Jane (age 7) and her elder sister  Cassandra leave for boarding school in Oxford for education on April 1783.  The reason why she was sent off to school is unsure, but there are some speculations. One theory is that she wanted to go and accompany her elder sister Cassandra (age 10) and cousin Jane Cooper (age 12) to the Mrs.Cawley's school in Oxford. Due to a "putrid fever" epidemic, the schooling had to be relocated to Southampton in late August. Both Jane and Cassandra caught the illness and their mother was not informed by Mrs. Cawley. Instead, Jane Cooper wrote to her mother notifying her of the developments reagrding the sickness of her cousins to which Mrs. Cooper came to the rescue. Sources differ in understanding whether it was Mrs. Austen or Mrs. Cooper who came to pick the girls up but all agree that Jane Austen nearly died of this illness.