I’ve read two books that put forward the theory that Jane Austen, spinster novelist, and subject of much conjecture about her private life, had a secret teenage marriage! Not only that, but the man she eloped with was none other than D’Arcy Wentworth, the father of William Charles Wentworth, one of my main characters in my writing project ‘The House’. Yes, Walker says, Jane was much less like Elizabeth Bennett, and ever so much more like Lydia, who ran away to Gretna Green with Wickham at the tender age of 15.

On 21 September 1824, five months after the pie-loving John Payne dumped his much younger fiance Sarah Cox to quickly marry a wealthy widow, 19-year old Sarah brought a breach of promise case against him in the New South Wales courts.

But the same time that the court was debating Sarah’s reputation and how it affected her prospects of finding another suitor, Sarah was pregnant — to her barrister, William Charles Wentworth.

In 1822, John Payne was a ship’s captain sailing and trading between Sydney and Tasmania. He may have met Sarah at Mrs Foster’s shop when he collected letters to be delivered to Tasmania. She caught his eye, and pretty soon he was ‘in the habit of going backwards and forwards to the house.’

Follow along with my 2024 writing project, ‘The House’ telling the story of Sarah Wentworth of Vaucluse House.