In Pride and Prejudice, the Bennets are, like Jane Austen herself, members of an educated upper middle class known as the “gentry” or the “landed gentry.”

The gentry were considered socially eligible to mix with the landowning class, but were still far below them in terms of status.

Gentry owned less than 1,000 acres of land, leased to tenants or oversaw the farming directly and typically lived in the country year-round, visiting London only to take care of occasional legal matters.

During this era, land was passed down to the eldest son when the owner passed away. When there is no son, as with the Bennets, the land is passed to the closest male relative.