] jotted this down in the National Library last month)

] George Hastings, the boy that Mr. and Mrs. Austen cared for, Warren Hastings son had two elder half-sisters born to their mother Mary/Anne Elliot. I have always assumed they might be called Mary and Anne, George's full sister being called Elizabeth (like the three sisters in Persuasion). When their mother remarried they were bundled off to England and apparently the woman who cared for them wrote begging letters constantly asking Warren for money for years.

...hmm, interesting. Very interesting.

] As the half-sisters of George Hastings I am quite sure that Jane Austen knew of these girls. I would give my eye-teeth to know their names and what happened to them. I live four hours flight away from a library with more than one biography of Hastings in it. (Has anyone read "Dawning of the Raj" yet? Might be something there.)

I ordered it last night (since I do not have a good bio of Hastings, and he is a bit crucial to my novel's backstory!). I will let you know if anything turns up.

I am not sure though that JA would know of the fate of these girls, although her parents might (considering the guilt they felt over poor little George). Also, these girls were not Hastings's own children, they were his stepdaughters by his first wife. As for his second wife, I know that she had a son (I am almost sure) whose name crops up in a book I was reading.

If I find anything further, I will post it - that is, if it is relevant to JA directly or indirectly.

The rest of your thread will be helpful to Linden in her "S&S in India" campaign!

Shinjinee
- currently reading POOR RELATIONS: The Making of a Eurasian Community in British India 1773-1833 (and who knows she will be spending a great deal of time in a certain library the next time she visits Calcutta).