. 

​

      This can be found if one dissects the name Longbourn. Long obviously meaning long and bourn. The word bourn means a small stream. Could Longbourn mean A Long small stream.  Possibly if one is referring to Great Amwell.  For Great Amwell has one major claim to fame.  It is the source of what is now known as the New River. This is an artificial waterway created in the 17th century by Sir Hugh Muddleton.  Its purpose was to take fresh water from the River Lea and Chadwell and Amwell Springs.  This is a distance of 28 miles.  Quite a distance for a small "stream" 

​

       The second further possibility is that Longbourn is simply a composite of Amwell and Throcking to create a third place albeit of course a non existent place .

​

​

Tom Lefroy and "our Irish friend"

​

     At some point I had a little look at Tom Lefroy  and the possibility of a romance between him and JA.  In a letter to her sister Cassandra JA says that she expects to receive an offer from "our Irish friend."   Based upon the fact mainly that Tom Lefroy was Irish and knew JA  much has been written and inferred about the possibility of some kind of romance between the two of them.   Tom himself has little to say, certainly not going as far as to admitting to such a fact as proposing and being turned down. 

      Is it possible though that "our Irish friend " could refer to someone else known to both JA and her sister but not necessarily  anyone else by the term "our Irish Friend" .  The use of the word "our"  suggests at least the possibility of something personal to just JA and her sister.  Tom Lefroy and his Irishness was known to all in the area and not just JA and her sister.  

​

         So I have pondered whether JA could be referring in a coded way to someone else, for example  Robert Cary Elwes.  For there to be any chance of it to be him  or anyone else for that matter some  strong Irish connection/s would need to be demonstrated.  If none were to be found it might not totally invalidate the case I am making for RCE to be the original for Mr. Darcy but it does no favours to the cause. 

​

​

But what if there were connections, slim connections for example, or better still significant and substantial connections    

​

If none can be demonstrated or found then quite possibly JA is referring to someone else,  but as I say what about if RCE does have strong Irish connections?...  

​

         So let me explain as briefly as I can .

​

         This research piece about Jane Austen came into being following  a lot of earlier research into a 250 page part illustrated  manuscript*  I bought 4 years ago  that was written in 1863 by Robert Cary Elwes's youngest son Francis Emilius Cary Elwes.

        I say manuscript.  In fact it is 3 perhaps 4 manuscripts in one. 

​

Firstly :   A day to day diary from January 1863 to September 1863.  It is a brief record of his daily doings, who he meets, where he goes, what he does etc.  Of principal interest initially for me were diary entries detailing several meetings with a man by the name of John Wisden always referred to in the diary as Wisden.

​

          John Wisden today is  probably the most famous sportsman in the world from the Victorian era.  He was a cricketer,  a very good one too but his fame rests not upon his deeds on the cricket field  good as they undeniably were, but upon a publication known as Wisden's Almanack;  initially known for its first few years as The Sportsman's Handbook,  first published in 1864 and published yearly ever since.  Over the years it has massively expanded  from the 112 pages of the 1st edition particularly with the addition of cricket match reports and statistical information.  It is now  a record of anything to do with first class cricket and to a lesser extent schools cricket.  (that is to say top public Schools cricket  ie Eton, Harrow etc) It has been  known colloquially as "The Cricketers Bible" since the 1930's after a phrase coined by author Alec Waugh.

Secondly:  A charmingly illustrated and very well written  small game (partridges, pheasants, rabbits etc) shooting diary for the  season  November 1862 - January 1863 that took place mainly on the Egton Estate in Yorkshire, one of Robert Cary  Elwes 's estates and inherited by his eldest son, but also on a few estates further South in Suffolk that were also owned by members of the Elwes family.  In my opinion it is quite an important  document of social historical interest in its own right. There are, I am sure  many well written  shooting accounts, and  some maybe even better illustrated but few if any contain the detailed statistical minutae that this one includes.  It is I think superlative....

​

​

Thirdly  There is a large collection of sporting reports for the spring and summer for the year 1863.  There are reports for Rowing, Rackets, Horse Racing, Boxing and most importantly for those who know cricket, Cricket.  A few comparisons with the cricket reports in the newspapers of the day show that these cricket reports have not been simply copied but compiled in such a way that leaves little room for doubt to those familiar with Wisden cricket reports that Wisden and or his editor textually and stylistically copied these very reports when they introduced match reports from the late 1860's.   Indeed it was whilst trying to get to grips with what I had bought that after reading a few reports  and knowing Wisden reports from Wisdens that I had owned that I thought to myself "These are Wisden reports."  the only problem being that whomever they were by they most certainly were not by Wisden. 

​

Fourthly:  A significant number of missing pages scattered throughout the text that in no way impact upon the other 3.  The general neatness of writing,  the calligraphy used and the lack of mistakes throughout except nearer the end when the author was becoming more seriously ill with what 4 years later would kill him syphilis (his medical records from Ticehurst Asylum for the last few years of his life also survive as well as his banking records from Goslings ),  leads me to conclude that there was almost certainly a fourth text.

​