For nearly 200 years the Bennet family had lived in Longbourn. In 1758, George Bennet married Clara Rochester, who brought a dowry of £5,000 to the marriage. They were blessed with two sons, Thomas, born in 1760, and, two years later, Louis.
The brothers had different temperaments, but they had a good relationship. Thomas was not very social and did not like physical activities, while Louis enjoyed society and was very active. The only similarity they had was a love of books. They both received a very good gentleman's education and attended Cambridge University. Louis chose the clergy as his profession, and by chance, had been appointed to fill a vacancy in Derbyshire shortly after being ordained in 1786.
In that same year, Thomas married Fanny Gardiner, a very beautiful and silly young woman, who was ten years younger than Thomas. Thomas's parents tried to dissuade their son from marrying but were unsuccessful.
In 1787 George and Clara Bennet died in a carriage accident. In their will, they left the estate to Thomas and the money from Clara Bennet's dowry to Louis.
When Louis went to his bank in London, he discovered that the account now in his name had over £12,000. Although he could live on the interest of that money, he loved his profession, so he decided to invest the money in the four percent and continue living in the parsonage on his salary.
In 1788, Louis married Maria Thompson. Maria was the only daughter of a gentleman who had an estate similar in size to Longbourn and she had a dowry of £10,000. One year later, the first daughter of Thomas and Fanny Bennet, Jane, was born. It was three more years before a younger sister, Mary, would be born, another two years until Kitty was born, and one year after Kitty, came Lydia.
In 1791, Louis and Maria Bennet had their first and only child, whom they named Elizabeth. Unfortunately, a few months after the birth, Maria died of pneumonia and three years later, Louis died in an accident.
In Louis Bennet's will, Lizzy's maternal grandfather - who was only 50 years old at the time - was appointed her guardian and all of Louis's money, which included Maria's dowry, was intended to be Elizabeth's dowry and totaled nearly £25,000. That same will also stipulated that if anything happened to Mr. Thompson, Thomas Bennett would take over as Lizzy's guardian.
Since Mr. Thompson was a widower and Thomas was married with three daughters, it was decided that Lizzy would live half of the time in Longbourn with her cousins and the other half with her grandfather. Thomas would receive about £400 a year to be used to support Lizzy.
Mr. Thompson, in addition to his estate, had a house in London, which was the ideal location for him and Lizzy to spend the winter. Sadly, as at Longbourn, Mr. Thompson's estates could only be inherited by men, and the heir was a distant cousin he barely knew.
Thus, Lizzy lived in Longbourn for several months of the year, and between December and March, she visited her grandfather in London.
During the months she spent in London, her grandfather hired for her the best piano, painting, and language masters. In the remaining months of the year, she practiced her lessons using Longbourn's piano and practiced her French and Spanish with her uncle Bennet.
Jane and Lizzy were raised as best friends. Jane was very sweet and kind, but she lacked Lizzy's characteristic intellectual curiosity.
When Lizzy turned 8, her grandfather invited 10-year-old Jane to visit London with Lizzy. The routine at Lizzy's grandfather's house was not to Jane's liking. Jane had never had piano lessons, nor did she speak languages, and, according to her mother, it was not necessary for her future. Due to this, the hired masters were unable to progress with Lizzy's lessons and suggested to Mr. Thompson to separate the girls so that Lizzy could move forward in her studies while Jane would start from scratch.
Mr. Thompson agreed with the masters and explained the plan to Lizzy and Jane. To his surprise, Jane said that she wanted to go back to Longbourn because she missed her parents and sisters.
Thus, the years passed. Lizzy perfected her technique playing the piano and spoke very good French, Italian and Spanish. Of her cousins, the only one who wanted to learn to play the piano was Mary, and she was also the only one who also read Lizzy's language books.
The four daughters of Thomas and Fanny Bennet had blonde hair, although in differing shades, they were all fair with light eyes. Lizzy, however, had dark hair, tan skin, and dark green eyes with gold highlights.
Jane was considered a classic beauty; she was tall and slim, while Lizzy drew a lot of attention for her exotic beauty and light – but more voluptuous - figure.
Since Longbourn would be inherited by a distant cousin when Mr. Bennet died, Mrs. Bennet decided that Jane should be out at 16. She was sure her most beautiful daughter would marry very well, maybe even an Earl. Furthermore, her daughters needed to make good marriages and their dowries were only £2,000. She didn't worry about Lizzy, since she assumed that her grandfather, Mr. Thompson, had put aside some money for the girl and if he hadn't, it did not matter, for her priority was her daughters.
The years went by, and Jane turned 22, but so far, she had received neither a marriage proposal, nor a request for a courtship. She had been admired by more than one gentleman but their admiration had never gone beyond a simple flirtation. Lizzy, meanwhile, had already turned down a marriage proposal from Mr. Watson, the eldest son of her grandfather's heir. That gentleman's defect was that he had sired at least one illegitimate child and he was not known to take care of any of them. Her grandfather fully supported her, and relations between Lizzy and her grandfather's heir were not good.
Mrs. Bennet, as time passed, became more and more desperate, and did not understand how it was possible that her eldest, most beautiful daughter did not have suitors. For four years Jane had been going to her uncle's house in London but returned each year without success.
Lizzy, who had attended some parties in London the previous year, clearly saw the cause of Jane's lack of suitors: Mrs. Bennet, with her vulgar matchmaking attitude, detracted greatly from Jane's chances. In addition, due to the war there were more young ladies than gentlemen, and many of the gentlemen could not afford to marry a woman with little dowry. In London, Elizabeth had seen many beautiful women similar to Jane, but – unlike Jane – they were in possession of a good dowry and a good education.