The Alton, Hampshire reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Alton, Hampshire

Alton is a small town in Hampshire, England, to the southwest of Farnham. It has a population of about 15,000, and is administered by East Hampshire district council.

Jane Austen lived at the nearby village of Chawton.

Fanny Adams

The Victorian era also left its mark when, on Saturday, August 24th, 1867, Sweet Fanny Adams was murdered. Her assailant Frederick Baker, a local solicitors clerk, was one of the last criminals to be executed in Winchester, and one of the original public notices advertising his forthcoming execution hangs in the Crown Public House. Fanny Adams' grave can still be seen in Alton cemetery. The brutal murder, so the story goes, coincided with the introduction of tinned meat in the Royal Navy, and the sailors who did not like the new food said the tins contained the remains of "Sweet Fanny Adams", hence the expression which for over a century has meant "sweet nothing".

Geography

Alton is located at 51°09'00" North, 00°00'59" West (51.1500, -0.9833)¹.

External Links

• The Jane Austen Museum

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