Complete series of sixty-three diaries belonging to Rear-Admiral Charles John Austen kept between 1815 and 1852.

Administrative / biographical background
Charles John Austen, younger brother of Francis William Austen (q.v.) and of Jane Austen, the novelist, entered the Navy in 1794, was promoted to lieutenant in 1797 and to captain in 1810. After service on the North American and Mediterranean Stations, he was from 1815 engaged in the suppression of piracy in the Aegean until his ship, the PHEONIX, was lost in a heavy gale off Smyrna in February 1816. He served as second-in-command of the Jamaica Station from 1826 to 1828 and his role in the suppression of the slave trade led to his nomination as Flag-Captain of the WINCHESTER, North American and West Indies Station, 1830. He was disabled after an accident in 1830 and was not re-employed until appointed to the BELLEROPHON in 1838. He served in her in the Mediterranean, where he was present at the bombardment of Acre in November 1840, until she was paid off in 1841. He was made rear-admiral in 1846 but saw no further employment until 1850 when he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, flying his flag in the HASTINGS. He died in Burma while still in this command.