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{{Short description|English socialite (1730–1792)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Philadelphia Austen Hancock
| image = Joshua Reynolds - Tysoe Hancock and his Family with an Indian Maid - WGA19338.jpg
| caption = Portrait of Hancock (right) with her family and maid
| birth_date = 15 May 1730
| birth_place =
| death_date = 26 February 1792 (aged 61)
| death_place =
| resting_place = [[St John-at-Hampstead]], London
| parents = William Austen<br>Rebecca Hampson Walter
| spouse = [[Tysoe Hancock]]
| children = [[Eliza de Feuillide]]
| relatives = {{plain list|
* [[George Austen (cleric)|George Austen]] (brother)
* [[James Austen]] (nephew)
* [[Edward Austen Knight]] (nephew)
* [[Henry Thomas Austen]] (nephew; son-in-law)
* [[Cassandra Austen]] (niece)
* [[Francis Austen]] (nephew)
* [[Jane Austen]] (niece)
* [[Charles Austen]] (nephew)
}}
}}
'''Philadelphia Austen Hancock''' (15 May 1730 – 26 February 1792) was an English socialite and the aunt of [[Jane Austen]]. Throughout her life, rumours circulated in India and England that she was the mistress of [[Warren Hastings]], who was the godfather and suspected father of her daughter, [[Eliza de Feuillide]].

== Biography ==
Hancock was born Philadelphia Austen on 15 May 1730 into a family that was part of the [[landed gentry]]. Her father, William Austen, was a surgeon.<ref name="geri">{{Cite web |date=2019-10-21 |title=Philadelphia Austen Hancock: Eliza de Feuillide's Mother |url=https://www.geriwalton.com/philadelphia-austen-hancock-eliza-de-feuillides-mother/ |access-date=2022-05-22 |website=Geri Walton |language=en-US}}</ref> Her mother, Rebecca Hampson Walter, had been married before.<ref name= geri/> She was the older sister of Rev. [[George Austen (clergyman)|George Austen]], an Anglican clergyman and the father of novelist [[Jane Austen]]. Hancock was also the sister of Hampson Austen and Leonora Austen, and the half-sister of William Hampson Walter.<ref name= geri/> Her mother died on 2 February 1733 and her father died in 1737.<ref name= geri/> Left orphaned, the Austen children were sent to live with relatives and were financially cared for by a trust their father had set up.<ref name= geri/> George and Leonora went to live with their wealthy uncle, Francis Austen of [[Sevenoaks]], and Philadelphia was sent to live with the Freeman family, who were wealthy relatives on her mother's side.<ref name="jstor">{{Cite journal |last=Le Faye |first=Deirdre |date=1979 |title=Jane Austen and Her Hancock Relatives |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/514759 |journal=The Review of English Studies |volume=30 |issue=117 |pages=12–27 |jstor=514759 |issn=0034-6551}}</ref>

On 9 May 1745, Hancock was apprenticed to a [[milliner]] named Mrs. Cole in [[Covent Garden]].<ref name= geri/> She completed her apprenticeship but, as she had no substantial dowry, she decided to focus on marrying a wealthy husband.<ref name= geri/> Her uncle served as a financial agent to [[Tysoe Hancock|Tysoe Saul Hancock]], a respectable surgeon and member of the [[East India Company]].<ref name= geri/> She set sail for [[Madras]] in [[British India]] on 18 January 1752 aboard ''HMS Bombay Castle'', with expectations of marriage.<ref name= geri/> Officially, the reason for her trip was to visit friends who lived at [[Fort St. David]].<ref name= geri/><ref name="mollands">{{Cite web |title=Jane Austen, Her Life and Letters: A Family Record by William Austen-Leigh and Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh - Chapter III |url=http://www.mollands.net/etexts/lifeandletters/lal3.html |access-date=2022-05-22 |website=www.mollands.net}}</ref> She arrived in India on 8 August 1752.<ref name= geri/> On 22 February 1753, she married Hancock in [[Cuddalore]].<ref name= geri/> The couple lived at Fort St. David until 1759, when they moved to [[Fort William, India|Fort William]] in [[Calcutta]].<ref name= geri/> It was during this time that she became friends with East India Company employee [[Warren Hastings]].<ref name= geri/> Hastings was the British Resident in the Bengali capital of Murshidabad at the start of a meteoric career.<ref name=tbullpage27and28andbook>
Patrick Turnbull, Warren Hastings. (New English Library, 1975)
</ref> After Hasting's wife died in 1759, Hancock helped care for the children. Hastings later gifted her a rosewood Indian writing desk inlaid with ivory to thank her for her assistance.<ref name= geri/>

In December 1761, Hancock gave birth to a daughter, [[Eliza de Feuillide|Eliza]], who was named after the stillborn daughter of her godfather, Hastings.<ref name="jane">{{Cite web |title=Eliza de Feuillide: Jane Austen's 'Outlandish Cousin' |url=https://janeausten.co.uk/blogs/jane-austen-life/eliza-de-feuillide-jane-austens-outlandish-cousin |access-date=2022-05-22 |website=Jane Austen Centre and the Jane Austen Online Gift Shop |language=en}}</ref> Even prior to the birth, rumours circulated throughout society that Hastings, not Hancock, was the biological father.<ref name= geri/>

In 1765, the Hancocks returned to England aboard ''[[HMS Medway (1755)|HMS Medway]]'', accompanied by their Indian servants: Dido, Diana, Silima, and Clarinda.<ref name= geri/> They arrived in London in the summer of 1765.<ref name= geri/>

The artist [[John Smart]] painted a miniature portrait of Hancock, likely in 1768.<ref name= jstor/> Struggling financially, her husband returned to India with their maid, Clarinda, where he died in 1775.<ref name= geri/><ref name= jane/> Philadelphia's daughter received an annual income of £700 a year from a £10,000 trust set up by Hastings, which provided for the family.<ref name= geri/> Hancock went on a tour of Europe in 1777 with the intentions of finding a [[finishing school]] to send her daughter to. They first visited Germany, followed by Belgium in 1778.<ref name= geri/> By October 1779 they settled in Paris, where they were introduced to [[Marie Antoinette]] and [[Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy, Princesse de Lamballe]].<ref name= geri/> Hancock's connections in Parisian [[high society (social class)|high society]] led to the marriage of her daughter to Jean Capot, Comte de Feuillide in 1781.<ref name= geri/> Following her daughter's marriage, she went to live with her in [[Nérac]].<ref name= geri/> They travelled to England to visit relatives and settle financial problems on multiple occasions, eventually settling back there during the [[French Revolution]].<ref name= geri/>

Hancock died from breast cancer on 26 February 1792. She is buried in the churchyard at [[St John-at-Hampstead]] in London.<ref name= geri/>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Jane Austen}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1730 births]]
[[Category:1792 deaths]]
[[Category:Austen family|Philadelphia]]
[[Category:English socialites]]
[[Category:British people in British India]]
[[Category:Deaths from breast cancer]]

Philadelphia Austen Hancock - Revision history

Cristine5684: creating a entry more to come