# A Journal of the Plague Year — Character guide

> Key figures in A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe.

- [H.F.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_journal_of_the_plague_year_se/characters/narrator.md): H.F. is a tradesman of middling fortune who stays behind when neighbours scatter, recording the plague's creep from St. Giles's parish toward his own street near Aldgate. His stubborn curiosity and appetite for exact num
- [John Hayward](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_journal_of_the_plague_year_se/characters/john_hayward.md): Hayward moves through the early chapters as a trusted friend and source of foreign intelligence, carrying reports of Holland's outbreak from merchants' correspondence and dockside gossip. His knowledge arrives by letter 
- [Thomas](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_journal_of_the_plague_year_se/characters/thomas.md): Thomas is family—Brother Tom—whose decision to leave the city sets him in quiet opposition to H.F.'s determination to stay and observe. His departure raises the question that haunts the whole book: whether survival is a 
- [John Cock](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_journal_of_the_plague_year_se/characters/john_cock.md): A man who dies of the plague after being shut up in his house.
- [Sir Robert Clayton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_journal_of_the_plague_year_se/characters/sir_robert_clayton.md): A wealthy merchant and Lord Mayor of London during the plague.
- [Master of the House](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_journal_of_the_plague_year_se/characters/master_of_the_house.md): The head of a household where the narrator lodges during the plague.
- [A Doctor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_journal_of_the_plague_year_se/characters/a_doctor.md): An unnamed physician who treats plague patients and advises the narrator.
- [Lord](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_journal_of_the_plague_year_se/characters/lord.md): A nobleman who issues orders for plague containment in London.
- [The Officers](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_journal_of_the_plague_year_se/characters/the_officers.md): Parish officials who enforce quarantine and burial orders.
- [Constable](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_journal_of_the_plague_year_se/characters/constable.md): A parish constable who enforces plague regulations.
- [Giles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_journal_of_the_plague_year_se/characters/giles.md): A parish in London heavily affected by the plague.
- [Andrew](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_journal_of_the_plague_year_se/characters/andrew.md): A parish in London mentioned in plague statistics.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_journal_of_the_plague_year_se/characters