Age
We are never given Mrs. Jennings' age, but we do know that she's a grandmother by the time the novel begins. Given the standards of the time, this likely puts her age between 50 and 60.
Family and Situation
Mrs. Jennings is the widow of Mr. Jennings, formerly a businessman of some kind, and the mother of Lady Middleton and Charlotte Palmer. She also appears to have a brother by birth or marriage living in Weymouth, with whom Charlotte used to stay as an unwed girl.
Mrs. Jennings is also some kind of relation to the Miss Steeles, but she does not seem to know them prior to encountering them in Exeter in the novel. We are told ironically that Sir John Middleton encourages the Dashwoods to come meet the Steeles at Barton because “It was painful to him even to keep a third cousin to himself.”
The narrator tells us that “Mrs. Jennings was a widow with an ample jointure. She had only two daughters, both of whom she had lived to see respectably married, and she had now therefore nothing to do but to marry all the rest of the world.” The narrator tells us that though Mrs. Jennings spends much of her time as a family or friend’s houseguest, “Since the death of her husband, who had traded with success in a less elegant part of the town, she had resided every winter in a house in one of the streets near Portman Square.” Later on, we learn that the house is in Upper Berkeley Street. We know Mrs. Jennings has at least a housekeeper and a maid named Betty in whom she seems to take an almost maternal interest. As a proper lady’s maid would go by her surname, we can guess that either Betty is Mrs. Jennings’ personal maid, but called by first name because Mrs. Jennings doesn’t know better (or doesn’t care), or that Betty is a regular servant in the household and Mrs. Jennings takes exceptional interest in all of her servants.
Connections
Mrs. Jennings appears to have a broad circle of acquaintance in the novel. While some of these individuals appear to be connected in the ton, we are also told that she has “a few old city friends, whom, to Lady Middleton’s regret, she had never dropped,”and who we are led to believe may be a bit crass.
We do know that the the day the news breaks around Willoughby’s engagement, she was going to host a dinner with the Sandersons and the Parrys. We do not know whether these are friends from the ton or “old city friends.”
Appearance
On her first appearance at Barton Park, we are told that Mrs. Jennings “was a good-humoured, merry, fat, elderly woman, who talked a great deal, seemed very happy, and rather vulgar. She was full of jokes and laughter, and before dinner was over had said many witty things on the subject of lovers and husbands; hoped [the Dashwood girls] had not left their hearts behind them in Sussex and pretended to see them blush whether they did or not.”
Character
Mrs. Jennings appears to be a kindly old gossip. The narrator once describes her as an “everlasting talker” as well as “a great wonderer, as everyone must be who takes a very lively interest in all the comings and goings of all their acquaintance.” Often, this allows Austen to put exposition into the mouth of Mrs. Jennings -- whether it’s the details of Willoughby’s engagement to Miss Grey or the popular assumption in Barton that Eliza Williams is Col. Brandon’s natural daughter.
We also know that, as she has nothing better to do, Mrs. Jennings is quite the matchmaker and that “in the promotion of this object she was zealously active, as far as her ability reached; and missed no opportunity of projecting weddings among all the young people of her acquaintance. She was remarkably quick in the discovery of attachments, and had enjoyed the advantage of raising the blushes and the vanity of many a young lady by insinuations of her power over such a young man.” As a result she directs much of her energy to encouraging matches between Brandon and Marianne, Brandon and Elinor, Edward and Lucy, etc.
For all of this, Mrs. Jennings is very clear on her role in the world and fairly uninterested in what fashionable society decrees, whether for manners or marriage. She is secure about her own standing, at one point deflecting an accusion from Mr. Palmer that she is ill-bred by saying “Ay, you may abuse me as you please...you have taken Charlotte off my hands, and cannot give her back again. So there I have the whip hand of you.” Later on, in frustration about Mrs. Ferrars disinheriting Edward, she says “I have no notion of people's making such a to-do about money and greatness. There is no reason on earth why Mr. Edward and Lucy should not marry; for I am sure Mrs. Ferrars may afford to do very well by her son, and though Lucy has next to nothing herself, she knows better than any body how to make the most of every thing.”
This honest perception of the real world extends more broadly into a simple “kindness of heart.” Late in the novel, Mrs. Jennings stays at Cleveland to look after an ailing Marianne Dashwood even after her daugther and newborn grandchild relocate to avoid contagion, “endeavouring, by her own attentive care, to supply to her the place of the mother she had taken her from; and Elinor found her on every occasion a most willing and active helpmate, desirous to share in all her fatigues, and often by her better experience in nursing, of material use.” On more than one occasion, Mrs. Jennings speculates about how to find a better place for her maid Betty’s sister and she is constantly shepherding young women like the Dashwoods and the Steeles around who not could otherwise afford to mix in high society.
