# Lord George Kemp — Cakes and Ale character guide

> Lord George Kemp in Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** George Kemp, George, Kemp, Mr. George Kemp

**First appearance:** 0000-i

## Snapshot

A Blackstable businessman who becomes Lord George and, in Rosie's later life, the man she runs away with.

## Who they are

Kemp belongs to the world of provincial ambition and quiet money—the kind of man Blackstable respects and the narrator's circle would dismiss. His affair with Rosie is the scandal that ends her marriage to Driffield and shadows the rest of the book. Decades later, in America, Rosie speaks of him without bitterness, and his death is what finally frees her to be recognized again as Driffield's first wife.

## Relationships

### [Mary-Ann](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cakes_and_ale_se/characters/mary_ann)

_social_

Lord George interacts with Mary-Ann as a servant in the household, but their connection is minimal.

### [Mary-Ann](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cakes_and_ale_se/characters/mary_ann)

_social_

Lord George interacts with Mary-Ann as a servant in the household, but their connection is minimal.

## In the story

### [Chapter VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cakes_and_ale_se/chapters/viii)

Fondles Mrs. Driffield in a way that shocks the narrator, and later joins in the singing at the Driffields' home.

### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cakes_and_ale_se/chapters/ix)

A regular at the Driffields' whist games, chaffs everyone, and shares a secret with the narrator about their visits.

### [The Flight of the Driffields](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cakes_and_ale_se/chapters/x)

Suspected of helping the Driffields escape, but denies it with sly mirth; he is also owed money for coal.

### [XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cakes_and_ale_se/chapters/xix)

Identified as the man Rosie has run away with; a Blackstable man.

### [Chapter XX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cakes_and_ale_se/chapters/xx)

Has absconded after bankruptcy, leaving his family and many townspeople ruined; rumored to have fled with Rosie.

### [Chapter XXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cakes_and_ale_se/chapters/xxvi)

Rosie's second husband, who fled with her to America; described as a 'perfect gentleman'.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cakes_and_ale_se/characters/lord_george_kemp
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cakes_and_ale_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cakes_and_ale_se/characters