We’re Back, with Fortunes in the 1800s, Country Curates, and More!

Just how rich was Captain Wentworth? Was being a country curate as bad as Mary says? How exactly is one “made a baronet”? Learn the answers to these questions and more in this episode of My Cousin Jane.

Welcome back to My Cousin Jane. Today we’re going to be talking about Persuasion Chapter 9.

Chapter Summary

Wentworth’s Fortune

We have a brief line from Charles about Captain Wentworth having made “a fortune at once,” and then a whimsical thought from Mary about what it would mean if Captain Wentworth would one day be made a baronet.

Let’s listen to this clip, and as always, our audio recordings come from the talented Karen Savage over at LibriVox.org.

Charles “had never seen a pleasanter man in his life; and from what he had once heard Captain Wentworth himself say, was very sure that he had not made less than twenty thousand pounds by the war. Here was a fortune at once; besides which, there would be the chance of what might be done in any future war; and he was sure Captain Wentworth was as likely a man to distinguish himself as any officer in the navy. Oh! it would be a capital match for either of his sisters.”

“Upon my word it would,” replied Mary. “Dear me! If he should rise to any very great honours! If he should ever be made a baronet! ‘Lady Wentworth’ sounds very well. That would be a noble thing, indeed, for Henrietta! She would take place of me then, and Henrietta would not dislike that. Sir Frederick and Lady Wentworth! It would be but a new creation, however, and I never think much of your new creations.” Persuasion, Chapter 9

So, “a fortune at once,” as Charles said. Just exactly how much would 20,000 pounds be worth today?

If we look just at inflation, and ask how much inflation would have changed the value of 20,000 pounds from the early 1800s until today, that money would be worth about 1.7 million pounds or 2.3 million US dollars.

As Katherine Toran writes in her article “The Economics of Jane Austen’s World”, we need to look beyond inflation, because the way people used wealth in the early 1800s was very different from how they use it today. Things like land contracts, credit, and even expected wages for servants, interest rates, and other factors all make the calculation more complicated.

Taking some of those factors into account, Katherine Toran estimates that Captain Wentworth’s 20,000 pounds would be worth closer to 30 million pounds or 41 million US dollars in today’s money. Can you imagine going off to war, or any job, for two to three years and coming back with 41 million dollars? That would be a fortune at once indeed.

New Creations

I also want to talk for a minute about Mary’s comment about not caring for your new creations. This is an attitude a lot of people had about titles of nobility. Wealth and rank were just part of the equation, as the prestige of a family line and its longevity also mattered a great deal to some, but not to everyone.

You can see that it mattered a great deal to Sir Walter and Mary, as well as Elizabeth. If you’ve read Elizabeth Gaskell’s Wives and Daughters, you’ll see that it mattered to people like Squire Hamley as well, who has a dim view of Lord Cumnor’s family for a variety of reasons. Some of those are political, but it’s also because of the fact that Squire Hamley’s family is the oldest in the area. In fact, the title Squire is an honorary title, which means original family or founding family, and you’ll see that used quite a bit.

We’ve talked before about what it means to be made a baronet in terms of rank. This was an honor bestowed by the monarch to show and to curry favor, but it also came with a monetary fee payable to the crown, which the monarch would use to help maintain the military.

An interesting side note: the most recent new creation in terms of being made a baronet was Denis Thatcher, the husband of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He was made a baronet in the year 1990.

Country Curates

Let’s listen to Mary’s views on Charles Hayter. We’ve talked about Captain Wentworth; let’s listen to what Mary thinks about him.

It suited Mary best to think Henrietta the one preferred on the very account of Charles Hayter, whose pretensions she wished to see put an end to. She looked down very decidedly upon the Hayters, and thought it would be quite a misfortune to have the existing connection between the families renewed—very sad for herself and her children.

“You know,” said she, “I cannot think him at all a fit match for Henrietta; and considering the alliances which the Musgroves have made, she has no right to throw herself away. I do not think any young woman has a right to make a choice that may be disagreeable and inconvenient to the principal part of her family, and be giving bad connections to those who have not been used to them. And, pray, who is Charles Hayter? Nothing but a country curate. A most improper match for Miss Musgrove of Uppercross.” Persuasion, Chapter 9

Anyone who’s ever had to sit through an awkward Thanksgiving conversation with extended family might feel a little sympathy for Mary’s point of view here.

Mary here refers to Charles as a country curate in a derogatory tone. Maggie Smith’s character in Downton Abbey, if you’re a Downton Abbey fan, makes a similar kind of disparaging remark after commenting that they’ve got a lawyer in the family and a chauffeur. She wonders if a country curate will be next.

We’ll talk more about curates versus rectors versus vicars as different ranks within the Church of England when we discuss Mansfield Park, because the Church of England, though it’s present in some form in all of Austen’s novels, is quite prominent in Mansfield Park.

Since Jane’s father was a rector, she would have been familiar with the intricacies of things like curacies, livings, and tithes. Like her portrayal of the Navy, you can see that that knowledge played out in all of her novels to varying degrees.

Just to sum up here, like other titles of nobility, having a title of rector or curate or vicar, or being an ordained minister in the Church of England, sometimes, with some people, elevated them to the social status of gentlemen just by the nature of the calling. This is Charles Musgrove’s view, as we’ll hear in a second.

However, for other people, it mattered what the family background was, what their wealth was. The relative social rank of curates, vicars, and rectors differed quite a bit from area to area in the country. We’ll talk more about that again when we talk about Mansfield Park.

Livings

Meanwhile, let’s hear what Charles Musgrove thinks about Charles Hayter.

Her husband, however, would not agree with her here; for besides having a regard for his cousin, Charles Hayter was an eldest son, and he saw things as an eldest son himself.

“Now you are talking nonsense, Mary,” was therefore his answer. “It would not be a great match for Henrietta, but Charles has a very fair chance, through the Spicers, of getting something from the Bishop in the course of a year or two; and you will please to remember, that he is the eldest son; whenever my uncle dies, he steps into very pretty property. The estate at Winthrop is not less than two hundred and fifty acres, besides the farm near Taunton, which is some of the best land in the country. I grant you, that any of them but Charles would be a very shocking match for Henrietta, and indeed it could not be; he is the only one that could be possible; but he is a very good-natured, good sort of a fellow; and whenever Winthrop comes into his hands, he will make a different sort of place of it, and live in a very different sort of way; and with that property, he will never be a contemptible man—good, freehold property. No, no; Henrietta might do worse than marry Charles Hayter; and if she has him, and Louisa can get Captain Wentworth, I shall be very well satisfied.” Persuasion, Chapter 9

One of the things to point out here is that the assignment a clergyman had, which was often referred to as a living, could produce varying amounts of income, depending on its size, management, and the composition of the parishioners who lived there.

Musgrove is sure that aside from Charles Hayter’s own inheritance, which is going to be what he calls freehold property, which we’ll talk about in a minute, and aside from the wealth he’ll inherit, there’s another family called the Spicers who, either because they have the right to bestow a living or because of influence they have over the bishop in the area, will result in Charles Hayter being given a better living—in other words, a more lucrative ecclesiastical assignment—than the one he has now.

Livings were a big deal in the early 1800s, especially because it used to be that only the church would assign livings, but over time, powerful and influential families gained the ability to assign the livings within their area to people that they wanted to. Often they would do it as a form of favor, and you see this in Sense and Sensibility and also in Pride and Prejudice.

Sometimes they would do it as a way to earn money, such as in Mansfield Park, where they will rent out a living, or sometimes they’ll sell or buy a living in other situations. Often a living would earn enough money and be lucrative enough that someone would be willing to buy it as a sort of investment, or to pay for the right to have that living and the right to that income for a certain number of years. It was like buying an annuity in a life insurance plan.

Charles is sure that Charles Hayter is going to be able to have a better living than the one he has now. He also views the fact that Charles Hayter is the oldest son as a bonus. Not just, hey, he’s the oldest son, it’s a title of rank, but also because of the things he’s going to inherit because of that: some good farmland and some other property.

Freehold Property

One of the things he mentions about the property is that it is what is called freehold property. In England, you have freehold property and leasehold property.

Leasehold property, as the name implies, is property that’s being leased. It’s not owned outright by the tenant. Whereas freehold property, there’s no debt. It’s owned outright. Any profit, any decisions about the property can be made by the person who’s managing it or owning it.

Having freehold property gives you the right to sell the property, gives you the right to manage the resources of the property, the farmland, how you like. Minus what you would send to the bishop in forms of tithes, or to the local clergy, you have the right to have all of that money, the income that’s derived from the property.

Conclusion

That wraps up this episode of My Cousin Jane. As always, if you enjoy the show and would like to help support us, please consider clicking the little donate button or subscribing to our newsletter. Either way, thanks so much for listening.