---
type: Person
title: Lydia Bennet
description: Youngest Bennet daughter, favoured by her mother and eager for the militia
  officers at Meryton.
resource: raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt
tags:
- bennet-family
- longbourn
- hertfordshire
- gentry
- militia
timestamp: '2026-07-16T18:15:29Z'
citadel_version: 0.3.0
---

Lydia is the youngest of [Mr.](../persons/mr-bennet.md) and
[Mrs. Bennet](../persons/mrs-bennet.md)'s five daughters, described as "a stout, well-grown girl
of fifteen, with a fine complexion and good-humoured countenance," a favourite of her mother with
"high animal spirits" and "a sort of natural self-consequence."[^s1] She declares herself "not
afraid" of being overlooked despite being the youngest, since "I'm the tallest."[^s2] Her father
calls her and her sister Catherine ("Kitty") "two of the silliest girls in the country" after
hearing them talk of nothing but the officers.[^s3] Kitty regularly accompanies Lydia on walks to
[Meryton](../misc/meryton.md) to see them.[^s4] Rebuked by her father, Lydia responds "with perfect
indifference" by continuing to express her admiration of Captain Carter and her hope of seeing him
before he leaves for London the next morning.[^s5] It is Lydia who,
against her sisters' urging to stay quiet, blurts out to [Sir William Lucas](../persons/sir-william-lucas.md)
that [Mr. Collins](../persons/mr-collins.md), not Charlotte's intended match, "wants to marry
Lizzy," before Charlotte Lucas's engagement to Collins is confirmed.[^s6]

## Brighton and elopement

When the ----shire militia leaves Meryton for a summer camp near Brighton, Lydia receives an
invitation from Mrs. Forster, the colonel's wife, to go with her; her "rapture," her mother's
delight, and Kitty's jealousy at being left out are described at length, and Elizabeth's warnings to
their father against letting her go are overruled.[^s7] At Brighton, Lydia elopes by night with
[George Wickham](../persons/george-wickham.md), leaving a note for Mrs. Forster naming Gretna Green
as their destination and declaring "there is but one man in the world I love, and he is an
angel."[^s8] The couple are traced only as far as Clapham before vanishing into London, and are
found not to be married.[^s9]

[Mr. Gardiner](../persons/mr-gardiner.md) negotiates a marriage settlement, and Lydia and Wickham
marry from the Gardiners' London house.[^s10] Visiting Longbourn afterward as Mrs. Wickham, Lydia
is "untamed, unabashed, wild, noisy, and fearless," greets her sister Jane with "Ah, Jane, I take
your place now, and you must go lower, because I am a married woman," and shows no consciousness of
the disgrace her elopement caused.[^s11] She remains devoted to Wickham, certain that "he did
everything best in the world."[^s12]

## Marriage and later life

A letter from [Mrs. Gardiner](../persons/mrs-gardiner.md), received after the wedding, reveals that
the settlement's true source was [Fitzwilliam Darcy](../persons/fitzwilliam-darcy.md), who paid
Wickham's debts and settled a further thousand pounds on Lydia besides her own share — not
[Mr. Gardiner](../persons/mr-gardiner.md), as the family had believed.[^s13] On Elizabeth's marriage
to Darcy, Lydia writes to congratulate her but also to angle for money: "It is a great comfort to
have you so rich; and when you have nothing else to do, I hope you will think of us... do not speak
to Mr. Darcy about it, if you had rather not."[^s14] Lydia and Wickham continue to live extravagantly
beyond their means, moving frequently in search of cheaper lodgings, and rely on Jane and Elizabeth
for occasional financial help; Lydia's affection for Wickham outlasts his for her, though both
sink into indifference over time.[^s15]

## See also

- [Mr. Bennet](../persons/mr-bennet.md)
- [Meryton](../misc/meryton.md)
- [George Wickham](../persons/george-wickham.md)
- [Mr. Gardiner](../persons/mr-gardiner.md)
- [Colonel Forster](../persons/colonel-forster.md)
- [Catherine Bennet](../persons/catherine-bennet.md)
- [Brighton](../misc/brighton.md)
- [Fitzwilliam Darcy](../persons/fitzwilliam-darcy.md)
- [Mrs. Gardiner](../persons/mrs-gardiner.md)

## Sources

[^s1]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 2334-2340 — Lydia's character introduced (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s2]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 907-909 — Lydia on being the tallest (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s3]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 1693-1696 — Mr. Bennet's assessment of Kitty and Lydia (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s4]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), line 1833 — Kitty and Lydia walk to Meryton together (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s5]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 1698-1701 — Lydia's interest in Captain Carter (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s6]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 5335-5336 — Lydia reveals Collins's proposal to Elizabeth (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s7]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 8885-8896 — Mrs. Forster's invitation to Brighton and the family's reactions (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s8]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 10900-10909 — Lydia's note to Mrs. Forster (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s9]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 10299-10306; 11311-11313 — the pair traced to Clapham and found unmarried (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s10]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 11316-11319; 11333-11336 — the marriage settlement and wedding from the Gardiners' house (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s11]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 11780-11781; 11828-11830 — Lydia's manner and greeting to Jane on visiting Longbourn as a married woman (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s12]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 11881-11884 — Lydia's continued devotion to Wickham (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s13]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 12096-12107 — Mrs. Gardiner's letter revealing Darcy as the true source of the settlement (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s14]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 14449-14456 — Lydia's letter to Elizabeth angling for money (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s15]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 14437-14441; 14464-14475 — Wickham and Lydia's later extravagance and dependence on her sisters (ingested 2026-07-16)
