---
type: Person
title: Mrs. Gardiner
description: Mrs. Bennet's sister-in-law from London, a favourite aunt of Jane and
  Elizabeth Bennet.
resource: raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt
tags:
- bennet-family
- london
- gentry
timestamp: '2026-07-16T18:15:29Z'
citadel_version: 0.3.0
---

Mrs. Gardiner is married to [Mr. Bennet](../persons/mr-bennet.md)'s brother-in-law, Mr. Gardiner, a
"sensible, gentlemanlike man" who lives by trade in London.[^s1] She is "several years younger
than Mrs. Bennet and Mrs. Philips," and described as "an amiable, intelligent, elegant woman" who
holds "a very particular regard" for her two eldest Longbourn nieces, [Jane](../persons/jane-bennet.md)
and [Elizabeth](../persons/elizabeth-bennet.md), who have often stayed with her in town.[^s1]

Years earlier, before her marriage, she spent considerable time in the part of Derbyshire near
[Pemberley](../misc/pemberley.md) and had known the late Mr. Darcy by reputation; on hearing of the
present Mr. Darcy's treatment of [George Wickham](../persons/george-wickham.md), she recalls having
once heard "Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy formerly spoken of as a very proud, ill-natured boy."[^s2] Growing
uneasy at Elizabeth's evident preference for Wickham, Mrs. Gardiner warns her not to "involve
yourself... in an affection which the want of fortune would make so very imprudent," while adding
that she has "nothing to say against him" personally.[^s3]

Touring Derbyshire with Elizabeth and [Mr. Gardiner](../persons/mr-gardiner.md), Mrs. Gardiner is
drawn to Lambton, near [Pemberley](../misc/pemberley.md), where she had formerly lived, and
proposes the party revisit the estate.[^s4] There, seeing Elizabeth colour at Wickham's portrait,
she "looked at her niece with a smile, but Elizabeth could not return it."[^s5] After the visit, she
tells Elizabeth she "should not have thought that he could have behaved in so cruel a way by
anybody as he has done by poor Wickham," reasoning from Darcy's evident good character and the
housekeeper's testimony — a judgment Elizabeth then corrects, in guarded terms, in Darcy's
favour.[^s6]

## Letter revealing Darcy's role in Lydia's marriage

After Elizabeth returns to Longbourn, Mrs. Gardiner writes a long letter, dated from Gracechurch
Street, answering Elizabeth's request for an explanation of why [Darcy](../persons/fitzwilliam-darcy.md)
had been present at Lydia's wedding.[^s7] She reveals that Darcy himself called on
[Mr. Gardiner](../persons/mr-gardiner.md) on the day she returned from Longbourn: he had found where
[Lydia](../persons/lydia-bennet.md) and [Wickham](../persons/george-wickham.md) were and had come to
town expressly to search for them, professing himself responsible, through his own reserve, for
Wickham's true character never becoming known.[^s7] Darcy traced the couple through a Mrs. Younge — a
former governess of Georgiana's, dismissed from her post and now keeping lodgings in Edward Street,
whom he had to bribe for the address — then negotiated the marriage terms with Wickham directly
before bringing Mr. Gardiner into the arrangement.[^s8] Mrs. Gardiner writes that Darcy alone paid
Wickham's debts, "amounting... to considerably more than a thousand pounds," settled a further
thousand pounds on Lydia besides her own share, and purchased his commission — insisting on doing
everything himself, so that Mr. Gardiner was left only "the probable credit of it."[^s9] She adds,
in her own voice, that she has come to like Darcy very much: "how much I like him?... his behaviour
to us has, in every respect, been as pleasing as when we were in Derbyshire."[^s10]

## See also

- [Elizabeth Bennet](../persons/elizabeth-bennet.md)
- [Jane Bennet](../persons/jane-bennet.md)
- [George Wickham](../persons/george-wickham.md)
- [Pemberley](../misc/pemberley.md)
- [Mr. Gardiner](../persons/mr-gardiner.md)
- [Fitzwilliam Darcy](../persons/fitzwilliam-darcy.md)
- [Lydia Bennet](../persons/lydia-bennet.md)

## Sources

[^s1]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 5735-5743 — the Gardiners' character and relationship to the Bennet sisters (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s2]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 5873-5883 — Mrs. Gardiner's Derbyshire connections and recollection of Darcy as a boy (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s3]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 5905-5912 — Mrs. Gardiner cautions Elizabeth about Wickham (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s4]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 9209-9211 — Mrs. Gardiner's Lambton connection and wish to revisit Pemberley (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s5]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 9378-9379 — Mrs. Gardiner notices Elizabeth's reaction to Wickham's portrait (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s6]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 9778-9781 — Mrs. Gardiner's reassessment of Darcy after the Pemberley visit (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s7]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 11998-12028 — Mrs. Gardiner's letter opening and Darcy's motive (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s8]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 12033-12047; 12075-12081 — Darcy's tracing of the couple through Mrs. Younge and his approach to Mr. Gardiner (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s9]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 12096-12107 — the settlement figures and Darcy's insistence on acting alone (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s10]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 12138-12140 — Mrs. Gardiner's own liking of Darcy (ingested 2026-07-16)
