well whatever the reasons, while HE might not have wanted his daughters to go to London, if he could afford it, I think he was rather depriving them..

Maria has done well to secure a rich husband in what may well be a restricted neighbourhood, but he's a fool - like Mr C a man whom no half intelligent woman could truly respect or love. In London or Bath or soemwhere she would surely have had a better choice and might have foudn a man she really liked...
I dont really know why he wants Maria married and settled nearby when it seems that he was not at least until the Antigua trip all that affectionate to the children...