Hampshire Cultural Trust marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth with exhibitions and special events celebrating the county’s most famous daughter

To celebrate and commemorate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen (1775-1817) – one of the greatest writers in the English language – Hampshire Cultural Trust will be holding a series of special events and exhibitions throughout her home county of Hampshire in 2025.

Although she wrote ‘just’ six major novels during her short life (she died at the age of 41), Austen’s legacy is immense. Her stories continue to entertain readers across the world and have inspired a host of TV and film adaptations, including the BBC’s now iconic 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice, starring Colin Firth, and 2005’s production with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen in the lead roles. Similarly, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion have all been adapted for the big and small screens.

Head of a Woman, Study for The Bible Lesson, circa 1743, attributed to Paul Sandby RA, 1731 – 1809 after Philippe Mercier, 1689 or 1691-1760

Beyond the Bonnets

The Gallery at The Arc, Winchester (26 July – 2 November 2025)
The Willis Museum, Basingstoke (12 November 2025 – 22 February 2026)

In this thought-provoking and unique show – opening at The Gallery in The Arc, Winchester, before moving to the Willis Museum in Basingstoke – the untold stories of working women, both in Jane’s novels and real-life Regency Hampshire, will be explored.

Through her works and letters, plus historic objects and an absorbing, immersive soundscape – featuring voiced extracts from Jane’s novels, correspondence with her sister Cassandra and contemporary newspaper advertisements – visitors will encounter women in domestic service and those who owned their own business. These include Susannah Sackree (1761-1851), nursemaid to Jane’s brother Edward, who was such a faithful and beloved member of the Knight household, that unusually a portrait was commissioned of her; and Mrs Mary Martin of Basingstoke (1730 – 1823) who ran an inn where she held public balls – familiar features in Austen’s novels – and went on to run a draper’s shop, complete with a lending library.

The Arc will also be hosting a series of Austen-themed creative classes and workshops, talks and curator tours of Beyond the Bonnets, as well as an evening with The Square Pianist, Lisa Timbs. In Jane Austen 250: A celebration in music and words, Timbs and soprano Verity Joy will take the audience to visit Jane Austen at home, finding her using music to amuse, as an emotional outlet and as a plot device in her novels.

On 12 November, Beyond the Bonnets will open at Basingstoke’s Willis Museum, where visitors will also be entertained by its own programme of Austen-related events throughout the exhibition’s duration. Jane Austen was born in Steventon, just seven miles west of Basingstoke, and Jane and her family came to the town to shop and most importantly to dance at balls. Opening in December, the month of her birthday, a new, permanent addition to the displays in the Willis Museum will look at Jane’s story and her connection to Basingstoke.

Statue of Jane Austen outside the Willis Museum in Basingstoke

Jane Austen’s pelisse coat

Donated by a descendant of Jane Austen and now in the collections cared for by Hampshire Cultural Trust, the author’s silk pelisse coat is one of a handful of items that survive today that belonged to Jane and can be traced directly back to her.

It will be on display at Winchester’s City Museum for a short period from 22 May – 16 June. It will then be on display at the Allen Gallery in Alton for the town’s annual Regency Week (20-29 June) and will return to City Museum from 27 July until 20 October. It will be on display at the Willis Museum in Basingstoke for the duration of Beyond the Bonnets.

Jane Austen’s pelisse coat

City Museum, Winchester

City Museum is just a short walk from Jane’s final resting place in Winchester Cathedral, which will also host a summer of Austen-themed events and activities. The museum is home to three of Jane’s personal possessions – two purses embroidered by her own hand and a personalised ivory spool case – and in May, a permanent addition to these poignant objects will be a new display exploring Jane’s final days spent at 8 College Street in Winchester.

Winchester’s Great Hall will stage four key events as part of the celebrations:

Regency Fashion Show

26 July 2025

You are cordially invited to marvel at an incredible display of fashions from the Regency era inspired by characters from Jane Austen’s novels. From Mameluke sleeves to pelisses, Spencer jackets to the Empire silhouette era, this is the event for ardent Janeites to get their fashion fix. Among the bonnets and bows, there will also be talks from experts.

Jane Austen’s personalised ivory spool case

Regency Ball

16 August 2025

Immerse yourself in one of the true highlights of Regency social life, a grand ball. Don your finery and join the merry throng for a night of dancing like no other. Complete with a dance caller, dance card memento, silhouettist and a three-course buffet with Regency-inspired dishes, this ball is aimed at everyone who wants to partake in the joy of an authentic Regency dance, from more experienced dancers to beginners wanting to learn the steps to reels, cotillions and other dances popular during the period.

Lucy Worsley

5 September 2025

The Great Hall will host an audience with popular historian, best-selling author, former curator and broadcaster Lucy Worsley on Jane Austen. Lucy will be taking a fascinating look at what home meant to Jane, and to the women like her who populate her novels. Austen famously lived a ‘life without incident’, but with new research and insights, Worsley reveals a witty and passionate woman who fought for her freedom; a woman who, far from being the lonely spinster of popular belief, in fact had at least five marriage prospects, but in the end refused to settle for anything less than Mr Darcy.

The only widely accepted depiction of Jane Austen (1775–1817) a sketch by her sister Cassandra which had been loaned out to the Holburne Museum by the National Portrait Gallery

Murder most Austentatious

20 September 2025

Characters from Jane Austen’s novels have gathered at The Great Hall for a recital, but before it begins, a body is found. In this concluding event of the Jane Austen season, murder and mystery abound as guests work together to prevent a scandal by unravelling clues and solving the crime.

Paul Sapwell, Chief Executive at Hampshire Cultural Trust, commented: “Jane Austen’s legacy really is quite extraordinary – this much-loved author was largely unknown during her lifetime, but her works have held an enduring appeal for millions of people worldwide for over two centuries now. We’re really proud to be able to celebrate her creativity and talent with our programme of events inspired by her, her works, her life and times during this special year here in her home county of Hampshire.”

For more information about Jane Austen 250, please visit https://www.hampshireculture.org.uk/jane-austen-250