Age
We are never told explicitly how old George Wickham is, but given that he grew up alongside Darcy, it’s likely that he’s around 27 years old at the novel’s beginning.
Family and Situation
George Wickham is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Wickham (both deceased). We’re told explicitly that Elizabeth “had never heard of his having had any relations” beyond these parents, suggesting that he has no siblings. His father was the steward of Pemberley Estate in Derbyshire.
Other Relationships
Though not a biological family member, George did grow up alongside Fitzwilliam Darcy, heir to Pemberley, where they both lived. George says of the relationship “We were born in the same parish, within the same park; the greatest part of our youth was passed together; inmates of the same house, sharing the same amusements, objects of the same parental care.”
George Wickham is unusually close with the late Mr. Darcy who takes an interest, ultimately sending him to Cambridge with the intention that he will become a clergyman. After the death of both their fathers, Wickham and Fitzwilliam Darcy agree that he would be better off studying the law, for which he is granted £3,000 rather than the commission for the parish of Kympton which was not yet available and which Wickham stated he did not want. Later on, Wickham says “the living became vacant two years ago, exactly as I was of an age to hold it, and that it was given to another man; and no less certain is it, that I cannot accuse myself of having really done anything to deserve to lose it. I have a warm, unguarded temper, and I may have spoken my opinion of him, and to him, too freely. I can recall nothing worse. But the fact is, that we are very different sort of men, and that he hates me.”
Darcy presents a somewhat different version of events, saying that after their fathers' deaths five years ago “In town I believe he chiefly lived, but his studying the law was a mere pretence, and being now free from all restraint, his life was a life of idleness and dissipation. For about three years I heard little of him; but on the decease of the incumbent of the living which had been designed for him, he applied to me again by letter for the presentation. His circumstances, he assured me, and I had no difficulty in believing it, were exceedingly bad. He had found the law a most unprofitable study, and was now absolutely resolved on being ordained, if I would present him to the living in question—of which he trusted there could be little doubt, as he was well assured that I had no other person to provide for, and I could not have forgotten my revered father's intentions. You will hardly blame me for refusing to comply with this entreaty, or for resisting every repetition to it. His resentment was in proportion to the distress of his circumstances—and he was doubtless as violent in his abuse of me to others as in his reproaches to myself. After this period every appearance of acquaintance was dropped. How he lived I know not. But last summer he was again most painfully obtruded on my notice.”
Darcy again encounters Wickham in the summer before the novel as he’s attempting to elope with Georgiana in pursuit of her fortune. After the Lydia Bennet affair, we know that Darcy shells out £1,000 to cover Wickham’s debts, another £1,000 to settle on Lydia, plus the purchase of a commission and occasional assistance later in life for the sake of their wives. We also know that Wickham ends up in Col. ---’s regiment in the regulars as an ensign, based in Lydia Bennet by the end of the novel.
Though we are never told precisely how, we know that Wickham has a friendship with Mr. Denny prior to arriving in Meryton and Wickham says that it is an invitation from Denny which brings him from London to accept a commission in Col. Forster’s regiment, presumably with Denny vouching for him. Through this commission, he attains the rank of lieutenant, though we have no idea how he paid for such a thing.
We know that he makes friends with Mrs. Younge at some point prior to the summer before the novel which, depending upon how her character is read, could be quite scandalous (see her article for speculation).
Appearance
Wickham is described as having a “most gentlemanlike appearance.” Upon his first appearance, the narrator says “His appearance was greatly in his favour; he had all the best part of beauty, a fine countenance, a good figure, and very pleasing address”. Mrs. Gardiner says of Darcy at Pemberley “he is not so handsome as Wickham; or, rather, he has not Wickham's countenance, for his features are perfectly good,” suggesting that Wickham may be either handsomer or more charismatic.
Character
Wickham is very charming when he wants to be and manages to butter up almost the entirety of Meryton. This extends to Elizabeth; after re-encountering him in her aunt’s drawing room after meeting him on the street, “Elizabeth felt that she had neither been seeing him before, nor thinking of him since, with the smallest degree of unreasonable admiration. The officers of the ——shire were in general a very creditable, gentlemanlike set, and the best of them were of the present party; but Mr. Wickham was as far beyond them all in person, countenance, air, and walk.”
After he runs off with Lydia Bennet, it becomes clear to the people of Meryton that Wickham is not so upstanding and well-connected as he seemed. As the Bennets make inquiries, they learn that “it was not known that Wickham had a single relationship with whom he kept up any connection, and it was certain that he had no near one living. His former acquaintances had been numerous; but since he had been in the militia, it did not appear that he was on terms of particular friendship with any of them. There was no one, therefore, who could be pointed out as likely to give any news of him. And in the wretched state of his own finances, there was a very powerful motive for secrecy, in addition to his fear of discovery by Lydia's relations, for it had just transpired that he had left gaming debts behind him to a very considerable amount. Colonel Forster believed that more than a thousand pounds would be necessary to clear his expenses at Brighton. He owed a good deal in town, but his debts of honour were still more formidable.” We can only assume that these realizations are reflective of the parts of Wickham’s life that we really don’t see.
