Could Mr Collins *NOT* Inherit Longbourn? Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice & Male Line Inheritance

If one of the Bennet sisters has a son, could that son inherit instead of Mr Collins? In today's video we'll be answering that question and looking at male line inheritance in the Regency and Victorian Era. We'll also discuss what could possibly happen if Mrs Bennet dies and Mr Bennet remarries.

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🧐 Learn More

Austen, J., & In Kinsley, J. (2019). Pride and prejudice.

Morgan, L. H. (1909). Ancient Society. United States: C.H.Kerr.

Norton, C. S. (1854). English Laws for Women in the Nineteenth Century. United Kingdom: private circulation.

Stroud, F. (1890). The Judicial Dictionary of Words and Phrases Judicially Interpreted. United Kingdom: Sweet and Maxwell, limited.

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🕰 Watching Guide
00:00 Could Mr Collins *Not* Inherit Longbourn? [Intro]
01:57 19th Century Male Line Inheritance
07:03 Entails and Unborn Generations
08:14 Pride and Prejudice's Plot
09:10 How to Kick Collins Out
10:14 Summing Up: Could a Grandson Inherit?

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#janeausten #prideandprejudice #mrcollins

[elleniemitchelle]

This reminded me of how careless Mr. Bennett had been and how capricious the 'happily ever after' really was for these women. We laugh at Mrs. Bennett's preoccupation with seeing her girls married but she was justified in her concern. We were all shocked at Charlotte marrying Mr. Collins but she secured her own place in the world and lessened the burden on her immediate family. She didn't have the luxury of hoping and waiting.

[PokhrajRoy.]

‘Is there a way around the entail?’ is the rejected title for ‘Downton Abbey’. 😂

[lijuowl]

I think another way of putting the "line" point in this case would be, that since Lizzy is married to Mr Darcy, she is now part of HIS family, not the Bennetts anymore.

[AMoniqueOcampo]

Okay, I know your channel is about Jane Austen/Regency/Victorian, but now that you talked about your heritage, my curiosity is piqued. I wanna know more about your roots!

[rodgomola]

I must applaud your skill for making so much content based on Jane Austen —an author who wrote only seven novels— and still keep it interesting.

[Nanenna]

Ah! I forgot about the unborn generation thing! Okay, now it all makes sense.

Personally I feel that in an era before paternity tests the whole male line thing is inferior because there's no way to guarantee relation. Even now with paternity tests there's just so much contention, deception, and drama about it. Going by the mother's line just makes so much more sense from a purely logical standpoint. But men's egos be so fragile 9_9

[brubs]

I think it's also important to note that women were raised to eventually marry and become a part of another family. So if property was passed to them, then it could cease to be the property of the Bennet family and just become property of whoever marries them. Like, if Longbourn could be passed on to Jane, then it go on to belong to Mr. Bingley.

[DavidBrowningBYD]

Honestly, had I lived in those times, I would likely have adopted the predominant mind view of the time, which was one of unconscious privilege for men. In P&P the only objection we see to male primogeniture is from Lady Catherine, who came into her marriage with substantial property of her own. Of course her marriage settlement would have excluded any kind of entail away from her, because she was the center of the universe.

[Jemini]

Yeah the point you said about 'respecting' women is so true. Like pulling out a chair or taking a heavy bag or showering her in gifts before you are married in any way makes up for excluding women from property ownership and the workplace, allowing no women (even richer ones) to vote, treating them as son factories and the myriad other ways they were systemically disadvantaged.

[rhiannanhughes]

One question I have is if Mr Collins is a male line descendant, why isn't his last name also Bennett like the rest of the family?.

[marijeangalloway]

A major reason for entail in the male line, given the thinking of the time, was not only to secure male inheritance of family property and monetary resources, but also to secure the continuance of the family surname as inextricably associated with that you would have the Darcys of Pemberley, the Bertrams of Mansfield Park, the Eliots of Kellynch, etc. An old and respected name handed down through the generations is commonly associated with property inheritance, and can only be accomplished, of course, through the direct male line, as women change their surnames to those of their husbands upon marriage. This is one explanation why even a male in the direct line who would inherit THROUGH a female was ineligible: the family name would be lost. How, then, does the heir of Mr. Bennet of Longbourn have the surname COLLINS? What is the exact relationship between them? The term "cousin" does not tell us how many times removed the kinship may be; the two families seem to have had nothing to do with each other before Mr. Collins' visit in the novel, which, together with the different surname, doesn't suggest a close blood tie. The surname disparity alone would seem to be indisputable evidence that Mr. Collins is inheriting through a previous Bennet female line; otherwise his name would also be Bennet. Are prior Bennet females, such as, say, Mr. Bennet's aunts, privileged to have offspring who inherit over the newer generation represented by his daughters? How does a Collins inherit an entailed Bennet property? Was it somehow from a generation in which the property was not entailed? We do have, in Austen's writings, one case in which, for reasons of gaining inheritance through the female line, a man does in fact change his surname: in "Emma, " Mr. Frank Churchill is the son of Mr. Weston, but changed his name to secure an inheritance from his mother's relations (though his doing so does not meet with everyone's approval).

[texanbritt]

I was really hoping that you’d go into explaining the logistics as to why Lady Catherine Bourgh was able to secure her daughter an inheritance, this was something that has always confused me about this novel. I’ve since read that Lady Anne was the heiress of Rosings park, but I can’t find out why this was permissible for her, but not for other female descendants such as the Bennett girls.. do you happen to know? Thanks for your videos, I love them!! 👌

[laurelanne]

Seeing that in Regency terms a yet-to-be-married woman of my age is an old maid, and I have no siblings, I guess it's time to make friends with my closest male cousin!

[dorothywillis]

Thank you for a good explanation of entails and what they entailed! They never caught on over on the other side of the pond. Too many younger sons who had had to get out and scratch for themselves didn't want it to happen to their children.

[Anastas]

The "incontestability of masculine superiority" aside, I can think of at least one other reason a man (or even a _woman_ who'd managed to inherit in her own right) born and raised in a society with a strong preference for male primogeniture might pass over his (or her) own daughters and granddaughters when drawing up wills and entails:

If all goes well, your daughters and granddaughters _shouldn't need _*_your_*_ money_ to survive and maintain the lifestyle to which they've become accustomed. As a "Man (or Woman) of _Quality", _ you endeavor to raise the girls of your family to become Women of Quality themselves. Assuming this goes well, they should have no trouble whatsoever attracting men of equal, possibly greater, but at worst only _slightly_ lesser wealth to your own, who, thanks to male primogeniture, stand to inherit _their own_ money, which they will be expected to use in part to maintain their wives, your daughters.

Your eldest son, meanwhile, is going to _need_ the promise of your money, your land, and your big, fancy house to attract a wife to help him run the place, enhance his social status, and help make more male heirs to secure the future of said big, fancy house. Unless your family's social connections are _utterly spectacular, _ the other Men and Women of Quality looking for husbands for their daughters are going to be prioritizing men who stand to inherit large fortunes and fancy houses, which he can't offer if you split things up equally among all your children or even all your _male_ heirs. Giving too much to the other children/younger males also casts doubt on his business savvy/financial sense. "Did you hear the Lady is splitting up the Estate _evenly_ between _all_ her grandchildren?" "Imagine! All that land and money, split eight ways!" "Do you suppose she doesn't _trust_ her eldest to run so much?"

[carololiveira]

It’s really cool to see different kinds of inheritance laws and entails at play in Jane Austen’s books, because it was just the reality at the time. Maybe exploring each and comparing them could be nice? Like a follow-up video to a follow-up video to the entail one ^^ Or not, if you’re tired of this topic, haha

[catherinelincoln]

Interestingly Anthony Trollope’s family was affected by inheritance laws. Anthony’s father was the heir presumptive of his uncle’s estate but the uncle married unexpectedly in middle age and begat a son. Anthony’s father spiraled into deep depression, so his mother Fanny started writing novels and travel books, including “The Domestic Manners of Americans”, then Anthony and his brother Tom also became successful authors!😃👍

[davidjones]

It is worth recording that, until the passing of the Married Womens' Property Act of 1870 (and subsequent amendments), when a woman married in England everything she possessed immediately became her husband's property and came under his control -hence the number of heiress-hunters who infest Jane Austen's novels. By the same token a woman could not give evidence in court against her husband until, if I remember correctly, well after WW2, because she was, effectively, his property.

[ritan]

A really excellent video! I love how you have responded the big question that was just nagging out there. But I especially like that you brought a different cultural perspective to the table. Indigenous people in North America as well as several nations in West Africa traced inheritance through the female line, and in fact, this was seen/used as proof that such people were inferior to the English (despite the fact that the female line was much easier to prove).

[junomance]

i freaking love ur videos so much!!! i’m reading pride and prejudice all the way through for the first time rn (i’ve seen the movie so ik what’s gonna happen) so it’s really cool to learn about situations in the book for thoroughly but also i’m a big history fan so i also get to learn about the regency era in general from u!!! many thanks! keep it up and i hope you have an awesome day (: