How did Jane Austen really die?
Jane Austen died 18 July 1817 at Winchester and was buried in Winchester Cathedral. Her death notice reads: “At Winchester, Miss Jane Austen, youngest daughter of Rev. George Austen, Rector of Steventon, Hants, authoress of “Emma”, “Mansfield Park”, “Pride and Prejudice”, and “Sense and Sensibility.”‘ The opinion that Jane’s fatal illness was Addison’s Disease, was originally put forward in an article by Zachary Cope in the British Medical Journal of 18 July 1964, (pp 182-83), which uses Jane’s own letters to find the symptoms. The article sees as conclusive Jane’s reference to ‘black and white’ patches on her skin – evidently characteristic of Addison’s. The Journal also printed F A Bevan’s response to Cope, on 8 August 1964, p394, which makes a case for Jane’s illness being Hodgkins Disease.
