Helen Lefroy 1921-2021

 Helen Lefroy, a publishing executive and stalwart of the Jane Austen Society, died 17 May, 2021, aged 100. She was a scion of the Maxwell-Lefroy family, of Itchel Manor.

She was born 18 Apr, 1921, daughter of Capt Cecil Maxwell-Lefroy, CMG, RN [1876-1931], head of that landed family, and his wife Beatrice Wild Clegg [1886-1968].

Her ancestor the Rev George Lefroy was a neighbour of the Rev George Austen, both rectors of adjoining parishes in late 18th-century Hampshire: Austen at Steventon, Lefroy at Ashe. Austen’s daughter was Jane Austen, who was encouraged in her early writing by Lefroy’s wife, Anne.

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