Austin, Sarah (1793–1867)
Austin, Sarah (1793–1867)
English author. Born Sarah Taylor in Norwich, England, 1793; died at Weybridge, England, Aug 8, 1867; dau. of John Taylor (wool-stapler, who died in 1826) and Susannah Cook Taylor; great-granddau. of Dr. John Taylor (1694–1761), pastor of the Presbyterian church in Norwich; m. John Austin (London barrister), 1820 (died 1859); children: Lucie Duff-Gordon (1821–1869).
Cultivated a large circle of friends, including Jeremy Bentham, James Mill, and historians George and Harriet Grote; attempted few original works, involving herself mainly with translations, of which the most important are the Characteristics of Goëthe (3 vols., 1833), Leopold von Ranke's History of the Reformation in Germany and History of the Popes (1840), and Report on the State of Public Instruction in Prussia (1834); from the French, translated V. Cousin and F.W. Carove's The Story without an End (1864); following husband's death (1859), edited his Lectures on Jurisprudence.
See also Janet Anne DuffGordon Ross, Three Generations of Englishwomen (1888); and Women in World History.