# Mr. Smallweed — Bleak House character guide

> Mr. Smallweed in Bleak House by Charles Dickens.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Smallweed, Grandfather Smallweed, old Smallweed

**First appearance:** 0022-xxi-the-smallweed-family

## Snapshot

A shrunken, wheelchair-bound moneylender in a black skullcap who hurls cushions at his wife and hoards secrets in a drawer beneath his seat.

## Who they are

Grandfather Smallweed presides over a grim below-street parlor where he watches pots, roasts joints, and lends money at ruinous rates, attended by his monkey-like granddaughter Judy and his gibbering wife. His body is a broken puppet's, but his grip on other people's debts, and on the compromising papers those debts have bought, is iron. He matters because he is one of the novel's great repositories of hidden leverage, a creature whose greed makes him a conduit for the past to reach back into the present.

## Relationships

### [Mr. George](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/characters/mr_george)

_rivalry_

Smallweed harasses Mr. George over a debt and attempts to manipulate him for information about Captain Hawdon.

### [Mr. George](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/characters/mr_george)

_rivalry_

Smallweed harasses Mr. George over a debt and attempts to manipulate him for information about Captain Hawdon.

### [Mr. George](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/characters/mr_george)

_rivalry_

Smallweed harasses Mr. George over a debt and attempts to manipulate him for information about Captain Hawdon.

## In the story

### [A New Lodger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/chapters/xx-a-new-lodger)

Young Smallweed, an old limb of the law, aspires to be like Guppy and advises him on private matters.

### [The Smallweed Family](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/chapters/xxi-the-smallweed-family)

Grandfather Smallweed is introduced as a bitter, money-obsessed old man confined to a chair, who throws cushions at his wife and hoards wealth.

### [Sharpshooters](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/chapters/xxvi-sharpshooters)

Visits the shooting gallery with his granddaughter Judy to persuade Mr. George to provide a sample of Captain Hawdon's handwriting for a lawyer.

### [More Old Soldiers Than One](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/chapters/xxvii-more-old-soldiers-than-one)

Accompanies Tulkinghorn in pressing George for Captain Hawdon's writing, offering money.

### [Interlopers](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/chapters/xxxiii-interlopers)

Arrives with his family to claim Krook's property as next of kin, behaving aggressively and demanding control.

### [A Turn of the Screw](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/chapters/xxxiv-a-turn-of-the-screw)

The creditor with whom George and Mr. Bagnet plan to negotiate; mentioned as the 'enemy' in their errand.

### [Attorney and Client](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/chapters/xxxix-attorney-and-client)

The elder Smallweed, along with Judy and Mrs. Smallweed, is shown ransacking Krook's shop for hidden valuables, blackened with dust and dirt.

### [Springing a Mine](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/chapters/liv-springing-a-mine)

Part of the group seeking to profit from the secret, proposing a payment of five hundred pounds.

### [Another Discovery](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/chapters/lxii-another-discovery)

Brought by Mr. Bucket; found the burnt will among Krook's papers; suspicious and reluctant but confirms the discovery.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/characters/mr_smallweed
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bleak_house_se/characters