Becky's new employer was Sir Pitt Crawley. Sir Pitt Crawley had been married twice, and he had two grown-up sons from his first marriage - Pitt and Rawdon Crawley. After the death of his first wife Sir Pitt had married again, this time choosing an ironmonger's daughter. They had two daughters. Sir Pitt had advertised for a governess to help in the education of these two children.

Becky Sharp was young enough to have a romantic idea of what a baronet's establishment might be like. She was very shocked, therefore, to discover that Sir Pitt Crawley seemed hardly a gentleman at all. He was an elderly man who dressed badly and drank too much. He was also mean about money, and preferred to spend his time eating and drinking with the butler, rather than entertaining ladies and gentlemen.

Sir Pitt Crawley's country residence, Queen's Crawley, was a large house, but it was in poor condition.

Becky soon realised that the most important person in the house, after Sir Pitt Crawley himself, was the baronet's older son, Pitt. Unlike his father, he was rather a severe man with very strong religious opinions. It was clear that the father and son did not get along well.

It was also clear that Sir Pitt's wife, the ironmonger's daughter, wielded no power in the house at all. Lady Crawley had been a lovely young girl before she married Sir Pitt Crawley. She had given up a decent young man who loved her for the happiness of becoming Lady Crawley. Vanity Fair, indeed! Her beauty faded, and Sir Pitt became bored with her. The poor woman was despised by all. The only person who showed the slightest respect for her was the baronet's older son, Pitt. He behaved with a cold, formal correctness to her at all times.

Sir Pitt Crawley's brother, Bute, was the local parson. He and his family lived in the village rectory. The relationship between the two brothers was not particularly good. They had quarrelled about money in the past, and they continued to plot against each other. Their plots centred around Sir Pitt's unmarried half-sister, Miss Crawley.

Miss Crawley was a very rich, selfish old woman. She did not like Pitt Crawley because of his piety. She wanted to leave half of her money to Bute Crawley, and the other half to Sir Pitt's second son, Rawdon.