Served in the military as a senior officer in the 4th Women's Battalion, King Royal's Hussars. She even saw active service at Ulm in 1805.

One such student was named John Wallop, 3rd Earl of Portsmouth—an eccentric, odd Lord who allegedly drank the blood of the Austens' servants. He acquired the nickname Vampyre Earl. But despite his strange behavior, the Austen family found him charming.

She was quite close with her older sister, to whom she frequently wrote about her troubles or neighborhood gossip.