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Darcy Didn’t Pay Wickham £10,000 to Marry Lydia
29 responses to “Darcy Didn’t Pay Wickham £10,000 to Marry Lydia”
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I see nothing odd in your reasoning. I have said something similar in my stories, going back and forth between 3000 and 4000 total.
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I personally like 3000 because of the parallel with the earlier payment, but it’s a little vague exactly how much it was! Definietly wiggle room. And thanks!
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Excellent analysis.
I’m always a bit taken back when readers insist something must be true, despite all evidence, because the fandom says so. In general, Austen-lovers are happy to dive into the texts, but I’ve seen it from time to time, and in the wider historical romance world a bit more. It’s good to see a calm, careful analysis of the actual text.
Thanks for this great post.-
Thank you!
This post is only go good because I’ve had the argument many times, sharpened by experience! I always hope that people will be convinced by quotes and facts.
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Great analysis. I agree with you, canon only says that it’s Mr. Bennet’s opinion that it could be up to £10,000. He was likely exaggerating based on the trouble Lydia had caused him. You picked out facts to find the real number.
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I love Bethany’s commonsense approach. Nothing to fault here!!!
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Me too! That would be an awkward situation if Wickham and Darcy were brothers in law!lol
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Wickham was a fool…and had no excuse as he was not in love with Lydia. His sole design was money. He took Lydia for less than ten thousand. So…maybe Mr Bennet was correct. Ho…ho.
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LOL! I love that
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I had never thought about it before. This makes perfect sense and fits well with all we know about the story and Jane Austen.
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Well explained. Solid logic. And totally agree!
Only disagreement I have is with the assumption he wouldn’t have 10,000 available to use. Yes it’s his yearly income, but whether it is just the income from his estates (Wickham talks about pemberly and how it clears ten thousand per annum) or also includes interest income on investments and money in the bank, he likely has enough liquid to do pretty much whatever he wants.
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Most rich people just don’t have that much liquid cash lying around. They usually reinvest. You cannot just take money out of government bonds without a penalty or something until they mature.
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Just wanted to point out that in the 2005 version it was Lizzy telling Jane “Wickham would be a fool if he took less than $10,000 pounds a year”. To which Jane said “10,000!”?
Mr Bennett said “your uncle must have been very generous for me to only pay $100 a year”.-
It’s been a while since I watched it! Thank you
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A bit unrelated but could be a clue. Mr. Bennett was relieved when Lizzy told him that Darcy paid Wickham off rather than his brother in law. Mr. Bennett did not want to be indebted to Mr. Gardiner for that sum of money.
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He never saved anything, so paying back even a thousand would be a big deal.
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Darcy would never grace a worthless scoundrel with such a sum. The way JA counters Mr. Bennett’s initial hysterics from the letter he received with the calm, matter-of-fact information in the letter Lizzy receives, clearly shows that such a large sum was never considered.
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Yes, I quite agree. I am perplexed by y’all calling Elizabeth “Lizzy”- I don’t recall this informality. I’ve read the book several times, and do recall that Darcy’s beloved, who I thought was Elizabeth, was finally and completely won over by the long letter Darcy wrote (to her, I think) explaining how he found her sister, what he did to restore her living situation, reputation and how he handled her sister’s husband, forcing him into an honorable place in the community, wholly undeserved on his part. Darcy did all this, as I believe he stated but may have left only in the undercurrent, because he was in love with Elizabeth with his entire self and being and could not bear to allow grief and ill repute to impugn the Bennett name, and cause Elisabeth any affection lost for her sister. As he closed the letter I think he said he would take himself off to Timbuktu now, so that Elizabeth accidentally seeing him wouldn’t besmirch her visual landscape, and that he would forever carry his love for her silently, inside a locked cabinet in his heart. This was the tipping point for Elizabeth. She understood him perfectly and entirely as no one else on earth could and no force, however dread, would stop her from gaining his arm and pressing her lips to his in abandonment complete, honest, virtuous, sincere and at last, inevitable, as he knew all along. LOL She really liked how he handled Lydia’s sich.
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Just so you know we are not crazy, here are just a few times that the name “Lizzy” is used in Pride and Prejudice.
“My dear Lizzy, where can you have been walking to?” was a …
Chapter 59Lord bless me! only think! dear me! Mr. Darcy! Who would have thought it? And is it really true? Oh, my sweetest Lizzy! how rich and how great you will be! What …
Chapter 20“But depend upon it, Mr. Collins,” she added, “that Lizzy shall be brought to reason. I will speak to her about it myself directly. She is a very headstrong …
Chapter 46The express was sent off directly. My dear Lizzy, they must have passed within ten miles of us. Colonel Forster gives us reason to expect him here soon. Lydia …
Chapter 25But Lizzy! oh, sister! it is very hard to think that she might have been Mr. Collins’s wife by this time, had not it been …
Chapter 19I am sure Lizzy will be very happy — I am sure she can have no objection. Come, Kitty, I want you up stairs.” And gathering her work together, she was …
Chapter 5Darcy is not so well worth listening to as his friend, is he? Poor Eliza! to be only just tolerable.” “I beg you would not put it into Lizzy’s head to be vexed …
Chapter 40And poor Mr. Darcy! Dear Lizzy, only consider what he must have suffered. Such a disappointment! and with the knowledge of your ill opinion too! and having to …
Chapter 1… Lizzy.” “I desire you will do no such thing. Lizzy is not a bit better than the others; and I am sure she is not half so handsome as Jane, nor half so good …
Chapter 2“I hope Mr. Bingley will like it, Lizzy.” “We are not in a way to know what Mr. Bingley likes,” said her mother resentfully, “since we are not to visit.” “But you …
Chapter 2
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I believe the 1000 pounds refers to Lydia’s share of her mother’s dowery of 5000 pounds upon her death. And remember that 1 pound at that time was equivalent to approximately $100 according to standard inflation.
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That is a seperate amount. 1000 is settled on Lydia right now, the second 1000 will come when her parents die.
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So, Mr Darcy was/is a millionaire
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In 2025, Mr. Darcy’s £10,000 annual income from “Pride and Prejudice” would be roughly equivalent to $664,603.21 to $17,048,070.10 depending on the conversion method used. This translates to about £339,600 to £800,000 in modern terms.
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At least Charlotte was already suspecting Darcy of some attachment to Elizabeth. Wickham knew from his prior conversation with E that she got to know Darcy and his good character better while at Rosings and now had reasons to mistrust the falsehoods he’d been spreading. If W wasn’t already clued into the possibility of Elizabeth and Darcy being attached to each other, then certainly Darcy’s coming to rescue Lydia would have strongly suggested the possibility. Accordingly, W knew that in marrying Lydia, he would likely be connecting himself to Darcy and his wealth more permanently when E and D married. I think there’s an argument to be made that W was just thinking strategically.
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Just you wait until my article next month which completely debunks the Wickham knowing theory
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Now I can’t wait 🙂
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Interesting to know what the cost of a commission was. My 3x greatgrandfather was bought a commission in 3rd Dragoon Guards his mother was sent to Exeter with her baby. I am trying to find out who paid for the commission is this possible?
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This isn’t something I know about, and the princes changed over time. They were also often sold by auction, so the exact price is tricky.
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Jane, I have several posts regarding commissions on my blog. The commissions were, for example, a guarantee that the man would behave himself. That is hard for many Austen readers to assume as applying to Wickham, though, if he did, he would receive the money back (the money Darcy shelled out) when he left the service.
Here are a few links to some of the posts:
https://reginajeffers.blog/2022/07/18/purchasing-commissions-during-the-napoleonic-wars/https://reginajeffers.blog/2023/08/30/half-pay-officers-during-the-regency-era/
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