# Cranford — Character guide

> Key figures in Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell.

- [Miss Matty Jenkyns](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cranford_se/characters/miss_mattie.md): Miss Matty is the gentle center of Cranford's genteel spinsters, forever deferring to the memory of her formidable sister Deborah and fussing over guests' comfort with poked fires and anxious questions about drawers. Her
- [Mary Smith](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cranford_se/characters/narrator.md): Mary Smith returns to Cranford for extended visits, lodging with Miss Pole and then Miss Matty, and serves as the reader's guide to a town where a new carpet is the event of the season. She is both participant and witnes
- [Miss Pole](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cranford_se/characters/miss_pole.md): Miss Pole is the town's most inquisitive spinster, forever piecing together news of lords, conjurors, and suspected romances, and wearing seven brooches at once when occasion demands. She relishes a good story and a good
- [Miss Deborah Jenkyns](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cranford_se/characters/miss_jenkyns.md): Miss Jenkyns is the elder sister whose authority organizes Cranford's parties, its literary tastes, and Miss Matty's daily habits; she even dictates whether her sister may be called Matty. Her rigid opinions—especially h
- [Mrs. Jamieson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cranford_se/characters/mrs_jamieson.md): Mrs. Jamieson occupies the post of honour at every gathering, yet she is so passive that her old servants decide whether she gives parties at all. Her haughty indifference—and her willingness to slight Mrs. Fitz-Adam—mak
- [Captain Brown](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cranford_se/characters/captain_brown.md): Captain Brown arrives in Cranford poor and unashamed, scandalizing the ladies by speaking of poverty without disgrace and by preferring Mr. Boz to Dr. Johnson. His practical advice—dressing Miss Betsy Barker's scalded Al
- [Miss Jessie Brown](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cranford_se/characters/miss_jessie_brown.md): Jessie Brown arrives in Cranford as the daughter of a half-pay captain whose frank poverty scandalizes the town's genteel ladies, yet her sweetness and patience gradually win over even the sternest critics. Her devotion 
- [Thomas Holbrook](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cranford_se/characters/thomas_holbrook.md): Holbrook is a prosperous, unpretentious man whose rough manners and genuine warmth stand apart from Cranford's delicate conventions, and his long-ago courtship of Miss Matty was thwarted by family pride. When he reappear
- [Mrs. Forrester](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cranford_se/characters/mrs_forrester.md): Mrs. Forrester is one of Cranford's poorer gentlewomen, hiding her straitened means behind cheerful parties and a brave pretense of plenty, even as she secretly bakes the cakes her guests pretend not to notice. Her terro
- [Mr. Peter Jenkyns](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cranford_se/characters/mr_peter.md): As a boy, Peter was the family's brilliant, irreverent spirit, forever teasing his stern sister Deborah and delighting the quieter Matty with his jokes. One reckless impersonation of Deborah, witnessed by their father, d
- [Lady Glenmire](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cranford_se/characters/lady_glenmire.md): Lady Glenmire arrives in Cranford as Mrs. Jamieson's aristocratic relative, but her easy manners and lack of pretension unsettle the town's careful social gradations. She befriends Miss Pole, walks miles to find a knitti
- [Signor Brunoni](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cranford_se/characters/signor_brunoni.md): Signor Brunoni arrives to perform magic tricks, but his foreign appearance and fractured English convince the excitable Mrs. Forrester and others that he is a French spy plotting to rob the town. The panic he triggers ex
- [Mr. Hoggins](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cranford_se/characters/mr_hoggins.md): As the village's resident medical man, Mr. Hoggins occupies an odd position in Cranford society: necessary, respected in emergencies, yet never quite forgiven for lacking pedigree. The ladies sniff at his surname, which 
- [Miss Betsy Barker](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cranford_se/characters/miss_betsy_barker.md): A former milliner who keeps a cow and is devoted to fashion.
- [Mrs. Fitz-Adam](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cranford_se/characters/mrs_fitz_adam.md): A wealthy newcomer who is gradually accepted into Cranford society.
- [Martha](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cranford_se/characters/martha.md): Miss Matty's loyal maid and later married servant.
- [Jem Hearn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cranford_se/characters/jem_hearn.md): A young man who marries Martha.

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