Q&A – Jane Austen & Balliol
Q: What was Jane Austen’s connection with Balliol?
A: No personal connection; her great-uncle Theophilus Leigh (1693-1784) was Master of Balliol 1726-1784. Her father and her two eldest brothers were undergraduates at St John’s College, Oxford, and her maternal grandfather was a Fellow of All Souls.
Celia Fiennes writes of her visit to Oxford ca. 1700: http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/text/chap_page.jsp?t_id=Fiennes&c_id=8
Balliol College Archives & Manuscripts 