Becky Pickwell

Becky Pickwell

Portrayed by Tuppence Middleton
Full Name	Rebecca Louise Pickwell
Associated Noble House(s)	None
Date of Birth	12th November 1795
Father	John Bernard Pickwell
Father's Rank	Mr Pickwell
Mother	Louise Pickwell
Mother's Rank	Mrs Pickwell
Town Residence	{{{residence}}}
Year of Debut	1811
Dowry	£23,000

Becky Pickwell is a new arrival to London, the dearest friend of Eleanor Clare. Becky is played by Micaela.

Family

• John Bernard Pickwell, b. 1752
• Louise Pickwell, née Cooper, b. 1765
• John Pickwell, b. 1785, d. 1785
• John ‘Jack’ Pickwell, b. 1787
• Allan Pickwell, b. 1789
• Thomas Pickwell, b. 1791, d. 1792
• Timothy Pickwell, b. 1793

Background

1795 - 1811: Early Years

Born the last after three living sons and two dead ones, Rebecca was a welcomed end to her parents’ fine brace of children. It was a family on the rise: John Pickwell had just opened his second textile mill in Lincolnshire, and would soon have enough capital for a third. Having been born the son of a respectable shop-owner, he had sold the business upon his father’s death and, after marrying pretty shopgirl Louise Cooper, speculated in a mill. With some canny business moves, his initial investment soon grew until John was majority shareholder, and can now proudly put his name to Pickwell Mills, an enterprise of several factories valued at quite a princely sum.

Becky thus grew up in a fine new house in the best part of Lincoln, wanting very little. Louise Pickwell hardly knew what to do with her good fortune, and is of a somewhat complacent nature. Her rabble of sons attended school locally, as John wished them to go into the business with him, and felt a high-flown society education would be of less use to them than practical experience. John is entirely satisfied with his accomplishments, and will speak proudly of them, particularly among men of business; nonetheless, he sold his father’s shop with an eye towards advancement in the world, and is keen the Pickwell name should garner respect wherever it is mentioned.

The Pickwells are, in brief and indelicate terms, new money.

With her brothers brought up near home, Becky grew up surrounded by them. While no parent could be ashamed of three well-formed and capable sons, they all inherited more of their mother’s easy temperament than their little sister. In the first years of life John remained uninterested in this last of his children, considering her a nice comfort for her mother, but as she grew it was she who was most interested in the mills, and especially the money they brought the family. Crowed over with pride when she could rattle off such details as the current price of cotton or that quarter’s profits, her greatest delight was to be allowed to sit in her father’s office and be chucked under the chin. Jack, Allan, and Tim saw this as a novelty, and were too busy pursuing the amusements of boyhood to feel any sort of resentment; rather, their relation to their little sister was the usual affectionate ribbing and teasing.

This changed when Jack was reckoned old enough to require he take a serious interest in the running of his father’s business, which he would one day inherit. John could hardly take the time to indulge his ten-year-old daughter when he had an eighteen-year-old son to shape into a businessman, and it was high time for her to look to feminine things. The least clever and ambitious of all the Pickwell children, Jack’s limitations became clear to his father, who thenceforth included Allan in this instruction; Jack, being quite conscious and even vain of his heightened position as the eldest, is happy to let the grasping and shrewder Allan do the work. Timothy took an unexpectedly academic bent, and was admitted to the university at Edinburgh, in response to which John proclaimed her was “that glad, to ‘ave a son pursuing such genteel education.” Becky nonetheless remained first in her father’s affections, which Allan especially resented. Jack was and remains too good-natured to resent any body, but Allan’s talents and ambitions were greater, as was his insight. Becky soon learned how to outmaneuver her brothers and get whatever she wished from them, despite this breach; on that front, her father has never presented a challenge.

In growing up, Becky was thus thrust back into the world of women. Her lessons in the feminine arts were increased, and she was to gain all the accomplishments her mother lacked under the formidable eye of Miss Ruth Forbes-Campbell. Under the genteel influence of her “right quality” governess and her own quick insight, she began to grow conscious of her family’s position in the world. Here was her foolish mother, unaware of jibes made right behind her back! Even in the largely industrial circles of Lincoln, the Pickwells were, Miss Forbes-Campbell told her, decried as having the smell of the shop about them, and that John fellow too ambitious by half.

In the awkward throes of early adolescence, Becky felt this keenly. When applied to for help in this quarter, as the greatest lady of Becky’s acquaintance, Miss Forbes-Campbell (who saw that her charge might just have it in her to move beyond her origins) suggested that a select ladies’ school was just the thing to expand her horizons and make good connexions, so it was off to a select ladies’ school that Becky went, at quite her own insistence. The first year saw the erasure of all traces of an accent and the honing of Becky’s sharp instinct for opportunity. By the second she had made herself quite the queen of that limited hive and, though not especially inclined toward academic achievement, maintained high enough performance to soon be called quite accomplished. It was always her social education that was the goal, and the polishing off of any of the dust of industry.

It was that same keen instinct that led Becky to befriend Miss Eleanor Clare, a quite meek girl of Becky’s own age. All of Becky’s relationships are, to some extent, considered in the light of what they might bring her, but long association has made her rather fond of Eleanor, and they exchange letters when they are not at school. It has always been Becky’s expectation that they will have their Season together and, though of course as sympathetic as one could possibly desire upon the death of Eleanor’s father, it did not escape Becky that her friend’s guardian being a marquess could only improve her own chances. Finally having convinced her fool of a mother to bring her to Town, Becky has little in the way of entrée (or even a plan) but expects that her friendship with Eleanor will be her ticket into Society. She will have 18,000 upon her marriage and benefits from a generous allowance already.ly be next year if it happens at all.

Personality

Bee looks like a Fragonard and hits like a full broadside; her father is fond of saying that she "would have made a d---ed fine officer, had she but been a boy." Always in motion, as a child she was frequently to be found wrestling with the village boys, and generally victorious, and though the adult rarely wrestles anyone but her younger brothers, she remains a big, lively presence. It follows that her temper comes quickly, but her laughter quicker, and she is not easily insulted. This may stem from the fact that, while aware of the opinions of others, she doesn’t like to get caught up paying them too much mind.

Genuinely kind-hearted and sweet-natured, she is an animated, merry fixture among her friends, and comfortable among strangers, happily inclined to be amiable to all she meets. She may not have had the upbringing that many young ladies in London do, but she is much more astute than she appears, and has a keen social awareness that keeps her just on the charming side of outrageous. Her tongue can get her in trouble, wagging either too freely or too sharply, but she almost never acts maliciously. She has a warm and generous spirit, and cares deeply for those closest to her.

In manner she is more than civilized, if not exactly refined, and once one is used to her outgoing personality, she makes up for being unpolished with her plentiful natural charm. She generally does well in Naval society, and has always been popular with her father’s officers. That same profession led to her father’s extensive absences, and such a headstrong child was more than a match for her gentle mother, running a little wild and entirely used to making her own decisions. While surprisingly clever, her education and accomplishments are spotty, her only sources of these being her mother and whatever she chose to read in books, which was admittedly not a great deal. She has some aptitude for language and her natural unselfconsciousness allows her speak freely to others even though unskilled, as she not mind making mistakes.

Her one true accomplishment, and passion, is music. She is an extremely talented and proficient musician, having been taught the basics by her mother and learnt the rest by endless practice and a natural ear. She plays the pianoforte remarkably well, as well as several other instruments passably, and could likely pick just about anything up and have it making some semblance of music within the hour. Her voice is tuneful, but better-suited to sea shanties than arias or folk ballads. She is very willing to play in public, and while genuinely talented, the natural pride of the artist can come off as showing away if one doesn’t know her well enough. As a private hobby, she composes, though these have not been shared with any outside of her family so far. She being a woman, her talent was not developed as it might have been, leaving her beyond accomplished but sadly less than a virtuoso.

In all she is possessed of a sensible and sizable heart, a fierce independent spirit, and a dowry of no mean size--all the tools for success or disastrous failure.

Relationships

Friends

• Miss Eleanor Clare