# Miss Crawley — Vanity Fair character guide

> Miss Crawley in Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Old Miss Crawley, Miss Crawley, the rich Miss Crawley

**First appearance:** 0008-viii-private-and-confidential

## Snapshot

Wealthy, eccentric spinster whose fortune every Crawley relative courts, and whose French novels cannot prepare her for a governess refusing a baronet on her drawing-room floor.

## Who they are

Miss Crawley holds the family purse strings and the family's attention, reading Pigault-Lebrun while nephews and in-laws orbit her for inheritance. When Sir Pitt proposes to Rebecca and is refused, she is more bewildered than any novel's intrigue could make her—proof that real vanity outpaces fiction. Her favor is the prize that draws Rawdon and Becky into high society, and her whims decide who rises and who is cut off.

## In the story

### [IX: Family Portraits](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/vanity_fair_se/chapters/ix-family-portraits)

Sir Pitt's wealthy unmarried half-sister, whose fortune makes her an object of great respect and whose inheritance is courted by both the baronet and the rectory family.

### [X: Miss Sharp Begins to Make Friends](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/vanity_fair_se/chapters/x-miss-sharp-begins-to-make-friends)

Miss Crawley is the rich aunt who favors Rawdon, lives a worldly life, and dislikes Pitt's preaching. She has a house in Park Lane and radical views.

### [XI: Arcadian Simplicity](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/vanity_fair_se/chapters/xi-arcadian-simplicity)

The wealthy old spinster who adores imprudent matches and shows partiality to Rebecca, drinking heavily and causing concern about her health.

### [Miss Crawley at Home](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/vanity_fair_se/chapters/xiv-miss-crawley-at-home)

The wealthy spinster enjoys Becky's services and company, though she harbors a cynical awareness that her friends are motivated by her money.

### [XV: In Which Rebecca's Husband Appears for a Short Time](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/vanity_fair_se/chapters/xv-in-which-rebecca-s-husband-appears-for-a-short-time)

Discovers Sir Pitt's proposal and Rebecca's refusal; is bewildered and scornful.

### [Chapter XVI: The Letter on the Pincushion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/vanity_fair_se/chapters/xvi-the-letter-on-the-pincushion)

The aunt who is shocked and angered by the elopement, having been kept in the dark.

### [How Captain Dobbin Bought a Piano](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/vanity_fair_se/chapters/xvii-how-captain-dobbin-bought-a-piano)

Remains unwell and secluded at Park Lane, attended by Mrs. Bute; Rawdon is denied access to her.

### [Miss Crawley at Nurse](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/vanity_fair_se/chapters/xix-miss-crawley-at-nurse)

Lies ill and isolated, subjected to Mrs. Bute's oppressive care and terrified by her own mortality.

### [In Which All the Principal Personages Think Fit to Leave Brighton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/vanity_fair_se/chapters/xxv-in-which-all-the-principal-personages-think-fit-to-leave-brighton)

Begins to recover her spirits after Mrs. Bute's departure, playing piquet with Briggs.

### [In Which Miss Crawley’s Relations Are Very Anxious About Her](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/vanity_fair_se/chapters/xxxiii-in-which-miss-crawley-s-relations-are-very-anxious-about-her)

Recovering from illness at Brighton, she remains bitter toward Rawdon and Rebecca, frequently rewriting her will and tormenting Miss Briggs.

### [James Crawley's Pipe Is Put Out](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/vanity_fair_se/chapters/xxxiv-james-crawley-s-pipe-is-put-out)

Grows timid under Lady Southdown's domination and finally settles her fortune on Pitt and Lady Jane after Becky's childbirth.

### [How to Live Well on Nothing a Year](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/vanity_fair_se/chapters/xxxvi-how-to-live-well-on-nothing-a-year)

Reported to be dying, prompting Rawdon to hasten to her bedside in hopes of inheritance.

### [In Which the Same Subject Is Pursued](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/vanity_fair_se/chapters/lv-in-which-the-same-subject-is-pursued)

Not directly present, but referenced as the rich aunt whose inheritance was once sought.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/vanity_fair_se/characters/miss_crawley
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/vanity_fair_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/vanity_fair_se/characters