Mrs. Forster

Mrs. Forster is a minor but pivotal figure in the novel, a very young woman and a very recent bride whose friendship with the fifteen-year-old Lydia Bennet proves disastrous. As the wife of Colonel Forster, the commander of the militia regiment quartered in Meryton, she occupies a position of social consequence in the neighbourhood, but her own youth and love of gaiety make her a dangerously unsuitable chaperone for a girl as volatile as Lydia.

Identity and Introduction

Mrs. Forster is introduced as a "very young woman, and very lately married" . A natural affinity in "good humour and good spirits" quickly draws her and Lydia together; despite having known each other for only three months, they have been "intimate two" . Lydia's own account of their friendship reveals its character: she boasts to her sisters that "Mrs. Forster and me are such friends!" and describes a day spent at the Forsters' home where the two of them, along with Kitty, dressed up a man in women's clothes as a practical joke, a prank that left Lydia "ready to die of laughter" . This episode underscores the immaturity and lack of judgment that define their relationship.

Role in Lydia's Elopement

Mrs. Forster's most consequential act is inviting Lydia to accompany her to Brighton when the regiment decamps there . Lydia's "rapture" at the invitation is matched only by Mrs. Bennet's delight, while Elizabeth Bennet immediately recognizes the danger, considering the invitation "the death warrant of all possibility of common sense" for her youngest sister . Elizabeth's fears are realized when Lydia elopes with George Wickham from Brighton. The elopement occurs on a Saturday night, and the couple is not missed until eight o'clock the following morning . Colonel Forster, upon discovering the flight, sends an express to Longbourn and then follows the trail himself, tracing the pair as far as Clapham before losing them (E01611–E01612). Lydia's own letter to Mrs. Forster, written just before she leaves, is a masterpiece of thoughtless gaiety: she tells her friend to laugh at the surprise, signs herself "Lydia Wickham" in anticipation, and asks her to make her excuses to a dancing partner (E01705–E01709). The letter reveals that Lydia confided in Mrs. Forster about her attachment to Wickham, as she writes, "if you cannot guess with who, I shall think you a simpleton" .

Consequences and Aftermath

Colonel Forster's behaviour after the elopement is "attentive and kind to the utmost" ; he comes to Longbourn to break the news personally and to offer his assistance. He admits to having suspected "some partiality, especially on Lydia's side" , but nothing that gave him alarm. His investigation, however, reveals the depth of Wickham's depravity: he learns that Wickham left Meryton "greatly in debt" and that more than a thousand pounds would be needed to clear his expenses at Brighton . Mrs. Forster herself is never directly blamed by the narrative, but her role as the unwitting facilitator of the catastrophe is clear. She is the last person to see Lydia before her flight, and her household was the scene of the developing attachment that Elizabeth, Jane, and their parents had failed to perceive. After the marriage, Mrs. Forster fades from the story; Lydia, now Mrs. Wickham, is sent to the North with her husband, and the friendship that had such grave consequences is never mentioned again.