Howards End · Characters
Character guide
Key figures in Howards End by E. M. Forster.
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Margaret Schlegel
major
Also known as Meg, Dear Margaret, poor Margaret, Margaret Oniton
A clear-eyed, slightly weary intellectual who believes in connecting the seen and unseen, Margaret tries to reconcile her idealistic set with the Wilcoxes' brutal practicality.
Helen Schlegel
major
Also known as Mrs. Munt, Helen
The younger Schlegel sister, all impulse and generous indignation, who flings herself at life and feels every rebuff as a moral failure.
Henry Wilcox
major
Also known as Mr. Wilcox, poor Henry, the old Henry
A self-made imperial businessman who runs his family and his conscience like a ledger, valuing efficiency and 'the white man's burden' above all else.
Charles Wilcox
supporting
Also known as Charles, the younger Mr. Wilcox, Mr. Charles Wilcox
Henry's eldest son, a blustering, conventional man of business who sees the world in black and white and bristles at any threat to Wilcox property or propriety.
Ruth Wilcox
supporting
Also known as Mrs. Wilcox, Mrs. Warrington Wilcox, poor Mrs. Wilcox, Ruth
Henry's first wife, a quiet, intuitive woman who belongs to Howards End more than to any person, and who recognizes a kindred spirit in Margaret.
Leonard Bast
major
Also known as Leonard, Len, Bast
A poor insurance clerk who reads Ruskin by moonlight and dreams of culture, forever straining toward a world that keeps shutting the door in his face.
Tibby Schlegel
supporting
Also known as Tibby, Auntie Tibby
Tibby drifts through the Schlegel household in a haze of naps, meals, and half-finished sentences, leaving his sisters to manage the family's emotional weather. His studied indifference — he can barely rouse himself to answer a telephone — is both a comic running joke and a quiet indictment of the cultured leisure class he represents. When the Wilcoxes and Basts collide with the Schlegels, Tibby's passivity becomes a kind of moral barometer: he notices everything and commits to nothing.
Dolly Fussell
supporting
Also known as Fussell, Miss Dolly Fussell
Dolly enters the Wilcox orbit through a mixed foursome on the links, and her photograph — signed 'For dear Mims' — announces her as a new daughter-in-law eager to please. She is sweet, trivial, and entirely at home in the Wilcox world of motorcars and money, a foil to the intellectual Schlegel sisters. Her small vanities and unthinking loyalties help define the family she has married into, and the gulf between Howards End and Wickham Place.
Evie Wilcox
minor
Also known as Evie, Evie Wilcox, Poor little Evie
Henry and Ruth's daughter, a breezy and conventional young woman.
Paul Wilcox
minor
Also known as Paul, Paul Wilcox
Henry's younger son, who has a brief romantic entanglement with Helen.
Miss Avery
minor
Also known as old Miss Avery, Avery
An eccentric old woman who lives near the Wilcoxes' country house.
Jacky Bast
supporting
Also known as Jacky, Poor Jacky, Jack Robinson, John
Jacky is the woman Leonard married out of a muddled sense of duty, and she trails through his cramped lodgings as a living reminder of the class he is trying to escape. Her vulgarity and dependence gnaw at his self-image as a self-improving clerk, and her history with Henry Wilcox shadows the novel's moral reckoning. She matters because she is the human cost of the Basts' fragile foothold on gentility — and the hinge on which the plot's central scandal turns.
Aunt Juley
minor
Also known as good Aunt Juley
The Schlegel sisters' well-meaning but meddlesome aunt.
Crane
minor
Also known as Crane
A servant at the Wilcoxes' country house, Howards End.
Frieda Mosebach
minor
Also known as Frieda, Frieda Mosebach
A German cousin of the Schlegels, visiting from Germany.
Tom Howard
minor
Also known as Tom, little Tom, Tommy
A young boy living at Howards End, possibly a relative of Miss Avery.
Percy Cahill
minor
Also known as Mr. Percy Cahill, Mr. Cahill, Cahill
A young man who becomes engaged to Evie Wilcox.
Lady Edser
minor
Also known as Lady Edser
A local aristocratic woman who appears at a social gathering.
Colonel Fussell
minor
Also known as Colonel Fussell
Dolly Fussell's father, a military man.
Albert Fussell
minor
Also known as Albert, Albert Fussell
Dolly Fussell's brother.
Monica
minor
Also known as Monica
A friend of the Schlegel sisters.
Mr. Cunningham
minor
Also known as Mr. Cunningham
A business associate of Henry Wilcox.
Mr. Vyse
minor
Also known as Mr. Vyse
A friend of the Schlegels, mentioned in conversation.
Mansbridge
minor
Also known as Mr. Mansbridge
A minor acquaintance of the Schlegels.
Herr Liesecke
minor
Also known as Herr Liesecke
A German acquaintance of the Schlegels.
Frau Liesecke
minor
Also known as Frau Liesecke
Herr Liesecke's wife.
Conder
minor
Also known as Miss Conder
A minor character at a social event.
Sir James Bidder
minor
Also known as Sir James, Sir James Bidder
A local dignitary mentioned in passing.
