Tackleton ( Cricket on
the Hearth ) Known as Gruff and Tackleton, the name of his toymaking
business. He is the Scrooge of the
story, a hard-hearted, unfeeling man who has lived off of the exploitation of
children all his life. He is the employer of Caleb Plummer
and schemes to marry May Fielding.
Like Scrooge, he softens at the end of the story. (top)
Tapley, Mark ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) 
Ostler at the
Blue Dragon Inn and servant to young
Martin Chuzzlewit. He accompanies Martin
to America
and later marries Mrs.
Lupin, the Blue Dragon's landlady. The inn is renamed The Jolly Tapley. (top)
Ostler at the
Blue Dragon Inn and servant to young
Martin Chuzzlewit. He accompanies Martin
to America
and later marries Mrs.
Lupin, the Blue Dragon's landlady. The inn is renamed The Jolly Tapley. (top)
Tappertit, Simon ( Barnaby Rudge ) Locksmith Gabriel Varden's
apprentice who is in love with Gabriel's
daughter, Dolly.
He becomes a leader of the rioters during the Gordon Riots and during the
fighting loses his slender legs, long his pride and joy. After the uprising he
is fitted with wooden legs and becomes a bootblack. (top)
Locksmith Gabriel Varden's
apprentice who is in love with Gabriel's
daughter, Dolly.
He becomes a leader of the rioters during the Gordon Riots and during the
fighting loses his slender legs, long his pride and joy. After the uprising he
is fitted with wooden legs and becomes a bootblack. (top)
Tartar ( The Mystery of Edwin Drood
) Retired navy man and friend of Crisparkle.
He befriends Neville
in London and
works with Grewgious
and Crisparkle in protecting Neville from John Jasper. (top)
Tattycoram/Harriet Beadle ( Little Dorrit ) Adopted by
the Meagles
from the Foundling
Hospital, Harriet is
given the name Tattycoram and is maid to the Meagles
daughter, Pet. She exhibits fits of temper and is counseled by Mr. Meagle to
"count five and twenty, Tattycoram." She is influenced away from the Meagles by the
evil Miss Wade.
She later is reunited with the Meagles and
assists in the undoing of the Rigaud/Blandois
blackmail attempt.
(top)
Tetterby family ( The Haunted
Man ) Poor family touched by Redlaw's gift of
forgetting past sorrows, which turns out to be a curse to them. Adolphus, a
newsman, his wife Sophia, Adolphus Jr, a newspaper boy at the railway station,
Johnny, who cares for the baby, Sally, called little Moloch. They are restored
to their former loving natures by Milly Swidger.
(top)
Tiffey, Mr ( David Copperfield )
"old clerk with the wig" that had once visited Mr Spenlow at
his house in Norwood and had "drunk brown East India sherry there, of a quality so precious as to
make a man wink." (top)
Tigg, Montague (Tigg Montague) ( Martin Chuzzlewit ) Con man and
swindler who first appears in the story fronting for Chevy Slyme and
trying to squeeze the assembled Chuzzlewit family for money. Later he appears
in splendor as head of the fraudulent Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan and
Life Assurance Company and has changed his name to Tigg Montigue. He dupes Jonas
Chuzzlewit into joining the company, uses Jonas to fleece Pecksniff, and
is murdered by Jonas. (top)
Con man and
swindler who first appears in the story fronting for Chevy Slyme and
trying to squeeze the assembled Chuzzlewit family for money. Later he appears
in splendor as head of the fraudulent Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan and
Life Assurance Company and has changed his name to Tigg Montigue. He dupes Jonas
Chuzzlewit into joining the company, uses Jonas to fleece Pecksniff, and
is murdered by Jonas. (top)
Tisher, Mrs. ( The Mystery of Edwin Drood
) Miss
Twinkleton's assistant at the school for girls at Nun's House. (top)
Todgers, Mrs ( Martin Chuzzlewit )
Proprietor of M. Todgers Commercial Boarding House located near the monument.
Mrs Todgers is described as a "rather bony and hard featured lady." Pecksniff and
his daughters stay at Todgers when visiting London. (top)
Toodle, Polly (Richards) ( Dombey and Son ) Little Paul
Dombey's nurse, known in the Dombey household as Richards. She is dismissed
when she takes Paul to
visit her family in a poorer section of London.
She re-enters the story when Captain Cuttle
asked her to look after Sol Gill's Shop,
the Wooden Midshipman. She is the mother of Rob the Grinder who falls in with
bad company and becomes a minor villain in the story. Dickens describes Polly
as a "plump rosy-cheeked wholesome apple-faced young woman." (top)
Toots ( Dombey and Son )
Scatterbrained classmate of Paul Dombey
Jr at Dr Blimber's
Academy. Toots falls helplessly in love with Florence Dombey
and pursues her, in his absentminded way, until Florence marries Walter Gay. In the
end Toots marries Susan
Nipper. Quote: "it's of no consequence." (top)
Tox,
Lucretia ( Dombey and Son ) Paul Dombey Sr's
sister, Mrs. Chick's,
friend. She has designs to marry Paul Sr. after
his first wife dies. Paul marries Mrs. Granger
instead, breaking Miss Tox's heart, but she stays loyal to him through later
hardships. Dickens describes her as "a long lean figure, wearing such a
faded air that she seemed not to have been made in what linen-drapers call
'fast colours' originally, and to have, by little and little, washed out."
(top)
Trabb ( Great Expectations )
Tailor who makes Pip
a new suit of clothes before he goes to London, also in charge of the mourners
at Pip's
sister's funeral.
(top)
Trabb's Boy ( Great Expectations )
Assistant to Trabb,
the tailor, who terrorizes Pip. He later leads Herbert to the
limekiln to rescue Pip from Orlick. (top)
Traddles, Tommy ( David Copperfield ) Fellow pupil with
David
Copperfield and Steerforth at
Salem House. David's
best friend and best man at David's
wedding to Dora
Spenlow. He later becomes a lawyer and marries Sophy Crewler.
(top)
Fellow pupil with
David
Copperfield and Steerforth at
Salem House. David's
best friend and best man at David's
wedding to Dora
Spenlow. He later becomes a lawyer and marries Sophy Crewler.
(top)
Trent, Fred ( The Old Curiosity Shop
) Nell's
brother, a gambler, is interested in his grandfather's
money through his friend Dick Swiveller.
(top)
Trent, Nelly ( The Old Curiosity Shop
) Known as Little Nell, she is the principal character in the story. She
lives with her grandfather,
when he falls into the clutches of Daniel Quilp she
helps him escape London.
The hardships endured during their wanderings are too much for the delicate
Nell and she dies in a quiet village where she and her grandfather
had gained employment. (top)
Trotwood, Betsy ( David Copperfield ) David
Copperfield's great aunt. David runs
away from London when he is installed at
Murdstone and Grinby's warehouse and goes to Dover to live with Betsy. She helps David get a
start in life and, when she loses her fortune, goes to London to live with David. David
describes her as "A tall, hard-featured lady, but by no means ill-looking.
There was an inflexibility in her face, in her voice, in her gait and carriage,
amply sufficient to account for the effect she had made upon a gentle creature
like my mother; but her features were rather handsome than otherwise, though
unbending and austere." Dickens' friend and biographer John Forster called
Betsy "a gnarled and knotted piece of female timber, sound to the
core." (top)
Tulkinghorn ( Bleak House ) Family
lawyer to the Dedlocks. When he finds out Lady Dedlock's
secret past, and tries to gain from it, he is murdered by Lady Dedlock's
former maid, Hortense. (top)
Tungay ( David Copperfield ) Creakle's
assistant at Salem House where David
Copperfield attends school. Tungay has a wooden leg, having lost his leg in
Creakle's service in former employment in the hops business. (top)
Tupman, Tracy ( Pickwick Papers ) A
member of the Pickwick
club and traveling companion to Mr. Pickwick in
the story's adventures. A middle-aged bachelor with a weakness for the ladies. (top)
Turveydrop, Mr ( Bleak House ) Owner of a dance
academy on Newman Street
and a "model of deportment." His son, Prince,
gives dancing lessons and supports his father. (top)
Owner of a dance
academy on Newman Street
and a "model of deportment." His son, Prince,
gives dancing lessons and supports his father. (top)
Turveydrop, Prince ( Bleak House ) Son of Mr Turveydrop,
owner of a dance academy. Prince, named for the Prince Regent, gives dancing
lessons and supports his father. Prince marries Caddy Jellyby.
(top)
Twinkleton, Miss ( The Mystery of Edwin Drood
) Principal of a school for girls at Nun's House in Cloisterham where Rosa Bud and Helena Landless
attend. She is assisted by Mrs. Tisher. Miss
Twinkleton later becomes Rosa's chaperone in London. (top)
Twist, Oliver ( Oliver Twist ) Oliver is born in
a workhouse where he is mistreated by Bumble, the
beadle (Quote: 'Please, sir, I want some more'). He is apprenticed to
Sowerberry, the undertaker, and runs away to London where he falls in with Fagin and his band
of pickpockets. Oliver is charged with theft, actually committed by the Artful Dodger,
and later cleared. The object of the theft, Mr. Brownlow,
takes Oliver into his home. He is recaptured by Nancy and returned
to Fagin's
band. Nancy
later tries to help Oliver and is murdered. Through the efforts of Rose Maylie and
Mr. Brownlow the story of Oliver's real parentage is revealed. (top)
Oliver is born in
a workhouse where he is mistreated by Bumble, the
beadle (Quote: 'Please, sir, I want some more'). He is apprenticed to
Sowerberry, the undertaker, and runs away to London where he falls in with Fagin and his band
of pickpockets. Oliver is charged with theft, actually committed by the Artful Dodger,
and later cleared. The object of the theft, Mr. Brownlow,
takes Oliver into his home. He is recaptured by Nancy and returned
to Fagin's
band. Nancy
later tries to help Oliver and is murdered. Through the efforts of Rose Maylie and
Mr. Brownlow the story of Oliver's real parentage is revealed. (top)
Varden, Dolly ( Barnaby Rudge ) Daughter of Gabriel and Martha, friend
of Emma
Haredale, loved by Joe Willet
who she eventually marries. (top)
Daughter of Gabriel and Martha, friend
of Emma
Haredale, loved by Joe Willet
who she eventually marries. (top)
Varden, Gabriel ( Barnaby Rudge ) Honest locksmith
and owner of the Golden Key where Simon Tappertit
is apprenticed. Father of Dolly and
long-suffering husband of Martha. He is a
friend of Barnaby's
mother and, after the Gordon riots,
helps clear Barnaby's
name. (top)
Honest locksmith
and owner of the Golden Key where Simon Tappertit
is apprenticed. Father of Dolly and
long-suffering husband of Martha. He is a
friend of Barnaby's
mother and, after the Gordon riots,
helps clear Barnaby's
name. (top)
Varden, Martha ( Barnaby Rudge ) Overbearing wife
of Gabriel,
mother of Dolly.
A woman of "uncertain temper" and a fanatical protestant, her
fanaticism is tempered after the riots when she witnesses the heroics of her
husband (top)
Overbearing wife
of Gabriel,
mother of Dolly.
A woman of "uncertain temper" and a fanatical protestant, her
fanaticism is tempered after the riots when she witnesses the heroics of her
husband (top)
Veck,
Toby (Trotty) (
The Chimes
) Poor ticket
porter whose dream on New Year's Eve forms the basis of the story. (top)
Poor ticket
porter whose dream on New Year's Eve forms the basis of the story. (top)
Veneering, Hamilton and
Anastasia ( Our Mutual Friend ) High
society couple at whose frequent dinner parties the story of John Harmon is
discovered. Hamilton buys his way into
Parliament and is later bankrupt and the couple flees to France. (top)
Venus, Mr ( Our Mutual Friend )
Taxidermist and general practitioner in bones. He enters into a scheme with Silas Wegg to
blackmail Noddy
Boffin, thinks better of it, and later tells Boffin of the plan. He is
lovesick over Pleasant
Riderhood who objects to his business. She later relents and marries him. (top)
The Vengeance ( A Tale of Two Cities )
Female revolutionist and friend of Madame
Defarge. She is described as 'a short, rather plump wife of a starved
grocer'. At the final execution she is left pondering the absence of Madame
Defarge. (top)
Verisopht, Lord Frederick ( Nicholas Nickleby )
Foppish companion of Sir
Mulberry Hawk who is planning to fleece him. When Verisopht tries to
interfere in Hawk's plan of revenge on Nicholas Nickleby
they duel, and Verisopht is killed. (top)
Vholes ( Bleak House ) Richard Carstone's
solicitor in Symond's Inn, recommended by Skimpole, who
lures Richard deeper into the Chancery case that will ultimately lead to
Richard's despair and death. (top)
Wackles, Sophie ( The Old Curiosity Shop
) First love of Dick
Swiveler. Swiveler reluctantly leaves her and enters into a scheme, hatched
by Nell's
brother Fred
Trent, to marry Nell and inherit the grandfather's
money. Sophey marries Cheggs, a market gardener. (top)
Wade, Miss ( Little Dorrit ) Dark
figure who lures Tattycoram
away from the kind-hearted Meagles whom she
hates because of Pet Meagles' marriage to Henry Gowan, who
had jilted her. (top)
Walker, Mick ( David Copperfield )
Co-worker of David
Copperfield at Murdstone and Grimby's warehouse. (top)
Warden, Michael ( The Battle of
Life ) Spendthrift lover of Marion
Jeddler. Marion
supposedly runs away with Warden which, in the end, turns out to be untrue.
Later the reformed Warden marries Marion.
(top)
Wardle ( Pickwick Papers ) Yeoman
farmer and owner of Manor Farm at Dingley Dell. Pickwick and
his friends visit Manor Farm frequently. Wardle's daughter marries Pickwickian Augustus Snodgrass.
Jingle tries
to elope with Miss Rachel,
Wardle's sister, but is caught and bought off by Wardle. (top)
Wardle, Rachael ( Pickwick Papers ) Mr. Wardle's
spinster sister (aged 50 at least). She courts Tupman but is
lured into elopement by Jingle, who is
after her money. Rachael and Jingle are caught before a marriage can take place
and Jingle is bought off by Mr. Wardle. (top)
Waterbrook, Mr and Mrs ( David Copperfield )
Mr Waterbrook is Mr
Wickfield's agent with whom Agnes stays
while in London.
They reside at Ely Place,
Holborn. (top)
Wegg, Silas ( Our Mutual Friend )
Rascally street vendor hired by Mr. Boffin to
read to him. After installing himself in the Boffin household
he goes about trying to get a piece of the Boffin fortune. (top)
Weller, Samuel ( Pickwick Papers ) Mr. Pickwick's
servant is one of the most popular characters in Dickens' works. He councils
his master with Cockney wisdom and is thoroughly devoted to Pickwick.
Samuel's father, Tony Weller, is equally entertaining. (top)
Mr. Pickwick's
servant is one of the most popular characters in Dickens' works. He councils
his master with Cockney wisdom and is thoroughly devoted to Pickwick.
Samuel's father, Tony Weller, is equally entertaining. (top)
Weller, Tony ( Pickwick Papers ) Father
of Sam Weller,
a coachman and repository of Cockney wisdom. His wife, Susan, is proprietor of
the Marquis and Granby Inn in Dorking. Susan falls in with the hypocritical Reverend Stiggins,
of the Brick Lane Temperance Association, who the frequently imbibing Tony
later exposes. (top)
Wemmick, John ( Great Expectations )
Jagger's confidential clerk, friend of Pip who lives in a
delightfully strange house with the Aged Parent.
"A dry man, rather short in stature, with a square wooden face, whose expression seemed to have been imperfectly chipped out with a dull-edged chisel. There were some marks in it that might have been dimples, if the material had been softer and the instrument finer, but which, as it was, were only dints. The chisel had made three or four of these attempts at embellishment over his nose, but had given them up without an effort to smooth them off. I judged him to be a bachelor from the frayed condition of his linen ... He had glittering eyes-small, keen, and black- and thin wide mottled lips. He had had them, to the best of my belief, from forty to fifty years." (top)
"A dry man, rather short in stature, with a square wooden face, whose expression seemed to have been imperfectly chipped out with a dull-edged chisel. There were some marks in it that might have been dimples, if the material had been softer and the instrument finer, but which, as it was, were only dints. The chisel had made three or four of these attempts at embellishment over his nose, but had given them up without an effort to smooth them off. I judged him to be a bachelor from the frayed condition of his linen ... He had glittering eyes-small, keen, and black- and thin wide mottled lips. He had had them, to the best of my belief, from forty to fifty years." (top)
Westlock, John ( Martin Chuzzlewit )
Former pupil of Pecksniff
and friend of Tom
Pinch although they disagree about Pecksniff's character. He is
instrumental in exposing Jonas
Chuzzlewit and later marries Tom's sister Ruth. (top)
Whimple, Mrs ( Great Expectations )
Landlady of the house at Mill Pond Bank where Old Bill Barley
and his daughter, Clara,
live. Magwitch
is kept secretly in the house waiting for the escape out of Britain. (top)
Wickfield,
Agnes ( David Copperfield )
Childhood friend of David
Copperfield and daughter of Betsy Trotwood's
lawyer. Becomes David's wife
after the death of Dora. (top)
Mr. Wickfield ( David Copperfield ) Father
of Agnes
and lawyer to Betsy
Trotwood. His overindulgence of wine causes him to be vulnerable to the
schemes of Uriah
Heep, who becomes his partner and attempts to ruin him. (top)
Wilfer, Bella ( Our Mutual Friend ) Girl specified in
old Harmon's will that his son John should marry
in order to gain his inheritance. When John disappears
and is presumed drowned she is left "a widow without ever being
married." She leaves her home and goes to live with the Boffins where she
is wooed by John
Rokesmith, alias of John Harmon. She
refuses him at first but later falls in love with him and they marry. She finds
out later that he is really John Harmon and
that they have gained his inheritance. (top)
Girl specified in
old Harmon's will that his son John should marry
in order to gain his inheritance. When John disappears
and is presumed drowned she is left "a widow without ever being
married." She leaves her home and goes to live with the Boffins where she
is wooed by John
Rokesmith, alias of John Harmon. She
refuses him at first but later falls in love with him and they marry. She finds
out later that he is really John Harmon and
that they have gained his inheritance. (top)
Wilfer, Lavinia ( Our Mutual Friend ) Sister
of Bella.
Obstinate and quarrelsome, she takes posession of Bella's beau, George Sampson,
when Bella goes to live with the Boffins. (top)
Wilfer, Reginald (R.W.) ( Our Mutual Friend ) Father
of Bella, whom
she adores. R.W. attends the wedding of of Bella to Rokesmith,
unbeknownst to his overbearing wife. (top)
Willet, Joe ( Barnaby Rudge ) "A
broad-shouldered strapping young fellow of twenty, whom it pleased his father
still to consider a little boy, and to treat accordingly." Son of John who
resents his father's treatment of him, he joins the army and loses an arm in
the American Revolution, later marries Dolly Varden.
The couple become proprietors of the rebuilt Maypole Inn. (top)
"A
broad-shouldered strapping young fellow of twenty, whom it pleased his father
still to consider a little boy, and to treat accordingly." Son of John who
resents his father's treatment of him, he joins the army and loses an arm in
the American Revolution, later marries Dolly Varden.
The couple become proprietors of the rebuilt Maypole Inn. (top)
Willet, John ( Barnaby Rudge )
"Burly, large-headed man with a fat face." Proprietor of the Maypole
Inn and father of Joe. Father
and son quarrel when John treats the adult Joe as a child and Joe leaves,
joining the army. John witnesses the destruction of the Maypole by the rioters.
He is later reconciled with his son who, along with wife Dolly, become
proprietors of the rebuilt Maypole. (top)
Winkle, Nathaniel ( Pickwick Papers ) Member
of the Pickwick
club and traveling companion to Pickwick and
his friends. Winkle is supposedly the sportsman of the group but all of his
attempts at sporting activities prove him a humbug. He marries Arabella Allen,
which upsets his father. Later Winkle's father comes to London and sees his daughter-in-law for
himself, and is reconciled to the marriage. (top)
Witherden, Mr ( The Old Curiosity Shop
) Notary to whom Abel Garland
is articled. He aids the Single
Gentleman in the capture of Brass and
in bringing down Quilp.
(top)
Witherfield, Miss ( Pickwick Papers ) The lady in yellow curl
papers whom Samuel
Pickwick accidentally meets in her room at Ipswich.
She is courted by Pickwick's fellow traveler to Ipswich,
Peter Magnus. (top)
Wititterly, Julia and Henry ( Nicholas Nickleby ) Kate Nickleby
becomes a companion to Julia after leaving Madame Mantalini's.
Julia becomes jealous of Kate when Sir Mulberry Hawk
begins to pay visits to their Belgravia home. Nicholas
removes Kate from the home after he fights with Hawk. (top)
Woodcourt, Allan ( Bleak House ) A young
surgeon who falls in love with Esther Summerson
before going away as ship's doctor to India. On his return to England he
learns that Esther
is engaged to John
Jarndyce. When Jarndyce learns
that Esther
is in love with Woodcourt he releases her to marry him. (top)
Wopsle ( Great Expectations )
Parish clerk and friend of the Gargerys. He
aspires to enter the church but instead becomes an actor with the stage name of
Waldengarver. Pip
sees him perform Hamlet in London. (top)
Wrayburn, Eugene ( Our Mutual Friend ) Lawyer
and friend of Mortimer
Lightwood. He becomes interested in the Harmon case and
meets Lizzie
Hexam and falls in love with her. She loves him also but tries to distance
herself from him because they come from different classes of society. Lizzie leaves London to get away from Bradley Headstone,
the school teacher who also loves her, and Wrayburn. Eugene finds her and is followed by Headstone who
attempts to murder him. Lizzie nurses
Wrayburn back to health and they are married. (top)
Wren, Jenny aka Fanny Cleaver ( Our Mutual Friend ) Crippled doll's
dressmaker with whom Lizzie Hexam
lives after the death of her father. She helps Lizzie escape London when pursued by Headstone and Wrayburn. (top)
Crippled doll's
dressmaker with whom Lizzie Hexam
lives after the death of her father. She helps Lizzie escape London when pursued by Headstone and Wrayburn. (top)