
Charlotte Lucas (born 1785) was a 19th century British aristocrat from Meryton, Hertfordshire and the wife of Anglican clergyman William Collins.
Biography[]
Charlotte Lucas was born in Meryton, Hertfordshire, England in 1785, the daughter of Sir William Lucas. She came from a middle-class family which had originally been involved in business before her father served as Mayor of Meryton and was knighted. Charlotte was perceived as plain by society, and she grew up feeling doomed to spinsterhood; however, she was close friends with Elizabeth Bennet from the Bennet family of Longbourn, and, in 1812, she leaped at the chance to marry Bennet's wealthy cousin, Anglican clergyman William Collins, after Bennet turned him down, as - despite Collins' "ridiculous" personality, Lucas was becoming a financial burden to her family and was in need of a future and protection. Lucas ultimately settled with him at the Hunsford Parsonage in Kent, and they later inherited Longbourn on George Bennet's death.