When asked what she read as a child she answered "My favorite book was The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Gouge. It was probably something to do with the fact that the heroine was quite plain but it is a very well-constructed and clever book and the more you read it, the cleverer it appears. And perhaps more than any other book, it has a direct influence on the Harry Potter books. The author always included details of what her characters were eating and I remember liking that. You may have noticed that I always list the food being eaten at Hogwarts." The Little Horse is a novel aboout an orphan by the name of Maria. One similarity found in both Rowling and Gouge's book could be that the main character is an orphan, the idea of Harry not having a family could have been influenced by Gouge. Another thing that could have influenced Rowling work in Harry Potter could have been Elizabeth Gouge's use of alliteration, something Rowling does profusely though her books.
"My most influential writer, without a doubt, is Jessica Mitford. When my great-aunt gave me Hons and Rebels when I was 14, she instantly became my heroine. She ran away from home to fight in the Spanish Civil War, taking with her a camera that she charged to her father's account. I wished I'd had the nerve to do something like that. I love the way she never outgrew some of her adolescent traits, remaining true to her politics -she was a self-taught socialist- throughout her life. I think I've read everything she wrote..." Jessica Mitford is one of the most influential people in Rowling's life, she was so influential in fact the her daughter Jessica was named after her.
Jane Austen did help Rowling name one of the characters in her books, Mrs. Norris. In Austen's novel Mansfield Park there was a character by the name of Mrs. Norris and she constantly kept getting into everyone's business, much like the cat, also by the same name, in Rowling's book. Another character influenced by Jane Austen would have to be Mrs. Cole from the novel Emma. Rowling uses a character with the same name who serves in much of the same role.