Timeline - The Reader's Guide To Jane Eyre

Clues to the dating

The George Inn

At the beginning of chapter 11 (when Jane is 18), it is noted that the George Inn in Millcote had prints of George III, the Prince of Wales (later George IV), and the death of Wolfe. George III reigned from 1760 to 1820, his son was born in 1762, and General Wolfe died in 1759. So that year cannot be any earlier than about 1780 (they are unlikely to have a picture of the Prince of Wales as a child). After 1820, the Prince would have been George IV but the prints may have been left up for a while before a new picture of George IV was purchased so it may have been a few years after 1820. The Marmion dating scheme places it in October 1807.

Transport

Later in chapter 11, Adèle states that she was brought over to Britain "in a great ship with a chimney that smoked". The first steam-powered boat was in 17831 but the first ship to cross the Channel was in 18222 which would place that year at least after 1822 whereas the timeline estimates it at about 1806 or 1807. On the other hand, there is no mention of railways (despite much travelling) which were booming from the mid-1830s onwards.3

Marmion

Then, on November 5th in chapter 32 (when she would be aged 19), Jane is given a newly published book Marmion which appeared on 22 February, 1808. They are not in a big city so it is possible that the book did not reach Morton until the following year but it is reasonable to assume that this chapter is set in 1808. It seems unlikely that Charlotte would refer to a publication date without checking that it matched the novel's chronology.

Fashion

It is also to be noted that the fashions mentioned in the novel are Regency rather than Victorian as noted by Luccia Gray on a blog post guest-luccia-gray-clothes-in-jane-eyres-time.

Riots

In chapter 31, Rosamond Oliver says "I have been so gay during my stay at S—. Last night, or rather this morning, I was dancing till two o'clock. The —th regiment are stationed there since the riots; …". B— is a large town, twenty miles from Morton/Moor House. If Morton is in the Peak District, it must be in the north or the midlands, such as Bradford or Birmingham. Out of riots that occurred in the first half of the nineteenth century, the most likely candidate seems to be the Luddite Riots of 1811–12 which occurred all over England but are particularly relevant to the midlands and north 4 (Rosamond's father owned a needle factory). This would set the date as about 3 years after my timeline estimate.

Asides

There is also strong evidence in a couple of asides that the story is set well before the time of writing (1847). In chapter 10, there is the line:

"(in those days, reader, this now narrow catalogue of accomplishments, would have been held tolerably comprehensive)."

Charlotte is here addressing her readers in 1847 but referring to an earlier date, presumably decades before when desired "accomplishments" (ie. skills such as music, mathematics, drawing, etc) would have been distinctly different.

And in chapter 32, when Jane is receiving her copy of Marmion, Charlotte writes:

"a poem: one of those genuine productions so often vouchsafed to the fortunate public of those days – the golden age of modern literature. Alas! the readers of our era are less favoured. But courage! I will not pause either to accuse or repine. I know poetry is not dead, nor genius lost…"

Clearly then the setting of the novel is a very different period to Charlotte from the contemporary (1847) day. Austen, Keats, Byron, Shelley and Scott were all publishing in the first decades of the nineteenth century which would have seemed a "golden age" to Charlotte.

Jane's date of birth

Jane's birthday was probably around August/September. In chapter 29, she says "I am near nineteen," when the month is July or early August. In chapter 10, when she writes her advertisement (about 7 or 8 weeks before leaving in October), she says "as I was barely eighteen".

Books mentioned

As well as Marmion, Charlotte mentions several other books and authors in the novel. Their dates are:

Book	Author	Pub.	Chap	Year in timeline
History of British Birds	Thomas Bewick	1797/1804	1	1799
Pamela	Samuel Richardson	1740	1	1799
Henry, Earl of Moreland	Henry Brooke	1770	1	1799
History of Rome	Oliver Goldsmith	1772	1	1799
Gulliver's Travels	Jonathan Swift	1726	3	1799
Rasselas	Samuel Johnson	1759	5	1800
The League of Rats	La Fontaine	1694	11	1807
Marmion	Walter Scott	1808	32	1808
Not stated	Schiller	Died 1805	34	1809

As you can see, most of the books were published well before the date in the novel. The exception is Bewick's History of British Birds. While volume 1 was published early enough, volume 2 was published five years after the inferred novel date and the quotation is from volume 2. So to fit this book into the timeline, we would have to move it forward at least five years. But that would mean Marmion is described as "a new publication" five years after it was actually published. I suspect that it is more likely that Charlotte assumed that Bewick's volume 2 was published at the same time as volume 1.

1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyroscaphe

2. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Manby

3. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History of rail transport in Great Britain 1830-1922

4. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_riots